The Seven Thousand Cadres Conference confronts the Great Leap crisis

The Great Leap famine began amid collapsing harvests, labor dislocation, exaggerated reports and state procurement that left many rural communities without adequate food. Estimates of excess deaths...

Moscow notified Beijing that Soviet specialists would be recalled, disrupting projects, industrial schedules and technical cooperation. The split compounded an already severe economic crisis after the...

The Ninth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee adopted a policy to rebalance the national economy after the Great Leap. It prioritized agriculture and essential consumer goods, cut excessive...

From 15 to 23 March, a central work conference discussed and adopted draft commune regulations, later known as the “Sixty Articles for Agriculture.” The revisions strengthened the production team as...

A set of nine measures sought to reduce the urban population and cut grain sales in cities. Millions of people were transferred or returned to rural areas as the state struggled to match food supply...

Zhou presented modernization goals in agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology to the National People’s Congress. The program aimed to make China a technologically capable...

Li Fuchun, Bo Yibo and Luo Ruiqing submitted proposals for strategic industrial construction in China’s interior, following Mao’s August 12 instruction to study how economic infrastructure could...

The 1966–1970 plan emphasized defense, self-reliance, agriculture and industry, with an important role for the Third Front. Its design reflected the deterioration of China’s relations with both...

The May 16 Circular launched a political campaign that targeted officials, intellectuals and institutions accused of revisionism. Political conflict soon disrupted schools, research, management and...

The Central Committee’s decision framed the Cultural Revolution as a mass movement to challenge alleged capitalist restoration within the Party. It empowered political mobilization but destabilized...