The Final Five: How Chinese Famines Reached their 20th Century Peak

[@neveryoumind4466]

When I was living in China a Chinese friend told me 60 million died. I didn't know quite what to say to that and he was a loyal CCP nationalist too, he very rarely said anything bad about his country.

[@caseyjfromli3240]

Their birth rate slowed down too which is insane to think about.

[@JuicAfur]

If china teaches 60 million, then 100 million died.

[@SomasAcademy]

@@JuicAfur China does not teach 60 million, their official number is actually 1-2 million, if I recall correctly. 60 million is a high-end estimate made by historians; I can only assume that particular Chinese person learned the number outside of school.

[@Master_Yoda1990]

Sad, the government could’ve prevented such loss with rations, but most of the food was horde away for the elites. There’s some evidence pointing to The Great Chinese Famine was a ploy to cull the population.

[@shuttfup2610]

@@SomasAcademy no the government never gave us any kind of number

[@ImCarolB]

I read a good and horrifying book on that last famine. You touched on it, but someone came up with the great idea of planting wheat so closely that they claimed people could sit on the crops like a hedge. When actual agriculturalists pointed out that plants needed to be spaced to get enough nutrients, they were accused of unCommunist thinking, because plants that shared an identity would not compete, but cooperate.

[@GIBunz]

lysenko said that

[@emigrator08]

@@SamlSchulze1104 That's a mammoth stretch.

[@hebneh]

A photo was published in a Chinese newspaper early in the period in question that showed two young children supposedly standing on wheat plants which were so dense and lush that they could support the kids. This phony view of a wheat field then was used to support increasingly fake claims of crop yields which then led to increasingly unattainable quotas for harvests.

[@3r1414]

Watching this on my lunch break. The irony is not lost on me.

[@stewartyates4510]

Be blessed brother

[@markzuckergecko621]

Lmao, do you feel bad? Because I do whenever I'm shoving my face full of pizza and one of those starving kids commercials comes on. I just kinda turn to the side and eat that way, pretending it's not there.

[@froggystyle642]

@@markzuckergecko621 what can you do? Just eat and be mindful/thankful, and pay it forward where you can

[@crinkly.love-stick]

@@markzuckergecko621 Just remember: the money spent on fuel, camera equipment, music rights for the song 'arms of an angel', and a film crew to make that commercial, definitely could've set those kids up for a good life. I'm not saying we (1st world people) shouldn't donate or help, but there's definitely some buck-passing going on.

[@AmericanBaker]

I just watched this twice because there was so much information I couldn't take it all in in one go. Thank you for informing us about this important topic.

[@evilemuempire9550]

Learning about Chinese history always blows my mind, in most countries, events like these are usually measured in the thousands or at worst tens of thousands, hell, here in Canada, our most well known disaster (Halifax explosion) only killed around 2000 people. But in China, deaths in the millions are thrown around all the time, obviously it is mostly due to China’s massive population, but there does seem to be a general lack of care for the people by every Chinese government

[@andersenzheng]

its also part of the difficulty. china was not this advanced in technology. china had so many problems in recent history, their people (including their government) got desensitized with death in mass numbers. also the culture of "good enough" running for thousands of years does not help with calculating a death toll.

[@CynnabunFaith]

While I fully agree, as you mentioned we have to consider China's populations at the time. I wonder what would it look like if we took these numbers to percentages of population? Sometimes just down to local population. "X" amount of the population died to famine during this time period. Canada has seen a recent explosion in population, but we're only up to around maybe 39 million now? Way more than our entire population died over those famines, and that to me is hard to comprehend.

[@evilemuempire9550]

@@maxxu5237 What the actual fuck, are you saying our indigenous people are not in fact, people?

[@SySoundwave]

How many people in Canada? About 150. There were hundreds of millions in China at the time. You can't ignore that

[@evilemuempire9550]

@@SySoundwave Uh, try about 40 million, but yes, China does have a massive population and I recognized that, but there still seems to be a general lack of care for the people by the governments (whether one of the dynasties, warlords, nationalists, or CCP)

[@duanesamuelson2256]

Which is why I buy a bit extra non perishable items when I shop (rice, beans, canned foods, bleached flour (whole wheat flour has wheat germ that will go rancid over time) and so on). Not things that I normally choose to eat but the things that will keep you alive. The extra costs over a year is pretty negligible and I rotate the long term items by donation. By doing this for several years I have enough that used at weight loss levels I have about 5 years of food in the house taking pretty little area. No, I don't have enough TP for years lol.

