Macular Edema

Mao revealed his contempt for the peasantry to his inner circle: БЂњPeasants are hiding food БЂ¦ and are very bad. There is no Communist spirit in them! Peasants are after all peasants. ThatБЂ™s the only way they can behave БЂ¦БЂ«Mao knew perfectly well that the peasants had no food to hide. He had an efficient reporting system, and was on top of what was happening daily around the country. On one batch of reports in April 1959 he noted that there was severe starvation in half the country: БЂњa big problem: 15 provincesБЂ”25.17 million people no food to eatБЂ«; his response was to ask the provinces to БЂњdeal with it,БЂ«but he did not say how. A report that reached his desk from Yunnan province, dated 18 November 1958, described a wave of deaths from edema БЂ” swelling caused by severe malnutrition. Again, MaoБЂ™s response was to pass the buck: БЂњThis mistake is mainly the fault of county-level cadres.БЂ«Mao knew that in many places people were reduced to eating compounds of earth. In some cases, whole villages died as a result, when peopleБЂ™s intestines became blocked ...»