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Modern Chinese History: Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)

Chinese history highlights from the Boxer rebellion to the Cultural Revolution.

Dissatisfaction

"Crossing the Yellow River while sitting in a peanut."
Designer: Zhang Jiajin (张家劲) 1958, November Zuozhe huasheng guo Huanghe (坐着花生过黄河) Publisher: Hebei renmin meishu chubanshe (河北人民美术出版社) Size: 76x27 cm. Call number: BG E15/350 (image part of the IISH/ Stefan R. Landsberger Collections) Retrieved 8/6/12 from www.chineseposters.net
 
"Dissatisfaction climaxed at the Lushan Plenum in July 1959. Originally, the meeting was intended to reign in the "leftism" of the movement, but it turned into a showdown between proponents of the movement (headed by Mao) and opponents (inadvertently headed by Minister of Defense Peng Dehuai). In a personal letter to Mao, Peng had criticized the extreme elements of the movement. Mao interpreted the letter as a personal attack and had it distributed for study and criticism by the other leaders present at Lushan. As a result of the Plenum, Peng was dismissed from his posts and replaced byLin Biao. Instead of trying to find answers to the problems of the Great Leap, an anti-Rightist struggle was started."
Copy retrieved 8/6/12 from  http://chineseposters.net/themes/great-leap-forward.php

Books

These titles are located in the Phoenix Center Library.

Announcing

Put organizations on a military footing, put actions on a war footing, put life on a collective footing, 1958

"Put organizations on a military footing, put actions on a war footing, put life on a collective footing."

Designer: Zhang Xin'guo (张辛国); Liu Duan (刘端) 1958, October; Zuzhi junshihua, xingdong zhandouhua, shenghuo jitihua (组织军事化，行动战斗化，生活集体化) ; Publisher: Hebei renmin meishu chubanshe (河北人民美术出版社) ; Size: 54x77 cm.; Call number: BG E15/653 (image part of the IISH/ Stefan R. Landsberger Collections) Retrieved 8-6-12 from www.chineseposters.net  

"The Great Leap Forward took two forms: a mass steel campaign, and the formation of the people's communes. On the one hand, all the people in the country were organized to help produce the amount of steel that was needed to attain the goal of surpassing England. Life was militarized for this battle for steel.

Everywhere, small backyard furnaces were built, where everybody pitched in in around-the-clock shifts. Quota for the collection of used iron had to be met, cooking pots were smashed, door handles were melted down in order to meet the production demands. Only later it became clear that the quality of this mass-produced people's steel was so poor that no use could be found for it. The effects of this production battle proved to be disastrous for the environment." 
Copy retrieved 8-6-12 from http://chineseposters.net/themes/great-leap-forward.php

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