Quick questions on Mao at Yan'an: HSC Modern History Personality

The Yan'an Way (Yan'an daolu) is the historians' term for the CCP's wartime model. Its features were:

At the Sixth Plenum in October 1938 Mao called for the "Sinification of Marxism" (Makesizhuyi de Zhongguohua), the adaptation of Marxism-Leninism to Chinese conditions. The doctrinal texts of the Yan'an period are:

The Zhengfeng yundong (rectification of work style) launched in February 1942 was Mao's instrument to discipline the CCP. The targets were "subjectivism", "sectarianism", and "stereotyped Party writing" (Party-bagu), code for Wang Ming's Moscow-trained faction and for liberal May Fourth intellectuals.

The Seventh Congress of the CCP met at Yan'an from 23 April to 11 June 1945. It elected Mao Chairman of the Central Committee, Chairman of the Politburo, and Chairman of the Secretariat. The new Party Constitution enshrined Mao Zedong Thought (Mao Zedong sixiang) as the guiding ideology, the first time the doctrine of a living leader had been written into a communist party constitution. Liu Shaoqi's report On the Party formally constructed the Mao cult.

The Party grew from about 40,000 members in 1937 to about 1.2 million by 1945. The Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army together grew from about 92,000 to about 900,000 regulars with a militia of about 2.2 million by 1945. The base areas grew to about 95 million people.

Source A is an extract from Mao's "Yan'an Talks on Literature and Art" (May 1942). Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain Mao's leadership at Yan'an. [5 marks]

Evaluate the extent to which the Yan'an period defined Mao's later style of rule. [25 marks]

Compare the views of Mark Selden and Chen Yung-fa on the Yan'an experience. [10 marks]