Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"It was followed, however, by the eccentricities of the “Great Leap Forward” of 1957–61—dividing the population into groups of five thousand households on average, each group with its own land, communal kitchens, even backyard steel mills—which disrupted the economy, reduced food production and distribution, and caused widespread famine, exacerbated by poor harvests. The result was a disaster, with excess deaths estimated at about 30 million people in four years, “probably the largest number of famine deaths in modern times.” [Kennedy: Preparing for 21st Century, Kindle Edition, Location 3013]