I was in China in 1972. Since the revolution in 1949, China was led by Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. When I arrived, the country had been “closed” for more than 20 years. During my time there, I became friends with a couple of “old” Chinese workers that remembered what it was like before Chairman Mao cane into power — and they had lots of stories, some of which were about Chairman Mao. One of my favorites is about the Chinese Steel Industry……
(Disclaimer: I have to admit this is one of my favorite stories very much because of the gentleman that told it to me and the way in which he told it.)
In the mid 1950s Mao Tse-Tung realized that he was the leader of a backward country. He was aware that Britain, America, France and the Soviet Union were all ahead of China in steel production — a long way ahead. He knew that if China was to become a modern country, it needed to start producing as much steel as possible. Back in the 1950s Chinese people didn’t know much about science or technology, and that included Chairman Mao. So he consulted his advisers, and one of them came up with a brilliant idea. It was proposed that they would build small blast furnaces in every village — then the peasants could convert their iron plows and sickles into high-quality steel that could be used to build bridges, factories and warships. Mao was told that within 15 years, steel production would equal that of the United States.
Well, of course, the peasants didn’t know much about science and technology either, but they did what they were told. Soon every village square had a tall, conical “blast furnace.” Tons of fuel was used to melt good tools into useless black lumps of slag.
According to my friend, Chairman Mao spent most of his time at his luxury villa, reading and lounging by his swimming pool. But every so often, he would travel by his special train to inspect the progress of the steel production at one of the provincial villages. No one wanted to tell him that his great plan wasn’t working, so they sent another train ahead, loaded with imported steel girders. They’d stack the girders up in the village square before Mao arrived and tell all the villagers to pose proudly beside the pile. Mao was very please with the progress his country was making. He’d take a quick look around, congratulate everyone on how well it was going, and get back on his train.
But when harvest time came around, all the tools had been melted down and the best the Chinese could do after spending so much time on steel production duty was to try pulling plants up with their hands. Most of the crops rotted in the fields and caused a famine that lasted until 1960 and killed an estimated 30 million people.
Mao eventually realized there was no steel — and — no food or agricultural tools either. It’s interesting that Chairman Mao called China’s entry into the steel business the “Great Leap Forward.”
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