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118-430: The traditional Chinese holiday, Dragon Boat Festival , celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, features boat races which are run on Hong Lake . By means of its famous lake, Honghu City produces forty kinds of fish and an abundance of plants, such as lotus, reed and a type of black algae. As of 2000, Honghu City had a population of 335,618 or more people. Honghu is celebrated as an important supporter of

236-423: A People's commune might be labeled as rightists. Escape was also difficult or impossible, and those who attempted were subjected to "party-orchestrated public struggle", which further jeopardized their survival. Besides agriculture, communes also incorporated some light industry and construction projects. Harvests did increase. However this was because of exceptional weather, not, which a lot of officials mistook, as

354-676: A bid to boost traditional culture. The Dragon Boat Festival is unofficially observed by the Chinese communities of Southeast Asia, including Singapore and Malaysia . Equivalent and related official festivals include the Korean Dano , Japanese Tango no sekku , and Vietnamese Tết Đoan Ngọ . Three of the most widespread activities conducted during the Dragon Boat Festival are eating (and preparing) zongzi , drinking realgar wine , and racing dragon boats . Dragon boat racing has

472-611: A catastrophic drop in agricultural output; consequently, food shortages became widespread. According to demographic studies, the famine caused an estimated 15 to 45 million deaths, with rural areas being the hardest hit. Ashton et al. (1984) highlight, “During the period 1958-62, about 30 million premature deaths occurred in China: deaths that occurred earlier than they would have on the basis of mortality trends for more normal years.” During this rapid expansion, coordination suffered and material shortages were frequent, resulting in "a huge rise in

590-431: A consequence of this industrial investment: in 1958, 21 million were added to non-agricultural state payrolls, and total state employment reached a peak of 50.44 million in 1960, more than doubling the 1957 level; the urban population swelled by 31.24 million people. These new workers placed major stress on China's food-rationing system, which led to increased and unsustainable demands on rural food production. Those between

708-414: A game of making an egg stand at noon (this "game" implies that if someone succeeds in making the egg stand at exactly 12:00 noon, that person will receive luck for the next year), and writing spells . All of these activities, together with the drinking of realgar wine or water, were regarded by the ancients (and some today) as effective in preventing disease or evil while promoting health and well-being. In

826-511: A great success: not only the county was fully recovered from the devastation within a year, the average industrial annual growth was 17.7% and average agricultural annual growth was 11.3%. In the era where most Chinese peasants were only able to eat meat once a year during the Chinese new year, the local peasantry students at all schools in Honghu county were guaranteed a meal of chicken, a meal of fish, and

944-503: A halt to the backyard steel furnaces so as not to dampen the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses. The program was only quietly abandoned much later in that year. On the communes, a number of radical and controversial agricultural innovations were promoted at the behest of Mao. Many of these innovations were based on the ideas of now discredited Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko and his followers. The policies included close cropping, whereby seeds were sown far more densely than normal on

1062-523: A meal of meat every week. However, the good times would not last long: Li and his colleagues as well as the local population would eventually pay a heavy price for going against Mao's will. Li, keenly aware of this, asked the local populace to prepare by stocking grains and other foods at their homes. In accordance with Mao's Great Leap Forward , the communist party apparatus at prefecture level issued orders on July 4, 1958, to produce forty thousand tons of steel, thirty-six thousand tons of iron, and over half

1180-405: A million people were mobilized for this effort. Another three thousand were mobilized to logging in order to meet the fuel demand of making steel and iron. Honghu, a county belong to the prefecture could be no exception and Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 )'s own son, Mr. Li Shutang ( 李树棠 ), a student at the time, was among those mobilized. After witnessing the furnace hastily built at his son's school, which

1298-548: A national conference of the Party, Mao declared that China "would catch up with and surpass the most powerful capitalist countries in several dozen years", and in October, Mao announced that he would complete the building of a socialist state in 15 years. In the late 1950s, China's socio-political landscape experienced significant rural reforms and the aftermath of previous policies aimed at collectivization rather than individualism. Before

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1416-575: A pyramid shape. The leaves also give a special aroma and flavor to the sticky rice and fillings. Choices of fillings vary depending on regions. Northern regions in China prefer sweet or dessert-styled zongzi, with bean paste, jujube, and nuts as fillings. Southern regions in China prefer savory zongzi, with a variety of fillings including eggs and meat. Zongzi appeared before the Spring and Autumn period and were originally used to worship ancestors and gods. In

1534-538: A relatively linear progression of development and a worldwide revolution beginning with the most developed countries. At the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country was one of poorest in the world. The Great Leap Forward attempted to defy the conventional understanding of the time required for economic development. Through rapid industrialization, it aimed to close the gap between China's developmental stage and its political aspirations. In March 1955, at

1652-511: A result of the famine. Author Yan Lianke also claims that, while growing up in Henan during the Great Leap Forward, he was taught to "recognize the most edible kinds of bark and clay by his mother. When all of the trees had been stripped and there was no more clay, he learned that lumps of coal could appease the devil in his stomach, at least for a little while." The agricultural policies of

1770-586: A rich history of ancient ceremonial and ritualistic traditions, which originated in southern central China more than 2500 years ago. The legend starts with the story of Qu Yuan, who was a minister in one of the Warring State governments, Chu. He was slandered by jealous government officials and banished by the king. Out of disappointment in the Chu monarch, he drowned himself in the Miluo River. The common people rushed to

