Author Description

The agricultural crisis in China of 1959-61 has long been known to have resulted in severe food shortages but the lack of available statistics have made it impossible to make any assessment until now. This book draws on recently published Chinese data and from Chinese and foreign resources to piece together for the first time the events of the period. It examines the complex cause of the famine, which range from political policies to the behaviour of the peasants. It also throws light on the demographic consequences, including the estimated deaths due to the famine, its effects on marriage, childbearing and migration. Later it outlines the some of the impacts which these events had on subsequent policies and plans as well as on Chinese thinking. It shows how far its demographic effects were unique to contemporary China and how far they contribute to a better understanding of general patterns of famine behaviour and assesses how 1959-61 famine experience fits with that of previous famines in China and other countries. The author has written and edited a number of books including "Choice Not Chance" and "Tradition, Development and the Indiviudal".