Table of Contents. CPC's official evaluation of the Great Leap Forward... Page 195

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2 Acknowledgement This book is a translation of a book written in Chinese. The original book in Chinese is Topic 4 of Selected Topics of the book entitled "The Revival of China" written by the author. The book The Revival of China and its various derivatives are all available at websites and 1

3 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Rash advance, anti rash-advance and anti anti-rashadvance (MAO Ze-dong's grand plan, ZHOU Enlai's anti rash-advance, MAO's anti anti-rashadvance).... Page 3 Chapter 2 The Great Leap Forward (GLF for agriculture, greatly steel making, the Three Red Flags, the situation one year after the Great Leap Forward started).. Page 32 Chapter 3 The Lushan Conference in 1959 (The early stage of the conference, PENG De-huai's letter, criticizing PENG, the later stage of the conference, the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission after the Lushan Conference, the nation-wide Anti-Rightist Movement) Page 71 Chapter 4 The Great Famine (People died hungry, the example of the Xingyang Region of Henan Province, how many people died hungry? LIU Shao-qi adjusting economic policies). Page 133 Chapter 5 The Meeting of Seven Thousand Officials (LIU Shao-qi's report, LIN Biao's speech, Self-criticism of MAO and other leaders, LIU Shao-qi further adjusting the economic policies, debate on the Household Responsibility System)... Page 157 Appendix CPC's official evaluation of the Great Leap Forward... Page 195 2

4 Chapter 1 Rash Advance, Anti Rash-Advance and Anti Anti-Rash-Advance MAO Ze-dong's Grand Plan In the summer of 1955, the State Council, under the leadership of Premier ZHOU En-lai, compiled the "Fifteen-Year Vision Plan ( ) ", which stated: "Grain output should increase from billion Chinese pounds in 1952 to 600 billion in 1967, an increase of 83%, or 4.1% per year; Grain yield per Chinese acre from Chinese pounds to Chinese pounds, i.e. an increase of 47.9%, or an average annual increase of 2.64%. This growth rate exceeds the rate in all other countries in the world and ranks first in the world." Indeed, the average annual growth rates of grain production in the main economies in the world were: The Soviet Union 2.4% (in the 22 years from 1928 to 1950), the United States 0.9% (in the 39 years from 1913 to 1952), the United Kingdom 1.3% (in the 29 years from 1913 to 1952) and Japan 1.8% (in the 25 years from 1927 to 1952). However, the chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC), MAO Ze-dong, believed that grain production could grow faster than that. In mid-november 1955, he called meetings, in cities of Hangzhou and Tianjin separately, of the party secretaries of 15 provinces and autonomous regions in Eastern, Middle-Southern, Northeastern and Northern China. The meeting finally formulated the "Seventeen Articles for Agriculture". One of the articles stipulated that the grain production per Chinese acre should increased from 150 to 400 3

5 Chinese pounds from the year of 1955 to 1967 in the "northern areas" (i.e. the areas north of the middle and lower reaches of Yellow River, Bailong River and Yellow River in Qinghai Province); from 208 to 500 Chinese pounds in the "middle areas" (i.e. the areas south of the middle and lower reaches the Yellow River and north of the Huaihe River); and from 400 to 800 Chinese pounds in the "southern areas" (i.e. the area south of Huai River, Qingli Mountain and Bailong River). The article also set the cotton production per Chinese acre in the northern, middle and southern areas at 60, 80 and 100 Chinese pounds in 1976, respectively. Further, it set reserve grain in the three areas to be enough for one year, one and a half years and two years, respectively. Another article of the Seventeen Articles for Agriculture stipulates land reclamation of 0.14 billion Chinese acres in the 12 years from 1955 to 1967, so that the arable lands reach 1.8 billion Chinese acres. According to these two articles, the grain output will be trillion Chinese pounds in 1967, which is 80% more that that set in the State Council's "Fifteen-Year Vision Plan"; and cotton production will be 10 billion Chinese pounds, which is more than double of that set in the "Fifteen-Year Vision Plan". Economic development indicators for the year of 1955 was also set very high, including infrastructure investment of 9.8 billion Yuan, which is 32% increase in comparison with the previous year. In the implementation process, the State Council estimated that the funding and raw materials may not be able to keep up, and so reduced the number of infrastructure projects for few times. At the end of the year, however, there was a cash surplus of 1.8 billion Yuan, and 4

6 some surplus in steel, wood, cement and other raw materials. Seeing this, the State Council decided to export steel, reduce cement production, and sell some woods and equipments in the market. By doing so, a "surplus" quickly became a "shortage", however. In this regard, Premier ZHOU En-lai made self-criticism repeatedly, but MAO Ze-dong was still not satisfied. Later, MAO said at the Politburo meeting in February 1958: "In December 1955, there were too much 'eight things', i.e. steel, iron, coal, cement, aluminum, copper and other two items, and had to ask the Soviet Union to help (meaning export to the Soviet Union). For exporting to the Soviet Union, a long-term contract had to be set. Okay, set the contract and signed it. Only a month later, you wanted to cancel the contract, however. Canceling after two months would be better than just a month! You forced the other to set a long-term contract, but want cancel it after a month.... When talking about the Communist Party, you use the words of 'glorious', 'great' and something. Regarding this thing, I think the Communist Party is naïve and short-sighted." On December 5, a meeting held in the conference room of the West Building in the Zhongnanhai District, participated by the Party's Central Committee members who were in Beijing, and responsible cadres of various departments of the party, government and military, a total of 122 people. In the meeting, LIU Shao-qi conveyed an instruction of MAO Ze-dong: "We should take the advantage of the peace period in the world and, together with our efforts, speed up our development, and complete socialist industrialization and socialist transformation earlier.... We have a few roads ahead. We should compare these roads and choose the more reasonable 5

