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| == Reference== | == Reference== | ||
| China Statistical Yearbook (1984), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing House, 1984.Page 83,141,190 | China Statistical Yearbook (1984), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing House, 1984.Page 83,141,190 | ||
| China Population Statistical Yearbook(1985), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Bureau Publishing House, 1985. | |||
Revision as of 01:58, 29 March 2005
The Three Years of Natural Disasters (三年自然灾害/三年自然災害) refers to the period in the People's Republic of China between 1959 and 1961. It was the last famine China had, after thousands of years of famines, including one during the 1940s, prior to Communist rule. Despite the name, it is generally openly acknowledged by most everyone, including people within the Communist Party of China, that the root of the disaster was poor economic planning rather than natural causes, and hence "Three Years of Economic Difficulty" and "Period of Three Difficult Years" are also used by China officials to describe this period.
Background
During the Great Leap Forward, farming was collectivized and organized into communes. In addition, a large portion of farmers (estimated 90 million) were working in urban centers on steel production. According to China Statistical Yearbook (1984), corp production decreased from 2,000,000 tons (1958) to 1,435,000 tons (1960). The population of mainland China was about 672,070,000 at 1959.
Outcome
Although official population data of the whole nation is collected at 1953 for election registration and is recollected at 1964, it has famous inaccuracy as other Chinese official numbers does.
Due to lack of food, the population is about 658,590,000 at 1961, about 13,480,000 less then the population of 1959. Birth rate decreased from 2.922%(1958) to 2.086%(1960) and death rate increased from 1.198(1958) to 2.543(1960), while the average numbers of 1962-1965 are about 4% and 1%.
The official estimated number of death in this period is about 40 million, among them 15 million dead of "abnormal reason". Many analysts estimated the number of of "abnormal death" ranged from 10 millon to 100 million. Some western analysts such as Patricia Buckley Ebrey estimate that about 20-40 million people had died of starvation caused by bad government policy and natural disasters.
Politics
See also: Great Leap Forward (1958-1960)
Reference
China Statistical Yearbook (1984), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing House, 1984.Page 83,141,190 China Population Statistical Yearbook(1985), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Bureau Publishing House, 1985.
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