1888-464: Is related to the number 5. For example, the Guangdong and Hong Kong regions have the tradition of having congee made from 5 different beans. Realgar wine or Xionghuang wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink that is made from Chinese liquor dosed with powdered realgar , a yellow-orange arsenic sulfide mineral. It was traditionally used as a pesticide, and as a common antidote against disease and venom. On

2006-421: Is said to have been the origin of dragon boat races . When his body could not be found, they dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi . During the twentieth century, Qu Yuan became considered a patriotic poet and a symbol of the people. He was promoted as a folk hero and a symbol of Chinese nationalism in

2124-472: Is to be human. To share joy, grief, and pain is humanizing." Failure to participate in the CCP's political campaigns—though the aims of such campaigns were often conflicting—"could result in detention, torture, death, and the suffering of entire families". Public struggle sessions were often used to intimidate the peasants into obeying local officials; they increased the death rate of the famine in several ways. "In

2242-557: Is too much diversity and dynamism in the country for one work to capture ... rural China as if it were one place." Mahoney describes an elderly man in rural Shanxi who recalls Mao fondly, saying "Before Mao we sometimes ate leaves, after liberation we did not." Regardless, Mahoney points out that Da Fo villagers recall the Great Leap Forward as a period of famine and death, and among those who survived in Da Fo were precisely those who could digest leaves. The failure of agricultural policies,

2360-468: The Chinese dragon , traditionally represents masculine energy , whereas the moon, like the phoenix , traditionally represents feminine energy . The summer solstice is considered the annual peak of male energy while the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, represents the annual peak of feminine energy. The masculine image of the dragon has thus become associated with the Dragon Boat Festival. Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward

2478-468: The Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history . The Great Leap Forward stemmed from multiple factors, including "the purge of intellectuals, the surge of less-educated radicals, the need to find new ways to generate domestic capital, rising enthusiasm about the potential results mass mobilization might produce, and reaction against the sociopolitical results of

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2596-524: The Gregorian calendar . The holiday commemorates Qu Yuan who was the beloved prime minister of the southern Chinese state of Chu during the Warring States period , about 600 B.C. to 200 B.C., and is celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings called zongzi , which were southern Chinese traditions. Dragon Boat Festival integrates praying for good luck and taking respite from

2714-526: The Gung Ho Cooperative movement that he founded (along with others) during the Second Sino-Japanese War (World War Two), Alley established half a dozen small-scale industrial co-operatives in Honghu under the revamped Gung Ho movement he led in the 1980s. In 1954, Yangtze River had a huge flood that only occurred once a century, and in order to save major cities including Wuhan , Honghu

2832-516: The Long March : "mass mobilization, social leveling, attacks on bureaucratism, [and] disdain for material obstacles". In the absence of material development inputs, Mao sought to increase development through voluntarism and organizational advantages brought about by socialism. Mao advocated that a further round of collectivization modeled on the USSR 's " Third Period " was necessary in the countryside where

2950-642: The Socialist Education Movement in 1963 and the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in order to remove opposition and re-consolidate his power. In addition, dozens of dams constructed in Zhumadian, Henan , during the Great Leap Forward collapsed in 1975 (under the influence of Typhoon Nina ) and resulted in the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure , with estimates of its death toll ranging from tens of thousands to 240,000. Classical Marxist theory hypothesized

3068-484: The Soviet 's development strategy." Mao ambitiously sought an increase in rural grain production and an increase in industrial activity. Mao was dismissive of technical experts and basic economic principles, which meant that industrialization of the countryside would solely be dependent on the peasants. Grain quotas were introduced with the idea of having peasants provide grains for themselves and support urban areas. Output from

3186-515: The Soviet Union . Together, taxation and compulsory purchases accounted for 30% of the harvest by 1957, leaving very little surplus. Rationing was also introduced in the cities to curb 'wasteful consumption' and encourage savings (which were deposited in state-owned banks and thus became available for investment), and although food could be purchased from state-owned retailers the market price was higher than that for which it had been purchased. This too

3304-422: The dragon king , while dragon boat racing naturally reflects a reverence for the dragon and the active yang energy associated with it. This was merged with the tradition of visiting friends and family on boats. Another suggestion is that the festival celebrates a widespread feature of east Asian agrarian societies: the harvest of winter wheat. Offerings were regularly made to deities and spirits at such times: in

3422-465: The American sociologist Wolfram Eberhard wrote that it was more widely celebrated in southern China than in the north. Another theory is that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from dragon worship . This theory was advanced by Wen Yiduo . Support is drawn from two key traditions of the festival: the tradition of dragon boat racing and zongzi . The food may have originally represented an offering to

3540-516: The Chinese economy had improved and the Ministry of Finance still decided to include the fiscal surplus of the previous fiscal year as credit funds in the 1953 budget revenue to cover the current year's expenditures. As a result, budget expenditures were expanded and so was the size of the budget. At that time, only the Soviet expert Kutuzov warned the Chinese fiscal authorities not to use the fiscal surplus of

3658-487: The Chinese were exporting food to Africa and Cuba during the famine. He said during the news conference on 23 May 1962, "Well, there has been no indication of any expression of interest or desire by the Chinese Communists to receive any food from us, as I have said at the beginning, and we would certainly have to have some idea as to whether the food was needed and under what conditions it might be distributed. Up to

