INTRODUCTION

One evening in 1985, I found myself at a dinner table in Palo Alto, California, with Professor Arthur Wolf, a distinguished anthropologist of China studies, and several students of his. During that conversation, Professor Wolf asked this question: “How can we explain the phenomenon that, ever since population data have been recorded in China's history, the Chinese population continued to rise, but there was a sharp drop in the late 1950s and early 1960s?” My heart sank as I followed Professor Wolf's waving arm and visualized the long and upward trajectory and then a sudden, deep slump. Many images and stories rushed into my mind – the recollections of the so-called “Great-Leap-Forward” episode and the subsequent famine period that I heard about over and over as I grew up, from my parents, grandparents, my friends' parents, and from the peasants in the village where I once worked.