Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As relations with the Soviets broke down in the mid-1950s, the CCP leaders'
thoughts turned to economic self-sufficiency. Mao, supported by Politburo col-
leagues, proposed the policy known as the Great Leap Forward (Dayuejin), a
highly ambitious plan to harness the power of socialist economics to boost
production of steel, coal and electricity.
However, the Great Leap Forward was a monumental failure. Its lack of eco-
nomic realism caused a massive famine and at least 20 million deaths.
Cultural Revolution
in 1966 Mao decided that a massive campaign of ideological renewal, in which
he would attack his own party, had to be launched.
Still the dominant figure in the CCP, Mao used his prestige to undermine his
own colleagues. Top leaders suddenly disappeared from sight, only to be re-
placed by unknowns, such as Mao's wife Jiang Qing and her associates, later
dubbed the 'Gang of Four'. Meanwhile, an all-pervasive cult of Mao's person-
ality took over. One million youths at a time, known as Red Guards, would
flock to hear Mao in Tian'anmen Sq. Immense violence permeated throughout
society: teachers, intellectuals and landlords were killed in their thousands.
Worried by the increasing violence, the army forced the Red Guards off the
streets in 1969. While the early 1970s saw a remarkable rapprochement
between the US and China. Secretive diplomatic manoeuvres led, eventually,
to the official visit of US President Richard Nixon to China in 1972, which
began the reopening of China to the West. Slowly, the Cultural Revolution
began to cool down.
Reform
Mao died in 1976, to be succeeded by the little-known Hua Guofeng
(1921-2008). Within two years, Hua had been outmanoeuvred by the greatest
survivor of 20th- century Chinese politics, Deng Xiaoping. Deng enlisted a
policy slogan originally invented by Mao's pragmatic prime minister, Zhou Enlai
- the 'Four Modernisations'. The party's task would be to set China on the right
path in four areas: agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national
defence.
