"Our purpose is to ensure that everyone has enough to eat, that there is no exploitation of man by man, that there is a fair distribution of wealth. We are not here to create emperors, kings, or gods, but to create a better life for the people."

-Mao Zedong

"People say that poverty is bad, but in fact poverty is good. The poorer people are, the more revolutionary they are. It is dreadful to imagine a time when everyone will be rich... From a surplus of calories people will have two heads and four legs."

-Mao Zedong

"When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill."

-Mao Zedong

The Great Leap Forward, initiated by Mao Zedong in 1958, was a campaign aimed at transforming China into a Communist utopia. However, it resulted in a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented proportions.

The policies of forced collectivization and unrealistic agricultural targets led to widespread food shortages and famine. Millions of Chinese citizens, particularly in rural areas, perished due to starvation, malnutrition, and related diseases.

The exact death toll remains a subject of debate among historians, but conservative estimates suggest that at least 15-20 million people died during this period. Some higher estimates place the number of fatalities closer to 45 million.

The Great Leap Forward's devastating consequences marked one of the darkest chapters in human history, illustrating the catastrophic impact of misguided policies on the lives of countless individuals. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of evidence-based decision-making and the devastating consequences of ideological fervor at the expense of human welfare.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

— George Santayana

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