[dijit]

Let a thousand flowers bloom is a common misquotation of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Let a hundred flowers blossom".

That slogan was used in the summer of 1957 when the Chinese intelligentsia were invited to criticise the political system then obtaining in Communist China.

The full quotation, taken from a speech of Mao's in Peking in February 1957, is:

"Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land."

[iudqnolq]

Shortly afterwards everyone who took advantage of the invitation was punished. There's two theories

- It was a trap

- Mao didn't expect serious criticism, was surprised, and lashed out

[rightbyte]

If the session took place I would go for the latter. Many of those dictator types actually think they are that good at what they are doing.

[tomohawk]

And the reason for saying that was to get people to feel like it was ok to be critical of Mao, with the result being "reeducation" and death for any who did.

[reaperman]

Wow. In context that’s really dark, given where Mao’s leadership led those leaders of arts and sciences.

[coffeeblack]

You missed to mentioned that he murdered all voices that dared to come up with ideas.

[bitwize]

This is the source of my aphorism "Every Hundred Flowers Campaign is immediately followed by an Anti-Rightist Campaign". Meaning that if your employer is effusively soliciting criticism or "feedback", they probably just want to identify and punish potential troublemakers.