During the 1959 Lushan Conference, Peng Dehuai wrote to Mao Zedong criticizing the Great Leap Forward; after Mao's speech on July 23, the conference's theme shifted from correcting the "Left" to opposing rightist opportunism.
At the Lushan Conference, Liu Shaoqi brought up old accounts against Peng Dehuai, supported the resolution to overthrow the Peng Dehuai anti-party clique, and subsequently signed the dismissal order in his capacity as Chairman of the State.
In July 1959, the CCP Central Committee convened the Lushan Conference, after which China's political campaigns and economic policies shifted further.
During the Great Famine disaster, Deng Xiaoping was accused of intentionally breaking his leg while playing billiards to evade political responsibility.
Liu Shaoqi was officially elected President of the People's Republic of China in April 1959, reaching the peak of his political career.
Around 1959, Mao Zedong publicly advocated a Cao Cao-style power scheme; the relevant remarks are regarded as a historical footnote to his views on political maneuvering.
A nationwide famine struck China between 1959 and 1961, with various estimates putting the number of abnormal deaths at between 15 million and 55 million.
1961 was the most brutal year of China's Three Years of Natural Disasters, during which over 10 million Chinese people starved to death, and cannibalism even occurred in rural areas. Despite this, 9.49 million newborns were born that year.
In 1959, Peng Dehuai was labeled anti-party by Mao Zedong for echoing Khrushchev's criticism of the Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes, ending his political life on the spot.
In 1959, Hu Jintao was admitted to Tsinghua University with excellent grades. He had originally intended to apply for the Department of Automatic Control, but due to his family background, he was reassigned to the Department of Hydraulic Engineering.