Part 1/10:

The Tragedy of the Great Leap Forward: A Forgotten Famine

In 1958, after nearly a decade of leadership, Chairman Mao Zedong sought to pave the way for China’s modernization, initiating the audacious Great Leap Forward. This ambitious program aimed to transform the agrarian society into a socialist utopia in just 15 years. However, rather than ushering in a new era of prosperity, the Great Leap Forward spiraled into a catastrophic disaster that would ensnare an estimated 650 million Chinese people, leading to one of the deadliest famines in history and a staggering death toll of around 45 million.