In 1958 Mao
Zedong announced
the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to increase agricultural and industrial
production. This reform programme included the establishment of large
agricultural communes containing as many as 75,000 people. The communes
ran their own collective farms and factories. Each family received
a share of the profits and also had a small private plot of land.
However, three years of floods and bad harvests severely damaged levels
of production. The scheme was also hurt by the decision of the Soviet
Union to withdraw its large number of technical experts working
in the country. In 1962 Mao's reform programme came to an end and
the country resorted to a more traditional form of economic production.
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