Famine in China: One of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the century
The time was from the fifties to the sixties. Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong then took the helm of China and declared that China should become a modern industrialized state. With the dream of bringing about a revolutionary change, he started a movement called 'The Great Leap Forward'. But this movement has resulted in the worst famine in history, in which at least three crore people died.
The famine in China is one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the twentieth century. Mao Zedong wanted to transform China's agricultural economy into an industry. In this context, the industries were taken over by the state. On the other hand, the villages of China were brought together under collective farming and communes were formed. According to some estimates, 20-25 thousand communes were formed. And these communes were completely under the military.
Barracks were built to house the farmers. Every day men and women had to work in the field. Mao instructed farmers to produce iron ore instead of growing crops on their land. As per the instructions, the farmers were put in small furnaces to become self-sufficient in iron and steel. But the targets set for industry and agriculture were not actually achieved. Meanwhile, the reports given to the provincial leaders from the commune were completely false.This false report reached Mao, who mentioned the success of production. Seeing the rise in production, Mao would direct the excess of production to the cities. As a result of sending the extra portion, there was nothing left to eat in the communes. On the other hand, Mao's demand for surplus production and false reports have led to one of the worst famines in history.
People are still shocked to hear the description of this famine in China. The pain of hunger takes on a manifest shape. It took the lives of millions of people. In the countryside, human corpses could be seen lying here and there. People used to pick insects, tree trunks, bark and leaves to survive. They hunted and ate whatever the animals found in the area. At one stage no dogs, cats or cattle could be seen in the villages. All are hunted and eaten to satisfy hunger.
There are so many horrible stories that the dying man himself told his neighbor to bury him. In many cases, there have been suicides in the family. Village after village piles of corpses were lying. The situation was so dire that no dog or other wild animal was left to eat the corpses. Everything was hunted and eaten to survive the pain of hunger. The situation became so bad that people started eating corpses.
One has to wonder what people did for a handful of food. Nothing was left out, starting with the garbage. Some even ate their own children! Many exchanged their wives and children with others. The pain of hunger made people cannibals. The leaders of the commune have played a silent role despite knowing about this terrible famine due to this man-made food shortage. This famine is the result of how horrible the results of their false reports can be.