Great Leap Forward (jan 1, 1958 – jan 1, 1960)
Description:
Period of economic and social change enacted by Mao Zedong in response to China's increasing vulnerability and need to industrialize. It was a complete failure -- it was during a particularly harsh winter, and many lives were lost. Additionally, campaigns such as the backyard furnace campaign (meant to encourage farmers to build furnaces for steel production) were not successful. Those who attempted to complain about the poor conditions and failures of the campaigns were called traitorous(Ch. 10, Comparative Politics; http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/greatleap.htm)
Added to timeline:
Date:
jan 1, 1958
jan 1, 1960
~ 2 years