Thought Reform and The
Hundred Flowers Campaign
By: Michelle Tang, Cassie Volikas, Brandon Mortimer, Nick Hilton
Thesis Rationale
• Thesis: Mao’s Thought Reform and the Hundred Flowers Campaign
set great goals because he wanted everyone to be equal and have
greater freedom of expression in China.
• The communist introduced the thought reform to help change the
way people thought and create a communist country where everyone
served the people before themselves.
• People in schools and workplaces studied the thoughts of Mao and
got rid of any selfish thoughts they had.
• The Hundred Flowers Campaign represented criticism and allowed
greater freedom of expression in China.
"In recent days ...
democratic parties and
institutions of higher
education have shown
themselves to be to be
the most determined
and most rabid... They
will then end up
burying themselves" Mao, May 1957
“The Party needs public
feedback, disciplinary
measures that prevent
change should be
eliminated. In the arts,
let a hundred flowers
bloom, in the sciences,
let a hundred schools
contend. This should be
the direction we take.”Mao
“Poison grass needs to be weeded out. People on the right
party must be ‘fixed.’ Battle plans must involve despising
the enemy, war tactics must focus on the enemy. Failure to
do so will result in grave mistakes. This must be done bit,
by bit, kill off the enemy one by one.”- Mao
Key:
• The far top left propaganda poster shows a man holding a bouquet of flowers. He is smiling, which shows
one of the many happy things about the reform. The reform helped everyone be seen as equal and gave
peasants more opportunities. This contributed to Mao's power that brainwashed people’s thoughts and
reduced potential opposition. it also minimized the influence of any foreign influence.
• The political cartoon of Mao and the Hundred Flower Campaign shows a Chinese person mowing the grass
and Mao speaking for the campaign. The campaign was a trap set by Mao to highlight the anti communist
elements among intellectuals and launched for the good of China. He invited intellectuals to “let the
hundred flowers bloom” and wanted the bad communists to be “weeded out.”
• The quote on the Hundred Flower Campaign represents how Mao wanted to have feedback from everyone
and change for the better. He wanted to teach and spread the campaign to everyone to get rid of any
potential opponents and allow freedom in China.
• The picture of the professors/teachers show that they were placed in ‘struggle’ sessions in which they had to
confess or apologize for their past faults. These people were convicted by their students. Mao thought this
was the right thing to do, to right them from wrong, and the person convicted had to listen to hours of
accusations. This relates to the thesis because the students and Mao thought this was good for society at
that time.
• The propaganda poster with the Chinese citizens holding their Little Red Books show how happy the thought
reform was because it brought equality to all the people by making everyone work the same amount and
earn the same amount. On the bottom it says “Long live Chairman Mao! Long Live!” They like Mao’s changes
to china which is why they say long live Mao. The thought reform improved the Chinese citizen’s lives
because people were unselfish and thought about others before themselves.
Key:
• The propaganda poster with Mao and the Chinese citizens show how happy the people are about the
thought reform, the Hundred Flowers Campaign and Mao’s changes to China because the signs in the
visual say “Long live the people’s republic of China.” People were happy about the Hundred Flowers
Campaign because it allowed greater freedom of expression in China, it got rid of any potential
opponents, it produced a simpler, more direct party organization, and it involved ordinary people in
politics instead of just party officials.
• The top right quote about the Hundred Flowers Campaign represents how the campaign helped
democratic parties and education. By creating the campaign, Mao would have settled his fear
of bureaucratic behavior emerging party officials. This supports the thesis because it gave greater
equality to everyone.
• The political cartoon under the top right quote shows that Mao planted ‘a hundred flowers’ for the
‘rebirth’ of the country, but many people have died from hard labor. From doing good, and making
people do good for the country to make it better and have more resources, people have died. This
relates to the thesis because Mao was leading good things for the country
• The bottom right quote represents Mao explaining that he is making steps forward to kill off the enemy
bit by bit. Mao needs help from the rest of the society to carry this out. This supports the thesis
statement because it represents Mao and his country making good steps forward for his country by
killing the enemy and using specific war tactics on the enemy.