AI written account of how Mao came to make the disastrous decision that killed tens of millions, for anyone curious. This matches my own understanding.
Of course. The episode you’re referring to is one of the most famous and tragic chapters of China’s Great Leap Forward (1958-1962). It wasn’t just a single moment but a nationwide frenzy of exaggeration, and Mao Zedong’s belief in these claims was a critical factor that fueled the disaster.
This phenomenon was centered around the creation of so-called “Sputnik Fields” (卫星田, Wèixīng Tián).
Here is a breakdown of the episode: the context, why it happened, Mao’s involvement, and the devastating consequences.
The Context: The Great Leap Forward
In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a campaign to rapidly transform China from an agrarian society into a socialist industrial power. The atmosphere was one of intense revolutionary fervor and political pressure. The core belief was that sheer willpower and the collectivized power of the masses could overcome any material or scientific obstacle.
The slogan of the day was “more, faster, better, cheaper.” Officials at every level were under immense pressure to report fantastic successes to prove their revolutionary credentials and avoid being labeled a “right-wing conservative.”
The “Sputnik Fields” and the “10,000 Jin” Claim
The term “Sputnik Field” was inspired by the Soviet Union’s recent launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. The name implied that China was achieving miraculous, space-age breakthroughs in agriculture.
The claims started in early 1958 and escalated rapidly:
First, a county reported a winter wheat yield of 2,105 jin per mu.
Soon after, another reported 3,500 jin per mu.
By the summer, the numbers had become astronomical. A commune in Henan province famously claimed a yield of 7,320 jin per mu.
This was quickly topped by claims of 10,000 jin per mu (万斤亩, wàn jīn mǔ), and eventually, the official People’s Daily newspaper reported a record-breaking rice yield of over 130,000 jin per mu in Macheng County, Hubei.
(For context: 1 mu is about 1/6th of an acre or 667 square meters. 1 jin is half a kilogram or 1.1 lbs. A good, realistic yield at the time was around 400-500 jin per mu. 10,000 jin per mu is equivalent to about 75,000 kg per hectare, a yield that is still physically impossible for rice or wheat today.)
How Were These “Miracles” Faked?
These incredible yields were elaborate hoaxes created for visiting officials and journalists. The most common method was to:
Select a small, visible plot of land—the “Sputnik Field.”
Just before the visit, cadres would secretly uproot mature crops (like rice or wheat) from many surrounding fields during the night.
They would then transplant and cram all these crops onto the single small plot, making it appear incredibly dense and fruitful.
The most iconic and notorious propaganda photo from this era shows several children standing on top of a field of wheat, seemingly held up by the dense stalks. In reality, the children were standing on a wooden bench hidden beneath the transplanted wheat.
Why Did Mao Believe It?
Mao’s conviction was not born out of simple gullibility but from a combination of factors:
1. Political Atmosphere and Information Bubble: Mao was surrounded by officials who told him what he wanted to hear. Reporting bad news was politically dangerous, so a tsunami of good news, however fake, flowed to the top. When he toured the countryside, he was only shown the carefully staged “Sputnik Fields.”
2. Ideological Zeal: Mao deeply believed in the power of socialist collectivization. He thought that by reorganizing society and unleashing the “creative power of the masses,” things previously thought impossible were now achievable. The exaggerated claims confirmed his worldview.
3. “Scientific” Justification: The claims were given a veneer of scientific credibility. This came from two main sources:
Lysenkoism: A discredited Soviet pseudo-agricultural theory promoted by Trofim Lysenko. It rejected genetics and promoted techniques like “close planting” and “deep plowing,” arguing that planting seeds extremely close together would make them cooperate rather than compete. Chinese officials claimed their high yields were due to these methods.
Qian Xuesen’s Endorsement: This was perhaps the most crucial element. Qian Xuesen was a brilliant, US-educated scientist and the father of China’s missile program. In 1958, he wrote an article published in China Youth Daily where he did a rough calculation based on the amount of solar energy that falls on a mu of land. He concluded that, theoretically, it was possible to convert that energy into a crop yield of over 40,000 jin.
