Three Stresses campaign

This article is part of a series about Jiang Zemin
1992 reelection as General Secretary 1997 reelection as General Secretary Shanghai clique Policies and theories Three Represents Socialist market economy Three Stresses campaign Program 973 Project 211 Project 985 China Western Development Go Out policy Key events Deng Xiaoping's southern tour Three Gorges Dam Third Taiwan Strait Crisis Handover of Hong Kong 1998 China floods Persecution of Falun Gong Handover of Macau Diplomacy International trips 1998 Japan visit US Belgrade embassy bombing 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship 2002 Germany, Libya, Nigeria, Tunisia and Iran visit
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The "Three Stresses" campaign (Chinese: 三讲; pinyin: sānjiǎng) was an ideological rectification campaign among Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members. The initiative was formally launched in 1998 by then-General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin, and its name refers to the need to “stress study, stress politics, stress righteousness” (jiang xuexi, jiang zhengzhi, jiang zhengqi). The campaign was intended to strengthen discipline within the CCP and consolidate support for Jiang Zemin.^[1] During the campaign, which spanned from late 1998 to 2000, senior staff within the government, military, party offices, universities, and state and private enterprises were required to spend several weeks engaging in political study and self-criticism sessions with the goal of improving unity and enhancing loyalty to the CCP.^[2] According to a retired official cited in the New York Times, Jiang also hoped to use the campaign to "identify loyal, promising officials for future leadership positions."^[3]

The initiative was only the second major party rectification campaigns launched since the death of Mao Zedong (the previous campaign having begun in 1983).^[4]