A New Urban Hierarchy: The Aftermath of the Great Leap Forward in Nanjing, 1961–1963

In the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960), a limited free market was licensed across China to help repair the devastated economy. In the southern city of Nanjing, thousands of peddlers and other private merchants took full advantage of a temporary boom in private commerce. The window was brief. During the early 1960s, new or expanded policies promoted the rationalization of the state workforce, the reduction of China’s urban population, and a strengthened system of household registration. Collectively, these programs pushed small merchants to the margins of the urban economy, where they operated by the grace of city authorities and were subject to crackdowns and harassment. Using archival and newspaper evidence from Nanjing, this article explores the evolving power dynamic between small merchants and local communist officials and cadres, offering new insights into the creation of danwei- centered urban culture and economy in China.