About the Author

Zhou Xun is research assistant professor of history at the University of Hong Kong. She lives in Hong Kong and in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

"Zhou Xun's book sets out detailed primary sources about the great famine in China. The significance of this important book is that the author's sources are no longer accessible and, moreover, they reveal the extent of people's suffering, the complicity of the authorities and the sterling resistance of the citizenry. Zhou Xun's detailed, fascinating book means that these voices and the shocking experiences they describe will never be forgotten."—Gerard Lemos, author of The End of the Chinese Dream: Why Chinese people Fear the Future
*Gerard Lemos*

“A frank, grisly, and specific portrait of hysteria deafening common sense…Zhou’s book stands on its own.”—Library Journal
*Library Journal*

“Astonishing…what happened in China during the Great Leap Forward has received little attention from the larger world.”—Didi Kirsten Tatlow, The New York Times
*The New York Times*

 “Present[s] a picture of the famine more detailed than any previously available in English.”—Choice
*Choice*

“A chastening documentary history.”—The Wall Street Journal 
*The Wall Street Journal*

“[This] collection allows English-language readers to confront the many features of everyday life during the famine.”—The Nation 
*The Nation*