When Mao was told about the fantastic yields, he was initially skeptical. But when he was told that Qian Xuesen, China’s most respected scientist, had confirmed it was theoretically possible, his doubts were erased. He reasoned that if it was scientifically possible, then the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese peasants could make it a reality.
The Catastrophic Consequences
This mass delusion had a direct and horrifying outcome: The Great Famine (1959-1962).
The central government, believing these fantastical reports, set impossibly high grain procurement quotas. Local officials, to prove their “success” and meet the quotas, seized virtually all the grain from the peasants, including their food, animal feed, and even the seeds for the next planting season.
The peasants had produced a normal amount of food, but because the state believed they had produced 10 or 20 times that amount, their entire harvest was taken away.
The result was the worst famine in human history. With no food left in the countryside, tens of millions of people starved to death. The episode of the “10,000 jin per mu” was not a harmless propaganda folly; it was a direct cause of this unprecedented tragedy, a testament to the dangers of when political ideology completely detaches from reality.
Some quotes from this:
Qian Xuesen’s Endorsement: This was perhaps the most crucial element. Qian Xuesen was a brilliant, US-educated scientist and the father of China’s missile program. In 1958, he wrote an article published in China Youth Daily where he did a rough calculation based on the amount of solar energy that falls on a mu of land. He concluded that, theoretically, it was possible to convert that energy into a crop yield of over 40,000 jin.
When Mao was told about the fantastic yields, he was initially skeptical. But when he was told that Qian Xuesen, China’s most respected scientist, had confirmed it was theoretically possible, his doubts were erased. He reasoned that if it was scientifically possible, then the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese peasants could make it a reality.
The central government, believing these fantastical reports, set impossibly high grain procurement quotas. Local officials, to prove their “success” and meet the quotas, seized virtually all the grain from the peasants, including their food, animal feed, and even the seeds for the next planting season.
AI written account of how Mao came to make the disastrous decision that killed tens of millions, for anyone curious. This matches my own understanding.
Of course. The episode you’re referring to is one of the most famous and tragic chapters of China’s Great Leap Forward (1958-1962). It wasn’t just a single moment but a nationwide frenzy of exaggeration, and Mao Zedong’s belief in these claims was a critical factor that fueled the disaster.
This phenomenon was centered around the creation of so-called “Sputnik Fields” (卫星田, Wèixīng Tián).
Here is a breakdown of the episode: the context, why it happened, Mao’s involvement, and the devastating consequences.
The Context: The Great Leap Forward
In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a campaign to rapidly transform China from an agrarian society into a socialist industrial power. The atmosphere was one of intense revolutionary fervor and political pressure. The core belief was that sheer willpower and the collectivized power of the masses could overcome any material or scientific obstacle.
The slogan of the day was “more, faster, better, cheaper.” Officials at every level were under immense pressure to report fantastic successes to prove their revolutionary credentials and avoid being labeled a “right-wing conservative.”
The “Sputnik Fields” and the “10,000 Jin” Claim
The term “Sputnik Field” was inspired by the Soviet Union’s recent launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. The name implied that China was achieving miraculous, space-age breakthroughs in agriculture.
The claims started in early 1958 and escalated rapidly:
First, a county reported a winter wheat yield of 2,105 jin per mu.
Soon after, another reported 3,500 jin per mu.
By the summer, the numbers had become astronomical. A commune in Henan province famously claimed a yield of 7,320 jin per mu.
This was quickly topped by claims of 10,000 jin per mu (万斤亩, wàn jīn mǔ), and eventually, the official People’s Daily newspaper reported a record-breaking rice yield of over 130,000 jin per mu in Macheng County, Hubei.
(For context: 1 mu is about 1/6th of an acre or 667 square meters. 1 jin is half a kilogram or 1.1 lbs. A good, realistic yield at the time was around 400-500 jin per mu. 10,000 jin per mu is equivalent to about 75,000 kg per hectare, a yield that is still physically impossible for rice or wheat today.)
