Blackwell Reference Online

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A Chinese attempt to overtake the capitalist West by rapid economic development. mao zedong was dissatisfied with the Soviet model for China's first Five Year Plan (1953–7), as most resources were invested in heavy industry and as it relied on central control and planning, which gave considerable power to experts such as statisticians. As early as 1956 Mao called for an emphasis on light industry and agriculture, the industrialization of the countryside and the decentralization of planning. China had an abundance of human resources and a shortage of capital, so labour-intensive projects should be fostered. Decentralization would encourage local initiative and would reduce the distinction between town and country, industry and agriculture, by developing light industry in rural areas. Ideology was to be more important than expertise: cadres were to be both ‘red’ and ‘expert’. The key unit in carrying out the Great Leap Forward (GLF) was to be the commune. Mao had the enthusiastic support of liu shaoqi and deng xiaoping : the main dissenters in the Politburo were the economist Chen Yun and Peng Dehuai. Peng was dismissed as Defence Minister and replaced by lin biao . There was frenzied activity as giant dams and terracing projects changed the face of China and brought prosperity to previously infertile regions. A million ‘backyard’ furnaces were set up to provide iron for local ... log in or subscribe to read full text