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Telling the Truth: China’s Great Leap Forward, Household Registration and the Famine Death Tally

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Songlin Yang

    1. Henan Provincial Development Research Center, Zhengzhou, China

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  • Problematizes dominant narratives and discourse

  • Provides new quantitative data about the GLF famine

  • Explores the uses and misuses of statistics

  • Offers refreshing qualitative historical and sociological evidence and analysis

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxviii
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  2. Problems Surrounding the Death Counts in the Great Leap Forward

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Introduction: Someone Must Finally Speak the Truth

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 3-6

  3. Excess Mortality During the Three Years of Difficulty

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7
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    2. Current Research and Dilemmas

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 9-34

    3. How to Resolve the Statistical Dilemma

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 35-54

    4. Causes of Two Sets of Population Growth Data and Data Adjustment

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 55-78

    5. Bewildering Birth Data: Origin and Adjustment

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 79-94

    6. Astounding Death Figures, Cause and Adjustments

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 95-116

    7. There Were 2.6–4 Million Deaths in the Three Years of Difficulty in Excess of Normal Years

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 117-131

  4. A Critical Review of Mainstream Literature and Findings

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133
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    2. Institutional Constraints on China’s Population Statistics

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 135-146

    3. Problems in the Research of a Number of Chinese Scholars

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 147-166

    4. Other Research and Findings

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 167-179

    5. Tombstone: A Most Influential Work

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 181-193

  5. The Main Causes of the Disaster

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 195-196
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    2. The Extent of Natural Disasters

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 197-212

    3. An Analysis on Policy Factors

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 213-242

    4. Are Socialism, Planned Economy, and Collectivism Responsible for the Calamities?

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 243-259

    5. Concluding Remarks

      • Yang Songlin
      Pages 261-267
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Keywords

About this book

This book discusses what is often called the “Great Leap Famine”, which occurred in China during the years from 1959 to 1961. Scholarly consensus suggests that 30 million Chinese perished. Yang Songlin’s book provides an evidence-based, systematic and substantial rebuff, concluding that a much smaller number of deaths can be verified. This book is of interest to scholars of China and Chinese development and politics, economists, and demographers.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Henan Provincial Development Research Center, Zhengzhou, China

    Songlin Yang

About the author

Yang Songlin has worked as a senior researcher at the Provincial Development Research Center of Henan and the Institute of Chinese Economic Systemic Reform in Beijing. His focus of research is on political economy and social history. He has published many papers, and his books include An Economic History of Henan (Kaifeng: Henan People’s Publisher, 1988), West China: New Direction of Development and Reform (Beijing: Current Affairs Press, 1988); Economic Development at the County Level (Kaifeng: Henan People’s Publisher, 1992); Dao and Tianxia: Debates on Issues concerning Contemporary World (Hong Kong: Dafeng Publisher, 2008); and The Truth Must be Told (Haikou: Nanhai Publishing Co., 2013).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Telling the Truth: China’s Great Leap Forward, Household Registration and the Famine Death Tally

  • Authors: Songlin Yang

  • Translated by: Baohui Xie

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1661-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-16-1660-0Published: 26 May 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-16-1663-1Published: 27 May 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-16-1661-7Published: 25 May 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXXVIII, 277

  • Number of Illustrations: 21 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Population Economics, Asian Politics, History of China

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