[@Metallica4Life92]

I would rather have a shortage of TP then a shortage of sustenance tbh :)

[@marckyle5895]

Using a bidet cuts down on TP usage while using more water.

[@sherim132]

I learn so much from Simon since his takeover of KZbin, I appreciate him and his amazing script writers- but is he human? He can’t have time to sleep!

[@PhenomRom]

I mean it doesn't take that long to record a video of you talking into a camera

[@sandybarnes887]

Why would he need much sleep? He is part cyborg powered by Magic Spoon cereal and cocaine. Allegedly

[@PhenomRom]

@@TheRatsintheWalls this is his job though so doing a job full time is reasonable to me

[@pr0xZen]

He employs staff to do the research, scriptwriting and editing. Some are even such hard workers that Simon has arranged residence for them in his basement. That on its own take an enormous workload off him, which obviously wouldn't be possible with a one man show. Being very good and time-resource effective at what he does, further condenses the workload substantially. So old fact boi / dickhead here do catch both his zzz's and family time.

[@StonedtotheBones13]

And he has a child. Children? Anyway, where are the drugs Simon? WHERE ARE THEY

[@scheimong]

There's this old Chinese idiom "易子相食" - literally "exchanging children to eat". Imagine eating someone else's children (as opposed to one's own) being the best option to preserve the last bit of human decency. Also imagine that being frequent enough to become an idiom.

[@jeffersonott4357]

Wow. Don’t even have a response to that. The saddest part is, so often those who cause all this suffering never experience it themselves, and maybe even worse, never reckon with the reality and guilt that they are to blame. The ability of the human mind to protect itself from reality when it is that harsh is incredible. Pol Pot believed to his dying day that his actions were correct, even righteous, just as 1 example amongst hundreds. I just wish they could feel the pain of guilt.

[@TheLycanSubscriber]

There are a great many idioms that I wish I knew the origin of. "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," being the first that comes to mind. This does not place in that list. That is a terrible ordeal I would not wish upon my worst enemy, and I dearly hope that nobody has to go through it again. Though, with how the climate is shifting, we can only hope

[@barrydysert2974]

🙏

[@tanakaba]

I'll remember that the next time I hear the Chinese restaurants in the US aren't authentic enough.

[@dilanbrinkley3587]

@@tanakaba I have so many dark and morbid follow up questions resulting from your comment lol

[@shellshell942]

I watch people panic buying when a lockdown is announced and can't believe how crazy it is. I live in Australia, we have a population of 25.5 million and produce enough food to feed over 80 million people every year even with our fires and droughts. Of course lots of our surplus food goes to China but I think so many in rich nations don't know what hunger really is. Videos like this should make people very grateful.

[@toddlerj102]

Not everyone in first world nations has excess.

[@markzuckergecko621]

@@toddlerj102 sure they do, it just may not be *easily* accessible. That's not the same as an actual famine, where there's *no* food. It's gone. It's not available at all. It's not there.

[@jaymevosburgh3660]

I live in America, and grew up really poor plus my mother had been a heroin addict when I was 8. Went hungry a lot. And have starved for 8 days with out any food. So I started to dumpster dive at age 10. But I will *never* forget that feeling ov being so hungry after day 6. My stomach was hard and I literally thought i was going to die. Kept fainting and had trouble walking. Worst part was that most adults that saw me just assumed I was on drugs simply due to the way I dressed (goth-punk in the early 90's) I have been stabbed and hit by cars, and been thru other fun crap, but I will never wish hunger up on any one, especially kids. That hurts my heart to know that children suffer over something so easy to fix. Be nice if the people ov all nations put their political & religious agendas aside to actually help. If I were a billionaire I would spend my money to make life better for others and the world.

