Hu rekindles Maoism by Ching Cheong:

According to Chinese veteran Marxist theorist Su Shaozhi, who led the criticisms, by showering Mao with such praises, Mr Hu hoisted him much higher than any of his predecessors ever did.

In fact, the scholar added, it far exceeded the official verdict on Mao as carried in the Resolution On Certain Historical Issues adopted by the CCP in June 1981.

That document said Mao made great achievements - but also serious mistakes.

According to Professor Su, who took part in drafting that document, the consensus within the party at the time was that 70 per cent of Mao's work was a success while the remaining 30 per cent comprised mistakes.

That 70-30 split was widely seen as far more generous than what the multitudes of Chinese who had suffered during Mao's reign would have said about the late leader.

To this day, many hold him responsible for the unmitigated disasters his reign unleashed on China. According to the World Health Organisation's First Report On Violence (2002), the total number of unnatural deaths in China between 1949 and 1976 exceeded 50 million.

Thus, the official verdict on Mao was a gross understatement of the gravity of his mistakes.

Aside from the fact that it makes my skin crawl to see anyone, particularly a presumed reformer, praise Mao, it certainly is an understatement. I can't find the World Health Organisation's report that the reporter mentions. Perhaps the reporter means the World Report on Violence and Health, but the only relevant reference I saw was to "millions of people who perished in China during the Great Leap Forward". Matthew White summarizes a bunch of sources, suggesting a total of between 40-50 million, pointing out that the numbers are pretty much guesses, and may be much higher, but I don't see a reference to NEW EVIDENCE SHOWS FAMINE, VIOLENCE SPARED FEW, a two-part Washington Post article from July 17 & 18, 1994 available here, which says,

Chen Yizi of Princeton University's Center for Modern China did research for years in China, first as a student and then as a government official, and determined that 43 million had died in the famine, a figure recently matched by a report from a think tank in Shanghai. According to Chen, this made the total number of Chinese who died as a result of Mao's policies 80 million.

Incidentally, the Chinese express Mao's proportion of errors & achievements as 三七开, meaning 3/10 errors and 7/10 achievements. (The story goes that Peng Dehuai said they had it wrong about Mao: it was 七三开: 3/10 achievements 7/10 errors.)