Art and the Artist in Communist China

Much has been written recently about Communist China's Great Leap Forward. We have read about the fantastic success of Mao Tse-tung's program to produce “… greater, faster, better and more economical results.” We have been swamped by figures such as: the 34% increase in industrial production, the 104% increase in the winter wheat crop, and the planting of 13,600 million trees in the first six months of 1958.Recent Peking papers report that the Great Leap Forward has been a huge success in the arts as well. Apparently, painting and other art objects are being produced “… greater, faster, better, and more economically.” In the first six months of 1958, the province of Kiangsu alone produced ten million “works of art”. P'ei hsien was awarded the title “mural province” by completing 105,000 murals and 78,000 picture posters in a few months. Sulu hsien of Hopei Province (pop. 400,000) produced 1.4 million art items. One group of seventy peasants produced five hundred works in a single night, some of which were...