7 and correct road. Going with routines would make time longer and less success, which is a conservative road. Now all aspects of our works are behind the economic developing situation, and a lot of our comrades are walking along this conservative road. The industrial sector should not be cocky but be refueled, otherwise the two wings (Note: Refers to the agriculture sector and the commerce sector) would be in the front, but the main body (Note: Refers to the industry sector) cannot keep them up. The development of objective things is unbalanced, and a balance is constantly being broken, which is a good thing. Do not do thing according to a balance. The units working according to the balance will have problems." On the preparation of the CPC's Eighth Congress, MAO said: "The central idea is against right-wing thinking, i.e. against conservatism. It can be envisaged that our difficulties will be greater when there would be a war in the future if we do not accelerate the economic development, not complete socialist transform in the agriculture sector, private industry and commerce sector, and not develop the industry sector fast enough. Therefore, we should be against conservatism in all of our works." At the end of December, MAO wrote a preface for the book entitled "Socialist Upsurge in Rural China". He wrote: "When the three five-year plans were completed, i.e. by 1967, the production of grain and many other crops may increase by 100% to 200% compared to the highest annual output (300 billion Chinese pounds of grain in 1936) before establishment of the People's Republic. 6

8 In January 1956, MAO called a meeting of Party secretaries of the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to review the Seven Articles for Agriculture. At the end of the meeting, the Seventeen Articles were revised and expanded to forty articles. After being adopted by the Supreme State Conference, the revision was published with the title of "Forty Articles for Agriculture (Draft)". It stipulated that the outputs of grain and cotton increased from billion Chinese pounds and 3 billion in 1955, to 1000 billion and 10 billion in 1967, or annual increase of 8.8 % and 10.5 %, respectively. The Forty Articles for Agriculture Draft also stipulated: (1) In seven to twelve years, basically eliminate ordinary floods, droughts and soil erosion disasters; where possible, to basically eliminate the most serious pests and diseases against crops, and most serious diseases endangering the people; (2) In five, seven or twelve years, basically eliminate the "four bad stuffs", i.e. rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows (later changed to bedbugs after learning that sparrow is a beneficial bird); and (3) In five to seven years, basically eliminate illiteracy. Accordingly, the State Council made changes on its original Fifteen-Year Vision Plan. On January 25, 1958, MAO spoke at the Sixth Supreme State Conference: "The United States has one hundred million tons of steel and hundreds of hydrogen bombs, which are not much. China is going to surpass it. The first step is to approach it." On February 14, the State Council's 34 ministers held a meeting, during which MAO chipped in for several times when others spoke. He said: "The pace of our industrial development should not be constrained by the pace of the first few five-year plans of the Soviet Union. Our pace can outrun 7

9 the Soviet Union's first few five-year plans." (Note: The average annual growth rate of the Soviet industry is 19% for the first five-year plan ( ), 17% for the second ( ) and 13% for the first three years of the third fiveyear plan ( ). China's industrial output increased 18% annually for the first five-year plan.) He added: "China has two advantages, one is 'empty' (Note: modified to 'poor' when published later) and the second is 'blank', and therefore has no burden. The United States in the Washington Era was also blank, so it developed fast. The Soviet Union was also blank at the beginning. Development can not be that fast when a county is rich already." MAO's grand plans caused the provinces and municipalities also making exciting plans, and they compare to each other and every one of them wants to be higher than the others. The Planning Commission reported on January 5, 1956, that the investment planed by various provinces and municipalities had reached 15.3 billion Yuan, and later increased to 18 billion Yuan and further to more than 20 billion Yuan. ZHOU En-lai said: "Thousands upon thousands of horses and soldiers rush in every aspect.... When there are more and more infrastructure projects planed, there will be a chaos and tension in all aspects." ZHOU En-lai's Anti Rash-Advance On January 30, 1956, ZHOU En-lai made a "political report" at the second meeting of the Second Plenary Session of the Political Consultative Conference (PCC). He said: "We should strive to do things that can be objectively done after making 8

10 our efforts, otherwise we would make a conservatism mistake. We should also pay attention to avoid exceeding the objective scope permitted by the reality, and not to do things that can not be done objectively, otherwise we will make the mistake of making rash advance." Here, ZHOU used the word "rash advance". Somebody asked him why he did not mention in the report about "the early completion of China's socialist industrialization"? ZHOU replied: "Speaking on early completion of industrialization should be cautious.... Seek truth from facts, and do not mention the early completion with no basis.... We need to know that the industrialization needs time and knowledge." In February, ZHOU also spoke in the PCC Standing Committee meeting and in the State Council meeting. He said: "Everyone must seek truth from facts.... Do not just look at the side of going forward in full swing. Going forward with full swing is good but we should be cautious. We want not only that 'more' things to be done and do it 'faster', but also that do it 'better' and 'more economically'. We should not pour cold water onto the enthusiasm of the masses, but the hot-headed leaders may be more sober when being poured by cold water." On February 6, ZHOU said to Planning Commission's Director LI Fu-chun and Finance Minister LI Xian-nian that all the plans made in technical meetings of various departments are "all aggressive", there already is "phenomenon of not doing things carefully, but being impetuous and impatient, and of rash advancing", which the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry should "suppress". On April 14, the State Council issued a circular, calling on all regions and departments "having to combine the mass climax of the socialist economic development with a comprehensive balance in the plans, especially balance of 9

11 material supply in the plans. If one only sees the growth of manpower for the development, and go ahead in full swing and in all scopes, but is aware of the situation of design, supply, equipments and materials, then it is possible, actually unavoidable, that there will be a risk for occurrence of projects' stoppage or slowdown, and for some of our plans to fail." On May 11, ZHOU said in the 28 th plenary meeting of the State Council: "Starting from August last year, anti conservatism and anti right-wing have been progressed for eight or nine months already. It should not go on anymore." On May 15, LI Xian-nian made a budget report in the Third Plenary Session of the First National People's Congress, and said: "In the implementation process of the 1956 national budget, we must simultaneously be against conservatism and the tendency of impatient rash advance.... Not only to do more and faster, but also to do it better and more economically, as well as to achieve safety in production." He said that this is a "general policy". In the following day, the report was fully published in various newspapers. "People's Daily" also published an editorial, stating that the budget report's "most noteworthy point is that it puts forward a slogan against the impetuous rash advance at the same time when we are against the conservatism." On June 10, LIU Shao-qi instructed the Central Propaganda Department to draft another editorial for the People's Daily, focusing on the problem of impatience and rash advance. Soon after, the department completed a draft, entitled "Oppose Conservatism, But Also Oppose Impatience." It stated: 10

