how would you analyse China's famine of 1958 1961 in contacts arguments for democracy
Answers
This seminar discusses a paper written by Zhao Zhongwei and Anna Reimondos at Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, ANU.
One of the largest famines in human history took place in China half a century ago. This disaster, lasting from 1958 to 1961 in many areas, resulted in a huge number of excess deaths. While the causes, magnitude and profound impacts of this catastrophe have been brought to light in recent decades, many issues about the famine remain to be adequately examined. This paper aims to fill some gaps in our knowledge about the demography of China’s great famine. It concentrates on the demographic consequences of the famine and individual demographic responses in some of the most severely affected provinces. By analysing demographic data collected by China’s 1982 and 1988 national fertility sample surveys, the study provides further insights on changes in marriage, mortality, fertility and pregnancy outcomes during the famine period. The study reveals a dramatic increase in mortality and a decrease in marriage and fertility during the famine period, which had a signifi cant impact on Chinese population. There were remarkable differences, however, in the demographic consequences of the famine between urban and rural areas and in demographic responses between people with different social and demographic characteristics. These findings are very important in improving our understanding of past demographic behaviour.
The history of humankind is filled with war, epidemics and famine. While the causes of famine are well documented in the literature, their social, health and demographic consequences are less clearly understood. As detailed, reliable data are rarely available, the numbers of deaths, migrants and refugees are often estimated in overall terms. Looking beyond the effects brought to light by individual-level survey data, Zhongwei Zhao and Anna Reimondos reveal the dramatic impact on demographic behaviour of the great famine that swept across China between 1958 and 1961. They also examine the variations in demographic response by place of residence and socio-demographic characteristics. While fertility and marriage rates declined everywhere, and child mortality increased sharply, rural areas were more severely affected than urban areas, and low educated families more than higher educated ones.