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Thought reform in the People's Republic of China (思想改造, also known as "ideological remolding" or "ideological reform") refers to the Chinese Communist Party's attempt to reform the thinking of Chinese citizens into adapting Marxist-Leninist, and later Mao Zedong Thought. Techniques employed included indoctrination, "struggle sessions," propaganda, criticism and self-criticism, and a variety of other techniques.

The CCP's program of thought reform emerged as one of the most powerful efforts at propaganda ever undertaken, and included imposed doctrines, ideological purges, and mass conversation movements carried out in an organized and comprehensive way. The thought reform program was most prevalent in China in the 1950s and 1960s, being applied in universities, schools, special "revolutionary colleges," prisons, businesses and government offices, and peasant organisations. It brought significant personal upheaval to the personnels affected.

The Thought Reform Movement first began in September 1951, following a speech by premier Zhou Enlai calling for intellectuals to reform their thought. The People's Daily called for teachers and college staff to "arm oneself with the thought of Marxism-Leninism" and "throw away the vulgar perspectives of individualism and liberalism, and the cultural thought of European-American reactionary bourgeoisie". Intellectuals who studied overseas were forced to confessed to their role as "implementers of the imperialist cultural invasion", while writers across the country were ordered to study Mao's speech "Talk at Yanan Forum on Literature and Arts" and engage in self-criticism. During the movement, many school curriculums were restructured, with science and engineering adapting the Soviet models, while courses seen as "pesudo-bourgeoisie" such as sociology, political science, and economics were abolished.

The Thought Reform Movement ended by 1952 and was merged with the Three-anti/five-anti campaigns. As a result, the Central Committee Department of Propaganda has taken ideological control of China's cultural and educations systems.

References

1. ^ Lifton, Robert J. "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China," Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1962 Cite error: The named reference "lifton" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. Williams, Philip F. and Yenna Wu. "The great wall of confinement: The Chinese Prison Camp Through Contemporary Fiction and Reportage," 2004, University of California Press. p. 6
3. Fu, Zhengyuan "Autocratic tradition and Chinese politics", Cambridge University Press, 1993. p. 275
4. Fu, Zhengyuan "Autocratic tradition and Chinese politics", Cambridge University Press, 1993. p. 275

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