Deng Xiaoping was the Chinese leader who initiated significant economic reforms in the late 1970s. He shifted China from a command economy to a more market-oriented one, allowing for foreign investments, private ownership, and entrepreneurship. These reforms significantly boosted economic growth and transitioned China to the "Socialist Market Economy." Deng's policies laid the groundwork for China to become the second-largest economy in the world and drastically improved living standards for millions. His pragmatic approach to governance and economic policy dismantled many aspects of Mao Zedong's rigid communist doctrines, fostering a new era of modernization and globalization in China.