Mao Zedong's Great Famine: A History of China's Catastrophe 1958-1962 (A trilogy by contemporary Chinese historian Feng Ke)

Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962

★★★New Chinese translation of Fengke's classic works★★★
★Samuel Johnson Prize-winning work from the UK★
This authoritative masterpiece rewrites modern Chinese history and is a must-read for understanding 20th-century Chinese history.

A famine that claimed at least 45 million lives: was it a natural disaster or a man-made one?
A remarkable historical investigation that reveals one of the most heinous crimes in world history

"This book is more terrifying than anything you have ever read. The dehumanization of people, especially those dominated by ideology, makes every page unbearable to read... It is shocking... Feng Ke has done a service to history and to the Chinese people - when they are able to read this book one day." - Bloomberg Businessweek

The most insane, dark, and tragic page in modern Chinese history: Decoding and reconstructing the truth behind the greatest human tragedy of the 20th century

From 1958 to 1962, China became a living hell. Mao Zedong pushed the nation into a frenzy of progress, attempting to catch up with and surpass Britain within 15 years. This experiment ultimately led to a catastrophe unprecedented in Chinese history, claiming the lives of tens of millions.

With brilliant prose and rich detail, Feng Ke presents a history that has been widely speculated but never fully understood. He pored over extensive archives of the Communist Party of China—not only central archives but also provincial archives, and local municipal and county archives. These materials include confidential Public Security Bureau reports, detailed minutes of high-level Party meetings, unedited original speeches by key leaders, surveys of rural work, investigations into mass killings, confidential public opinion surveys, and letters of denunciation from ordinary citizens. For a long time, these archives were kept secret, accessible only to a handful of the Party's most trusted historians. However, after the promulgation of the Archives Law, thousands of central and local archives were opened to the public, radically changing the way people study the Mao era. It was through these archives that Feng Ke was able to piece together a period of the past that Chinese officials desperately wanted to forget and conceal.

After the English edition of this book was published, it immediately attracted international attention and discussion, and even won the Samuel Johnson Prize (later renamed the Baillie Gifford Prize), the most representative non-fiction book award in the UK. The judging panel highly praised the book, with one commenting, "This book is not only important today, but will also become even more important as China becomes increasingly influential and valued in the world." Another commentator stated that Feng Ke's work completely changed his understanding of the 20th century. In the past, when the Western world discussed the disasters brought about by dictatorial regimes in the 20th century, it mostly focused on Hitler and Stalin. However, the book "Mao Zedong's Great Famine" alerted many Western readers that such a tragic history had also occurred in contemporary China.

Mao Zedong envisioned the Great Leap Forward as a way to elevate China to a superpower and demonstrate the power of communism to the world. Ultimately, his ambitions were futile and failed. However, no one had ever demonstrated this so clearly before Feng Ke. The Great Leap Forward ultimately became "one of the largest mass killings in human history"—at least 40 to 50 million people died from overwork, starvation, and beatings. Furthermore, it caused the largest-scale destruction of buildings in human history and brought catastrophic damage to the natural environment. Through extensive archival research and insider interviews, Feng Ke uses vivid narrative to connect the inside stories of the decision-making level with the daily lives of the people, giving voice to the dead and the weak. This writing style is unprecedented in the study of similar topics. It deeply excavates the dark side of the government that is closest to historical facts, which is horrifying and makes people sigh in admiration.

Mao Zedong's Great Famine is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding 20th-century Chinese history. This newly released translation comprehensively corrects the errors and omissions of the original, allowing Feng Ke's classic work to be presented more faithfully to the original for Chinese readers. Decades have passed, but the past is not forgotten. The darkness of that era, the political madness, and the countless innocent lives lost in history will be remembered forever through Feng Ke's writings.

