ABSTRACT
The dismissal of Defense Minister Peng Dehuai was the culmination of the second top level leadership crisis in post-1949 China. While some observers have stressed military and foreign policy issues as the underlying cause of Peng’s demise, 1 most analyses—including this one—focus on differences concerning the Great Leap Forward. By late 1958 CCP leaders had become aware of shortcomings in the leap and several important policy changes were decreed at a series of high level meetings which continued until mid-1959. Although Mao formally resigned the chairmanship of the state in favor of Liu Shaoqi at this time, he did not in fact retire to the “second line” but instead took a leading role in the process of policy readjustment. Dealing with the defects of the Great Leap was still the key item on the agenda when China’s top leaders met in Lushan in July and August 1959.
