Yan'an Forum

The Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art (simplified Chinese: 延安文艺座谈会; traditional Chinese: 延安文藝座談會; pinyin: Yán'ān Wén Yì Zuòtánhuì) was a May 1942 forum held in the Yan'an Soviet and a significant event in the Yan'an Rectification Movement. It is most notable for the speeches given by Mao Zedong, later edited and published as Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art (Chinese: 在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话; pinyin: Zài Yán'ān Wén Yì Zuòtánhuì shàng de Jiǎnghuà) which dealt with the role of literature and art in the country. The two main points were that (1) all art should reflect the life of the working class and consider them as an audience, and (2) that art should serve politics, and specifically the advancement of socialism. The excesses of the latter point during the Cultural Revolution led to current Chinese Communist Party policy rejecting that point, but retaining Mao's encouragement of peasant-focused art and literature.