Great Leap Forward
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The Great Leap Forward was an industrialization campaign within China from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to transform the country from
Government officials being sent to work in the countryside, 1957
1958 poster promoting the Great Leap Forward. The text reads: "Brave the wind and the waves, everything has remarkable abilities!"
A canteen in a people's commune, 1958
A minecart leading to the steel base, October 1957
1975 Banqiao Dam failure
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In August 1975, the Banqiao Dam and 61 others throughout Henan, China, collapsed following the landfall of Typhoon Nina. The ensuing flood was among the deadliest floods in China, and was the third-de
Great Leap Forward
…of dams constructed in Zhumadian, Henan, during the Great Leap Forward collapsed in 1975 (under the influence of Typhoon Nina) and resulted in the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure, with estimates of its death toll ranging from tens of thousands to 240,000. The core goal of the Great Leap Forward was to increase industrial and…
The backyard furnaces used to produce steel in Xinyang, Henan during the Great Leap Forward