People’s Commune

The people’s commune was the highest of the three administrative levels in China’s rural areas during the period from 1958 to 1983 when they were replaced by townships. The people’s commune was born during the Great Leap Forward, when Mao Zedong had a vision of surpassing the United Kingdom and the United States in a short period of time in terms of steel production. Usually, each commune was a combination of smaller farm collectives and consisted of 4,000 – 5,000 households. Larger communes could consist of up to 20,000 households.