A Study Of The Proneness To Boasting And Exaggeration In The Period Of The Great Leap Forward Movement

1958—1960 was the period of the Great Leap Forward Movement in the history of the People's Republic of China. During this period, the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration had a great vogue . This is not only an important feature of the Great Leap Forward Movement, but also a serious problem caused by this movement. This thesis chooses the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration as the study object, in order to clarify the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. Meanwhile, this thesis intends to further expand the studying vision about the Great L(°|e)ap Forward Movement.This thesis is composed of five parts.The first part mainly discusses the social background of the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration, which was a particular social phenomenon in the period of the Great Leap Forward Movement and which was not groundless. Before the Great Leap Forward Movement, some radical elements in politics, economy, thoughts and social psychology brewed the possibility of this phenomenon.The second part outlines the basic conditions and the trait of development of the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration during the Great Leap Forward Movement. For the sake of convenience, the author takes the year 1958 as the main researching period, and agriculture—industry—science, education and literature as the main clue, giving this phenomenon an all-round, multi-field and systematical research.The third part focuses on the specific reasons of the spread of the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration, which are complicated and specific. It originated from the interaction of various elements, such as the high quota, public opinions, cadres' activities under political pressure, and the statistics which served for politics.Part four analyzes the negative impact of the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration. It resulted in very bad effects on the community in many aspects. For example, wrong decisions in economy leading to serious difficulties of the national economy and the people's life as well; political damage to the prestige of the Communist Party of China; divorcing from reality in ideology and destroying the principle of seeking truth from facts; further fueling the bad tendency in the Great Leap Forward Movement. What's more, it led to public indifference in social psychology.The last part is a conclusion, mainly about the introspections of the Proneness to Boasting and Exaggeration during Great Leap Forward Movement, including the necessity of economic development acting according to the capabilities; speeding up structural reforms; correctly handling the relationship between the central and local governments; reinforcing the construction of systems; acting according to the law strictly; adhering to the principle of seeking truth from facts and proceeding from reality and so on. These introspections have important influences upon maintaining the healthy functioning of the social development and social vogue, and have a positive meaning for building socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, as well as the great project of building a harmonious society.