The Making of Modern China

1958: A "Great Leap Forward"
Employees of the Shin Chiao Hotel in Beijing build a rudimentary smelting steel furnace in the hotel courtyard in October. The Great Leap Forward, a scheme for mass industralization and collectivized farming designed as a Five-Year Plan from 1958 to 1963, was abandoned early after it led to widespread famine and the deaths of millions.

• China: The Road to Prosperity