Throughout the 1920's to the 1940's China fought in a revolution between the nationalist and communist parties. In 1949 the Chinese communist party came to power with Mao Zedong as its leader. Mao Zedong was a significant influence in Chinese history. He started his sovereignty with the Hundred Flower Blossom which took place in the 1950's. Later Mao came out with his Great Leap Forward plan in 1958. Finally the Cultural Revolution was his last act which basically ended his reign.
In the late 1950's Mao Zedong set up the Hundred Flower Blossom. It was a promotion of politics, arts and sciences. Mao encouraged new ideas and education. He liked the idea of criticism and the questioning of ideas from his people. The Hundred Flower Blossom seemed like a good idea but it all backfire at Mao. He was soon being opposed and criticized overwhelmingly. It was almost like the people were being over educated.
Soon the whole project was dismissed. There were more problems arising in China that needed to be dealt with.
In 1958 Mao Zedong proposed the Great Leap forward. It was a plan to increase the agricultural production and better the economy. The Great Leap Forward was a model of the five year plan in the Soviet Union. Mao set up a collectivization plan with communes. Peasants were forced to combine their lands in huge communes where they shared everything. Each commune was 15,000 acres for every 25,000 peasants. They were very unhappy with the situation. Everything was run and owned by the government. The peasants that opposed or resisted would be set to prison camps or killed. As the plan took into effect it faced rigorous problems. The peasants were having trouble meeting the quota. There just wasn't enough production in agriculture. The year after,