Highly recommended

Yu Minling (Researcher at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)
Li Zhide (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Mirror Literature, Senior Media Professional)
Wang Hao (author, PhD in International Relations, Oxford University)
Chen Yaohuang (Associate Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)
Huang Kewu (Distinguished Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)
Yan Zeya (Publisher and Writer)

International acclaim

An outstanding historical investigation that reveals one of the most heinous crimes in world history.
This book reveals the extent of the horrors of the Great Famine and is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand 20th-century history. —New Statesman

Courage and talent.
This book has done an unparalleled job of proving that Mao Zedong caused the famine... It is because of research as brilliant as this that the descendants of millions of those who died can now understand the tragedy that befell their ancestors.
Feng Ke reconstructs the tragedy caused by China's Great Leap Forward Movement and proves that Mao Zedong is one of the greatest demons in history... Feng Ke's writing style is calm and restrained, and he lets the characters in the book speak for themselves.
Feng Ke's brilliant research shows how the Great Famine linked the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s to the Cultural Revolution that swept China in the 1960s. Through his research, the Chinese people finally know the names of those historical criminals, although for most people it is now too late to hold them accountable. - The Sunday Times

This book is the most authoritative and comprehensive study of one of the largest and deadliest famines in history. — Jung Chang, bestselling author of Hong, Mao Zedong, and Cixi

Fascinating... Through meticulous archival analysis, Feng Ke's research demonstrates that the Mao Zedong regime caused the largest "man-made famine" in world history. - Daily Express

A courageous study... reveals the full implications of the disaster. —The Economist

Mao Zedong's Great Famine reveals a horrific story in unprecedented detail. —The Independent

It tells a heartbreaking story. —Evening Standard

First-class research.
People will remember Mao Zedong as the ruler who launched and presided over the most destructive man-made disaster in human history. Mao's image in Chinese history has since become clear. To a large extent, it was Feng Ke's book that helped people see Mao's true face. - New York Review of Books

This book discredits Mao, reducing him to a demon on par with Hitler and Stalin... This book provides the best and most up-to-date account of Mao's horrific crimes. Both scholars engaged in Chinese studies and ordinary readers who want to understand the real China will benefit from Feng Ke's research. Sooner or later, the Chinese will also praise him. -Literary Review

This book tells the story of a nation that, through mass mobilization, attempted to rapidly modernize its industry and agriculture in order to create a communist utopia, only to be undone by official corruption and incompetence, resulting in the deaths of 45 million people. —The Times

Feng Ke's smooth narrative makes this book an engaging read. -Metro

This book is a masterpiece. Professor Feng Ke has done meticulous research, and by delving into Chinese archives, he has revealed many astonishing details and offered profound insights. This book sheds much new light on the Great Famine, but most importantly, it reminds us that 20th-century history needs to be reexamined. —Jasper Backer, Spectator

Feng Ke uses cold writing to deeply portray Mao's personality and psychology, proving that Mao was indeed a man with a cruel temperament but also cowardly and timid, cold-blooded and vindictive... The description is very frank. - The New Yorker

Drawing on the latest research, this book uses masterful narrative techniques to tell the story of a man-made famine that killed 45 million people. The author provides a captivating account of Mao's court politics, portraying a wide range of characters, from the dictator and his cronies to ordinary villagers. —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

Based on recently released archival materials, this book provides a candid account of China's Great Leap Forward... It is both refreshing and chilling to read. This dark chapter in Chinese history urgently needs further research. —Kirkus Reviews

This book presents a rich narrative of suffering, a mix of statistics, brutal anecdotes, and the self-justifications of leaders responsible for the disaster. —Publishers Weekly

This book is more terrifying than anything you have ever read. The inhumanity of people, especially those dominated by ideology, makes every page unbearable to read... It is shocking... Feng Ke has made a contribution to history and to the Chinese people - when they are able to read this book one day. - Bloomberg Businessweek

A masterpiece that defines a new standard for scholarship. —Taipei Times

Shocking. —Michael Burleigh, The Daily Telegraph

Unheard of and heartbreaking. —London Evening Standard

This is a masterpiece that not only tells us about China's modern history, but also tells us how a simple idea of ​​a leader in an authoritarian country, when widely publicized, can bring disaster to the country - in this book, the extent of the disaster is far beyond people's imagination. - The Observer

2021-07-01

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