The Great Leap Forward ? "it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.“ Mao

"The slogan was: 'Struggle hard for three years. Catch up with Britain and catch up with America.’

A propaganda poster from the period

The whole country was mobilised, so that by the end of the year 600,000 "backyard furnaces" had sprung up making steel, often melting down useful items like cooking pots and tractors just to increase steel "production".

Makeshift Furnaces

What went wrong ? Quickly produced farm machinery produced in factories fell to pieces when used. Many thousands of workers were injured after working long hours and falling asleep at their jobs. Steel produced by the backyard furnaces was often too weak to be of any use and could not be used in construction. Buildings constructed by this substandard steel did not last long. Backyard production method had taken many workers away from their fields – so desperately needed food was not being harvested

1958 had particularly good weather for growing food. Party leaders claimed that the harvest for 1958 was a record 260 million tons – which was not true. Still the leaders over-reported their harvests to their superiors in Beijing, and what was thought to be surplus grain was sold abroad.

The excellent growing weather of 1958 was followed by a very poor growing year in Some parts of China were hit by floods. In other growing areas, drought was a major problem. The harvest for 1959 was 170 million tons of grain – well below what China needed at the most basic level. In parts of China, starvation occurred.

1960 had even worse weather than The harvest of 1960 was 144 million tons. 9 million people are thought to have starved to death in 1960 alone; many millions were left desperately ill as a result of a lack of food. The government had to introduce rationing. This put people on the most minimal of food and between 1959 and 1962, it is thought that 20 million people died of starvation or diseases related to starvation.

年大饑荒 - The Great Famine

The rise of the moderates The Chinese referred to the years of the famine as the ‘three bitter years’ They put part of the blame on the great leap forward Liu Shaoqi deputy leader of the party stated that : ‘The disaster was seventy per cent man made and thirty per cent natural causes

What size was Mao after the Great Leap Forward?

I feel I believe that The country feels that I am I feel I believe that The country feels that Mao 1950 Mao 1960

What Followed ? Mao was popular among the masses and so it was not easy to get rid of him so the party leaders persuaded him to hand over the post of Head of State to Liu Shaoqi leaving him Party Chairman Mao was no longer involved in the routine practical work of governing China that was done by more moderate leaders. Head of State Liu Shaoqi Prime Minister Zhou Enlai Party Secretary Deng Xiaoping They now introduced more realistic economic policies and in the late 1960s abandoned the great leap forward.