How has the Chinese communist political system changed since Mao Zedong first introduced it?

The change occured in two major aspects

The first is about who would and how to make the decision in the top level of the governing board. When Mao was ruling, the democracy was virtually dead and Mao dictated everything. No one can oppose him and everyone was happy to follow what Mao said. After Mao, and post-Mao era (as in Deng xiao ping, Jiangzemin ruling period) this problem began to phase out, till now Wen and Hu, the president and premier have no absolute right to make every decision, they have to make compromise and take different sound and opinion into consideration.

The second is about the goal and role of government. In Mao, the major role of government is to remove and wipe out the enemies from home or broad. it is partly because the generous global climate of cold war, and partly because the complex conflict between Russia and USA, People's republic of China and Republic of China (TW). But now, the role of government is switched sharply to improve the economy and people's wellbeing.

And it should be noted that Communism was taken serious in Mao's time, it was almost every Chinese people's Final Fantasy, but to date communism is just a name or concept, which is used to show that Chinese political system is different from western political regime, and they attempt to develop their own way to construct the nation.