the great famine 1958-62 Flashcards
what had happened to agricultural production
it had decreased due to peasants being tired, chasing sparrows or not working hard due to no incentive’s
Where the agricultural production figures reported correctly if not what impacted did this have?
No, party cadres inflated production figures as they did not want to be persecuted like 100 flowers campaign
this led to false reports as Mao declared that 430 million tonnes had been produced this was revised to 375 but actually was closer to 200.
This led to party setting higher targes for food, and sent food abroad as a free gift to communist countries.
what was the estimated death toll
worse famine in 20th century estimated 30 million deaths with highest estimate of 50 million deaths
what were the consequences of the famine
Tibet lost 25% of population
resorted to people eating tree bark and plants to survive
husbands sold wives, parents sold children for food
robbery made a return to society, those caught sentenced to death
small reports of cannibalism
exacerbated by grain requisition continuing, 21% in 1960
birth rates fell
agricultural impact statistical analysis
1958, grain production 200 million tonnes
1962, grain production 160 million tonnes
worst 1960 143.5 million tonnes of grain production
Causes of Great Famine
Mao was too ambitious, he expected too much too soon from industrial to mobilising masses on engineering projects. by focusing on too much each task wasn’t concentrated on
Mao was delusional by accepting Lysenkoism which was proven to be nonsense
Mao dismissed experts, many where purged in anti-rightist campaign. meant that peasants had to adjust to new unproven methods
Due to anti-rightist campaign party cadres feared to speak ill about plans and passed on fake reports to avoid scrutiny and sending to laogai system e.g. Sichuan province reported grain production rose when it actually fell
demotivation of peasants, losing property meant that reward was minimal so productivity fell
Mao’s perspective of China’s prioritise, Mao wanted to convince world of success even if it caused millions of deaths and argued that the short fall in population would be made up, explaining why exportation of food still happened
weather also played a part, 1960 severe flooding.
how was the famine ended
Mao delegated power to Liu and Deng where they encouraged farmers to follow the 1960 directive which allowed to re ownership of private land plots of land and restore local markets
communes where broken into smaller collectives 30 households,
villagers now rewarded for individual input
25 million forced to move to countryside
1961 mass grain imports from Canada, USA
until 1965 when harvest was back on track (still high imports till 1970)
Liu and Deng paid for these reforms during great leap forward when they were purged for being too popular and rejecting communist ideas.
