This book is the first in a new series - Studies in Contemporary China - edited at the Contemporary Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. This pioneering study of the origins of the Chinese Communist Party's cultural policy and the development of the Chinese model of cultural modernization traces the development of Marxist literary theory in China and its application to the problems of propagandizing a mass audience of illiterate peasants. This is the first book-length study to investigate these crucial developments in depth. The author marshals an impressive array of contemporary sources and later reminiscences to investigate the link between policy formation and artistic practices. This book will be of particular interest to China specialists, social theorists, political scientists, and anthropologists.