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墓碑 -- 中國六十年代大饑荒紀實, 上篇 (Tombstone: A Report On The Great Chinese Famine Of The 1960s) (2008)

by Yang Jisheng(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Cosmos Books Ltd 天地

review 1: Yang's book is a very thorough exhaustive and exhausting history of the Great Chinese Famine that was the direct result of the Great Leap Forward. In wondering how 36 million people died of starvation (with an estimated 76 million total decline in potential population due to a dramatically curtailed birth rate along with the unnatural death rate), this book details policies, politicians' and civilians' actions that all contributed to this disaster. This book is thoroughly researched and documented. One of the most important aspects of this book that made me want to read it and continue reading it is that it is based upon Chinese archival material and through eyewitness accounts. Yang's book is nothing short of overwhelming though. His account details the inhumanity st... morearvation caused as society broke down during these years. The barbaric behavior of so many is presented again and again through actions such as widespread cannibalism, corruption, ambivalence, deception, and ignorance. Therein lies the problem though. Yang has so much material in this book that the accounts he presents seem to reoccur endlessly in the book. The fact that this single volume was condensed from the original publication in two volumes is stunning since I cannot imagine reading two volumes of this. This one volume was more than enough for me. Yang presents an enormous amount of data, but his descriptions of that data is mind-numbingly dull at times. This book is probably best appreciated by experienced historians and scholars of modern China. This book will help any serious student of contemporary China to understand the emergence of the modern state of the People's Republic of China as it left behind a horrific tragedy.
review 2: Between the years of 1958 - 1962, an estimated 32 million people starved to death in the People's Republic of China. How is that even possible!Yang Jisheng takes the reader through the events that lead up to the famine that devastated China, he also tells about the reasons the famine lasted so long (they had crops left rotting in the fields and grain in storage that could have saved lives), and why the government did nothing to assist its starving masses.This book puts a whole different face on communism and why we should be grateful we live out from under tyrannical rule. less

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