SUBVERTING THE CHINESE "SHANGRI-LA": EXAMINING THE INTELLECTUAL AND HISTORICAL DIMENSIONS OF MAO'S GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Abstract

The Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign has often been characterized as a utopian project, one which sought to achieve ambitious Socialist goals with haphazard planning that was rarely founded upon any intellectual basis. However, this negative image portrayed by earlier scholarship has largely been informed by the campaign’s disastrous consequences, and little regarding the possible logical intricacies behind the formulation of this economic campaign has been explored. This thesis seeks to uncover the previously neglected intellectual and historical aspects of the GLF, and provide a more balanced and comprehensive understanding of the movement that extends beyond its conventional utopian depiction.

This thesis utilises a series of governmental documents (i.e. party reports, speeches, correspondence), as well as media sources such as newspaper articles and editorials. Through an analysis of the top-down and bottom-up perspective, this paper argues that the GLF did possess an intellectual and historical dimension. Chinese intellectuals were not only actively employed by the CCP during the GLF, their proficiency in arts and culture were also integral in the party’s propaganda efforts and the rise of a new art genre, Revolutionary Folk Art. In addition, the CCP’s conceptualisation and construction of communal dining halls (CDHs) to subvert competing powers like the family also unveiled the methodical and detailed organisation that occurred within the party. The CCP’s close alignment of CDHs with the liberal values of the women’s movement also instilled a progressive element within the GLF.