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3776-690: The Communist side during last century's Chinese Civil War . Westerners know it for New Zealand communist Rewi Alley 's relief work and Gung-ho (共合, Gonghe ) co-operative movement. Honghu and other regions around its lake were part of an important communist stronghold called the Hunan-Western Hubei Revolutionary Base Area ( 湘鄂西革命根据地 , Xiang-Exi Geming Genjudi , also called the Hunan-Western Hubei Soviet , 湘鄂西苏维埃 , Xiang-Exi Suweiai ). The Hunan-Western Hubei Soviet

3894-511: The Dragon Boat Festival a day for getting rid of disease and bad luck. The story best known in modern China holds that the festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan ( c.  340 –278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty . A cadet member of the Chu royal house , Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with

4012-606: The Dragon Boat Festival, people may put realgar wine on parts of children's faces to repel the five poisonous creatures. In some regions of China, people, especially children, wear silk ribbons or threads of 5 colors (blue, red, yellow, white, and black, representing the five elements ) on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. People believe that this will help keep evil away. Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic guardian figure), hanging mugwort and calamus , taking long walks, and wearing perfumed medicine bags. Other traditional activities include

4130-428: The Dragon Boat Festival, people try to avoid this bad luck. For example, people may put pictures of the five venomous creatures (snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, toad, and sometimes spider ) on the wall and stick needles in them. People may also make paper cutouts of the five creatures and wrap them around the wrists of their children. Big ceremonies and performances developed from these practices in many areas, making

4248-551: The Dragon Boat Festival.   ... Now about this Feast. It is also called the Dragon Boat Feast. The fifth of the fifth moon at noon was the most poisonous hour for the poisonous insects, and reptiles such as frogs, lizards, snakes, hide in the mud, for that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical men search for them at that hour and place them in jars, and when they are dried, sometimes use them as medicine. Her Majesty told me this, so that day I went all over everywhere and dug into

4366-579: The Festival of Five Poisonous/Venomous Insects ( traditional Chinese : 毒蟲節 ; simplified Chinese : 毒虫节 ; pinyin : Dúchóng jié ; Wade–Giles : Tu -chʻung -chieh ). Yu Der Ling writes in chapter 11 of her 1911 memoir Two Years in the Forbidden City : The first day of the fifth moon was a busy day for us all, as from the first to the fifth of the fifth moon was the festival of five poisonous insects, which I will explain later—also called

4484-653: The Great Leap Forward were accelerating the construction of waterworks on the North China Plain during the 1957-1958 winter and next the development of people's communes and crude forms of rural industrialization. Some Great Leap Projects had lots of long-term value to China's economy and continued to benefit China after The Great Leap Forward ended. Some of the projects included bridges, railroads, canals and reservoirs. However, some of these projects were completed quickly, resulting in errors and delays that did more harm than good. The Great Leap Forward campaign began during

4602-483: The Great Leap Forward, during the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in 1962, which led him to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Despite the harmful agricultural innovations, the weather was very favorable in 1958 and the harvest was also good. However, the amount of labor which was diverted to steel production and construction projects meant that much of the harvest was left to rot because it

4720-695: The Great Leap Forward, reflecting the government’s belief that collectivization and large-scale projects would boost agricultural and industrial outputs. The communes were meant to centralize farming and labour, supposedly leading to increased efficiency and output; still, in reality, and practice, these measures often disrupted traditional farming practices and led to decreased productivity. Dali Yang stated, "The initial stages of collectivization brought chaos and inefficiency, with agricultural productivity often declining". Before 1949, peasants had farmed their own small pockets of land and observed traditional practices—festivals, banquets, and paying homage to ancestors. It

4838-437: The Great Leap Forward, the Chinese government initiated land reforms that redistributed land from landlords to peasants, but these reforms still needed to attain the expected agricultural productivity. The early 1950s saw the establishment of agricultural cooperatives, yet these changes brought mixed outcomes. However, the push towards rapid industrialization and the establishment of people’s communes in rural areas were central to

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4956-603: The Great Leap [Forward] was a very expensive disaster". The CCP studied the damage that was done at various conferences from 1960 to 1962, especially at the " Seven Thousand Cadres Conference " in 1962, during which Mao Zedong ceded day-to-day leadership to pragmatic moderates like Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping . Acknowledging responsibilities for the Great Leap Forward, Mao did not retreat from his policies; instead, he blamed problems on bad implementation and "rightists" who opposed him. He initiated

5074-505: The Jin dynasty, zongzi dumplings were officially designated as the Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, the Chinese medicine yizhiren ( Alpinia oxyphylla ) was added to the ingredients for making zongzi. This cooked zongzi is called yizhi zong . 'Wu' (午) in the name 'Duanwu' has a pronunciation similar to that of the number 5 in multiple Chinese dialects, and thus many regions have traditions of eating food that

5192-565: The People's Republic of China after the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War . The historian and writer Guo Moruo was influential in shaping this view of Qu. Another origin story says that the festival commemorates Wu Zixu (died 484 BC), a statesman of the Kingdom of Wu . King Goujian of the state of Yue sends Xi Shi , a beautiful woman, to the state of Wu to distract its King Fuchai from state affairs. Wu Zixu sees through

5310-557: The Second Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee, "go all out, aim high, and build socialism with greater, faster, better, and more economical results" ( simplified Chinese : 鼓足干劲、力争上游、多快好省地建设社会主义 ; traditional Chinese : 鼓足幹勁、力爭上游、多快好省地建設社會主義 ) was adopted as the "General Line for Socialist Construction" in China. In 1955, Mao had already expressed his belief that socialist construction should achieve "greater, faster, better, and more economical" results. These led to

