DEFINITION of 'Great Leap Forward'
An economic and social campaign that intended to change China from an agrarian economy into a modern society. The Great Leap Forward was an effort made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the leadership of Mao Zedong (also known as Mao Tse-tung) to transform China into a society capable of competing with other industrialized nations, within a short, five-year time period. In January 1958, the Great Leap Forward, the second Five-Year Plan, was launched, and between 1958 and 1960, millions of Chinese citizens were moved to communes to work on farms or in manufacturing. Private farming was prohibited.