Great Chinese Famine
The Great Chinese Famine, officially referred to as the Three Years of Natural Disasters by the People's Republic of China, was the period in the People's Republic of China between the years 1958 and 1961 characterized by widespread famine. Drought, poor weather conditions, and the policies of the Communist Party of China contributed to the famine.
According to government statistics, there were 15 million excess deaths in this period.[citation needed] Unofficial estimates vary, but scholars have estimated the number of famine victims to be between 20 and 43 million.[1] Yang Jisheng, a former Xinhua News Agency reporter who spent over ten years gathering information available to no other scholars, estimates excess deaths of 36 million.[2] Historian Frank Dikötter, having been granted special access to Chinese archival materials, estimates that there were at least 45 million premature deaths from 1958 to 1962.[3][4] The phrases "Three Years of Economic Difficulty" and "Three Bitter Years" are also used by Chinese officials to describe this period.
Notes
- ↑ Peng Xizhe (彭希哲), "Demographic Consequences of the Great Leap Forward in China's Provinces," Population and Development Review 13, no. 4 (1987), 639-70.
For a summary of other estimates, please refer to Necrometrics [1] - ↑ "A hunger for the truth: A new book, banned on the mainland, is becoming the definitive account of the Great Famine.", chinaelections.org, 7 July 2008
- ↑ Akbar, Arifa (2010-09-17). "Mao's Great Leap Forward 'killed 45 million in four years'". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
- ↑ Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. Walker & Company, 2010. p. 333. ISBN 0802777686