5428-642: The Soviet and its military force retreated westward to form the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou revolutionary base area, which in October 1934 refuged the retreating troops of the Sixth Army Group. Folding the men of the Sixth into his ranks, He Long formed the Second Front Red Army which was to take its own route on the Long March . Rewi Alley carried out flood relief in Honghu 1932. Famous for

5546-543: The UK. In the August 1958 Politburo meetings, it was decided that steel production would be set to double within the year, most of the increase coming through backyard steel furnaces. Major investments in larger state enterprises were made: 1587, 1361 and 1815 medium and large-scale state projects were started in 1958, 1959 and 1960 respectively, more in each year than in the first Five Year Plan. Millions of Chinese became state workers as

5664-547: The United States in industrial output in the next 15 years through peaceful competition. Mao Zedong was so inspired by the slogan that China put forward its own one: to catch up with and surpass the United Kingdom in 15 years. As with its approach to agriculture, the Chinese government attempted to compensate for its inability to invest in industry with mass mobilizations to increase human labor inputs. The initial projects of

5782-508: The Western powers. Mao had become convinced that China should follow its own path to communism. According to Jonathan Mirsky , a historian and a journalist who specialized in Chinese affairs, China's isolation from most of the rest of the world, along with the Korean War , had accelerated Mao's attacks on his perceived domestic enemies. It led him to accelerate his designs to develop an economy where

5900-460: The ages of sixteen and thirty were considered ideal candidates for the militia. Peasants were working long hours, all year round, even contributed their own cooking utensils to be melted as a source of production. The consequences of the Great Leap Forward were devastating, leading to one of the most severe famines in human history. The policies that diverted labour from agriculture to industrial projects, such as backyard steel furnaces, resulted in

6018-406: The ancient Yue, dragon kings; in the ancient Chu, Qu Yuan; in the ancient Wu, Wu Zixu (as a river god); in ancient Korea , mountain gods (see Dano ). As interactions between different regions increased, these similar festivals eventually merged into one holiday. In the early 20th century the Dragon Boat Festival was observed from the first to the fifth days of the fifth month, and was also known as

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6136-503: The basis for determining the amount of grain which would be taken by the State, supplied to the towns and cities and exported. This barely left enough grain for the peasants, and in some areas, starvation set in. A 1959 drought and flooding from the Yellow River in the same year also contributed to the famine. During 1958–1960 China continued to be a substantial net exporter of grain, despite

6254-409: The central treasury tight again. This drew the attention of Zhou Enlai, Li Xiannian and others, and at a state meeting held on June 5, 1956, proposals were made to curb impetuousness and rash advances, revise the 1956 national economic plan, and cut capital construction investment. Such was the anti-"rash advance" movement. The excess of the first five-year plan gave the nation great confidence, and at

6372-688: The characters often having the same pronunciation. Hence Duanwu , the festival on "the fifth day of the fifth month". In Cantonese , it is romanized as Tuen Ng Jit in Hong Kong and Tung Ng Jit in Macau , hence the name "Tuen Ng Festival" used in Hong Kong , and Tun Ng ( Festividade do Barco-Dragão in Portuguese ) in Macau. The fifth lunar month is considered an unlucky and poisonous month, and

6490-483: The commune system of their traditional means of being able to rent, sell, or use their land as collateral for loans. In one village, once the commune was operational, the Party boss and his colleagues "swung into manic action, herding villagers into the fields to sleep and to work intolerable hours, and forcing them to walk, starving, to distant additional projects." Edward Friedman, political scientist, Paul Pickowicz, historian, and Mark Selden , sociologist, wrote about

6608-585: The completion of the first 5 Year Economic Plan in 1957, Mao had come to believe that the path to socialism that had been followed by the Soviet Union was not appropriate for China. He was critical of Khrushchev's reversal of Stalinist policies and he was also alarmed by the uprisings that had taken place in East Germany , Poland and Hungary , and the perception that the USSR was seeking " peaceful coexistence " with

6726-554: The country, but the provinces which had adopted Mao's reforms with the most vigor, such as Anhui , Gansu and Henan , tended to suffer disproportionately. Sichuan , one of China's most populous provinces, known in China as "Heaven's Granary" because of its fertility, is thought to have suffered the highest number of deaths from starvation due to the vigor with which provincial leader Li Jingquan undertook Mao's reforms. There are widespread oral reports, though little official documentation, of cannibalism being practiced in various forms as

6844-509: The day of the festival according to the Chinese calendar. The Chinese name of the festival is pronounced differently in different Chinese languages . Duanwu ( 端午 ) literally means 'starting five'—i.e., the first "fifth day" of the month according to the Chinese zodiac . However, despite the literal meaning referring to the Earthly Branches , this character has also become associated with wǔ ( 五 ; wu ; 'five'), due to

6962-446: The decline in food output, took little or no action. The major changes which occurred in the lives of rural Chinese people included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization . Private farming was prohibited, and those people who engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries . Restrictions on rural people were enforced with public struggle sessions and social pressure, and forced labor

7080-650: The dynamic of interaction between the Party and villagers: Beyond attack, beyond question, was the systemic and structured dynamic of the socialist state that intimidated and impoverished millions of patriotic and loyal villagers. The authors present a similar picture to Thaxton in depicting the party's destruction of the traditions of Chinese villagers. Traditionally prized local customs were deemed signs of " feudalism " to be extinguished. "Among them were funerals, weddings, local markets, and festivals. The Party thus destroyed much that gave meaning to Chinese lives. These private bonds were social glue. To mourn and to celebrate

