The perception is mixed, old generations will remember fondly of his iron fist and strong stance against foreign powers fighting the USA and united nations as a weakling in both korean war and vietnam, especially under the current general government mindset of "hinding ones claws abide one's time" laid out by Deng.

Young generations are generally resentful of his fatal mistake in the governing policies that led to the tens of years total chaos and collapse of economy, a whole generation of uneducated mass, and generally the delayed development in social welfare/income, etc keenly felt today when compared to countries or places like Korea, Taiwan and Singapore that were almost in the same status as China after ww2 but were success in their economical revival.

Hated or loved, One thing you can be sure of tho is that,, Mao is no doubt highly respected within China, for his charisma, military genius, and literature achievement, and as the figure that built the nation able to say no to the world powers, ending finally the "shameful 100 years" when China was behind and got colonized and massacred, in the thousands of years of glorious Chinese history in a Chinese mind.