12 "Impatient rash advance becomes a serious problem because it exists not only among the local cadres, but first also among the leading cadres of various fields in the upper levels. In many cases, the rash adventure at lower levels is actually the result of the pressure from the upper levels." LU Ding-yi and HU Qiao-mu first reviewed the draft. LU Ding-yi added a paragraph on the issue of the time needed to eliminate illiteracy, taking it as an example of rash advance. He wrote: "The Outline of Agricultural Development (Draft) prepared under the leadership of Chairman MAO sets that from 1956 onwards, in five to seven years we should basically eliminate illiteracy (taking knowing 1500 Chinese characters as the standard) of urban and rural residents. In the atmosphere against 'Right-wing conservatism', the time to achieve this goal was reduced to four or five years in some provinces, to two or three years in some counties, and ever shorter in some rural areas." HU Qiao-mu added a paragraph, taking the production of the two-wheeled double plows as an example of rash advance. It stated: "The 'Outline of Agricultural Development (Draft) ' provides 'to promote two-wheel double plow to six millions in three to five years', but in fact this kind of plow can not be used for the paddy field in southern areas. To the end of October, more than 1.7 million such plows have been produced, but only 0.8 millions of them were sold, among which 0.15 millions returned, and the remaining plows can only be hung on the wall and became unusable 'hanging plow'." After being modified by LU Ding-yi and HU Qiaomu, the draft was sent to LIU Shao-qi for review. LIU wrote an instruction: "After reviewed by the Chairman, send it to (HU) Qiao-mu for publication." MAO received this draft, but granted only a few words: "I do not read it." On June 20, the 11

13 editorial was published in the front page of the "People's Daily". Then, ZHOU En-lai put his energy into the preparation of the second five-year plan. He convened two consecutive executive meeting of the State Council to discuss the draft of the second five-year plan submitted by the State Planning Commission. The draft proposed two options, both of which, as ZHOU Enlai sees it, are not good. He said at the meeting that the first option is a "rash advance", and the second is "unreliable" and "dangerous". He also talked about the 1962 production target of 640 billion Chinese pounds of grain and 7 billion Chinese pounds of cotton, and said that after implementation of cooperation in agriculture sector, "although the positive factors are increased, but the negative factors not reduced" in the agricultural production, and the flood and drought disasters will affect. He added: "Agricultural production indices is high, which will affect agricultural tax, profits of the light industry sector, capital construction investment, financial budget and a series of other economic figures." Some participants said in the discussions: "The measures proposed in the 'Agricultural Development Program (Draft)', such as land reclamation, water conservancy construction, a substantial increase in fertilizer, etc., are not all doable. For example, the measure of land reclamation is not doable because Eastern China and Middle China have little agricultural wasteland; In Southwest China, Northwest China and the remote areas of Northeast China, there are wasteland suitable for agricultural use, but the reclamation requires a lot of investment." ZHOU En-lai said: "If the average annual land reclamation is 33 million Chinese acre, as set in the Agricultural Development Program, we need 12

14 to invest 1.65 billion Yuan per year, which is in any case not possible." In addition to grain production, ZHOU En-lai, CHEN Yun, BO Yi-bo, et al also advocated to take the steel production index down. As so, the Planning Committee compiled a new draft, reducing the production targets. From August 3 to 16, 1956, ZHOU En-lai and CHEN Yun convened a State Council executive meeting in Beidaihe Resorts. The meeting examined and approved the new version of the second five-year plan and submitted it to the CPC Central Committee. According to the new version, the grain production will be 500 billion Chinese pounds and the cotton production 4.8 billion Chinese pounds in the year of 1962, i.e. the last year of the second five-year plan. MAO Ze-dong adopted this new plan. At the time, some ones proposed to set the grain production in 1962 at 520 or 530 billion Chinese pounds, but MAO wrote an instruction: "The index of 500 billion Chinese pounds is appropriate." On September 15, the CPC Eighth Congress started in Beijing. In the second day, ZHOU En-lai made the "Report on the Proposals for the Second Five-Year Plan for the Development of the National Economy", and put forward four guiding principles for economic development: "First, we should set a reasonable speed of economic development according to the needs and possibilities.... In the preparation of long-term plan, we should be in accordance with the fundamental requirements of our socialist industrialization, and with the country's conditions in materials, and financial and human resources, should provide realistic development indices in various fields, and should have some reserves.... Do not engage in impatient rash advance.... Second, it is necessary to 13

15 combine key projects with a comprehensive plan so that all sectors of the national economy can develop proportionately.... Third, reserves should be increased.... An economically backward and populous country like ours, shortage of a variety of materials is a regular phenomenon.... Fourth, we should correctly deal with the relation between economy and finance. Our experience over the years is that our fiscal revenue must be based on economic development level. " He also said: "In the recent months, Chairman MAO frequently tells us that we need both heavy industry and the people. Our industrialization and socialist development are to seek long-term interests of the people. If you do not care about the interests of the people and let people overly tighten their belts, then even if heavy industry is developed, we will have to stop it sometime later. Lessons of Eastern Europe deserve our attention.... It now seems that it is probably impossible to achieve the long-tern vision envisaged by the (CPC) Eighth Congress, i.e. steel production of 30 million tons and grain production of 1 trillion Chinese Pounds in We should slow down the pace.... Some of the indices recommended by the Eight Congress can be modified if there is a difficulty in balance.... Forty Articles for Agricultural Development (Draft) itself is a proposal and a draft only, do not to forcefully implement it if you cannot keep up. In fact, some figures have been ticked out.... Production and construction this year have great achievements, but there is a 'rash' in some aspects. Because of the 'rash advance' in this year, planning for the next year is very difficult. The 'rash advance' should be shrunk, so to coordinate the development of the national economy, otherwise we could not stand stably and it will affect our currency, prices, labor wages and other aspects. It should be 14

16 realized that we should avoid the happening of "Petzanan" (Note: It is a city in Poland) Incident in China, where tens of thousands of people or hundreds of thousands of people were standing on the street to petition. If it would happen in China, we will have a big trouble." When discussing ZHOU's report, people generally agreed to the principle of "guaranteeing priorities and making proper shrinking" in The North China Group agreed that all aspects of the works in 1956 had the problem of "rash advance", and therefore we should shrink in DONG Bi-wu said in the Middle-South Group: "Criticism of the rash advance began in June, but the rash advance thinking has not been cleared up to now. Economic development is a long-term issue. It may be okay to rush occasionally, but one should not often rely on it. The second five-year plan will be a problem if the rash advance thinking is not cleared." MAO Ze-dong made a speech in the general assembly: "Now no one can see any fundamental error in the 830 projects in the first five-year plan yet, including the improper use of 2 to 3 billions in this year's budget. Going forward is not a sudden advance, but a forward in waves. There could be a forward or a backward, but the forward is the main. We should protect the enthusiasm of the cadres and the masses, do not pour cold water on their heads." Nevertheless, he agreed to implement the principle of "guaranteeing priorities and making an appropriate shrink" in The resolution adopted by the CPC Eighth Congress states that: "It is possible for us to develop our productive forces at a high speed. If we underestimate this possibility or do not make efforts to realize the possibility, then it is a conservative mistake. However, it is also necessary to recognize the objective constraints on the current economic, financial and 15