7198-458: The early years of the Republic of China , Duanwu was celebrated as the "Poets' Day" due to Qu Yuan's status as China's first known poet. In Taiwanese tradition, balancing an egg on Duanwu is said to bring good fortune for the rest of the year. The sun is considered to be at its strongest around the time of the summer solstice, as the daylight in the northern hemisphere is the longest. The sun, like

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7316-453: The effort. Han continues to lead the Red Guards in their struggle against the enemy. Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( traditional Chinese : 端午節 ; simplified Chinese : 端午节 ; pinyin : Duānwǔ jié ) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar , which corresponds to late May or early June in

7434-508: The end of the civil war, was devastated, and in response to the severe conditions, there was resistance among the populace. The effects on the upper levels of government in response to the disaster were complex, with Mao purging the Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai in 1959, the temporary promotion of Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , and Deng Xiaoping , and Mao losing some power and prestige following

7552-469: The end of the year approximately 25,000 communes had been set up, with an average of 5,000 households each. The communes were relatively self-sufficient co-operatives where wages and money were replaced by work points. The commune system was aimed at maximizing production for provisioning the cities and constructing offices, factories, schools, and social insurance systems for urban-dwelling workers, cadres, and officials. Citizens in rural areas who criticized

7670-579: The existing collectives would be merged into huge people's communes. An experimental commune was established at Chayashan in Henan in April 1958. Here for the first time, private plots were entirely abolished and communal kitchens were introduced. At the Politburo meetings in August 1958, it was decided that these people's communes would become the new form of economic and political organization throughout rural China. By

7788-492: The experience, even in the 2000s (decade), more than three decades later. The subject remains a taboo in official documents by the Chinese government until this day, but those local populace who survived the massive famine thanks to what Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) had done would remember him. After Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) had died on October 8, 2002, many of those who had experienced the famine went to his funeral to honor him, including many who could not go but insisted on being carried to

7906-460: The festival first appeared during the early Han dynasty. The stories of both Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu were recorded in Sima Qian 's Shiji , completed 187 and 393 years after the respective events, because historians wanted to praise both characters. According to historians, the holiday originated as a celebration of agriculture, fertility, and rice growing in southern China . As recently as 1952

8024-527: The fifth day of the fifth month especially so. To get rid of the misfortune, people would put calamus , Artemisia , and garlic above the doors on the fifth day of the fifth month. These were believed to help ward off evil by their strong smell and their shape (for instance, calamus leaves are shaped like swords). Venomous animals were said to appear starting from the fifth day of the fifth month, such as snakes, centipedes, and scorpions; people also supposedly get sick easily after this day. Therefore, during

8142-685: The first case, blows to the body caused internal injuries that, in combination with physical emaciation and acute hunger, could induce death." In one case, after a peasant stole two cabbages from the common fields, the thief was publicly criticized for half a day. He collapsed, fell ill, and never recovered. Others were sent to labor camps . About 7% of those who died during the Great Leap Forward were tortured to death or summarily killed. Benjamin Valentino notes that "communist officials sometimes tortured and killed those accused of failing to meet their grain quota". However, J. G. Mahoney has said that "there

8260-645: The funeral. Two subdistricts: Fourteen towns: The only township is Laowan Township ( 老湾 乡 ) Three administrative zones: The scenic Lake Honghu was the centerpiece of a revolutionary opera: " The Red Guards on Honghu Lake " ( 洪湖赤卫队 ) which was based on a true story about the Red Army and its struggle with the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War . A synopsis of this story which happened on Lake Honghu: Modern Opera. A revolutionary musical depicting

8378-443: The ground, but found nothing. In 2008 the Dragon Boat Festival was made a national public holiday in China . The festival was long marked as a cultural festival in China and is a public holiday in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan . The People's Republic of China's government established in 1949 did not initially recognize the Dragon Boat Festival as a public holiday but reintroduced it in 2008 alongside two other festivals in

8496-495: The incorrect assumption that seeds of the same class would not compete with each other. Yang provides data on the failure of close planting techniques, which reduced yields in Anhui province from 400 jin per mu to less than 200 jin per mu due to overcrowded plants competing for nutrients and sunlight." Deep plowing was encouraged on the mistaken belief that this would yield plants with extra large root systems. Moderately productive land

8614-486: The increasingly powerful state of Qin , Qu was banished for opposing the alliance and even accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry . Eventually, Qin captured Ying , the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River . It is said that the local people, who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him, or at least retrieve his body. This

8732-471: The industrial activities such as steel was also supposed to be used for urban growth. Local officials were fearful of Anti-Rightist Campaigns and they competed to fulfill or over-fulfill quotas which were based on Mao's exaggerated claims, collecting non-existent "surpluses" and leaving farmers to starve to death. Higher officials did not dare to report the economic disaster which was being caused by these policies, and national officials, blaming bad weather for

8850-474: The local cadres were persecuted. In October 1964, the communist apparatus at the Jingzhou prefecture level decided that the communist organization of Honghu county was completely "rotten" and Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) and his colleagues were struggled in public trials in front of ten thousand people. In April 1965, the charge became much more serious, the local communists of Honghu county headed by Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 )

