Mao's Third Front Movement

The third front really became a thing for Mao in 1964 right after the Gulf of Tonkin resolution when the US military showed their hand. Mao's worry was that too many strategic national assets were clustered close to the east coast all the major population centers now with nuclear bombs and missile technology already starting to ramp up. The name of the game was to build an entirely new heavy industrial base in these far and distant places. Remember China's transport network in 1964-1965 was not like it is today in China 2016 It was a monumental waste at a time when the toxic cleanup from the last bad idea had only just been completed.