[@boxwoodgreen]

The Western Word has foolishly, totally embraced the lie of CO2 warming. The exact opposite of what is coming. We are 2000 years + past the million year average of how long inter-glacial warm periods last. We now know that when inter-glacials end, they end fast. With temperature drops to ice age levels in certainly less than a century. Perhaps as fast as a decade. We will lose food production in most currently temperate zone areas. All the Northern countries will be uninhabitable within decades. No attention. No plan. No preparation.

[@amaccama3267]

Didn't you just love us Aussies fighting each other for toilet paper in the isles of the supermarket?

[@SomasAcademy]

If anyone is curious how they came to the conclusion that crops of the same species didn't compete with each other, it was the result of experiments in the Soviet Union, where lab tests showed that crops could be planted much closer together than was previously thought. The problem with these lab tests was that all of the seeds were coming from the same or closely related plants, while in actual field conditions, seeds often come from much more distantly related plants. Plants will compete with each other unless very closely related, so the lab results were wildly misleading. They buried seeds extra deep for a similar reason; it worked well in tests in the Soviet Union, but in Chinese field conditions, the soil tended to get sandier as you dug further down, not richer. Hence, seed were less likely to survive when planted deep, rather than more prosperous.

[@Telthar]

The really sad thing is that farmers were telling the party officials that what they wanted to do would be disastrous, they were ignored if they were lucky, punished if they were not. Shockingly, the people who do a job day in and day out (especially one like farming) know best. Instead of consulting with them, the government knew best.

[@jasonjean2901]

@@Telthar That statement is factually inaccurate. The Green Revolution in the 1960s forced farmers to work in a very different manner and increased farm production tremendously. Farmers are good at what they do, but what they often do has, throughout history, been extremely small-scale and hasn't involved pesticides, nitrogen-based feritilizers, and large farm equipment.

[@Telthar]

@@jasonjean2901 are you talking about the Green Revolution in China that also coincided with the Famine, one of the largest man made famines in history? That tremendous farm production? Are we really playing defense for the Great Leap Forward?

[@jasonjean2901]

@@Telthar I'm saying what I said; that the entire reason why the Green Revolution happened is precisely because developing societies didn't listen to the farmers. If developing societies just hung around listening to what farmers had to say, we would have nowhere near the food production we have today. And if drought in some areas of the country, coupled with flooding in other areas, coupled with an arbitrary U.S. economic blockade which prevented China from shipping in food from abroad make the Great Famine entirely the Chinese government's fault in your mind, then you are too dense to be discussing history.

[@Telthar]

@@jasonjean2901 I'm happy to look at evidence of other countries forcing their farmers to farm the way they want the land farmed.

[@coucamaya]

World population in 1960 was 3billion..... that famine alone killed almost 2% (1.8%) of the world population 😵

[@Chris.Pontius]

Years ago when I was in China I met this Chinese student. We traveled together a few days and after some time I asked him about his views on Mao (ignorant as I was). To this day I still wonder if he simply didn't know about the horrors because of selective history or if he was scared shitless to talk about it. Either way he really downplayed it and told me Mao did a lot for his country.

[@comediangj4955]

Did it never crossed your mind that you might be the one with incomplete information?

[@Chris.Pontius]

@@comediangj4955 Yes, it crossed my mind. Didn't find any evidence supporting that though. If you do got said evidence, please enlighten me.

[@comediangj4955]

@@Chris.Pontius @Chris Pontius maybe you will find evidence if you read Chinese or translate Chinese, you know, since it's CHINESE history. The biggest contribution of Mao is unifying China, how many more famines do you think there would have been if china was still fragmented? And it absolutely would have been fragmented if the nationalist had military control over all of china by the end of ww2. The working class was very unhappy with nationalist because of the corruption, the intentional flood, the unwillingness to fight the Japanese in the beginning (one of Chiang Kai-shek's general had to kidnap him to make him temporarily stop the civil war to fight the Japanese, that general later got executed by him) and confiscated civilian's supplies when the communist didn't (this is confirmed by my grandmother). The second biggest contribution of mao is improving the literacy rate greatly during his time. The third is greatly improved women's rights and got rid of some outdate tradition. Mao is a great military leader and ideology leader, but overall sucks at managing a country as big as China. At the end of the day, we Chinese see him as a man who makes mistakes, not a all knowing being or a god. When you are in charge of so many people, a mistake have major effects. And we see that he did what he did because he believed it will help the people, that's why we don't judge to hard on his mistakes. Overall he has a positive impact on Chinese people's life today. If you are interested in a more detailed history, go to this video and watch from 9:30. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3zbgnebr7dqeMk

[@trayhughes270]

@@comediangj4955 tell that to the 40-80 million CHINESE that were murdered.

