An Examination of the Goals of the Rustication Program in the People's Republic of China

Through an examination of the rustication movement in its four stages from 1953 to 1980, this article contends that while the various goals of the rustication movement intermingled, and while they varied in importance at different times, a consistent and fundamental goal was the reduction of urban unemployment pressure, which was caused by China's large increase in population born during the late 1940s through the 1950s as well as by its rigid centrally-planned economic system. While Mao Zedong and his radical supporters intended the rustication more as a social revolution, especially during the Cultural Revolution, the economic planners and administrators, who may have been sincere in promoting such theories, were driven in reality also by practical considerations and economic pressures.