The Wall Street Journal had a fascinating article about a book called Tombstone by a Chinese author on a little known time of trouble in China. The author was a Communist authority and he was able to use his position to study papers and records detailing a serious famine among the people when Mao Zedong forced them into collectivization during the Great Leap Forward. He lost his own father to starvation in 1959 and did not realize it was due to this policy of Mao’s. This happened during the years of 1958 to 1962. Millions of people died of starvation, much like they did in the Ukraine and Belarus in the 1930s. Mao could certainly make a run with Stalin as a most evil individual in world history. One way to learn about this little known fact is to read it here. It certainly does not jive with the appearance China gives to the world now as a dominating economic force.

Tags: China