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27-651: Lushan or Lu Shan is a famed mountain and World Heritage Site in Jiangxi, China. Lushan or Lu Shan may also refer to: Lushan Mount Lu is known for its grandeur, steepness, and beauty and is a prominent tourist attraction, especially during the summer months when the weather is cooler in the mountains than elsewhere. The mountain and the surrounding region is also one of the "spiritual centers" of China, containing many Buddhist and Daoist temples in addition to landmarks of Confucianism . Due to its striking beauty and sacred importance, Lushan National Park has been

54-569: A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. The overlapping Lushan Quaternary Glaciation National Geopark is a member of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network . Mount Lu contains important sites and temples for Daoism , ( Mahayana ) Buddhism , Confucianism , and even Christianity . Between AD 386 and 402 during the Jin dynasty , Huiyuan founded Pure Land Buddhism and Donglin Temple on

81-599: A battle took place in the area between the Chinese Red Army and nationalist forces , in which Hu Yaobang , later General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party , was seriously injured. Mount Lu was once dubbed the hsiatu ( xiadu , "summer capital") of the Republic of China . Chiang Kai-shek , China's leader at the time, would frequently spend his summers in the area. In June 1937, Zhou Enlai , then

108-694: A major leader in the Chinese Communist Party , met with Chiang on the mountain to discuss a united front against the Japanese invasion. In July 1937, Chiang Kai-shek announced his intention for a full mobilization for war against Japan from Mount Lu. In 1946, following the war, the U.S. special diplomatic mission led by General George C. Marshall met with Chiang Kai-Shek to discuss the role of post-World War II China. Mao Zedong convened three large conferences of senior party officials at Mount Lu, in 1959, 1961, and 1970. The 1959 conference became known as

135-679: A mediator between the left and right sides of the party, was extremely critical of Peng. Additionally, Peng's position would mean de facto realignment with Soviet approaches at a time when Mao had been trying to find an independent path in terms of both foreign and domestic policy approaches. By the time of the Plenum, which immediately followed the Lushan Conference, Peng had become politically isolated and stripped from his position as Defence Minister, replaced by Marshal Lin Biao . The Lushan Plenum adopted

162-561: A resolution denouncing "the anti-Party clique headed by Peng Duhai." In contrast to Peng, Mao's position was that peasant enthusiasm was positive because political development required mass momentum. Mao continued to believe that the experiment of giving the peasantry a political role should be continued. His view was that initiatives like self-organizing agricultural tasks, self-managed schools, and cooperative medical services should continue wherever possible. Mao nonetheless agreed that specific objectives had to be made more realistic and that

189-533: Is derived from the meeting place, a resort on Mount Lu in Jiujiang , China. The original objective of the conference was to review the events of the Great Leap Forward and solve practical issues brought forth by those events. When the Lushan Conference began, the leadership was divided on questions of how the crisis had developed and what the response going forward should be. Mao was critical of his own role in

216-517: The Defense Minister , Marshal Peng Dehuai , whose criticism of some aspects of the Great Leap Forward was seen as an attack on the political line of CCP Chairman Mao Zedong . The Conference also marked the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 that disagreement over the direction of policy spilled into open conflict between party leaders. The conference's name

243-554: The Lushan Conference . The meeting saw the purge of decorated Chinese Civil War and Korean War general Peng Dehuai , who was critical of Mao's Great Leap Forward policies. The 1970 Lushan Conference took place during the Cultural Revolution , and marked the increasing antagonism between those loyal to Mao and those loyal to his chosen successor Lin Biao . In 1980 the famous movie Romance on Lushan Mountain , which

270-437: The "winds of exaggeration" (i.e., over-reporting of grain production), the communal dining, and also the establishment of commune militia , which he felt would undermine the strength of the People's Liberation Army . He expressed his "confusion" towards "rather large losses" and the "epidemic of bragging" in the Great Leap Forward. Peng attributed the problems to " petty bourgeois fanaticism." For this reason, Mao extended

297-635: The Immortal Caverns ( 仙人洞 ), Meilu Outhouse ( 美庐别墅 ), Five Old Man Peaks ( 五老峰 ), White Deer Cavern Academy ( 白鹿洞书院 ), Three Tiled Springs ( 三叠泉 ), Lulin Lake ( 芦林湖 ), Lushan Hot Springs ( 庐山温泉 ), Lushan Botanical Garden ( 植物园 ), Bamboo Temple ( 竹山寺 ), Guanyin Bridge ( 观音桥 ), Peach Blossom Garden ( 桃花源 ), and the Catholic Church of Mount Lu ( 庐山天主堂 ). Lushan Conference The Lushan Conference

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324-482: The Lushan Conference was the distortion created by false production reports. During the Great Leap Forward , lower bureaucratic levels were asked to fulfill unrealistic production quotas. Ignoring the actual conditions at even lower levels, officials frequently claimed that the production goals had been achieved. These behaviors were prompted by higher-level officials who overly emphasized production and addressed

351-455: The absurd bureaucratic boasting regarding production quotas had to be stopped. Mao bitterly criticised Peng for being part of a group that wavered in the face of difficulties and who were "only 30 kilometres away from the rightists". Mao also announced in August that the conflict at the conference is a class struggle and that the conflict "is the continuation of the life-or-death struggle between

