China: Great Leap Forward, source based work.

Authors Avatar

History Coursework II Sources: China: Great Leap Forward

Question 1:

Both sources A and B can have their content linked to The Great Leap Forward and the failure of it. There are many similarities between the two. Source A’s reference is made that local leaders of communes ‘claimed’ figures of grain production in order to get a good response from Mao and the Communist Party. The source reads ‘Mao smiled broadly’. In source B it states that party officials were trying to please Mao by ‘making ridiculous claims about increased productions’. This is a direct similarity where source B is almost a mirror image of A. Source B states that the communes claimed that the harvest had been large and source A supports this by suggesting that this was because they have had ‘moved crops from several plots of land to one’ to show CCP officials that they had produced enormous amounts of grain. (When the party officials visit they would just be shown the large plot of land).

The sources have there own reasons for the low grain production as according to the communes. Source A does not say that communes had claimed a low grain production to be due to natural disasters. Source A also states a theory that in relation to the difficulty ordinary people to have more confidence and ignore reality and put faith in Mao. A similar reference is made in B where a statement is made suggesting that it was difficult for party leaders to tell the truth.

Source B does not say that agriculture was neglected or that Mao made self-criticisms of self-pity. Source B also states that if Mao had known about the problems of the Great Leap Forward earlier he would have brought a halt to the disaster. Source A does not state anything about this.

Question 2:

Source D does not prove that certain things stated in D are true. In source C it states that there was bad weather specifically floods and drought. In source D it states that ‘unprecedented natural calamities’ occurred but around the quote the text suggests that these ‘natural calamities’ look like regular occurrence’s because the source states ‘bad weather causes food shortages somewhere every year’. Source C is mainly figures but D seems to be designed around speculation it does not directly state in D that ‘natural disasters’ were t o blame for the famine and the death of millions. It is difficult to suggest that C does prove the claims in D are true because in order to make a direct comparison I would have to compare figures with figures.

Source D seems to suggest that no future data was collected such as the amounts of grain produced in a harvest. The author says that they have ‘no full picture’ and that ‘people only have stories to tell about starvation’. The source is very negative and seems to make all attempts not show figures of grain production and death. In source D it says that Khrushchev (The leader of the USSR) had suddenly wanted a large debt repaid but the blame for the GLF had just been shifted to him. Source C does not say that this was true or false but from my own knowledge this did happen. In source C no other explanations are given to why the GLF failed.

Source C does seem to be quite truthful. I have compared date of grain production to text books and it is accurate when I compared it to a GCSE history text book and checked the figures. The sources background information (The caption) does not tell me where it has been produced (The country) but it does say that it was published in 1988 and is therefore over a decade after Mao’s death. Source D was published after Mao’s death. The author also left in 1978 which would have been at the time of his death (It is likely that the writer would have left China in that year because what he had to say could cause some trouble in China, as it would still be very ‘Maoist’. This also helps prove its reliability because he must have thought it truthful enough that what he had to say could mean his punishment.). Because of the lack of information on the background information for source C I have dad to compare other references D gives me some information on the background of the source and from that background I judge it as reliable.

Join now!

Question 3:

I agree that they are not useful sources for study of the GLF. This is because they are propaganda from the Chinese government. They do not give a full picture of the GLF as both sources are of praise. E.g. only advantages are shown in the picture no disadvantages- they are being ignored. They do show some important details though. They certainly show that there was lots of public support for projects like the GLF and it would be difficult to suggest are totally useless as if source G was staged it would have been a difficult ...

This is a preview of the whole essay