Witness History: Archive 2013 - The Great Famine in China

When Mao Zedong tried to force an industrial revolution in China, millions of people starved to death. What Mao called The Great Leap Forward - led to failed harvests and famine. A journalist whose father died of starvation during that time has gathered survivors' accounts and official records to try to paint a clear picture of what happened.

Photo: hotel workers building a back yard steel smelter during the Great Leap Forward. AFP/Getty Images

Published on Tuesday, 9th April 2013.

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