378-438: The conference for more than ten days. On July 23, Mao showed Peng's letter to his comrades and asked them to express their views on the issue. Peng made no further substantive argument other than for the party to immediately withdraw from political initiatives in rural areas. Peng's position found no support among other conference attendees, as it amounted to "political suicide" for the party. For example, Zhou Enlai , normally

405-457: The conference to contain the "leftist tendency" ( zuoqing ) elements in the Great Leap Forward . In Spring 1959, PRC Defense Minister Peng Dehuai led a Chinese military delegation on a visit to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Peng expressed his displeasure with the Great Leap Forward to various communist leaders, including Nikita Khruschev. In his view, the socioeconomic policies of

432-494: The criticism of Peng Dehuai resulted in a victory for Mao Zedong, it also led the leadership to conclude that he had been treated unfairly and that the party's norms had been violated. Zhou Xiaozhou , along with Huang Kecheng and Zhang Wentian , who lent their support to Peng Dehuai in questioning the wisdom of the Great Leap Forward , were also branded as traitors, stripped of their positions, and sent to re-education through labour . Li Rui , one of Mao's private secretaries,

459-443: The failures of the Great Leap Forward. He described the backyard steel campaign he had promoted as a "great catastrophe" and criticized himself for pushing communization so fast. In a July speech before the Lushan Conference, Mao states, "The chaos caused was on a grand level and I take responsibility for it." Mao also defended the policies of the Great Leap Forward in general and communes in particular. A major specific focus of

486-638: The father of Pearl Buck , was one of the first five missionaries to acquire a property in the Kuling Estate on the mountain. The development of Kuling was instigated by the Reverend Edward Little and Dr. Edgerton H. Hart. The four principal founders of China's Nurses Association and its first president, Caroline Maddock Hart, met in Kuling to form this association. During the Long March , in early 1935,

513-599: The mountain include the grave of the famous Tang dynasty poet Tao Yuanming and imperial pavilions during the Ming dynasty . The Song dynasty poet Su Shi famously described the difficulty of conveying the mountain's beauty in his expression, "Why can't I tell the true shape of Lushan? Because I myself am in the mountain." In later years, Kuling in Mount Lu became a summer resort for Western missionaries in China. Absalom Sydenstricker ,

540-411: The peasants as "rural Stakhanovites ." The ensuing false statistics impeded central coordination of the economy. At Mount Lu, addressing these issues implicated a broader political tension over centralization and decentralization. As academic Alessandro Russo writes, the party's former strength of coordinating peasant political power had now created a major obstacle. Mao Zedong also intended to use

567-467: The period undermined the economic development necessary to modernize the army. On his return to China in mid-June, Peng criticized the Great Leap Forward. Peng's criticism culminated in his "Letter of Opinion." On July 14, Peng wrote a private letter to Mao criticizing some elements of the Great Leap Forward. In the letter, he cautiously framed his words and did not deny the "great achievement" of Mao, but meanwhile showed his disapproval for elements like

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594-496: The radical policies of the Great Leap Forward, had he been so inclined. Mao himself summarized the Lushan Conference in the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference after the disasters of the Great Leap Forward , as he self-criticized and argued the Lushan Conference should be focused on the works; however, "then up jumped Peng and said 'you fucked my mother for forty days, can I fuck your mother for twenty days?'", and

621-559: The slopes of Mount Lu. During the Tang dynasty (618–907), Daoist temples were constructed nearby to house sacred scriptures. The White Deer Grotto Academy , founded in AD 940, was developed into a renowned center of academic research during the Song dynasty under the direction of Confucian scholar Zhu Xi . The academy was continually open until at least the 19th century. Other important medieval structures on

648-404: The two great antagonists of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in the process of the socialist revolution during the past decade." Peng was subsequently dismissed and arrested. In September 1959, he was replaced by Lin Biao . As indicated by Mao in a September 1959 speech, Mao believed that Peng and others had gone "behind the back of our fatherland to collude with a foreign country." Although

675-473: Was a meeting of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held between July and August 1959. The CCP Politburo met in an "expanded session" ( Kuoda Huiyi ) between July 2 and August 1, followed by the 8th Plenum of the CCP Eighth Central Committee from August 2–16. The major topic of discussion was the Great Leap Forward . The Lushan Conference saw the political purge of

702-526: Was also stripped of party membership and sent to a labor camp for refusing to denounce Peng. Not long after the Lushan Conference, Mao removed himself from the day-to-day workings of the party. Historian Maurice Meisner argues that Mao must have understood that Peng's criticisms were widely shared by the Party leadership and that Mao could not command sufficient support from the Central Committee to continue

729-567: Was entirely shot on Mount Lu, was released to the public and won considerable positive reception. It was considered as the most progressive film since the founding of communist China , because there was a kissing scene in the movie, which was seen as public taboo in the pre- reform-and-opening-up China. It still holds the Guinness World Record for "the longest first run of a film in one cinema" for having been shown continuously since 1980 until today. Popular attractions on Mount Lu include

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