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The Great Leap Forward Primary Source Packet

Directions: This packet contains six (6) primary source documents from
various sources, discussing the progress and outcomes of the Great Leap
Forward. Read and analyze these sources using the “Great Leap Forward
Analysis Packet.” As you analyze the sources, keep the central question
in mind: “Was China’s Great Leap Forward a success or a failure?”

Packet Contents: Six (6) primary source documents labeled A-F with
descriptions of each document and source citation.
Document A: “Record of Conversation Between Polish Delegation and PRC Leader Mao
Zedong, Beijing”

Description: On October 14, 1959, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong
met with Aleksander Zawadski, the first Chairman of the Council of State of the People’s
Republic of Poland. During this meeting, Chairman Mao briefed the Polish leader on the
progress of China’s socialist revolution, including the ongoing Great Leap Forward.

Excerpt:
“China is a poor country, the life of the nation is poor, as well.  The people know
that in order to change this state of affairs they have to unite and work intensely.
Several decades are needed for building socialism in China and to transform it
[China] into the leading cultural nation that has modern industry and rich scientific
knowledge.  This much is needed in order to surpass England in production per
capita.  The population of England constitutes 1/13 of that in China.  However, as
far as global production, only ten years will be sufficient.  As far as coal
production, China has already surpassed England.  This year's plan of steel
production forecasts 12 million tons.  They [China] will reach 13 million.  If this is
the case, then next year they will produce 18 million, and in the year after next
they can go up to 22 million.  This is how much England has today.  Until the great
leap there were 18 bigger and medium-size steel mills working in China.  In the
last 2 years there were 26 medium-size steel mills built.  A medium-size steel mill
produces 150 to 500 thousand tons [of steel] annually.  Besides, 300 small steel
mills exist in China which produce 100,000 tons annually.  One can build a
medium-size steel mill in a year.  Afterwards, one can rebuild it…”

Citation: "Record of Conversation between Polish Delegation and PRC Leader Mao Zedong, Beijing," October 14, 1959,
History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, AAN, KC PZPR, sygnatura XI A/30, Dept. V China 074/13/58. Obtained by
Douglas Selvage and translated by Malgorzata Gnoinska. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/117781.
Document B: “A report by the Jinan Municipal Investigation Team on the outbreak of
famine and deaths in Gaoguanzhai township, Zhangqiu county, [Shandong province,] January
29, 1959”

Description: In 1958, famine broke out throughout China, dealing devastation to rural communes
in particular. The Jinan Municipal Investigation Team were one of many government agencies
who traveled throughout the countryside to record the effects of famine on Chinese peasants.
This report comes from Gaoguanzhai, a small township in the western region of the Shandong
province.

Excerpt:
“Within Gaoguanzhai there are thirty-three villages, 5,150 families, and 21,713
people. Before collectivization there were twelve cooperative agricultural units, but
they have since been merged into seven big brigades…For nearly five months in
1958, from the end of the second month to the 20th of the seventh month in the
Chinese lunar calendar, the entire population of Gaoguanzhai faced severe food
shortages…Many villagers were forced to abandon their homes and became
beggars. Some had no other option but to sell their children. A number of people
died of starvation. The situation was critical…Owing to a long period of starving
and eating food substitutes, malnutrition became prevalent, causing such abnormal
symptoms as swollen stomachs, legs, and faces. Some of the food substitutes, such
as leaves from the scholar tree and the tree of heaven, were poisonous. After eating
a large quantity of these, the entire body would become swollen. In more severe
cases, the body could no longer retain excess fluid, which then erupted through the
skin, oozing out with a yellowish color. In Weihualin village, about 80 percent of
the population suffered from swollen faces, legs, and stomachs. In Mazhuang, 90
percent of villagers suffered from edema. Their faces became sallow and
emaciated, their bodies had no strength, and many people could walk only with a
stick… Most women of childbearing age stopped having periods. Mothers had no
milk left to breastfeed, and many babies starved to death as a result… Among the
617 abnormal deaths, 434 were of males and 255 were of females. They comprised
250 children under the age of five, 19 children aged between six and seventeen,
263 adults of eighteen to sixty, and 157 people over sixty. Of those who died, 72
had previously suffered minor illnesses, but it was starvation that caused their
deaths. There were also 23 suicides.”

