b. The Great Leap Forward
Inquiry topic: Economic and social transformations and challenges under Mao (1949–1976) Specified Content: Great Leap Forward In 1958 Mao decided to mobilise the masses to create a massive increase in the production of both food and industrial goods. This policy, launched as the Second Five Year Plan, became known as the Great Leap Forward; it was an economic disaster and a human tragedy on an unprecedented scale....