Experiencing Famine / By Chen Yixin

During the Great Leap Forward famine, what social mechanisms, resources, and cultural factors caused life and death to diverge among peasants within the same village? For over two decades, the author visited more than forty villages in Anhui and Jiangxi, collecting oral histories from over a hundred peasants and grassroots cadres. Combining this with archives, local gazettes, and clan genealogies, the study seeks to uncover the reasons for peasant survival during the famine through firsthand collective experiences. By analyzing the natural environment, clan culture, and economic structure of various villages, this book reveals the key mechanisms that shaped rural grassroots power relations, determined grain distribution, and mobilized peasants for self-preservation or collective resistance. The survival experiences of peasants eating wild plants, seizing grain, and concealing production, as told in the book, supplement previous discourse on the Great Famine that focused solely on the deceased, presenting a complex picture of early PRC rural grassroots society. Full Title: Experiencing Famine: Natural Environment, Social Mechanisms, and the Lives and Deaths of Chinese Peasants (1958-1961) Author: Chen Yixin ISBN: 978-988-237-349-5 Binding: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese Pages: 432 Dimensions: 229 x 152 x 24 mm **About the Author** **Chen Yixin** is a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, specializing in the socio-economic history of 20th-century China. He co-authored "The Road to Modern Nationhood" (1987). For the past two decades, his research has centered on the famine, and he has published numerous related articles in academic journals such as "Twenty-First Century." He was awarded the Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award for Best Article by the Agricultural History Society in 2009. **Endorsements** Why did some peasants die while others survived during the same Great Famine? Chen Yixin has dedicated over two decades to fieldwork on this question, discovering the profound significance of the survival or demise of traditional clan communities and spontaneous "counter-behaviors" for individual peasant survival during the famine. —**Yang Kuisong** (Professor of History, East China Normal University) This book vividly reconstructs the famine conditions and peasant responses in over forty villages in Anhui, offering in-depth analyses of several structural factors that surpass many existing works in their detail. The author's assertion that long-standing clan organizations and culture were the primary determinants of life and death for the majority of villagers is both surprising and, within the context of rural life, entirely plausible. —**Dong Guoqiang** (Professor of History, Fudan University) This book posits that the Great Leap Forward famine was different from previous famines, representing an escalating two-stage process. Within the context of agricultural collectivization, peasants had to collectively face the challenge of "survival." The book centers on villages, uniquely documenting the firsthand daily experiences of peasants at the time. It offers detailed and rigorous arguments from various perspectives, making a significant contribution to understanding life and death during the Great Famine. —**Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley** (Professor of History, San Diego State University) Drawing on years of oral histories, Chen Yixin demonstrates that even in seemingly similar regions, survival chances were influenced not only by subtle differences in resource allocation, terrain, and climate, but also by kinship ties and community response methods. The book's micro-historical approach offers new interpretations of the Great Famine and transforms the landscape of famine studies. —**Cormac Ó Gráda** (Professor Emeritus of Economics, University College Dublin) This book is a model of comparative historical research. By comparing adjacent villages, it reveals how state policies and rural living conditions led to mass deaths among the rural population during the Great Famine. Clan cohesion, topographical differences, and local cadres' exaggerated production figures all became crucial factors in determining who lived and who died. —**Mark Selden** (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York)