Citation: “A report by the Jinan Municipal Investigation Team on the outbreak of famine and deaths in Gaoguanzhai
township, Zhangqiu county, [Shandong province,] January 29, 1959.” In The Great Famine in China, 1958-1962: A
Documentary History, edited by Zhou Xun, 4-10. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
Document C: “Letter to the Fuyang Region Party Committee, by Liu Yuqing of
Guodamiao township, Taihe county, [Anhui province,] 1958”

Description: As the Chinese citizenry dealt with famine, many became disillusioned with the
shortages that appeared as a result of collectivization and natural disasters. Other citizens became
frustrated at local governmental authorities, who many felt abused their power over the
peasantry. In order to vent their frustrations, peasants such as Liu Yuqing wrote formal letters to
the Communist Party in an attempt to force the government to help ease the suffering of the
peasantry.

Excerpt:

“To those bureaucrats at the regional Party Committee:

All day long you sit high on your chairs inside your offices. Do you have any idea
what has been going on in the countryside? ...Take local water conservation work,
for example. The cadres forced families from every village to leave in order to
build [irrigation canals and reservoirs.] …Even worse, they destroyed crops in
order to build ponds. Their actions have caused a lot of public anger and discontent
among ordinary people…We were told the government would compensate us 0.1
yuan per every cubic meter of earth to build the local dike. However, the local
cadres decided to deduct one-third of the money and use it to repair the tunnel.
This is purely exploitive. It is unlawful, and it is contrary to Party policy…From
Liu Yuqing, a retired soldier…”

Citation: “Letter to the Fuyang Region Party Committee, by Liu Yuqing of Guodamiao township, Taihe county, [Anhui
province,] 1958.” In The Great Famine in China, 1958-1962: A Documentary History, edited by Zhou Xun, 151. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2012.
Document D: “A report on how to mobilize the masses and rely on the poor peasants to
reveal the problems in the commune, as well as suggestions for future work, by the Wanxian
Region Party Committee, [Sichuan province,] 1961.”

Description: As famine struck throughout China in 1959, grain production slowed drastically as
crops failed to produce. However, Communist leaders refused to slow the collection of grain, as
crop failure contradicted the vision of the Great Leap Forward. Mao Zedong put pressure on
local cadres to compete with each other in grain extraction from the peasantry whom they
governed. A common myth was that grain shortage was due to peasants hoarding grain in their
homes, which led to immense violence toward rural peoples under the guise of the Anti-Hiding
Campaign.

Excerpt:

“The cadres tried every possible means to break down the peasants emotionally as
well as physically. Many committed suicide as a result. Others were beaten to
death, and quite a few were even buried alive. To destroy the evidence, they
burned all the dead bodies. In addition to beatings, food deprivation, looting of
houses, and heavy fines, openly robbing peasants is also widespread…In Fengle
commune, the former Party secretary, Zhan Xianchun, together with his deputies,
Yang Xinghua and Wang Kaiyuan, ran the commune like dictators. They waged an
extremely cruel war on ordinary peasants. Zhan even held special meetings to
announce his plan to raid peasants’ homes and to use torture…When deaths
became commonplace, he publicly declared: ‘A few deaths are nothing. If one dies,
we can just pull out the dead body; if a couple die, we will carry the bodies out.
There are too many people in our country, the more people who die, the more food
for us to eat.’ He told other cadres and peasants: ‘A few dead is nothing. The
amount of food is limited. It’s the result of our socialist system.’ … In this
commune, from the winter of 1959 to the spring of 1960, about 2,357 people died,
which is 14.5 percent of the total population. Of those who died, 40 were beaten to
death, and 32 were forced to commit suicide. More than 300 were deliberately
starved to death.”

