The Great Chinese Famine

(1959-1962)
Cian K.L. 4C

General Info
The single worst catastrophe to ever hit China and the worst famine in human
history. from 1959 to 1962, caused partly by drought and poor weather but
mostly by terrible policies and responses by the Government.
Death toll disputed greatly, between 15 and 45+ million people.
Known as The Three Bitter Years among poor Chinese today, official
Government name is The Three Years of Natural Disasters.

Causes/The Great Leap Forward

The key factor of the Great Chinese Famine was Maos social and economic
campaign known as The Great Leap Forward (1958-62), which aimed to
industrialize Communist China, which up until then was an agrarian society.
This included disastrous new agricultural policies. For example, farming was
organised into communes, banning private plots of land. In addition, deep
plowing and a sparrow campaign were implemented, both with catastrophic
results.
The other factor which contributed to the famine was a series of droughts,
floods and other adverse weather patterns.

1959: The Famine Begins

The famine begins, hitting rural areas the hardest. Although there is just enough
food for the farmers, they must meet the status quo for the Government so
that urban citizens can be fed.
Food is down by 15%
In July, the Yellow River bursts its banks, killing 2 million people and flooding a
huge amount of agricultural land.

1960: The Worst Point Of The Famine

Food produce down by a further 70%. As entire villages are wiped out, the
communist party begins their cover up. Maoist officials blame the famine on a
conspiracy among peasant farmers, accusing them of hoarding. This results in
grain confiscation, leaving millions to die.
Northern China experiences a devastating drought, with over 60% of
agricultural land receiving no rain all year long.
A testimony of the conditions in 1960 by Yu Dehong, a secretary of a party
official:
I went to one village and saw 100 corpses, then another village and saw
another 100 corpses. No one payed attention to them. People said that the
dogs were eating the bodies. Not true, I said. The dogs had long ago been
eaten by the people.

1961/62: The Great Leap Forward

Discontinued
In 1961, The Great Leap Forward was officially discontinued, but China suffered
through another year of famine and millions of death before they recovered.
By 1962, China was industrialized and finally had the strength to compete with
Russia, the UK and the US, but at a cost; at least 30 million people were dead,
with recent claims of a death toll of 45+ million people.

Government Cover Up
Beginning in 1960, the Communist Party started a mass cover up of the extent of
the famine.
Doctors were forbidden to write starvation as the cause of death.
The Government produced propaganda images which were passed around that
showed fields full of grain. In actuality, officials got peasants to go around a
large number of fields to collect individual grain stalks, then plant them in
one field for the photo.
The Government banned any foreign aid or charity aid from entering the
country.
To this day, The Peoples Republic of China denies that their policies in any way
contributed towards the famine, blaming it solely on natural disasters.

Outcomes/Death Toll
The official number of deaths given by the Government is 15 million. However,
due to the mentioned reasons, this is highly unlikely.
Other scholars, most notably Yang Jisheng, estimate the death toll is between 27
and 35 million
In 2010, however, Dutch historian Frank Diktter was given special access to
the Chinese archives. He put the death toll at over 45 million people.

The Influence Of The Famine

At least in the West, few people know much about The Great Chinese Famine. It
has yet to be portrayed in TV or film, and the media never payed much
attention to it while it was happening.
Due to the disastrous Government policies that caused the famine, it is used
today as an argument against Communism.
The information that we actually know on The Great Chinese Famine is limited.
Similar to data now available on Stalins Gulags, it is likely that we will only
realize the specifics and extent of the famine when communism finally falls in
China.