In 1999, Shujie Yao (姚书杰), chair of economics at the Business School of Middlesex University, concluded that 18 million people perished due to the famine.In 1989, a research team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences concluded that at least 15 million people died of malnutrition. In 2007, Daniel Houser, Barbara Sands, and Erte Xiao, writing in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, estimated that China suffered 15.4 million excess deaths during the famine, of which 69% (or 10.6 million) were attributable to effects stemming from national policies.In 2007, Utsa Patnaik, a Marxian economist, estimated that 11 million deaths were caused due to the famine.In 2016, Sun Jingxian (孙经先), scholar in applied mathematics and professor at Shandong University, concluded an estimate of 3.66 million "anomalous deaths" during the famine years.In 2021, Yang Songlin (杨松林), researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council in Henan, estimated that roughly 2.6–4 million people died during the famine years.Some specific estimates include the following (ranging from lowest to highest): Maoist author Mobo Gao claims that anti-Communist writers prefer to stretch the death toll number as high as possible while those sympathetic to the Chinese Revolution prefer to see the number as low as possible. The excess mortality associated with the famine has been estimated by former CCP officials and international experts, with most giving a number in the range of 15–55 million deaths. Specifically, according to China's governmental data, crop production decreased from 200 million tons (or 400 billion jin) in 1958 to 170 million tons (or 340 billion jin) in 1959, and to 143.5 million tons (or 287 billion jin) in 1960. The harvest was down by 15% in 1959 compared to 1958, and by 1960, it was at 70% of its 1958 level. As a result, year-over-year grain production fell dramatically in China. Policy changes affecting how farming was organized coincided with droughts and floods. After June 1981: "Three Years of Difficulty" ( simplified Chinese: 三年困难时期 traditional Chinese: 三年困難時期 pinyin: Sānnián kùnnán shíqī).Įxtent of the famine Production drop.Before June 1981: "Three Years of Natural Disasters" ( simplified Chinese: 三年自然灾害 traditional Chinese: 三年自然災害 pinyin: Sānnián zìrán zāihài).Terminology īesides the name "Three Years of Great Famine" ( simplified Chinese: 三年大饥荒 traditional Chinese: 三年大饑荒 pinyin: Sānnián dà jīhuāng), the famine has been known by many names. After the launch of Reforms and Opening Up, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially stated in June 1981 that the famine was mainly due to the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward as well as the Anti-Rightist Campaign, in addition to some natural disasters and the Sino-Soviet split. During the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in early 1962, Liu Shaoqi, then President of China, formally attributed 30% of the famine to natural disasters and 70% to man-made errors ("三分天灾, 七分人祸"). The major contributing factors in the famine were the policies of the Great Leap Forward (1958 to 1962) and people's communes, launched by Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong, such as inefficient distribution of food within the nation's planned economy requiring the use of poor agricultural techniques the Four Pests campaign that reduced sparrow populations (which disrupted the ecosystem) over-reporting of grain production and ordering millions of farmers to switch to iron and steel production. The most stricken provinces were Anhui (18% dead), Chongqing (15%), Sichuan (13%), Guizhou (11%) and Hunan (8%). It is widely regarded as the deadliest famine and one of the greatest man-made disasters in human history, with an estimated death toll due to starvation that ranges in the tens of millions (15 to 55 million). Some scholars have also included the years 1958 or 1962. 'three years of great famine') was a famine that occurred between 19 in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Great Chinese Famine ( Chinese: 三年大饥荒 lit.
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