In 1958, Mao and the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed a “comprehensive Great Leap Forward” for the national economy, and the slogan of “surpassing Britain and catching up with the United States” resounded on the Red Earth. Cadres at all levels and in all fields of the CPC showed their loyalty, and “satellites” were launched in industry, agriculture, literature and art, and sports, etc. The result of the “satellites” in agriculture was a terrible famine.
Jaw-dropping crop yields
Checking the official media of the Communist Party, Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily, reports on high crop yields were not uncommon. Just a few examples.
Example 1: The high yield of wheat in Henan Province was 7,320 jins. The People’s Daily reported on July 12, 1958 that the two-mu wheat-yielding test field of the fourth team of the Heping Agricultural Society in Chengguan Town, Xiping County, Henan Province, yielded a total of 14,640 jins, with an average yield of 7,320 jins per mu. This is the 29th “satellite” of wheat yielding more than 3,000 pounds released in this year’s wheat harvest in Henan Province. …… The two mu of wheat grew particularly well, with large and long spikes, full of seeds, dense and uniform, with an average of 1,486,200 plants per mu, so dense that even mice could not get into the ground. So dense that rats could not get into the ground. The largest ears of wheat have 130 grains, the average ears of wheat have 70 or 80 grains, and the smallest ears of wheat have about 50 grains.
The report also said: In order to further verify the yield, the CPC Henan Provincial Committee instructed the Xiping County Committee and the Chengguan Town Committee to review. Finally, it was proved that the high and abundant yield was completely true.
After this news was sent out, it attracted visitors from 24 provinces and cities all over China for three months before and after. The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovakian government also sent a letter asking the Chinese authorities to introduce the experience of “high yield” of wheat in Xiping County.
Example 2: Hubei “the world’s first field”. The People’s Daily reported on August 13, 1958 that according to the joint inspection by the early rice yield inspection teams of Hubei Province, Huanggang District and Macheng County, the Jianguo No. 1 Agricultural Society of Macihe Township in this county, in 1.016 acres of early rice fields sown with “Jiangxi early” seeds, set an average yield of 36,956 kg of dry grain per mu. The record is amazing. It is more than double the record high yield of early rice set by Gao Feng Agricultural Society in Shima Township, Firyang County, Anhui Province and the second agricultural society in Ping Jing Township, this county.
According to the report, the three-tier acceptance delegation included Shi Linfeng, deputy secretary-general of the Hubei Provincial People’s Committee, Han Yusheng, deputy director of the Central China Agricultural Science Research Institute, and Hou Shangwu, secretary of the CPC Macheng County Committee; in addition, there were hundreds of representatives from various townships and communities in Macheng County. Jiang Yi, the first secretary of the CPC Huanggang Local Committee, also participated in part of the acceptance work.
Example three: Guangxi mu yield 130,000 jins. The People’s Daily reported the largest rice “satellite” on September 18, 1958. According to the report, the Hongqi People’s Commune in Huanjiang County, Guangxi Boy’s Autonomous Region, successfully used the method of high and dense planting to obtain a new record of high yield of 130,434 pounds and 10 taels and 4 dollars per mu of rice (Note: 1 pound was 16 taels at that time). This high-yielding field covered an area of one mu and seventy-five percent, black loam soil, second-class field, and yielded a total of 140,217 jin and 4 taels of dry grain.
Looking at these amazing figures, while we are in awe, we have to ask: How did such a satellite get released?
How was the “satellite” released?
According to the official media of the Chinese Communist Party, the release of the above “satellite” is inseparable from the local officials at all levels who follow the instructions of the central government.
For example, the “satellite” in Xiping County, Henan Province, was released at the instruction of the then secretary of the Xinyang local party committee (Xiping was part of the Xinyang region, now part of Zhumadian City). At that time, the satellite collective farm in Suiping County, which was adjacent to Xiping, released a “satellite” of 3,520 pounds of wheat per mu, and the secretary of Xinyang District Committee told the secretary of Xiping County Committee that the conditions in Xiping were better than Suiping, and the yield must exceed Suiping. So, the Xiping County Committee held a meeting of cadres at four levels, and the central theme was to solve the problem of high wheat yield figures. The county’s Heping Agricultural Society, which belongs to the high production area, began to report a yield of 200 pounds per mu, and the superiors were not satisfied, so they successively reported 400 pounds, 600 pounds, 800 pounds, until 1,100 pounds, just barely passing.
However, compared to Suiping wheat mu yield of 3,520 pounds of high yield, the county party committee is not satisfied with 1,100 pounds, in the “thought of how high, how high the yield” under the repeated encouragement, and finally reported 7,320 pounds. And Hubei Macheng “the world’s first field”, Guangxi mu yield of 130,000 pounds is also almost so concocted. As for how to pass the acceptance, there are many ways, such as from other fields to call the grain pretending to be “satellite fields” over the scale, the grain will be repeatedly weighed, known as “turn scale”.
Mao said, “If there is too much grain, eat five meals.”
An article in the 2008 issue of Yanhuang Chunqiu (The Spring and Autumn of Yan Huang), “The Great Leap Forward: A Scrap of Curiosities,” tells of this curious incident.
On August 4, 1958, Mao Zedong visited the 8th Cascade River Agricultural Society in Xushui County, Hebei Province. The village wall was painted with bright murals: young men climbing up to the sky on corn stalks that pierced the blue sky; old men traveling around the world on peanut shells bigger than a boat; Chang’e coming down from the Moon Palace to pick bucket-sized cotton peaches from the farmland ……
County Party Secretary reported to Mao that: the county’s average yield this year reached 2,000 pounds per mu, the total output reached 1.2 billion pounds. In addition, to enlarge the satellite, yam mu yield of 1.2 million pounds, a cabbage 520 pounds, wheat mu yield of 120,000 pounds, lint cotton mu yield of 5,000 pounds.
Mao was very happy to hear: “to collect so much grain ah! How can you finish so much grain with a population of 310,000 people in the county? What do you do with more grain?”
“More grain for machines.”
Another question: “You can’t use up all the machines, not just your grain, you exchange machines, what if people don’t want yours?”
“Then we use yam to make alcohol.”
“Then every county makes alcohol, where can we use so much alcohol!”
“We’re just thinking about how to make more grain.”
Mao said, “We also have to consider how to eat more grain, in fact, more grain is still good. More, the state does not want, no one wants, members of the community to eat more well, eat five meals a day is okay!” “What if you can’t finish so much food? More food, the future will be less farming, half a day to work, the other half of the day to engage in culture, learning science, cultural entertainment, run universities, high schools, you look good, right?”
This reminds one of the story of Emperor Hui of Jin. At that time, the world was in famine, many people were starved to death, Emperor Hui actually asked, “Why don’t they eat meat porridge?”
How could Mao, who came from the countryside, believe in such a pie-in-the-sky story?!
The consequences of starving tens of millions of people to death
According to the results of the misrepresentation, the amount of grain requisitioned by the CCP seriously exceeded the actual production, and even the rations of the peasants were requisitioned to cover the difference and eventually led to the Great Famine.
In 2007, overseas scholar Mr. Ding Lyr pointed out in his book “The Yang Conspiracy” that the Great Leap Forward had caused 35 to 40 million people to die of starvation. In 2010, Dr. Frank Kikotter, a Dutch scholar of modern Chinese history, argued in his book “Mao’s Famine: The Story of China’s Greatest Disaster” that 45 million people died as a result of the Great Famine.
Sadly, the truth about this disaster is still unknown to the majority of the Chinese people under a deliberate cover-up by the Chinese Communist Party.
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