A Study Of Famine And Relief In Liaocheng County, Shandong Province From 1959 To 1961

Located in the west of Shandong, Liaocheng County which is affected by climate, topography and terrain, suffers from natural disasters frequently, especially floods and droughts. The continuous occurrence of severe natural disasters from 1959 to 1961 caused great losses to the agricultural production in Liaocheng, which worsened people's ordinary life. However, during these three years, high grain procurement brought about the food crisis in Liaocheng County; what's more, the implementation of the people's commune movement reduced the production efficiency further. As a consequence, under the influence of natural and man-made factors, Liaocheng county suffered a serious famine: the drastic reduction in the rations of peasants' life, the proneness to the disease, family bankruptcy, high migration and unnatural death.After the famine, governments at all levels distributed relief to Liaocheng county and took prompt measures to prevent or treat diseases. At the same time the whole society also gave great support to Liaocheng County. Under the leadership of the relevant departments, people in Liaocheng county actively carried out the self-help movement. While the above measures alleviated the famine of Liaocheng County, but the overall effect was not obvious. The followings are the main reasons: first of all, the restrict of the monopoly for the purchase and marketing, including the small amount of grains of reselling to the place of production and its sluggish distribution, the impossible access to buy the grains owing to the government's strict control( even with their own money earned by subsidiary business), the traditional right for peasants to flee from the famine which was deprived by urban and rural household registration system. Second, the deprivation of plots and the abolishment of family subsidiary business by People's commune, which seized the only way to obtain food. At last, various kinds of diseases caused by a low nutritional diet which were mainly wild vegetables and pumpkins and unnatural death. For these reasons, the relief for famine received little success.