Abstract
Wu Xun was an illiterate man plagued by poverty and shunned by society. Schools rejected him due to his low social status, forcing him to become a servant to a wealthy family. His mistreatment made him realize that the poor needed and deserved education just as much as everyone else. Thus, he set out on a journey to build free schools for the poor, unafraid of humiliation and unwavering in his pursuit. His triumph is the basis of the Chinese film The Life of Wu Xun (1950), directed by Sun Yu. When the film was released, Chinese responses were mostly positive, praising the film for its moral lessons. Today, however, the film is best remembered for being the target of a mass criticism campaign in 1951. This essay will analyze how this campaign unfolded and why it took place. I will argue that Mao initiated the campaign with two mutually reinforcing goals: the explicit aim was to reform thought, while the implicit aim was to consolidate power over the film industry and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Moreover, the criticism campaign demonstrates the belief in film as education, hence the need to denounce a film that spreads ideologically "wrong" messages.
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