“Psychologists of mass behavior might have an explanation for what went wrong in China in the late summer of 1958. China was struck with a mass hysteria fed by Mao, who then fell victim himself. Mao began believing the party slogans, casting caution to the winds. As we set out by train heading south from Beijing, the scene along the railroad tracks was incredible. Harvest time was approaching, and the crops were thriving. The fields were crowded with peasants at work. The backyard steel furnaces that had been established in the peasant communes had transformed the rural landscape. They were everywhere, and we could see peasant men in a constant frenzy of activity, transporting fuel and raw materials, keeping the fires stoked. Every commune we visited provided testimony to the abundance of the upcoming harvest. The statistics for both grain and steel production were astounding. Mao’s earlier skepticism had vanished, and common sense had escaped him. The excitement was contagious, and I was infected too.

As we continued on our journey, however, Mao’s personal secretary Lin Ke set me straight. What we were seeing from our windows on the train was all staged, he said. The party secretaries had ordered the furnaces constructed along our rail route. Rice plants had been moved from faraway fields along our route so that Mao would see a wildly abundant crop. All of China was a stage, all the people performers in an extravaganza for Mao. The agricultural production figures were false, Lin Ke said, and what was coming out of the backyard furnaces was useless.”

Li Zhisui’s description of the actions of the local party secretaries in the third paragraph is significant because it can be most directly used to explain the ways in which individuals within communist China reacted to the government’s

A

use of propaganda that advocated for spreading communist revolution in Western societies
use of propaganda that advocated for spreading communist revolution in Western societies

B

implementation of cultural policies that attempted to suppress the practice of religion
implementation of cultural policies that attempted to suppress the practice of religion

C

use of physical violence against anyone seen as not fulfilling the mandates of the central Chinese leadership
use of physical violence against anyone seen as not fulfilling the mandates of the central Chinese leadership

D

glorification of peasant military contributions and suffering during the war with Japan