17 technical aspects, and to recognize the need to maintain reserves, rather than leaving the right proportions of economic development. If we do not recognize these but set an overly high speed for development, then it will hinder the economic development and the completion of the plan, which is an error of adventurism. The party's task is to always pay attention to prevent and correct a rightist conservative tendency or a 'leftist' adventure tendency, and to positively but stably promote the development of the national economy." After the CPC Eighth Congress ended, the State Council started to prepare the national economic plan of The total investment in capital projects submitted by the ministries, provinces and autonomous regions was 24.3 billion Yuan. (Note: It was 14 billion Yuan in 1956.) In this regard, all participants of the meeting agreed to reduce it down. But how much down? There were two opinions: reduce it to 15 billion or 10 billion Yuan. Economic Commission Director BO Yi-bo said that let us take the average, 12.5 billion Yuan. But people still stalemate, and therefore they had to report to ZHOU Enlai and CHEN Yun. Finally, it was decided to reduce it to 11 billion Yuan. In November 1956, on the eve of the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth CPC Central Committee, ZHOU convened the State Council's tenth executive meeting to examine the implementation of the 1956 plan and to study the major control targets in He said: "We must mainly criticize the 'leftist'." "We must take the backward principle. Our country is very large, very backward and with a large population. Therefore, we must develop as well as pay 16

18 attention to the people's livelihood." CHEN Yun supported him by saying: "Our pace should be rather a little slower. Be slower for one or two years. Plan to be slower for one year in every five-year plan in the first three five-year plans. Be steady, i.e. be right leaning. Being a little bit right-leaning is better than being a little bit 'leftist'-leaning." ZHOU interrupted and said: "This is not related to the question of being 'leftist' or rightist. This is unlike the political issues, in which 'leftist' means blind moving and rightist means surrendering." On November 10, the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth CPC Central Committee was started. LIU Shao-qi made a report. He mentioned the remarks on the left leaning and right leaning by ZHOU En-lai and CHEN Yun, and asked: "What is better, 'leftist' leaning or rightist leaning?" MAO Ze-dong answered: "It depends on what kind of rightist leaning we are talking about." LIU replied: "It is about faster or slower development of economy." MAO said: "This kind of rightist leaning is okay." LIU went on to say: "On the class struggle, if you are rightist leaning, the enemy came in, which we should not yield. This kind of rightist leaning is not allowed. Being faster or slower is not an issue of losing ground. Yesterday, a comrade said: 'If we are a little bit slower or a little bit rightist leaning, then there is a room for us to maneuver. On the other hand, if we are a little over-doing or a little leftist leaning, then there is only a little room for maneuvering.'" At the beginning of 1957, MAO Ze-dong convened a smallscale meeting in Yinian Hall, reviewing the 1956 economic works. CHEN Yun, LI Fu-chun, LI Xian-nian and BO Yi-bo 17

19 spoke in the meeting. All of these four people said that we had a rash advance in CHEN Yun said that we should prevent the danger for the development scale to be beyond the national strength. LI Fu-chun said that the plan in 1956 is of rash advance, and so is its implementation, and we "were dizzy with success". LI Xian-nian said that the "rash advance" in 1956 took 3-5 billion Yuan, of which 2.5 billion Yuan is stock reduction and 1 billion Yuan is bank overdraft. BO Yibo enumerated ten problems, including excessive investment in infrastructure in the cost of the market; consumer product growth cannot keep up with the needs of the people; increase in wages and benefits is beyond the growth of productivity, and so on. MAO Ze-dong made a detailed note on these speeches. On June 26, 1957, the Fourth Plenary Session of the National People's Congress (NPC) opened. BO Yi-bo made the "Report on the Results of the Implementation of the 1956 National Economic Plan and the Draft of National Economic Plan of 1957". On the production growth indices in 1957, he said that the gross industrial output will be increased by 4.5% over 1956, of which output of consumption product will increase by 1.1%, capital construction product by 8%, steel 11%, raw coal 10.7%, but cotton yarn and cotton production will decrease by 11.7% and 14.7%, respectively, over the previous year. Capital construction investment is set at 11.1 billion Yuan for 1957, i.e. 20% less than the actual completion of 14 billion Yuan last year. These indices were much lower than the targets envisaged by MAO. 18

20 MAO Ze-dong's Anti Anti-Rash-Advance In September 1957, the Third Plenary Session of the CPC Eighth Central Committee held in Beijing. In the closing meeting on October 9, MAO Ze-dong said: "There was a climax in 1955, but there was a rightist leaning and a slack, and so the economy suffered in In 1956, three things were wiped out: the first is the principle of "More, faster, better and more economically" for economic development; the second is "National Development Plan for Agriculture" and the third is the Promotion Committee.... The shortcomings in 1956 were that 3 billion Yuan more was spent on capital construction and that 6 million unsuitable double-wheeled double plows were produced. Organizing a committee for going backward can solve these problems. But the general policy of the Communist Party is to promote going forward, not to promote going backward. The Communist Party should be a promotion committee for going forward, and only the Kuomintang is a promotion committee for going backward. We should 'restore' these three things." MAO continued to say: "The principle of 'More, faster, better and more economically' was swept away, and some people do not want 'more' and 'faster'. The principles of 'better' and 'more economically' were also swept out as well." (Note: When reviewing the draft of the second five-year plan, ZHOU En-lai deleted the phrase of "more, faster, better and more economically" in many places of the draft, and later on he no longer mentioned the phrase anymore.) I think that nobody would oppose 'better' and 'more economically', but somebody may not like 'more' and 'faster'. Some comrades call it rash advance, but I think it will not have any problem if we add a little bit restraint and 19

