The
Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art was a May 1942 forum held at the city of
Yan'an in
Communist-controlled China and significant event in the
Yan'an Rectification Movement. It is most notable for the speeches given by
Mao Zedong, later edited and published as
Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art which dealt with the role of literature and art in the country. The two main points were that (1) all art should reflect the life of the
working class and consider them as an audience, and (2) that art should serve politics, and specifically the advancement of
socialism. The excesses of the latter point during the
Cultural Revolution led to current
Party policy rejecting that point, but retaining Mao's encouragement of peasant-focused art and literature.