8968-418: The local populace to have enough to eat. As a result, in an era when all other counties suffered tens of thousands of starvation deaths, Honghu county did not lose a single person to starvation, and the local population of Honghu county actually increased by 15.52‰ (or 1.552%). Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) and his colleagues soon paid their price for saving the local population. Even before the Cultural Revolution ,

9086-592: The means to make significant capital improvements in agriculture. Viewing human labor as an underutilized factor of production , the government intensified the mobilization of masses of people to increase labor inputs in agriculture. In November 1957, party leaders of communist countries gathered in Moscow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution . Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev proposed not only to catch up with but exceed

9204-491: The memory of the young girl Cao E (130–144 AD) instead. Cao E's father Cao Xu ( 曹盱 ) was a shaman who presided over local ceremonies at Shangyu . In 143, while presiding over a ceremony commemorating Wu Zixu during the Dragon Boat Festival, Cao Xu accidentally fell into the Shun River . Cao E, in an act of filial piety , searched the river for 3 days trying to find him. After five days, she and her father were both found dead in

9322-505: The movement of farmers from agricultural to industrial work, and weather conditions suppressed the food supply. At the same time improvements in medicine, infant mortality, and average life expectancy promoted by the Patriotic Health Campaign led to a greatly increased need for food. The shortage of supply clashed with an explosion in demand, leading to millions of deaths from severe famine. The economy, which had improved since

9440-415: The number of people becoming ill due to starvation drastically increased. Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) and his colleague decided to save the local population totaling more than half a million from starvation, which ultimately would doom their fates. Massive death in the local Jingzhou prefecture forced the local cadres at prefecture level to gather as much grains as possible, and Honghu county, the only county in

9558-716: The period of the Second Five Year Plan which was scheduled to run from 1958 to 1963, though the campaign itself was discontinued by 1961. Mao unveiled the Great Leap Forward at a meeting in January 1958 in Nanjing . The Great Leap Forward was grounded in a logical theory of economic development and represented an unambiguous social invention. The central idea behind the Great Leap was that China should "walk on two legs", by rapidly developing both heavy and light industry, urban and rural areas, and large and small scale labor. The hope

9676-453: The plot and warned Fuchai, who became angry and forced the latter to commit suicide. His body was thrown into the river on the fifth day of the fifth month. After his death, in places such as Suzhou , Wu Zixu is remembered during the Dragon Boat Festival. Although Wu Zixu is commemorated in southeast Jiangsu and Qu Yuan elsewhere in China, much of Northeastern Zhejiang , including the cities of Shaoxing , Ningbo and Zhoushan , celebrates

9794-549: The prefecture without death caused by starvation, became their only target. The local communist party secretary of Jingzhou prefecture, Xue Tan ( 薛坦 ), asked Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) to leave only 13.5 kilograms (30 lb) of grains of monthly rations for each resident of Honghu, and give out the rest. Li refused, arguing that it would at least take 15 kilograms (33 lb) of monthly ration to prevent death resulting from starvation. After much argument without any satisfactory result, Li decided to go against his superior's order and allow

9912-556: The present, we have had no such indication." But Kennedy said that the US provided food for about half a million refugees in British Hong Kong. With dramatically reduced yields, even urban areas received greatly reduced rations; however, mass starvation was largely confined to the countryside, where, as a result of drastically inflated production statistics, very little grain was left for the peasants to eat. Food shortages were bad throughout

10030-552: The previous year, however, it was not heeded by the Ministry of Finance. In that year, the gross industrial and agricultural output grew by 21.3%, while the capital construction budget increased by 50% compared to the previous year, which led to an imbalance between production and demand. Such was the "small rash advance" (小冒進) at the start of the first five-year plan period. The issue had caused widespread social controversy. The faction of Li Xiannian , Chen Yun and others did not think it

10148-885: The proliferation of "folk furnaces". Mao was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei , Anhui , in September 1958 by provincial first secretary Zeng Xisheng . The unit was claimed to be manufacturing high quality steel. Moreover, the experience of the intellectual classes following the Hundred Flowers Campaign silenced those aware of the folly of such a plan. According to his private doctor, Li Zhisui , Mao and his entourage visited traditional steel works in Manchuria in January 1959 where he found out that high quality steel could only be produced in large-scale factories using reliable fuel such as coal. However, he decided not to order

10266-402: The proportion of the harvest collected by the state to insure against further disasters. Moderates within the Party, including Zhou Enlai , argued for a reversal of collectivization on the grounds that claiming the bulk of the harvest for the state had made the people's food-security dependent upon the constant, efficient, and transparent functioning of the government. In 1957, Mao responded to

10384-413: The race to please superiors and win plaudits—like the chance to meet Mao himself—intensified. The state was later able to force many production groups to sell more grain than they could spare based on these false production figures. The ban on private holdings severely disrupted peasant life at its most basic level. Villagers were unable to secure enough food to go on living because they were deprived by

10502-400: The re-emergence of "rash advances", which further led to the reintroduction of policies and tendencies that had previously been overturned. Those who opposed Mao's policies were accused of not upholding the tenets of the "class struggle" under people's cult of Mao . Regarding agriculture, the Chinese government recognized the country's dilemma of feeding its rapidly growing population without

10620-485: The regime would get maximum benefit from rural taxation. The Anti-Rightist Campaign started on June 8th, 1957. The main goal was to purge "rightists" from the CCP and China altogether. It was believed that approximately 5 percent of the population was still "rightists" (Political conservatives sabotaging the revolution). In the early years of the New China, due to the lack of experience in financial and economic work, it

