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I don't expect OP to provide sources, so I went looking for the evidence of the famine (I expect the party in a one party state to be corrupt and abuse its powe

I don't expect OP to provide sources, so I went looking for the evidence of the famine (I expect the party in a one party state to be corrupt and abuse its power and naturally people are going to unemployed when factories shuts down). And there does seem to be some evidence that China is facing, while not a direct famine, then at least potential food insecurity issues [0] serious enough that the leader started operation clean plate, encouraging people not to waste food, the same campaign Mao ran before the great famine[1]. In addition the virus hit at a point where farmers couldn't sell their crops and earn enough to buy seeds and fertilizer for the next year[1] China was also badly hit by the African Swine flue, resulting in a loss of 40%(!) of the Chinese pigs[1] which of course is not great for the pork prices. You can also see [2] but note that this is by a former political prisoner so it is biased. This article [3] says that the answer is that China is not facing a famine nownow, but may do so in the future and the the leader is running the campaign because most of the food is imported. They all seem to unanimously agree that prices have gone up, in some cases (pork) dramatically so (but the increasing prize of meat will not a famine make). [0]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/salgilbertie/2020/07/28/china-food-crisis-rising-domestic-prices-and-large-import-purchases-send-a-signal/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/salgilbertie/2020/07/28/china-f... [1]: https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2020/11/23/is-china-on-the-brink-of-a-food-crisis/ https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2020/11/23/is-china-on-the-brink-... [2]: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/516607-another-famine-coming-china-struggles-to-meet-basic-food-demands https://thehill.com/opinion/international/516607-another-fam... [3]: https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/china-food-security-and-geopolitics/ https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/china-food-security-and-geop...

hakfoo 6y ago
I'd wonder if "clean plate" messaging is less about food production/import capacity and more about supply chains. Starving people don't need to be encouraged to eat everything on their plate. On the other hand, quarantines probably stressed their distribution networks pretty bad-- cutting major internal routes off, diverting supplies for cities in lockdown, dealing with goods perishing on loading docks and unharvested crops plowed under. Every kilo of demand saved is a kilo less they have to cram into the transport infrastructure.

hakfoo 6y ago

I'd wonder if "clean plate" messaging is less about food production/import capacity and more about supply chains. Starving people don't need to be encouraged to eat everything on their plate. On the other hand, quarantines probably stressed their distribution networks pretty bad-- cutting major internal routes off, diverting supplies for cities in lockdown, dealing with goods perishing on loading docks and unharvested crops plowed under. Every kilo of demand saved is a kilo less they have to cram into the transport infrastructure.