Lushan Conference

Lushan Conference
Site of the Lushan Conference
Traditional Chinese廬山會議
Simplified Chinese庐山会议
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLúshān Huìyì

The Lushan Conference was a meeting of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held between July and August 1959. The CCP Politburo met in an "expanded session" (Kuoda Huiyi) between July 2 and August 1, followed by the 8th Plenum of the CCP Eighth Central Committee from August 2–16. The major topic of discussion was the Great Leap Forward.

The Lushan Conference saw the political purge of the Defense Minister, Marshal Peng Dehuai, whose criticism of some aspects of the Great Leap Forward was seen as an attack on the political line of CCP Chairman Mao Zedong. The Conference also marked the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 that disagreement over the direction of policy spilled into open conflict between party leaders.

The conference's name is derived from the meeting place, a resort on Mount Lu in Jiujiang, China.