21 add a little bit adjective.... In the second half of last year, a wind swept the slogan away. I am now trying to recover it. Is it possible? Please study." In November, MAO Ze-dong visited the Soviet Union. The Soviet leader Khrushchev told him: "Fifteen years later, the Soviet Union can surpass the United States." MAO replied: "Fifteen years later, we may catch up or surpass Britain." He then called from Moscow to Beijing and said to the Chinese leaders: "Do not mention 'anti rash-advance' anymore. Doing socialism should take some rash advance." On December 12, "People's Daily" published an editorial entitled "Must adhere to the development principle of 'More, faster, better and more economically' " after revised by MAO, and discussed and adopted by the Politburo. The editorial criticized that in the anti rash-advance period, "there was blowing a surge of wind that even scratched off the principle of 'More, faster, better and more economically'.... Some people even said that we would rather make a conservative mistake, but not make rash advance. As so, they do things less and slower, or even do nothing, which could be done more and faster. This approach, of course, can not play a positive role in promoting socialist economic development but, on the contrary, played a negative role promoting 'retreat'." MAO believed that the political atmosphere of Beijing at the time was very boring, while the political atmosphere in Eastern China was very active. So he left Beijing and go to Eastern China, where he stayed for nearly a month. When he was there, he called in Hangzhou City a meeting of the party 20

22 secretaries of the provinces and cities in Eastern China, while ZHOU En-lai also attended. In his speech, MAO first talked about the Huai River Control Project, saying that the people of Anhui Province engaged in 1.6 billion cubic meters of earth in the winter 1957, which is more than the total earth they made in the past seven years. He said that it indicates that the original plan was conservative and has too low target, and therefore we should criticize the right-wing conservatism. He also said: "I feel comfortable when criticizing right-wing conservatism. The more criticism there is, the more comfort I am. We should criticize right-wing conservatism happily." Later in an enlarged Politburo meeting, MAO spoke of the meeting in Hangzhou, saying: "I set a fire on (ZHOU) En-lai, as evidenced by KE Senior (Note: Refers to KE Qing-shi, the party secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee). It was in Hangzhou meeting when I could not hold back. I exploded with the rage of a few years to BO Yi-bo. I said: 'I do not listen to you. What you are talking about? I have not looked at the budget for a few years, and you have been forcing me to sign.'" On January 11, 1958, MAO hosted a meeting in Nanning. The official agenda of the meeting was to sum up the experiences of the first five-year plan and to discuss the draft of the second five-year plan. But in fact, the meeting was focused on criticism of anti rash-advance. The meeting distributed 22 documents as references for the participants, including a paragraph in the report on anti rash-advance given by LI Xiannian on June 15, 1956, in the Third Plenary Session of the National People's Congress, the "People's Daily" editorial on June 20, 1956, and excerpt of "Report on the 1957 Plan" given 21

23 by ZHOU En-lai on November 10, 1956, in the Second Plenary Session of the CPC Eighth Central Committee. In the first day of the meeting, MAO criticized: "The anti rashadvance did not understand the finger counting. Among the total of ten fingers, only one has a sore, then you should say that finger has a sore. Counting of ten fingers should be made clear, which is an issue related to the 600 million people. What is the main thing, the achievements or the errors? Should we protect people's enthusiasm, encourage the drive and go with the wind and waves, or discourage them and pour cold water onto them?" He added: "People suffered in the history when some one attacked on only one point but did not mention the rest. This is what dogmatism is." He cited from SONG Yu's article of "Lecher lustful" as an example, and said that one should not like SONG Yu attacking only one point but without mentioning the rest. In the evening, MAO said at the meeting: "Do not mention the words of 'anti rash-advance', which is a political issue. If we do anti rash-advance, people will feel discouraged. It will be a very serious problem if 600 million people feel discouraged. Should we oppose using too many people and too much money? Yes, we should. If we had not mention anti rash-advance but said that only one finger had a sore, there would have not formed a wind blowing off the three things: the principle of 'More, faster, better and more economically', the Forty Articles for Agriculture and the Promotion Committee. These issues are political, not of business type." He also sharply criticized the editorial of "People's Daily" published on June 20, 1956, entitled "Need to oppose conservatism, but also oppose impatience". He said: "This editorial opposes both rightist conservatism and impatient rash advance, as if hitting the reasonable person 22

24 three times and the unreasonable person also three times. But the editorial' actual focus is to oppose rash advance." He also said that the editorial cites a few words in the prologue of the book entitled "Socialist Upsurge in Rural China" in order to illustrate the need to oppose rash advance, which is "using MAO Ze-dong to oppose MAO Ze-dong." He wrote a comment on the editorial: "Vulgar dialectics", "Vulgar Marxism" and "sharply against me". At the meeting on November 12, MAO said: "I am just afraid that the 600 million people do not have the strength. Do we talk about the mass line? Where is the mass line if 600 million people are discouraged? Looking at the problem should be started from interests of the 600 million people." On November 14, MAO said: "Anti rash-advance has hurt the hearts of many people. They do not have strength to work in water conservancy, to do cooperatives, to eliminate illiteracy and to eliminate the 'four bad things'." On November 16, when speaking in the meeting, MAO held KE Qing-shi's article entitled "Go with Wind and Waves, and Speed up Development of a Socialist New Shanghai" in hand, and asked ZHOU En-lai: "Comrade En-lai, you are the Premier. As you see, are you able to write this article?" ZHOU replied: "I can not write it." MAO said: "You are 'Anti rashadvance', and I am anti anti-rash-advance!" At the meeting on November 17, MAO held in his hand the editorial of the People's Daily entitled "Need to oppose conservatism and also to oppose impatience". (Note: It was writtern by persons organized by LIU Shao-qi.) MAO read a paragraph and criticized contents of the paragraph, and then moved on to the next paragraph and criticized it, and so on. He said: "To whom this editorial is pointing? It is pointing to my 23

