Great Leap Forward Paper 1

5.
Source A details the amount of grain being grown and produced in 1962. The author, Deng Xioping, talks about the numbers from 1957 and the numbers for the year prior. He predicts that at least 145 tons of grain will be produced (like the prior year's) but does not expect to reach the highest in 1957 of 195 tons. He believes this because of the weather problems that have interfered with the growing of grain. Some places in China were suffering from droughts and others were suffering from severe flooding.

6.
Sources D and E express similiar views towards the great leap forward.








7.
Source A is an excerpt from a speech made by Deng Xiaoping in July of the year 1962. Xiaoping was the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist party at the time. His intended audience was to be those who attended the Seventh Plenary Session of the Third Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League. The source is a primary source and it's purpose was to detail Xiaoping's predictions on the total amount of the grain to be expected that year. He wished to seek a way to "restore grain production" to go back to the high point reached in 1957. This source is valuable for studying the great leap forward for two reasons. Xiaoping in his speech details the amount of grain grown prior to 1962 and predicts based on what he has seen that year the amount to be collected. Xiaoping's speech is also valuable because it specifically contrasts the grain collection before the Great Leap forward to what it was like during. It is limited because it doesn't list any good things that resulted from the Great Leap Forward, for instance the steel and iron production.

Source B is an extract from a scholarly work from JAG Roberts' book The Complete History of China. It was published in 2003 in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this secondary source, specifically this excerpt, was to provide an alternate view to the great leap forward and why it failed. The intended audience was most likely historians or students studying China and its history. This is a valuable source because it does provide a different view on the failures of the GLF. Rather than blaming the failure on faulty strategy, this author says that it was because of failures with its implementation. This source was also written years after the events took place, giving the author more access to sources to compile a 'great history'.

8.