How Were These “Miracles” Faked?
These incredible yields were elaborate hoaxes created for visiting officials and journalists. The most common method was to:
Select a small, visible plot of land—the “Sputnik Field.”
Just before the visit, cadres would secretly uproot mature crops (like rice or wheat) from many surrounding fields during the night.
They would then transplant and cram all these crops onto the single small plot, making it appear incredibly dense and fruitful.
The most iconic and notorious propaganda photo from this era shows several children standing on top of a field of wheat, seemingly held up by the dense stalks. In reality, the children were standing on a wooden bench hidden beneath the transplanted wheat.
Why Did Mao Believe It?
Mao’s conviction was not born out of simple gullibility but from a combination of factors:
1. Political Atmosphere and Information Bubble: Mao was surrounded by officials who told him what he wanted to hear. Reporting bad news was politically dangerous, so a tsunami of good news, however fake, flowed to the top. When he toured the countryside, he was only shown the carefully staged “Sputnik Fields.”
2. Ideological Zeal: Mao deeply believed in the power of socialist collectivization. He thought that by reorganizing society and unleashing the “creative power of the masses,” things previously thought impossible were now achievable. The exaggerated claims confirmed his worldview.
3. “Scientific” Justification: The claims were given a veneer of scientific credibility. This came from two main sources:
Lysenkoism: A discredited Soviet pseudo-agricultural theory promoted by Trofim Lysenko. It rejected genetics and promoted techniques like “close planting” and “deep plowing,” arguing that planting seeds extremely close together would make them cooperate rather than compete. Chinese officials claimed their high yields were due to these methods.
Qian Xuesen’s Endorsement: This was perhaps the most crucial element. Qian Xuesen was a brilliant, US-educated scientist and the father of China’s missile program. In 1958, he wrote an article published in China Youth Daily where he did a rough calculation based on the amount of solar energy that falls on a mu of land. He concluded that, theoretically, it was possible to convert that energy into a crop yield of over 40,000 jin.
When Mao was told about the fantastic yields, he was initially skeptical. But when he was told that Qian Xuesen, China’s most respected scientist, had confirmed it was theoretically possible, his doubts were erased. He reasoned that if it was scientifically possible, then the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese peasants could make it a reality.
The Catastrophic Consequences
This mass delusion had a direct and horrifying outcome: The Great Famine (1959-1962).
The central government, believing these fantastical reports, set impossibly high grain procurement quotas. Local officials, to prove their “success” and meet the quotas, seized virtually all the grain from the peasants, including their food, animal feed, and even the seeds for the next planting season.
The peasants had produced a normal amount of food, but because the state believed they had produced 10 or 20 times that amount, their entire harvest was taken away.
The result was the worst famine in human history. With no food left in the countryside, tens of millions of people starved to death. The episode of the “10,000 jin per mu” was not a harmless propaganda folly; it was a direct cause of this unprecedented tragedy, a testament to the dangers of when political ideology completely detaches from reality.
Some quotes from this:
Qian Xuesen’s Endorsement: This was perhaps the most crucial element. Qian Xuesen was a brilliant, US-educated scientist and the father of China’s missile program. In 1958, he wrote an article published in China Youth Daily where he did a rough calculation based on the amount of solar energy that falls on a mu of land. He concluded that, theoretically, it was possible to convert that energy into a crop yield of over 40,000 jin.
When Mao was told about the fantastic yields, he was initially skeptical. But when he was told that Qian Xuesen, China’s most respected scientist, had confirmed it was theoretically possible, his doubts were erased. He reasoned that if it was scientifically possible, then the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese peasants could make it a reality.
The central government, believing these fantastical reports, set impossibly high grain procurement quotas. Local officials, to prove their “success” and meet the quotas, seized virtually all the grain from the peasants, including their food, animal feed, and even the seeds for the next planting season.