經驗饑荒

Overview & Synopsis

Why did some peasants survive the Great Leap Forward famine while others in the same villages perished? This book investigates the stark disparities in life and death during this period, drawing on two decades of fieldwork across over forty villages in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. The author integrates more than one hundred oral histories from farmers and grassroots cadres with archival documents, local records, and genealogical sources to elucidate the social mechanisms, resources, and cultural dynamics that shaped survival outcomes. By analyzing the interplay of natural environments, lineage organizations, and economic structures, the book reveals the pivotal mechanisms governing grassroots power dynamics, food distribution, and strategies for self-preservation or collective resistance. It details survival tactics—such as consuming unripe grain, organizing food and crop riots, and concealing harvests—that challenge prevailing famine narratives centered on mortality, offering a nuanced perspective on the resilience and complexity of rural grassroots society in the early People’s Republic of China.