Great Leap Forward ( 1958 ) Chinese drive for industrial and agricultural expansion through ‘backyard’ industries in the countryside and increased production quotas to be reached by the people's devotion to patriotic and socialist ideals. Massive increases in the quantity of production were announced, but quality and distribution posed serious problems.
In agriculture, communes became almost universal, but disastrous harvests resulting in famine with an estimated 13 million victims, together with poor products discredited the Leap. Its most important advocate, Mao Zedong , took a back seat until the late 1960s. The Cultural Revolution can be seen partly as his attempt to reintroduce radical policies.
How to cite this entry: "Great Leap Forward" A Dictionary of World History. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 11 February 2012
