The Yan'an Talks were a series of speeches given by Mao Zedong in 1942 in Yan'an, China to outline the Communist Party's new policies for literature and art. Mao said that art should serve politics by reflecting the lives of workers and peasants to advance socialism. He criticized art forms that did not appeal to the masses and encouraged incorporating folk culture. The Talks established Mao's leadership and the adoption of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought as Party ideologies, formalizing Mao's deviation from the Soviet line and adaptation of communism to China.