25 preface written for the book 'Climax' and criticizes it.... They put me aside while also using me. They does not bother me while using me to attack others." That night, MAO called LI Fu-chun, LI Xian-nian and BO Yi-bo for a conversation, and said: "My criticism made at the daytime meeting was mainly on Comrade CHEN Yun." On November 19, MAO talked with ZHOU En-lai alone. The talk continued that night until 1:00 AM of the next day. In the next day, ZHOU En-lai said in a meeting: "Anti rashadvance... is a rightist conservative thinking.... No matter what your subjective idea is, it is in fact contrary to the Chairman's policy. This is a contradiction on the matter of policy. The more unconscious I am, the more serious and the more dangerous this is.... For this error of anti rash-advance, I have to bear the primary responsibility." At the meeting on November 20, ZHOU said: " 'Rash advance' is flamed up by the people of the country and is a good thing, while a part of it is bad. Anti rash-advance placed the going forward as secondary." At the meeting, MAO talked a lot of philosophy, referring to the issue of balanced development of the economy. He said: "Balance is relative, temporary and transitional, but unbalance is absolute. We must have a balance, and it is not good if there is no temporary balance. But the balance is relative, and will be broken when we go forward by continuously using the experience. Our cause can move forward only when the balance is broken. Moving forward after breaking the balance, and achieve a new balance when moving forward. Again, the balance is temporary, and then there are a lot of works for going forward, and the original balance will be broken, and then move forward again. Do not put balance as the main thing. For example, in iron and steel 24

26 production, when an advanced technology is engaged in, and all the others cannot keep up and the original balance is broken, so we move forward. Balance is a revolutionary balance and a positive balance, but neither a negative balance nor a conservative balance." MAO wrote in his outline for the conclusion of the Nanning Meeting: "Imbalance - balance - another imbalance - another balance, and so on. This is the law." On February 18, 1958, MAO held an expanded Politburo meeting in Beijing, continuing to criticize the anti rashadvance. He said: "The anti rash-advance wind is so strong that the masses feel discouraged. The anti rash-advance coupled with the furious attack of the rightists, made the masses discouraged and we were all suffered. You, the Central Committee members are so comfortable? I am not.... I do not agree with that the anti rash-advance is Marxism. Agreeing with rash advance is Marxism. This rash advance is good because it makes the farmers do more water conservancy projects!... The rightists throw you to the place near them, only about 50 meters away." He continued to say: "When talking about the shortcomings, you make sky murky and earth dark, and make both the sun and the moon without light. China has 600 million population and 12 million party members. Will their works be without any shortcomings?" He added: "In the second half of this year, you will see a big rash advance anyway. I think it will be rasher than any other year." Then, MAO said with a more moderate tone: "I had to fire a shot in the Nanning Meeting, but it was a small fire, which already caused some comrades nervous. Comrade (LI) Xiannian now cannot sleep and takes sleeping pills. You should not 25

27 be so nervous. In the future, we will still rely on you to do the works, there are no other persons." At the meeting, CHEN Yun, LI Xian-nian and BO Yi-bo made self-criticism. In March, an enlarged Politburo meeting was held in Chengdu City. MAO made six speeches at the meeting. He said in the meeting on March 9: "We should no longer mention the slogan of anti rash-advance, but the slogan of anti-rightist. The slogan of anti rash-advance is not good, because it makes us suffering and hit the masses. Why would not the slogan of anti right-wing hit the masses? Because what the anti right-wing hits are officials' bureaucracy, lethargy, arrogance and fragility, and some people's subjectivism, bureaucracy and sectarianism, which should all be combated.... Anti rash-advance is a policy error, which I have talked about in the Nanning Meeting and made many comrades nervous at the time, but now they are okay. The purpose of clarifying the issue is to make everyone have a common language, do a good job, but not to make people uneasy. I absolutely do not mean to make any comrade uneasy." On March 25, MAO said that the anti rash-advance is "searching here and there, dull and dry, and miserable", while the rash advance is "vigorous, happy, endless rolling in Changjiang River". ZHOU En-lai made self-criticism again at the meeting on the issue of anti rash-advance: "The rightists educated me, the Chairman reminded me and the masses practice more inspired me, which all make me gradually understand that this is a policy error in the socialist economic development." On ZHOU's self-criticism, MAO commented: "If it is taking an example in the aspects of experience or methodology, it is okay. This is not a question of responsibility, nor is it for us to listen self-criticism again and 26

28 again. We heard the self-criticism in Nanning, and then in Beijing.... As I see it, we should not talk too much on the issue of anti rash-advance in the future. " In early April, MAO hosted a report meeting in Wuhan City. When ZHOU Xiao-zhou spoke, MAO chipped in: "The anti rash-advance in the second half of 1956 and in the year of 1957 made people uncomfortable. This setback is very useful, because it educated the cadres and the masses, educated from the opposite side. Due to this loss, we had a saddle, i.e. between two high tides there was a low tide of anti rashadvance.... The upper levels cursed anti rash-advance and so does the lower levels, and therefore the momentum was little in In the last year, the lid was uncovered, and the rightist conservative thought was wiped off by using the method of rectification. If the lid was not uncovered, then there is pressure on the workers and cadres, and made them lack of energy, and therefore their productivity is not liberated." On April 8, when YE Fei reporting, MAO chipped: "Our China is such a big country. If we always ask for being steady and slow, then we will have a disaster. If we go faster, then the situation will be better. The method to deal with the 'Faction of steady' is to put forward new slogans so that they cannot be steady, when a right time comes. 'Anti rash-advance' is the slogan used by the 'Faction of steady' to oppose leap forward. We should use the slogan of 'leap forward' instead of 'rash advance', so that those people are hard to oppose." At a Politburo meeting held in late April, MAO requested an additional allocation for infrastructure in the budget. But the participants had different views. Among them, ZHOU En-lai 27

29 was the one who spoke most. He said that making additional allocation for infrastructure would result in tension of material supply, increase of the urban population and a series of other problems. But MAO still stick to his views, and soon declared the meeting ended. After the meeting, ZHOU went to MAO and said: "I, as the Prime Minister, can not agree to this decision from my conscience." The word "conscience" made MAO very angry. Soon, MAO left Beijing. In May, the CPC Central Committee held a meeting. On behalf of the Central, LIU Shao-qi made a work report. He said: "Anti rash-advance damaged enthusiasm of the masses, affected the 1957 production and construction, especially the development of agriculture, and so formed a 'saddle'." In the group discussion sessions, many people said that LIU Shaoqi's criticism on anti rash-advance in his report was in a moderate tone, but we should completely clear the mistake of anti rash-advance. MAO talked with ZHOU En-lai and CHEN Yun separately. From this time on, ZHOU began to draft his self-criticism and his temples had much more gray hairs just within ten days. The printed self-criticism draft of ZHOU was printed and distributed among members of the Politburo and the Secretariat for comments. After reading ZHOU's self-criticism, DENG Xiao-ping said: "Why write so many?" He deleted the words of "only 50 meters away from the rightists" and other irritating words, and changed some other words to moderate ones. After ZHOU made his selfcriticism at a general assembly, the printed version of the selfcriticism was distributed to all delegates. CHEN Yun, LI Xian-nian and BO Yi-bo also made their own self-criticism. MAO did not address ZHOU's self-criticism directly, but said 28

