History

The Great Leap Forward

Sometimes the most well meaning ideas to change a country's economy can go wrong and lead to millions of deaths. One case was the Great Leap forward which was a defining moment in modern twentieth century Chinese history. This was a tragic attempt to change traditional work methods and become 'modernized' in terms of technology and agricultural output. This was to fulfill Mao's ambition of catching up with the west and display his leadership skills. To increase agricultural output and overall yield, Mao began an over ambitious five year plan to promote new technology and agricultural self-sufficiency. This meant farmers being instructed to use new farming methods of which they were not familiar, without much added individual incentive. Traditional and familiar land practices were not used anymore and in an instance good arable lands were ruined; as a result yields plummeted down. Thousands of communes and factories were set up but mismanagement and a lack of knowledge meant wastage on a huge scale. The Great Leap Forward led to the famine of 1960 and 1961 and twenty million people starved to death.