China’s Great Leap Forward (1958-62) is a nationwide socio-economic project led by Mao Zedong and his Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its goal was to mobilise China’s huge population to achieve major growth in the industrial and agricultural sectors while progressing to be a communist, modern society. However, it resulted in an economic failure and a catastrophic famine.
Background
After the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded, Mao had been ambitious about China’s development in comparison to the Western capitalist world. The success of the first Five-Year Plan fueled Mao’s confidence in China’s transition to a socialist and, ultimately, a communist society. Mao believed that China’s massive population of 600 million meant that China had the largest production force in the world and could industrialise through labour-intensive methods. Mao was determined to accelerate China’s modernisation. The Rectification Movement and Anti-Rightist Movement in the earlier period of the PRC created a political atmosphere in which people dared not to voice their opposition against the government and the Party.
Yet, the grain shortages in the second half of 1957 were a signpost that a new developmental strategy was needed. The Party thus pushed for further collectivisation and set a more radical goal: to surpass the UK and the US in a decade. Without adequate knowledge of the Economy and reality checks, Mao and his supporters launched the Great Leap Forward aiming for sky-high production of steel and grain.
Backyard Furnaces and People’s Communes
Boosting steel production occupied the nation’s workforce in 1957-58. Peasants were mobilised to build village iron smelters (or backyard furnaces). The initiative was met with great enthusiasm but proved to be a failure. Under the orders of the Party, the Chinese peasants threw ample raw materials, like ore, coal, and timber, as well as everyday metal implements, into the loosely-built furnaces. At least 10 per cent of China’s forests were burnt to fuel the furnaces. Yet, all the farmers who had been sent into steel smelting - instead of harvesting the crops- only produced unusable iron.
In addition, the Party focused on large infrastructure projects such as building dams and irrigations. In compensation for the lack of mechanical technology, local authorities mobilised hundreds of thousands of peasants to work in physically-demanding positions far away from their homes. The ignorance of expertise led to a waste of resources, increased accidents, unnecessary damage to the natural environment, and lower efficiency.
Radical changes were also made in social institutions. The People’s Communes were established nationwide for more comprehensive collectivisation. A large number of peasants in multiple villages were combined to be a single administrative unit. The commune members worked collectively and received equal income and services like dining, schooling, and healthcare. Unfortunately, this system was exploited by cadres who had control over food distribution, and free-riders who contributed little in labour. The unrealistic goal for agricultural production also demoralised the peasants. In order to fulfil the quota set by the central government, the communes were all taxed heavily, and the peasants had little left for themselves.
Impact
The unrealistic goals, improper execution, maldistribution of resources, and the loopholes in the policies in the Great Leap Forward campaign resulted in low agricultural production. Worse still, the tax imposed on the provinces became unbearably heavy, and the peasants only had a scarce amount of crops. It culminated in the Great Famine in 1958. It is estimated that between 15 million to 43 million people died from starvation from 1959 to 1961. The Great Leap Forward also led to low economic growth, as acknowledged by the government.
A folk poem spread among the peasants illustrates lively the toil of the Great Leap Forward:
Great Leap Forward, a daring deadly move;
Pots, pans, ladles, and spoons, all removed.
Making steel is what we are meant to do;
Trees are felled as part of this too;
But not even iron is made;
And future destruction is laid.
References
Manning, Kimberley Ens and Felix Wemheuer ed. (2011). Eating bitterness : New perspectives on china's great leap forward and famine. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Hu, A. (2013). The great leap forward, 1957-1965. Enrich Professional Publishing Private Limited.
Hsiung, P. and Wang, Y. (2019). “Unmasking China’s Great Leap Forward and Great Famine (1958-1962) Through Shunkouliu (顺口溜).” Qualitative Inquiry, 25(8), 811-821.
Yang, J. (2008). Mubei: 1958-1962 nian zhongguo dajihuang jishi [Tombstone: Collections on China’s Great Famine, (1958-1962)]. Hong Kong: Tiandi Books.
Dikötter, Frank (2018). Mao's great famine: the history of China's most devastating catastrophe, 1958-62. Bloomsbury Paperbacks.
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