[@SEAZNDragon]

@@comediangj4955 The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution were some huge mistakes though. On a similar note while Herbert Hoover's image had been rehabilitated a bit through emphasis on his humanitarian work before and after his presidency, he is still rightfully criticized for not implementing any policies that could have helped during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.

[@tyraqueen2001]

Let's start Monday off on a high note!... ....Oh.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

First notification I had. I was like well let me learn, but yeah. I might dislike governments yet this is insane.

[@ianentwistle5052]

Having lived in China I would hear every day from my fellow Chinese 'Chīguòle ma' (吃过了吗), which means 'have you eaten'. It is very much a part of Chinese culture this saying and is another way of someone expressing their concern of your well being. However, I would not be surprised if it also stems from these dreadful famines the Chinese people have endured.

[@crinkly.love-stick]

Makes sense. Hunger exacerbates depression, illness, diseases, aggression, and slows down your immune system horrifically. Kinda the Italian grandma approach to physical and mental health treatment. If you still feel bad with a full stomach, it's something serious

[@zxrcanada]

Chinese people today wouldn't even know where that term came from, I sure never learned or heard about the famines when i grew up in beijing china, they hid the facts well.

[@shuttfup2610]

It is quite interesting that the younger generation of Chinese kids don’t even say that phrase no more.I just realized it when I was reading your comment

[@miliba]

My grandparents grew up during this terrible time and would constantly make me eat enough, sometimes too much I had to vomit

[@oscarshen6855]

@@miliba Same here, they will get mad if I don't eat what they consider enough, which is usually way too much. It seem they are traumatized for life.

[@112313]

In china, government never change, but policy does. In Western countries, government change, but policy never does.

[@tobysanders8027]

Hi Simon, great new channel. Please could you do a video on two areas that don’t get enough air time: - The rape of Nanking - Unit 731 of Imperial Japan

[@pancholopez8829]

He did the second one. So the next is Nanking. Though he might go for the "friendly" version name, the Sacking of Nanking, just to be safe.

[@koharumi1]

KZbin will definitely not allow such a title for Nanking.

[@RAS_Squints]

Simon's social credit score just went down 10 points in China xD

[@marenawheatley5260]

Just 10? If he ever tries to go to China he’ll be shot.

[@pepeccino7221]

To be honest,they teach this in their history book,there are actually movies made by Chinese famous director about those periods of time.

[@bumsawaymcvey827]

-3000 social credit points bro I'm taking ur human rights

[@InquisitorXarius]

@@pepeccino7221 That is a half-truth. They almost certainly educate their people on these events. However, that history is not wholly accurate and certainly dishonest in its oration. The History they tell is not told in its objective entirety. That history was twisted, ripped, and bent to tell a half-lie that tells of the events falsely blames it on the KMT or Mao’s Wife (Whose name I forgot despite Mr. Whistler also making a Biographics video on her) to hide the truth that it was Mao Zedong that entity, the avatar of opportunistic malice entity who holds the almost 100% majority of responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that was the greatest reaper of the Dark God of incompetence, blind idealism, ignorance, suffering, deception, death, and utter ruin that was the ironically named “Great Leap Forward.”

[@slayingroosters4355]

Not that you would know, how would you google it there? 😉

[@dp6447]

Peak “the past was the worst” right here. Dear god.

[@chesbaret]

Can you please make a video about the Mau Mau revolution or the 1976 Soweto uprising, asking as a South African. please to African stories, there are so many under told.

[@TheCrimsonS4ge]

I'd like to see videos about Apartheid or how the British pioneered concentration camps in the second Anglo-boer war.

