Great Chinese famine (1959-61)

history behind & impact

Mariya Krishnaradzh, 12S



Location :
Great Chinese famine
affected half of the

country. Mostly Henan,
Hunan, Shanxi, Hebei,
Shandong, Chongqing,
Sichuan
History of the famine
background & causes
In April 1959, a year after the initiation of
China's Great Leap Forward, a political
movement aimed at rapidly industrialising the
country, radical measures were taken. The
population was forced to participate in
backyard furnace steel production to catch up
with the US and Britain. Collective kitchens
were established, agricultural work was halted.
Tens of millions of peasants were sent to cut
trees for charcoal, construct rudimentary clay
furnaces, and smelt metal. Unfortunately, this
extremely active effort resulted in the
production of mostly brittle cast iron, which
proved unsuitable even for basic tools. At the
same time peasants were forced to abandon
private food production, and join newly formed
agricultural communes allocated less land to
growing grain, which was the primary source of
China's food energy
 The event
From the spring of 1959 to the end of 1961,
some 30 million Chinese died of starvation,
and almost as many children were not born
or were postponed. The famine swept across
China, peasants were affected and became
absolutely helpless. Most deaths occurred in
the first six months of 1960, in some areas
almost every family had at least one person
who died of starvation, and some families
were completely wiped out. Entire villages
were left without a single resident. No one
was untouched by the Great Chinese Famine.
When all resources ran out, thousands of
Chinese turned to cannibalism. Cannibalism
was no longer exceptional: during the Great
Famine, some families resorted to eating their
own children
Impact of Great
Chinese Famine:
- huge death toll: famine killed from 15 to
45 millions of people

- economical problems: famine brought economic

collapse because agricultural products fell

- as a result of famine, it caused starvation. Due to that

cannibalism was the only was to stay alive. Because of that
physical and mental health of people declined