10738-404: The result of hard work of the peasants, creating further complications. (106) This lead to famine in the countryside since they were required to reach set harvest goal, leaving not enough food for themselves. Mao saw grain and steel production as the key pillars of economic development. He forecast that within 15 years of the start of the Great Leap, China's industrial output would surpass that of

10856-749: The river from drowning. Eight years later, in 151, a temple was built in Shangyu dedicated to the memory of Cao E and her sacrifice. The Shun River was renamed Cao'e River in her honor. Cao E is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu ("Table of Peerless Heroes") by Jin Guliang. Some modern research suggests that the stories of Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu were superimposed onto a pre-existing holiday tradition. The promotion of these stories might have been encouraged by Confucian scholars, seeking to legitimize and strengthen their influence in China. The relationship between zongzi, Qu Yuan and

10974-673: The struggle between Communist guerrillas and a KMT landlord for control of a village. In the summer of 1930, a tyrant named Peng allied with Nationalist Army commander Feng raids the Red Army’s base in the Honghu area of Hubei province. Party Secretary Han Ying and the base director lead the local guards in an orderly withdrawal but later return to lead a raid on the enemy’s weapons storehouse. In retaliation, Peng has some local people tortured to try to discover Han Ying’s hideout. In order to protect his fellow villagers, Han Ying gives herself up, then escapes, with one of his deputies sacrificing himself in

11092-658: The summer heat. In September 2009, UNESCO officially approved the holiday's inclusion in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity , becoming the first Chinese holiday to be selected. The English language name for the holiday is "Dragon Boat Festival", used as the official English translation of the holiday by the People's Republic of China . It is also referred to in some English sources as Double Fifth Festival which alludes to

11210-408: The system were labeled "dangerous". Later on, as more and more families link together to form people's communes, peasants started to lose individual identities, since families were from vastly different communities with different cultures views, political views, family and financial background, which created conflict regarding the means and modes of production. Some wealthier families who refused to join

11328-400: The tensions which existed in the Party by launching the Hundred Flowers Campaign as a way to promote free speech and criticism. Some scholars have retroactively concluded that this campaign was a ploy designed to allow critics of the regime, primarily intellectuals but also low ranking members of the party who were critical of the agricultural policies, to identify themselves. By the time of

11446-404: The time people realized, it was too late to correct statistics without angering Mao. The Great Leap Forward sought to revive folk technologies, including in the area of steel production. China's steel industry faced a shortage of imported iron and calls to increase production of "native iron" had begun in 1956. By mid-1958, the Chinese state began promoting indigenous metallurgical methods and

11564-476: The time) and Sun Keti (孙克惕, also serving as the deputy Honghu County chief at the time) were all arrested and sent directly to labor camps without trials or any other legal proceedings, and everyone received at least ten years jail terms, with Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) had the longest, a fifteen-year term. The persecution had such devastation on those suffered that many, including the former deputy communist party secretary Mr. Xu Wei ( 徐伟 ) refused to be interviewed about

11682-409: The truth: that was the total production of twenty hactres of rice put into one, the propaganda had lied. The consequence of Mao's distratrous policy soon appeared: since June 1959, according to official records of the Chinese government, the death of local prefecture numbered 115,844 in 1960, which was more than the double of the average annual death of 50,000. The price at Honghu county skyrocketed and

11800-413: The wage bill, largely for construction workers, but no corresponding increase in manufactured goods". Facing a massive deficit, the government cut industrial investment from 38.9 to 7.1 billion yuan from 1960 to 1962 (an 82% decrease; the 1957 level was 14.4 billion). partly due to misreporting, or corruption at every level of the government where they'd overreport harvest and steel production, by

11918-590: The water and tried to recover his body, but they failed. In commemoration of Qu Yuan, people hold dragon boat races yearly on the day of his death according to the legend. They also scattered rice into the water to feed the fish, to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body, which is one of the origins of zongzi . A notable part of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival is making and eating zongzi, also known as sticky rice dumplings, with family members and friends. People traditionally make zongzi by wrapping glutinous rice and fillings in leaves of reed or bamboo, forming

12036-461: The widespread famine which was being experienced in the countryside, as Mao sought to maintain face and convince the outside world of the success of his plans. Foreign aid was refused. When the Japanese foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart Chen Yi about an offer of 100,000 tonnes of wheat which was going to be shipped away from public view, he was rebuffed. John F. Kennedy was also aware that

12154-429: Was a common practice to include the fiscal surplus of the previous year in the budget of the current year. Because of the low level of budgeting in the fiscal sector and inaccurate estimates of economic development, revenues and expenditures were underestimated. However, no problems arose because the government usually managed to end the fiscal year with a surplus. In 1953, when China entered the first five-year plan period,

12272-434: Was abolished and all households were forced into state-operated communes. Mao demanded that the communes increase grain production to feed the cities and to earn foreign exchange through exports. Apart from progressive taxation on each household's harvest, the state introduced a system of compulsory state purchases of grain at fixed prices to build up stockpiles for famine-relief and meet the terms of its trade agreements with

12390-666: Was accused of (though accurately) being reestablishing capitalism. In February 1966, the local communists of Honghu county were accused of establishing independent kingdoms, forming reactionary anti-communism revisionist group, a serious political crime that was punishable by death. Finally, in 1966, a total of 341 cadres of Honghu county, or 90% of the county administrators and local communists in charge, including communist party secretary Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ), first deputy communist party secretary Mr. Xu Wei ( 徐伟 ), deputy communist party secretaries Han Yaohui ( 韩耀辉 ), Ma Xiangkui ( 马香魁 ), Gu Chengqi (辜呈清, also serving as Honghu County chief at

