Chinese cuisine stands out as one of the most interesting cuisines in the world. Known for its unique style, this cuisine carries various traces of the history, traditions and cultures of different regions. The biggest of these scars is one of the greatest tragedies in world history, known as the Great Chinese Famine.
During this period, people had to consume whatever you could think of in order to survive. Let’s take a closer look at one of the darkest periods in human history in China.
Until 1949, China had a largely agrarian economy.
Chinese President Mao Zedong; As soon as he came to power, he wanted to transform the country from a poor society to one of the countries with the largest economy in the world. That’s why he launched an industrialization-focused program that he called the ‘Great Leap Forward’, which would cost millions of lives.
At that time, about 80% of the Chinese population lived in rural areas. The new government first stripped these people of their lands in order to accelerate the industrialization program. Then ‘Leave your vineyard, your garden; Come and work in the mines and factories.” Millions of people who had to obey this order had to migrate to the cities.
A small population remained in the countryside, and the state divided these people into small groups and started growing crops.
The officials, who wanted to show that the implemented policies were quite successful and wanted to benefit Chairman Mao, began to prepare exaggerated reports of increased production in agriculture. In reality, agricultural production fell drastically.
As a result of the false reports, more agricultural products were sent to the cities, leaving less for the farmers themselves. On top of all this, things started to get out of hand when wrong agricultural ideas such as planting plants closer together and deeper were applied.
Implemented wrong agricultural policies greatly reduced productivity and efficiency.
In this situation, the government continued to act as if the policies it implemented had no effect and continued its wrong policies. The most crucial of these policies and what caused famine to take on a whole new dimension was the Four Pests Campaign.
The Mao administration launched a campaign to have the sparrows killed, as they thought they were damaging the fields. However, if the sparrows were causing any damage to the crops, they were doubly protecting the fields as they ate the insects. It is estimated that the authorities and the public, who were not aware of this, killed about a billion sparrows.
After the sparrows were killed, the other animals that ate the crops had no enemies.
As such, insects such as grasshoppers began to invade the fields. On top of all these problems, in 1959 the southern part of China began to struggle with floods and the northern part with drought.
The government, aware of the fact that it would not be able to recover the situation after the events, announced to the public that they were facing a great famine.
There was no longer even enough food for humans to survive.
Due to the theft of food stocks, the government took drastic measures and millions of people had to leave the cities in search of food. But food was also difficult to find in rural areas, and millions of people died of starvation.
One of the most dire consequences of the famine was that humans began to eat insects. In search of food, humans began to eat all kinds of wildlife, including mice, snakes, and insects.
This situation also caused the spread of epidemic diseases among people.
So, for the Chinese, eating insects had become a necessity for survival.
In 1960, Mao Zedong changed his agricultural policies, giving more freedom to the peasants. It raised the price of agricultural products and allowed peasants to freely sell their produce. These policies resulted in an increase in agricultural production and food stocks were rebuilt.
This famine experienced between 1958 and 1962 left deep wounds on the Chinese people. It is estimated that around 45 million people died from starvation and disease. After this disaster, which was a turning point in China’s history, the country’s policies were completely changed, but eating insects became a culture.
