  The dead were in effect victims of Mao's determination, at the
end of the 1950s, to push the Soviet Union off its perch as
leader of the world communist movement following Nikita
Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin. Khrushchev had boasted in
May 1957 that the Soviet Union would overtake the United States
as the world's leading industrial and agricultural power within
10 years. Mao sought a similar goal for China, but over a much
shorter period. In "Tombstone," Yang Jisheng quotes the words of
Mao, which became a rallying call: "go all out, aim high, and
achieve greater, faster, better and more economical results in
socialist construction."  Closely monitored by the authorities
Ganzu province. Yumen. 1958. Whatever the city, whatever the
region, the sound of drums and cymbals announces a workers
delegation marching to administration headquarters to tell of a
new high in their production. Oil workers from the Petrol
Combine, whose production has jumped 200% in the past ten years.
Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum