China

The Chairman of China's Communist Party, Mao Tse-Tung, delivered a speech in which he stated "Let a thousand flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend". To many observers, these statements seemed to indicate a relaxing of totalitarian rule. Criticism directed against the government soon developed. The government reacted, warning that the critics were 'rightists'.

The phrase "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend" is a classical quotation from Mao Zedong, the Chairman of China's Communist Party. The statement was made during the period of his leadership known as the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956-1957).

This campaign encouraged its citizens to openly express their opinions of the communist regime. Mao stated that he wanted to have a variety of views in the arts and sciences. The official line was that this was a deliberate attempt to foster a free atmosphere in which ideas could circulate. The slogan "Let a hundred flowers bloom" was used to promote freedom of expression and critique of the government.

However, when the criticism became fierce and touched on core issues of the regime, the government changed its tune and started cracking down on these "unhealthy" expressions, branding the critics as 'rightists'. Many intellectuals and artists who had offered criticisms were arrested during the Anti-Rightist Movement that followed the Hundred Flowers Campaign.

To many, this abrupt turnaround indicated that the campaign may have been a trap to 'smoke out' dissidents or a result of the Party misjudging just how deep-seated the dissatisfaction among the intellectual class was. In retrospect, the Hundred Flowers Campaign and its swift retraction had a chilling effect on Chinese intellectual life, and many see it as an early move in the ideological tightening that culminated in the Cultural Revolution.