ABSTRACT
Mao in a real sense had burned his bridges to China's intellectuals, in effect discarding them as of no use in the development of a modern socialist China; the chasm between the party and intellectuals was both deep and gaping. Mao's disdain for the intellectual elites pointed all the more to his infatuation with people power, specifically the power of the mobilized masses to remake China. In July 1959, in a month-long conference of Chinese leaders at the resort of Lushan in Jiangxi province, rancor over the Great Leap began to tear apart the "political consensus" of the leadership group that had formed at Yan'an. China's relationship with the Soviet Union was affected by Chinese actions in Tibet, specifically as they related to India. With the deterioration of relations between China and India and between China and the Soviet Union came the end of Mao's period of moderation in dealing with Tibet.
