Hundred Flowers Campaign

Communism was not the most popular ideal at the time. Mao wanted to change that by rallying the public and starting the Hundred Flowers campaign

"Let one hundred flowers bloom, let one hundred schools of thought contend"

Mao believed that by encouraging free debate on how the government was being run at the time, allowing criticism, the best ideology (communism in his eyes) would prevail and the Chinese people would realise this as well.

Some believed Mao was trying to root out those who disagreed with him to send to Laogai camps