12508-642: Was actually a collection of several isolated bases linked together by underground and guerrilla activities. The Honghu Base, the largest, was itself the object of four Encirclement Campaigns , the last of which was strategised as one stage of the broadly successful Encirclement Campaign against Hunan-Western Hubei Soviet . The base area or soviet was under the leadership of communist general (later Field Marshal ) He Long through most of its existence, and defended by his Second Army Group . Finally crushed by Chiang Kai-shek 's Chinese Army and various allied warlord forces , co-ordinated in his Encirclement Campaigns ,

12626-472: Was also exacted on people. Rural industrialization, while officially a priority of the campaign, saw "its development ... aborted by the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward". The Great Leap was one of two periods between 1953 and 1976 in which China's economy shrank (the other being the Cultural Revolution ). Economist Dwight Perkins argues that "enormous amounts of investment only produced modest increases in production or none at all. ... In short,

12744-548: Was an economic and social campaign within the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society through the formation of people's communes . Millions of people died in mainland China during the Great Leap, with estimates based on demographic reconstruction ranging from 15 to 55 million, making

12862-526: Was appropriate to continue this practice, but they also had opponents. Li Xiannian finally decided to hold a collective meeting to discuss the issue, and after listening to the views of all parties, he decided to abolish the practice. Nevertheless, the controversy over the use of the fiscal surplus persisted, which brought another reckless "rash advance" to China's economic development in 1956. At that time, China lacked consideration in three areas: capital construction, employee wages and agricultural loans, making

12980-437: Was assigned to the area in 1955 and witnessed the devastation first hand. Li strongly opposed Mao's policy and openly claimed that there must be prerequisite conditions for collectivization and Honghu had not met any of them. Instead Li convinced his colleagues to adopt an economic policy that was completely against Mao's wish - a de facto market economy (for political reasons the term could not be mentioned). This proved to be

13098-451: Was completely useless but still functioned due to the political reason, Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) only muttered one sentence: "This is a joke!", but he and his colleagues were powerless to stop the foolish policy that was issued by the Chinese paramount leader Mao Zedong . Once his son Li Shutang ( 李树棠 ) excitedly told him that there average yield of a single hactre of rice reached 100 tons, Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 ) angrily shut his son up by telling

13216-569: Was designated as the flooded area, resulting in nearly a million local residents becoming refugees after the entire county was flooded. As the flood subsided and refugees returned to begin rebuilding, another political disaster struck the county that was already devastated by the flood: on May 5, 1955, Mao Zedong personally claimed that the time was critical for collectivization, and ordered the immediate start of collectivization, which must be completed within three years. The local communist party secretary Mr. Li Jinyu ( 李金玉 )(1922 - October 8, 2002)

13334-541: Was done in the name of discouraging excessive consumption. Besides these economic changes, the CCP implemented major social changes in the countryside including the banishing of all religious and mystic institutions and ceremonies, replacing them with political meetings and propaganda sessions. Attempts were made to enhance rural education and the status of women (allowing them to initiate divorce if they desired) and ending foot-binding , child marriage and opium addiction. The old system of internal passports (the hukou )

13452-406: Was introduced in 1956, preventing inter-county travel without appropriate authorization. Highest priority was given to the urban proletariat for whom a welfare state was created. The first phase of collectivization resulted in modest improvements in output. Famine along the mid-Yangzi was averted in 1956 through the timely allocation of food-aid, but in 1957 the Party's response was to increase

13570-521: Was left unplanted based on the belief that concentrating manure and effort on the most fertile land would lead to large productivity gains per-acre. Altogether, these untested innovations generally led to decreases in grain production rather than increases. Meanwhile, local leaders were pressured into falsely reporting ever-higher grain production figures to their political superiors. Participants at political meetings remembered production figures being inflated up to 10 times their actual production amounts as

13688-515: Was not collected in some areas. This problem was exacerbated by a devastating locust swarm, which was caused when their natural predators were killed as part of the Four Pests Campaign . Although actual harvests were reduced, local officials, under tremendous pressure to report record harvests to central authorities in response to the innovations, competed with each other to announce increasingly exaggerated results. These results were used as

13806-887: Was realized that Mao's policy of using a state monopoly on agriculture to finance industrialization would be unpopular with the peasants. Therefore, it was proposed that the peasants should be brought under Party control by the establishment of agricultural collectives which would also facilitate the sharing of tools and draft animals. This policy was gradually pushed through between 1949 and 1958 in response to immediate policy needs, first by establishing "mutual aid teams" of 5–15 households, then in 1953 "elementary agricultural cooperatives" of 20–40 households, then from 1956 in "higher co-operatives" of 100–300 families. From 1954 onward peasants were encouraged to form and join collective-farming associations, which would supposedly increase their efficiency without robbing them of their own land or restricting their livelihoods. By 1958, private ownership

13924-494: Was to industrialize by making use of the massive supply of cheap labour and avoid having to import heavy machinery. The government also sought to avoid both social stratification and technical bottlenecks involved in the Soviet model of development, but sought political rather than technical solutions to do so. Distrusting technical experts, Mao and the party sought to replicate the strategies used in its 1930s regrouping in Yan'an following

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