A Hundred Flowers : How Literature Shaped Maoism

Drawing on archival, published, and literary sources, Dayton Lekner tells the story of the Hundred Flowers campaign through the words and lives of its writers. He argues that literary practice and circulation were major forces in the shaping of Maoism and in the creation of the contemporary Chinese state.

In 1957, Shanghai journalism student Xu Chengmiao faced persecution for a poem about flowers. Why did his classmates, teachers, and eventually the full force of the Party-state react so intensely to Xu's floral poetry? What connection did his writing have to the flowers that had adorned Chinese literature, art, reportage, and fashion since 1954? In this captivating book, Dayton Lekner tells the story of the Hundred Flowers, from its early blooms to its transformation into the Anti-Rightist campaign. Through the work and lives of creative writers, he shows that the literary circulation and practices that had long characterized China not only survived under Maoism but animated political and social movements. Texts 'went viral,' writers rose and fell, and metaphors mattered. Exploring the dynamism, nuance, and legion authors of 'official discourse,' he relocates creative writing not in tension with Mao era politics but as a central medium of the revolution.