Great Leap Forward and the Famine (1958–1962)

1. Four Pests Campaign officially launched

   Feb 12, 1958Labels: Four Pests

   • Four Pests

2. Chayashan commune experiment launched in Henan

   Apr 1, 1958Labels: Chayashan Commune

   • Britannica
   • GLF

3. Eighth Party Congress endorses Great Leap line

   May 5, 1958Labels: Eighth Party

   • Britannica
   • 8th Congress

4. Resolution adopted to create rural people’s communes

   Aug 29, 1958Labels: People's Communes

   • Beidaihe 1958
   • August 1958

5. Backyard steel furnace drive intensifies nationwide

   Sep 1, 1958Labels: Backyard Furnaces

   • Britannica
   • GLF

6. Communes spread rapidly across rural China

   Dec 1, 1958Labels: Rural Communes

   • GLF
   • Britannica

7. Lushan Conference debates Great Leap policies

   Jul 2, 1959Labels: Lushan Conference

   • Lushan

8. Peng Dehuai’s critical letter to Mao

   Jul 14, 1959Labels: Peng Dehuai

   • Lushan

9. Anti-Right Deviation Struggle launched after Lushan

   Aug 2, 1959Labels: Anti-Right Deviation

   • Anti Right Dev
   • Lushan

10. Central authorities learn of Xinyang catastrophe

    Jan 1, 1960Labels: Xinyang Catastrophe

    • Gro er Sprung

11. Campaign against sparrows officially halted

    Mar 18, 1960Labels: Anti-Sparrow Campaign

    • Sparrows
    • Four Pests

12. Sino-Soviet rupture deepens with expert withdrawal

    Jul 1, 1960Labels: Sino-Soviet Rupture

    • Britannica

13. Ninth Plenum adopts “adjustment and consolidation” line

    Jan 20, 1961Labels: Ninth Plenum

    • CIA FOIA
    • TheoryChina

14. Guangzhou work conference issues “Sixty Articles” draft

    Mar 15, 1961Labels: Sixty Articles

    • TheoryChina

15. Seven Thousand Cadres Conference reassesses Great Leap

    Jan 11, 1962Labels: Seven Thousand

    • 7000 Cadres

16. Seven Thousand Cadres Conference concludes

    Feb 7, 1962Labels: Seven Thousand

    • 7000 Cadres

17. Great Leap Forward period ends in official histories

    Dec 31, 1962Labels: Great Leap

    • Britannica
    • GLF