John H. Powell "Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?" Article Critique

Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward? When presented with the sesquipedalian word genocide, the first thing that comes to mind is the denotation of the word. The article describes genocide as “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” The extent of my knowledge on the “Mao Zedong” genocide is limited, but I do possess the basic knowledge that he was “ able to kill forty-five million in four years.” My article is mainly about the “attempts to undermine” Mao’s reputation in the People's Republic of China’s campaign; “ the great leap forward”. The campaign was led by Mao Zedong and focused on rapidly transforming the country.He wanted to turn the agrarian based economy into a socialist society with massive industrialization and collectivization. It is, however, by many considered to have played the main part in the “Great Chinese Famine.” The author the article, Joseph Ball, presents the idea that the idea that “Mao was responsible for genocide” has been used as a bandwagon statement to undermine the achievements of the Chinese in Mao’s rule. The article, written on the twenty first of September in 2006 is based on many statistics and the author uses valid proof to convey the reasoning he has behind why he believes people have a false view of Mao Zedong. Mr. Ball uses statistics like e stating that during 1949-1978 the land with with food crops “increased by 145.9%”, and total food “production rose 169.6%. “During this period China’s population grew by 77.7%.” Mr. Ball also succeeds in the fact that he was able to include the who, what, when, where, and why in his article also. If I were to critique his article I would Include a lot more rebuttal in the end of his ideas. He seems to only provide evidence of why he is right and not give much on why everyone else has a “false view of genocide”. I feel it is fair to say the he has a very biased opinion on the topic. The only true thing that makes his article good is his inclusion of data and vast knowledge of the “genocide”. I have to say by the end of the article he had me convinced “the approach of modern writers to the Great Leap Forward is absurdly one-sided.” I also conclude with him some people are unable to understand the relationship between its failures and successes. Many people are focused on the sheer amount of death between 1959-1961. There was a lot of word done to Chinese socialism; improving the lives of its people. In conclusion, my article was a very one sided dialogue on the “incorrect” views of modern day writers and thinkers of Mao Zedong. Mr. Ball was however, able to convince me. He also provided solid evidence and statistics on the topic. Overall I would say it is well written and very informative.