A Hundred Flowers: How Literature Shaped Maoism

In 1957, Shanghai journalism student Xu Chengmiao faced persecution for a poem about flowers. Why did his classmates, teachers, and eventually the full force of the Party-state react so intensely to Xu's floral poetry? What connection did his writing have to the flowers that had adorned Chinese literature, art, reportage, and fashion since 1954? In this captivating book, Dayton Lekner tells the story of the Hundred Flowers, from its early blooms to its transformation into the Anti-Rightist ...