“Hundred Flowers” Campaign: Communist China’s Deadly Flirtation with Free Speech

When China’s emblematic communist leader Mao Zedong invited criticism

Mao Zedong depicted reading by artist Wei Chuyu | Oil on canvas

In 1956, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong was not having the best time. For the past 7 years, he had been pushing aggressively the collectivization of agriculture. His regime gradually took away private property from farmers, forced them to work in state-operated communes, and implemented high production quotas. Mao had a grand vision of a booming economy and strong trade relations with the Soviet Union.

Melting Everybody Into One

The collectivization plan wasn’t concerned only with farming. Mao wanted to eradicate all traces of any pre-existing culture and have his people embrace the new communist doctrine. He banished all religious and spiritual gatherings and expressions, put restrictions in inter-state travel by re-instating internal passports, and worked to end many old traditions and rituals across the country. He wanted everyone unified under one identity.

But it wasn’t working. The quotas could barely be met, so local authorities manufactured a surplus by claiming more and more of the harvest. A mass famine was averted in 1956 by allocating food supplies to the…