30 at the meeting: "In the history of the party, there were splits. Will there be new splits in the future? Possible. A split is metabolism." MAO planed to speak at the meeting on May 20, and therefore prepared a speech outline, where he wrote: "The preamble of the book 'Climax', the promotion committee, the Forty Articles on the Development of Agriculture, the Ten Relations, and the principle of 'More, faster, better and more economically' were all adopted at meetings at the central level.... Some comrades agreed then (with no one having objection), but five months or a month later, opposed them, or do not agree with them, or suspected them, and made opposition activities of anti rash-advance without going through a legal formality, i.e. to discuss and change them in a meeting at the same level.... It suddenly out broke at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee in November 1956." But in MAO's actual speech, these words in the outline did not speak out, but only said: "After the rectification and criticism on 'Anti rash-advance', the central, as well as the locals, were very united. The problem of the anti rash-advance is clear now, and we are united on a new basis. From the desire of unity and through criticism and selfcriticism, we have achieved a new unity on a new basis." Since then, MAO no longer criticized the anti rash-advance. On May 25, PENG Zhen sent to MAO the editorial of "People's Daily" on November 13 of the last year, and said that this editorial uses the words of "leap forward". MAO returned a letter to PENG, stating: "If one wants to issue a doctorate title, I would like to advise issuing the No. 1 doctorate title to the scientist or scientists who invented this great slogan." After reading MAO's writing, PENG sent MAO 29

31 a report of ZHOU En-lai at the beginning of the year, and wrote: "Chairman: This report has used the words of 'leap forward' already." At that night, ZHOU En-lai wrote a letter to MAO, stating: "My main idea at that time was to support socialism, to fight against the rightists, and to affirm that the development in 1956 is a leap forward development. And I have abandoned the erroneous estimate that the economic development in 1956 is a rash advance. However, I did not realize at that time that the error of anti 'rash advance' is a policy error." Then, MAO wrote a letter to the members of the Politburo and the Secretariat, and the first secretaries of provincial, municipalities and autonomous regional party committees: " 'Rash advance' can be opposed (rash advance is a synonym of 'leftist' opportunism), and the opponents can be plausible, of course. How about the word 'leap forward'? It will be different to oppose. If one oppose leap forward, then he immediately throw himself into a disgraceful position." On June 9, ZHOU En-lai said at an enlarged meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee: "Please consider the issue as to if it is appropriate for me to be the premier of the State Council." At this time, PENG De-huai also proposed to the central government that he "will not continue to serve as defense minister after this term". When discussing their request (while MAO did not attend), all participants retained them to continue their current duties. The meeting minutes prepared by DENG Xiao-ping after the meeting stated: "They should continue to serve at the current duties, and there is no need to change." DENG sent the minutes to MAO, but got no response from MAO. 30

32 The Fifth Plenary Session of the CPC's Eighth Central Committee was held in Beijing on May 25, Nominated by MAO, LIN Biao was elected as vice chairman of the Central Committee and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee. As so, the Standing Committee was enlarged to have seven members: MAO, LIU, ZHOU, ZHU, CHEN, LIN and DENG. Since then, the photos of the seven leaders had been hanging in public places. The plenary session also elected KE Qing-shi, LI Jing-quan and TAN Zhen-lin as members of the Politburo, who were well-known supporters of "leap forward". Thus, the Politburo had a total of 17 members, and they were, in addition to seven members of the Standing Committee, LIN Bo-qu, DONG Bi-wu, PENG Zhen, LUO Rong-huan, CHEN Yi, LI Fu-chun, PENG De-huai, LIU Bochen, HE Long and LI Xian-nian. In addition, the Politburo has six alternate members, and they are Ulanhu, ZHANG Wen-tian, LU Ding-yi, CHEN Bo-da, KANG Sheng and BO Yi-bo. 31

33 Chapter 2 The Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward in Agriculture The processes of criticizing "Right-wing conservatism" and criticizing the "Anti rash-advance" of ZHOU En-lai and others were the processes of launching the Great Leap Forward by MAO Ze-dong. The Program for Agricultural Development adopted by the Third Plenary Session of CPC Eighth Central Committee in September 1957 marked the beginning of the Great Leap Forward in agriculture. In November and December 1957, all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions successively convened their party congresses to carry out the spirit of the Third Plenary Session, criticizing "rightwing conservatism" in the form of "Four Big" (i.e. speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates and writing big-character posters), implementing the "Agricultural Development Program", deploying water conservancy constructions and carrying out the fertilizer movement. The labor force invested in water conservancy constructions was 20 to 30 million people in October, 60 to 70 million in November, 80 million in December 1957, and 100 million in January Farmland water conservancy constructions of unprecedented scale sounded the horn for the "Great Leap Forward" in agriculture. In the following Nanning Meeting, MAO further proposed to achieve success ahead of the schedule set in the Agricultural Development Program. MAO 32

34 stipulated in his work entitled "Sixty Articles for Working Methods": "From the national scope, the goals set in the Forty Articles (Note: 'Forty Articles' is a revised version of the Agricultural Development Program, and requires to achieve the goals within fifteen years) can not be universally achieved in five years, but may be achieved in six or seven years, and will be more likely achieved in eight years." Later, MAO accepted the suggestion made by a responsible person of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and stipulated in the "Sixty articles of working methods": "The things in ten years is decided by the first three years. For most of the regions, we should try to have a basic change within three years.... Our slogan is: 'Work hard for the first three years. ' " He also adopted the opinion of Minister of Agriculture LIAO Lu-yan that "five years' things are decided by the first three years, three years' things by the first year, and the first year's things by the last winter." In the Nanning Meeting, MAO adopted the proposal of BO Yi-bo: "Establish three books for development indices. The Central has two books: The first one is for the plan that must be achieved and is published to the public; and the second book is the plan that we expect to be achieved and not published. Provinces also have two books of their development indices: The first book is the same as the second book of the Central, and the targets set there must be achieved by the province; And the second book of the province is expected to be achieved by the province. When comparing and assessing the success among the provinces, the standard is the second book of the Central." This means that the province can raise the published development indices of the Central twice. Furthermore, the party committees at the levels lower than provincial also compiled two such books, and they can 33

