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Hundred Flower Movement and Cultural Revolution in China

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The Hundred Flower Movement and its impact on Chinese culture today:
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In Chinese history, specifically the years 1956 and 1957, Mao Zedong the then paramount leader of People's Republic of China (PRC) launched the Hundred Flower Movement which was a movement that encouraged open intellectual and political debate. The main intention of the campaign was to cause a stir in the bureaucracy and at the same time weaken the Chinese Communist Party’s position as a dominant pro-Soviet right wing and slacken its tight grip over the freedoms of thought and expression. However, the situation went rapidly out of hand resulting in an uncalled for censure of party members.
Background information: The movement began in May 1957 after a secret speech by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev attacking the excesses of Stalinism came to light. Its founder, Mao adopted the slogan ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom together, let the hundred schools of thought contend’. He then invited Chinese intellectuals to openly voice their criticism over government policies and party cadets. Mao’s intention was to win over alienated intellectuals by giving them a certain degree of intellectual freedom. Such incentives included: increased access to foreign publications for intellectuals working in schools, colleges and universities since the people had began losing faith in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after it introduced a Soviet-style education system to China in 1949. The system favoured liberal arts education over science and technology education. However the campaign was slow to pick up and actually lasted a few weeks due to the fact that there was resistance to criticism within the CCP ranks and the fact that the intellectuals were also reluctant to criticise the government for fear of reprisal. It is after the spring of 1957 and after Mao’s

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