Citation: “A report on how to mobilize the masses and rely on the poor peasants to reveal the problems in the commune, as
well as suggestions for future work, by the Wanxian Region Party Committee, [Sichuan province,] 1961.” In The Great Famine
in China, 1958-1962: A Documentary History, edited by Zhou Xun, 21-22. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
Document E: “Journal of the Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 29
September 1960.”

Description: While serving as the Soviet ambassador to the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, A.M. Puzanov was invited to dinner by Qiao Xiaoguang, the Chinese ambassador to the
DPRK. At this dinner, the two Communist officials discussed the 1960 harvest conditions in
China and its industrial development.

Excerpt:
“I and [my] wife were invited to dinner by Chinese Ambassador Qiao Xiaoguang.
During the conversation I talked about the good harvest of agricultural crops in the
Soviet Union and the progress of the harvest campaign, and asked the prospect for
the harvest in the PRC this year. Qiao Xiaoguang said that this year there are
certain difficulties in agriculture this year in the PRC caused by great natural
disasters in individual regions of the country. This year agricultural fields have
been subjected to flooding, drought, and also the destruction of agricultural crops
by wreckers. These natural disasters have inflicted considerable damage.
According to preliminary calculations the shortfall of agricultural crops in the
country as a result of the natural disasters is 25% of the planned gross harvest. The
Ambassador then reported that PRC industry is working well. Qiao Xiaoguang
said, this is evidently if only from the fact that the plan for the first half of this year
for gross industrial production was 60% fulfilled at a time when in past years the
plan for the first half of the year was usually 40% fulfilled of the annual plan.”

Citation: "Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 29 September 1960," September 29, 1960, History
and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, AVPRF fond 0102, opis 16, delo 7, p.102-129. Translated by Gary Goldberg.
https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/119468.
Document F: “A study of cases of cannibalism in Linxia municipality, by the Ningxia
branch of the Government Solicitude Group, [Gansu province,] March 3, 1961.”

Description: The further the Great Leap Forward progressed, the worse the famine throughout
China became, exacerbated by continuing natural disasters and the steady push for grain
extraction from the Communist leadership of the country. As rural communes became desperate
for food, some citizens turned to cannibalism for basic nutrition, cooking and consuming the
already dead, or deliberately murdering then cannibalizing. In the Linxia region, as famine
erupted and killed half a million people between 1959-1960, more than 50 instances of
cannibalism were uncovered.

Excerpt:
“Date: January 24, 1960. Location: Tiejia village in Maji commune.
Culprit’s name: Tie Erge. Number of victims: 2. Manner of crime: Exhumed
victims’ corpses and consumed the flesh. Reason: To survive.
Date: February 25, 1960. Location: Yaohejia village in Hongtai commune.
Culprit’s name: Yang Zhongsheng. Culprit’s status: Poor peasant. Victim’s name:
Yang Sanshun. Relation to the culprit: Younger brother. Number of victims: 1.
Manner of crime: Killed the victim and consumed the body. Reason: To survive.
Date: February 1960. Location: Zhangzigou backside village in Hanji
commune. Culprit’s name: Yi Wucheng. Culprit’s status: Poor peasant. Number of
victims: 4. Manner of crime: Exhumed the victims’ corpses and consumed the
flesh. Reason: To survive.
Date: July 2, 1960. Location: Kangjia village in Hanmasigou. Culprit’s
name: Zhao Bannai. Victim’s relation to the culprit: Daughter. Number of victims:
1. Manner of crime: Exhumed the victim’s corpse and consumed the flesh. Reason:
To survive.
Date: March 13, 1960. Location: Zhaojia big production brigade in Hongtai
commune. Culprit’s name: Zhao Xiangxiang. Number of victims: 1. Manner of
crime: Killed a child and consumed the body. Reason: To survive. Result:
Arrested.”

Citation: “A study of cases of cannibalism in Linxia municipality, by the Ningxia branch of the Government Solicitude Group,
[Gansu province,] March 3, 1961.” In The Great Famine in China, 1958-1962: A Documentary History, edited by Zhou Xun, 62-
67. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.