Lessons from China's Great Famine

While the Great Famine (1959-1961) is one of many famines throughout China's history, this does not undermine its significance in China's modern history. Unlike other tragic famines in the past, the Great Famine was caused by avoidable human mistakes -- not by inevitable natural disasters. Thanks to the work of Chinese reporters, scholars, and especially Yang Jisheng's in-depth work Tombstone, there was a more complete picture of this dark time in China's recent past. Yang describes the institutional reasons for the great number of deaths during the Great Famine, which were caused by a system characterized by monopolies and food stamps. Famine sounds like a far-fetched topic of the modern world, but the Great Famine along with the great toll is real. The lessons learned are not in vain, and they should remain so even if the author's generation passes away. Adapted from the source document.