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The major contributing factors in the famine were the policies of the Great Leap Forward (1958 to 1962) and people's communes, launched by Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong, such as inefficient distribution of food within the nation's planned economy; requiring the use of poor agricultural techniques; the Four Pests campaign ...
The agricultural policies of the Great Leap Forward and the associated famine continued until January 1961, when, at the Ninth Plenum of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the restoration of agricultural production through a reversal of the Great Leap policies was started. Grain exports were stopped, and imports from ...
The resulting agricultural failures, compounded by misguided policies of the Great Leap Forward, triggered a severe famine from 1958 to 1962. The death toll from starvation during this period reached 20 to 30 million people, [ 16 ] underscoring the high human cost of the ecological mismanagement inherent in the "Four Pests" campaign.
The Mao era focuses on Mao Zedong's social movements from the early 1950s on, including land reform, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. [4] [5] The Great Chinese Famine, one of the worst famines in human history, [6] [7] [8] occurred during this era.
Although intended to increase China's economic output, the Great Leap Forward was instead a period of economic regression. The policies enacted during the campaign, coupled with the use of coercion and violence, resulted in the Great Chinese Famine and led to the deaths of 36 - 45 million. 36 to 45 million [12] 1958–1962: Four Pests Campaign
During the conference, Liu Shaoqi, the 2nd President of China and Vice Chairman of the Communist Party, delivered an important speech that formally attributed 30% of the famine to natural disasters and 70% to man-made mistakes, which were mainly the radical economic policies of the Great Leap Forward since 1958. [2] [4] [6]
The largest famine of the 20th century was the 1958–1961 famine associated with the Great Leap Forward in China. The immediate causes of this famine lay in Mao Zedong's ill-fated attempt to transform China from an agricultural nation to an industrial power in one huge leap.
The Great Leap Forward campaign's aim was to increase agriculture, industrial productions, social change and ideological change. The Great Leap's goal of developing China's material productive forces was inextricably intertwined [5] with the pursuit of communist social goals and the development of a popular communist consciousness. This failed ...