35 raise the development indices twice again! When proposing high agricultural development indices, MAO Ze-dong also paid attention to measures for increasing production. The measurements he advocated included water conservancy construction, deeply plowing, rational dense planting, tool reform, feeding pigs for manure, etc.. Later, he summed up these measures as "Eight-words constitution for agricultural development", and the eight words were "soil, fertilizer, water, seeds, dense-planting, protection, taking care and working". The measure of deep plowing "soil" was set after MAO read a report from the Dashan Agricultural Production Cooperative in Shandong Province. The report stated that because of deeply plowing land, the production output was increased "100 percent exactly, no more and no less". After reading the report, MAO said to the leaders of Hunan Province: "Deeply plowing land and inter-changing the soil on the surface and in the lower level have a great taste. I would rather spend one hundred or even several hundreds of workers on one Chinese acre and do it." He also said to leaders of Shanxi Province: "Prepare a five-year plan to plow all the lands by the human sea tactics." At the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, the party secretary of Changge County, Henan Province, said that by the end of April 1958, their county has plowed 330 thousand Chinese acres of land, with the depth of 1.5 Chinese feet or so, and that they plan to "turn over" all 1.12 million Chinese acres of their lands before the end of the year. According to him, the land after deeply plowing can give full play to the effectiveness of water and fertilizer, so that the output increased by tens percent, or even 34

36 doubled or several times. In this regard, MAO said: "Deeply plowing for 1.5 Chinese feet is a great invention. Changge's experience raises a question to all counties of the country: If Changge County can deeply plow the county's 1.12 million Chinese acres of cultivated land just in one year, why can not the other counties? If one year is not enough, then do it in two years; if two years are still not enough, then do it in three years; if three years are not enough, then do it in four years; if four years are still not enough, then should five years be enough?" Subsequently, the Ministry of Agriculture held a national site meeting in Changge County, and decided to deeply plow all land of the country in this autumn and the next year. Gradually, the "deeply plowing of land" became "the deeper, the better". In some places, land was plowed as deep as twelve Chinese feet, resulting the raw soil in the deep layer turned to the surface. MAO also called on rational dense planting in all areas. In the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, he said: "The so-called rational dense planting is thirty thousand rice plants per Chinese acre in Provinces of Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong." He continued to count in detail: The thirty thousand rice plants have how many roots, each root has how many spikes and each spike has how many grains. And finally he got the result: Each Chinese acre can produce 820 Chinese pounds of grain. He believes that one can do the same kind of calculation for millet and wheat in northern China, as well as for sorghum, corn and sweet potatoes. Later, the "rational dense planting" in some places became "the denser, the better". A red flag would be placed in the land sowing more, and a white flag in the land sowing less. As a result, the land with 35

37 red flag received a lot of blinds, but the land with white flag got production increased. MAO also promoted improvement of farm tools. In March 22, 1958, he said in Chengdu Meeting: "The movement of farm tool improvement should be extended to all places in the country. It is of great significance, is a great revolution and the germination of the technological revolution." Afterwards, in the vast countryside there were the movements of "wheelization", "ball bearing" and "rope traction machine", etc., resulting in a great waste in manpower and materials. There was a monk in Shanxi Province, who worked with a farmer, dug fish-scale-shaped holes in hillside for water storage. This approach was a fit for local practice, and would have been good in some other place with similar conditions. Later, it was extended to the plains, engaging in the so-called "grape string" and "stars over the sky", which brought a disaster to the people in the plains. Setting high targets, going too fast in development and relying on the big debate led to cadres at all levels being grandiose and bragging. At that time, the Soviet Union launched two artificial earth satellites, which is the first time in the world, thus causing a great sensation in the world. So, many cadres called their high-yield model as a "satellite", which soon became the country's fashionable language. On June 8, there was a report stating that Suiping County of Henan Province "launched a satellite" for producing 2105 Chinese pounds of rice per Chinese acre. On June 26, there was another report stating that Guixi County of Jiangxi Province "launched a bigger satellite" for producing 2340 Chinese pounds of rice per Chinese acre. Subsequently, the "satellite" became bigger 36

38 and bigger: On August 13, Xinhua News Agency reported that Xian No.1 Agricultural Cooperative of Macheng County, Hubei Province, produced 36,900 Chinese pounds of early rice per Chinese acre; On September 22, "People's Daily" reported that Jianshenke Farm of Qinghai Province produced 8,585 Chinese pounds of wheat per Chinese acre; And on September 18, "People's Daily" reported Hongqi Agricultural Cooperative of Huanjiang County, Guangxi Province, produced 130,434 Chinese pounds of rice per Chinese acre. In addition to "satellites" for rice and wheat production, "People's Daily" and some provincial newspapers also reported "satellites" for corn, sorghum, millet, sweet potato, sesame, pumpkin, taro, broad beans, apples and other 28 kinds of crops. For a time, here is "satellite" launched to sky and there is a "Marshal" stood up. On August 3, an editorial of the "People's Daily" wrote: "How bold you are will determine how much land production would be." In fact, among these bizarre grain high-yield models, some was the result of the fake method of "merging land": They move mature plants in a large field to a very small field, letting them huddle together; Some was the result of estimation based on the number of grain plants densely planted, e.g. Shouzhang County of Shandong Province calculated that there are 400 to 500 thousand rice plants in one Chinese acre because of dense planting, each plant can produce one Chinese ounce of grain, and therefore a Chinese acre of land can produce 30,000 Chinese pounds. 37

39 Production of ten thousand Chinese pounds of rice was faked by moving rice plants in other fields to a small field. Famous scientist QIAN Xue-sen also joined in. On April 29, 1958, he with the title of Director of the Institute of Mechanics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published an article entitled "Collective Wisdom is the Only Good Way". He wrote in the article: "As a person on the field of mechanics, I can not help but always consider a problem from the energy aspect. Lately, I had such a superficial calculation on how much solar energy can be received by a unit of area on the earth surface. Let us 38