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The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign within the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1958 to 1962,led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society through the formation of people's communes. Mao decreed that efforts to multiply grain yields and bring industry to the countryside should be increased. Local officials were fearful of Anti-Rightist Campaigns and they competed to fulfill or over-fulfill quotas which were based on Mao's exaggerated claims,collecting non-existent "surpluses" and leaving farmers to starve to death. Higher officials did not dare to report the economic disaster which was being caused by these policies,and national officials,blaming bad weather for the decline in food output,took little or no action. Millions of people died in China during the Great Leap,with estimates ranging from 15 to 55 million,making the Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history.
The time period in China from the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 until Mao's death in 1976 is commonly known as Maoist China and Red China. The history of the People's Republic of China is often divided distinctly by historians into the Mao era and the post-Mao era. The country's Mao era lasted from the founding of the People's republic on 1 October 1949 to Deng Xiaoping's consolidation of power and policy reversal at the Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress on 22 December 1978. The Mao era focuses on Mao Zedong's social movements from the early 1950s on,including land reform,the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The Great Chinese Famine,one of the worst famines in human history,occurred during this era.
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The Seven Thousand Cadres Conference,or 7000 Cadres Conference,was one of the largest work conferences ever of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It took place in Beijing,China,from 11 January to 7 February 1962. The conference was attended by over 7,000 party officials nationwide,focusing on the issues of the Great Leap Forward which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions in the Great Chinese Famine. CCP chairman Mao Zedong made self-criticism during the conference,after which he took a semi-retired role,leaving future responsibilities to Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.
References
Citations
- ↑ Meisner 1999, p. 209-213.
- ↑ Twitchett & Fairbank 1987, p. 181; Chen & Guo 2017, p. 2.
- ↑ Twitchett & Fairbank 1987, pp. 180–182; Meisner 1999, pp. 169–171.
- ↑ Meisner 1999, p. 169.
- ↑ Liu 1956; Twitchett & Fairbank 1987, p. 130.
- ↑ Twitchett & Fairbank 1987, pp. 182–184.
- ↑ Twitchett & Fairbank 1987, p. 363.
- ↑ Meisner 1999, p. 192.
Sources
- Liu, Shaoqi (1956). "Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China". Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
- Chen, Yulu; Guo, Qingwang, eds. (2017). Major issues and policies in China's financial reform. Vol. 2. Honolulu: Enrich Professional Publishing. ISBN 978-1623200725.
- Meisner, Maurice J. (1999). Mao's China and after: a history of the People's Republic (3. ed.). New York, NY: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-85635-2.
- Twitchett, Denis Crispin; Fairbank, John King (1987). The People's republic. Cambridge New York Melbourne: Cambridge university press. ISBN 0-521-24336-X.