S. The Great Leap Forward

In 1959 740,000 cooperatives merged into 26,000 communes involving 120 million households, or 99 percent of the rural population. For some time the euphoria mounted as production figures increased. They continued to increase as lower party officials discovered what the higher party officials wanted. The "Great Leap Forward" came into being. The job of telling the Emperor (Mao) he had no clothes fell to Peng Dehuai. Only he had enough courage and stature to do the job. He told Mao of the inflation of the figures and Mao stripped Peng of his posts. Peng spent the last 15 years of his life under house arrest and eventually in the "Cultural Revolution" he lost his life. Famine caused by the Great Leap Forward resulted in the starvation deaths of more than 27,000,000. Children suffered the most. The median age of those dying in 1957 hovered at 17 and dropped to 10 in 1963. Mao took none of the blame.

Tension began to build between China and the Soviet Union. After thousands of Chinese died in Indonesia and others had to abandon their money and property and flee, Khrushchev flew to Jakarta and offered $250 million in aid to Indonesia. When fighting broke out in disputed lands between India and China, Khrushchev refused to endorse China's territorial claims and extended generous credits to the Indian government. Throughout 1960 the relationship deteriorated. In the summer of 1960 the Soviet Union declared its intention of removing all its 1390 experts and advisors working in China. When they left they also took all their blueprints with them, and this led to the cancellation of about 600 projects.