In May 1958, at the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress, the CPC adopted the general line of "going all out, aiming high and achieving greater, faster, better and more economical results in building socialism". At the same time, without much prior consideration, the Party initiated the "Great Leap Forward" movement. In the early days of the movement, excessively high targets were set for agricultural production, and newspapers and periodicals kept publicizing remarkably high yields. In August 1958, under the influence of exaggerated claims and false reports, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee convened an enlarged meeting at Beidaihe, Hebei Province, at which it decided that in 1958 the output of steel should reach 10.7 million tons, double the output in 1957. Immediately after this meeting, an unprecedented mass movement was launched to produce more iron and steel. Meanwhile, mass campaigns were also begun in other industries, transport, posts and telecommunications, education, culture, public health and other fields of endeavour. These large-scale campaigns, spurred by the movement to concentrate on steel production, pushed the "Great Leap Forward" movement to its apex. As a result, "Left" errors -- setting unrealistic targets, issuing arbitrary orders and exaggerating achievements -- spread unchecked. All this disrupted normal economic development, wasted enormous human and material resources and brought about a serious imbalance between the different sectors of the economy