1961 - Food Availability

Food Availability

China suffers further crop failures, exacerbating the famine that is killing millions throughout the country (see 1959). Chairman Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) finally comes to realize that the peasants are dying and turns on the local leaders, blaming them for having forced the people into communes and lying about "miracle" harvests when so many are trying to stay alive by eating bark, leaves, and even the earth itself, sometimes resorting to cannibalism (see 1963).