| The great famine on an unprecedented scale swept across China from 1958 to 1962,affecting almost every corner of the country.Countless people fled from famine.Tens of millions of people died from lack of food and malnutrition.Liaocheng,as a typical agricultural area,was inevitably suffered from the disaster.According to incomplete statistics,more than 300 000 residents living in Liaocheng died of abnormal deaths during 1958-1962,which accounted for about 5-6%of the total population at that time.This number was astonishing.The great famine was due to multiple factors.It is meaningful to explore its historical roots from any angle.But all the analysis should focus on the food issues.As far as Liaocheng is concerned,which is the basic reason of the great famine?The natural disaster or the government's policy blunders?In order to answer this question accurately,we must explore the whole system of food production,purchase,storage,transportation,distribution and consumption.We also should investigate the rainfall,the water conservancy and the government's relief policies after the founding of the PRC.Then the relationship between the factors and the great famine should be explored.Food production was the basis of the food system.Before 1949,Liaocheng's food production level was relatively low.After the PRC was founded,many measures were taken to increase the food production,such as launching water conservancy projects,increasing irrigation,improving varieties and advocating mutual cooperation.As a result,the production of food gradually restored to the level before the Anti-Japanese War.However,with the development of Agricultural Cooperative Movement and the People's Commune Movement,the political interference in production caused the confusion of management and then depressed the food production.The food output had remained stagnant for a long time,foreshadowing for the later great famine.State monopoly for the purchase and marketing of grain was a key link of the food system.This policy deprived the peasants of the right to dispose the food freely.And it was the state that became in control of the food.The state determined the distribution and consumption of food.Between 1953 and 1960,the state purchased more than 20%of the total output of grain from the peasants each year.The peasants'average annual food could only be maintained at a lower level.Furthermore,the state's unified selling food to peasants was often difficult to achieve fair distribution.Consequently,the peasants almost had no surplus food and they were extremely vulnerable to the natural disasters.Safekeeping of food was also a key factor to ensure food supply.During the period of the self-employed economy,both the peasants and the traders would keep the food carefully in order to avoid the loss of it.But when the state became the owner of food,a large amount of food was lost and wasted by improper safekeeping.For example,many grains were lost during the transportation,some were stolen by people,and some were eaten by rats and birds.As a result,the amount of food supply was greatly reduced,which would produce an effect on the people's living,especially during the period of the great famine.The government has responsibility for disaster relief.However,in the early years of New China,disaster relief was repeatedly impacted by politics and gradually lost its effectiveness.The so-called "production relief" often focused on "production",and ignored the disaster relief,resulting in the aggravation of the disaster.At the same time,during the "Great Leap Forward" period,the government did not take into account the geological and geographical characteristics of Liaocheng,and launched some water conservancy projects,which not only disrupted the original water system,but also caused the secondary salinization of soil.So the damage of natural disasters was aggravated artificially.Various factors,such as the decline in production,the excessive purchase by the state,the unfair distribution and the waste of food,eventually led to the sharp decline in the peasants' food.Around the Spring Festival in 1958,a large number of peasants fled away and even died of abnormal deaths in Guantao,which was in the west area of Liaocheng.Per capita food in every county gradually declined from 300 jin to 200 jin and even 100 jin.According to common sense,faced with the serious famine,the government should concentrate on the rescue.But in fact,the governments at all levels in Liaocheng launched a series of political movements,whose main aim was to criticize the "rightist" cadres who told the truth.It was too late for the governments at all levels in Liaocheng realized the economic collapse in the summer of 1960.They began to try their best to give relief to the peasants.The government of Shandong Province and East China Bureau also gave assistance.But it could not prevent the famine.In conclusion,the great famine in 1958-1962 was due to the food system which was established by the state.In this system,the state attempted to control all the aspects concerning the food,prohibiting any private power from intervening it.In the process of actual operation,both the central government and the grass-root cadres were swayed by a kind of unrealistic political enthusiasm,neglecting the peasants'living life.The "three years of natural disasters" only aggravated the great famine. |
PDF Full Text Request