ABSTRACT
This chapter examines linkages between economic policy initiatives in 1956-57 and the Great Leap Forward. It addresses the dynamics of the Mao-centered political process which transformed the latent forces for policy change into a totally new and unanticipated economic strategy, while providing a new interpretation of the underlying reasons for Mao Zedong's actions. While the Great Leap Forward emerged rapidly after Mao's rejection of opposition to rash advance at the Third Plenum, the origins of the movement are bound up in events stretching over the entire period from the second half of 1955. The Nanning meeting itself was a small gathering of 20-plus leaders, initially convened so Mao could hear reports from provincial leaders representing China's various regions and the provinces near Nanning. Meanwhile, the Second Five-Year Plan (SFYP) which Zhou Enlai had drafted with the assistance of Chen Yun and State Planning Commission (SPC) personnel, assigned more construction projects to local authorities.
