The Wilting of the Hundred Flowers: The Chinese Intelligentsia under Mao
by Fu-Sheng Mu
In 1957 Mao Tse-Tung called for “a hundred flowers to bloom”.
He invited all organisations and individuals frankly to criticise all deficiencies of party work.
Assurances were given that no action would be taken against critics.
Mao thought that this movement, carried our “as gently as a breeze or a fine rain” would provide a safety valve and ease social tensions.
Alas, the breeze turned into a storm. And a bare month later criticism was clamped down upon severely.
The hundred flowers wilted.