Thought reform in China

The Chinese term sīxiǎng gǎizào (思想改造, lit. "thought reform") "ideological remolding" compounds the words sīxiǎng (思想) "thought; thinking; idea; ideology" and gǎizào 改造 "transform; reform; remold; remake; correct". The related term sīxiǎng gōngzuò (思想工作, lit. "thought work"; also translated as thought-work or thoughtwork) "ideological education", with gōngzuò (工作) "work; job". == History ==

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 to "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 confess to their role as "implementers of the imperialist cultural invasion", while writers across the country were ordered to study Mao's lectures in the "Talk at Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" and engage in self-criticism. During the movement, many school curricula were restructured, with science and engineering adapting the Soviet models, while courses seen as "pseudo-bourgeois", such as sociology, political science, and economics, were abolished. The thought-reform program applied in universities, schools, special "revolutionary colleges", prisons, businesses, government offices, and peasant organisations. It brought significant personal upheaval to the individuals affected. == "New Socialist Man" ==

According to a 1969 thesis by Theodore Chen, an important concept in thought reform is that of the "New Socialist Man", based on the idea that communist revolution is predicated on "new men with new minds, new ideas, new emotions, and new attitudes". Thus, before the new way of life can prevail, the old must be abolished. In China both the old and new generations were to be remolded according to communist ideology, so the making and remaking of "new men" became a fundamental task of the communist revolution and the main aim of education. Chen reports that the CCP selected "model citizens" from various walks of life, including laborers, peasants, women, and youth to popularize the attributes of the concept. In psychology, it was linked to Ivan Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity and the method of conditioning, which were taken up by Chinese revolutionaries to promise the possibility of the "new man" to be created. == Thought reform of intellectuals ==

The thought reform project on Chinese intellectuals is indicative of the nationwide program, according to Lifton. The most intensive of the thought reform programs for intellectuals were conducted in "revolutionary colleges", set up all over China immediately after the communist revolution. They were most active between 1948 and 1952, when they represented an ideological hard core for the entire thought reform movement, and an extreme model for reform efforts throughout the population. == See also ==