Great Leap Forward

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/great-leap-forward

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the initiation date?May 1958
2. What is the official end date?March 1962
3. Why did Mao want to build so much steel?Mao thought that if everyone worked hard and used the idea of communism, China could make a lot of steel quickly and become stronger than other countries.
4. How did the backyard furnace campaign affect farmers?The backyard furnace campaign made many people melt metal for steel, so they had less time and tools for farming, which hurt the crops.

People's Communes: Large-scale, state-controlled agricultural and administrative units that replaced smaller collectives during the Great Leap Forward.
Backyard Furnaces: Small, often inefficient furnaces built by ordinary citizens to produce steel, a key component of the campaign's industrial drive.
Falsification of Quotas: The practice by local officials of reporting inflated production figures to meet political demands, masking the true extent of shortages.
Mao Zedong Thought: The body of political and military theory developed by Mao Zedong, emphasizing continuous revolution and mass mobilization.