The Origins of the Great Leap Forward: The Case of One Chinese Province (review)

390 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1996© 1996 by University ofHawai'i Press how modern Chinese actually behaved sexually. That presumably is work for another book since discourse is about words more than actions. Certainly this discursive study has opened new paths, offered new interpretations in the study of modern Chinese history, and, perhaps inadvertentiy, presented evidence tiiat can sustain some old ones about how a threatened and defensive nationalism shaped many of the discourses in modern Chinese intellectual life, not just the political ones. Ralph Croizier University ofVictoria Ralph Croizier is a professor ofhistory specializing in twentieth-century cultural and intellectual history. %m Jean-Luc Domenach and A. M. Berrett, translators. The Origins ofthe Great Leap Forward: The Case ofOne Chinese Province. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995. xvii, 212 pp. Hardcover $54.95, isbn 0-8133-1710-x. Paperback $19.95, ISBN 0-8133-2514-5. In February 1958 the People's Republic of China embarked on one of the most disastrous "modernization" programs in history—the Great Leap Forward. Mao Zedong's call for radical collectivization, which attempted to solve China's industrial and agricultural crises through human labor and such foolish, and now infamous , "technologies" as backyard blast furnaces, impoverished the nation and resulted in widespread starvation and the death ofmillions. Nearly forty years later the question remains: why was a policy so removed from reality attempted? Utilizing a rich assortment ofprovincial newspapers and journals, Jean-Luc Domenach's study of the origins of the "Leap" in Henan provides valuable insight into the history of the 1950s and demonstrates how local provincial factors resonated with national-level politics to bring about a policy that "was bound to end in frenzy and catastrophe" (p 167). This book is a long-awaited English translation of Domenach's 1982 work, Aux Origines du Grand Bond en Avant: Le cas d'une province Chinoise, 1956-1958 (Paris: Presses de la Foundation Nationale des Sciences Politiques). Although more than a decade has past since the study first appeared, it still stands not only as a classic case study on the Great Leap but also as perhaps the most insightful analysis ofhow policy was formulated and carried out in the PRC at both the Reviews 391 provincial and national levels during the late 1950s. A. M. Berrett's translation of the French version is extremely readable and preserves all ofthe subde nuances of argument contained in the original. It is unfortunate, however, that neither the author nor the editor provided a revised introduction to the work, reviewing the wealth ofmore recent scholarship and placing Domenach's seminal study in its historiographie context.1 Even considering mis omission, The Origins ofthe Great Leap Forward is necessary reading for all scholars in the modern-China field and particularly those studying the post-1949 era. Domenach argues that the CCP leadership under Mao decided upon the policy of the "Leap" in order to resolve political and economic crises that had evolved in 1956 and 1957. The origins ofthese crises, however, are to be found earlier in the decade, and the book's prologue reviews the supposed "Years ofReason ," 1949 to 1955. Domenach demonstrates that when this period of "successful policies" is examined—not in the context of the entire history ofthe People's Republic , but instead from the perspective of1955—shortcomings related to the regime's policies were already apparent. The successes ofindustrialization had to be tempered by the tremendous fiscal and social costs that accompanied the construction of factories. Agricultural production had returned to prewar levels, but when combined with population growth, inequalities in yields, and the inability ofthe government to protect farm lands from natural threats, even achievement in this area was fragile. China was also experiencing social upheaval resulting from industrialization and die growing disparity between urban and rural standards ofliving. The relative inexperience (and at times incompetence) of Party cadres, especially in provinces like Henan, also added to the unease, apathy, and at times hostility with which die population responded to early efforts at collectivization . All ofthese factors combined with a split within the Party structure in Henan between supporters ofthe two top officials (Pan Fusheng, the first secretary , and...