[@ThunderStruck15]

This 👆🏻

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:20 - Chapter 1 - A torrid history 2:35 - Chapter 2 - North china famine (1920 - 1921) 4:30 - Chapter 3 - The northwest famine (1928 - 1930) 6:05 - Chapter 4 - Sichuan (1936 - 1937 8:10 - Chapter 5 - The henan famine (1942 - 1943) 10:50 - Chapter 6 - The great leap 12:40 - Chapter 7 - The great famine 16:50 - Chapter 8 - Post famines - Chapter 9 - - Chapter 10 -

[@partlycloudy7707]

I once took an Asian history class that covered history in Asia from 1500-Present day. The shear amount of people that died in China in the 20th century is horrifying. Between the famines and Mao's crazy plans, I feel so awful for the people that lived through it. I can't imagine what that does to yoy

[@bradlevantis913]

China has always amazed me. An amazing cultural heritage coupled with inept political leadership.

[@Oleandra-13]

Which has done as much as it can to destroy "undesirable" portions of their beautiful history. It's so saddening.

[@randoir1863]

Inept political leadership, hmmm what other country could possibly be doing that year after year ? Whether it be federal, state or the local level .

[@112313]

Disingenuous comment when considering what china did.

[@nikbear]

To be honest you could say that about most countries in the west, right up to the present day! They say "The people get the politician's they deserve" which would indicate that we,at the moment get a complete and utter shambles of epic proportions 😄

[@M167A1]

Saddled by the obstacle that is Socialism. Ineptitude just stacks the bodies slightly higher.

[@evsal8087]

Simon has become the educational lord of KZbin!

[@badluck5647]

China still isn't food independent and President Pooh likes to pick fights with the countries that supply the nation with food. I wouldn't rule out a major rising of food prices in the future.

[@silk1435]

I'd make a joke about communist leaders, but then democratic leaders make idiotic decisions commonly as well

[@badluck5647]

@@silk1435 The difference is that Democratic leaders get voted out for major screw ups, while Communist leaders stay the course as they imprison anyone who criticizes their incompetence.

[@silk1435]

@@badluck5647 You're not wrong, I was just looking at the idiocy of some decisions, but yeah, fun times

[@plasenticusfeeticus9422]

@@silk1435 dude every politician is a metaphorical special interest 🐔 holster.

[@Biden_is_demented]

@@badluck5647 That may be, but if we look objectively at China, and leave all the political bias bullshit behind, the truth is communist leaders have done well for themselves. China went from an agrarian illiterate society to an industrial powerhouse in just 50 years. They are now the envy of the entire planet. We might not like their track record on civil liberties, but they left everyone else in the dust when it comes to economic measures, essentially beating the US at their own game: capitalism. Given the rate of change in China, those civil liberties are bound to arrive soon enough, and the chinese know it. They are much more optimist of the future. Meanwhile, the US seems to go the opposite way. Big brother is ever more present, blacks still 2nd rate citizens, police state becoming a menace to civilians, mass shooting bonanza, poverty and homelessness on the rise, racism and fascism openly embraced, education system in shambles, civil war on the horizon, etc etc. It is increasingly harder to say who is good and who is bad. The light becoming darker, and the dark becoming lighter.

[@uberfeel]

The fact that some people in the west still defends Mao's great leap forward and his horrible atrocities is both surprising and disturbing to me.

[@Snp2024]

Well some idiots defend Stalin, or even Hitler so scarcity of food yes scarcity of idiots no

[@guiorgy]

@@Snp2024 As a Georgian, I can't understand the people that defend Stalin. He was a power hungry dictator and a tyrant. Edit: Also a traitor to us, but that's a different topic.

[@markzuckergecko621]

While simultaneously accusing everyone else of "believing propaganda".

[@Snp2024]

@@guiorgy yep

[@stefanschleps8758]

You know whats worse! Those that do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Stay smart, stay strong.

[@t5ruxlee210]

Natural famines are usually tied to poor transportation infrastructure due to a chronic lack of funds when detailed examinations are made post calamity. Despot caused famines often have more horrific motives.

[@CMDPromptify]

I recommend the book Cadres and Kin for a text-based retelling of bureaucratic fibbing and resulting famines. Hard history but one worth knowing.

[@tricorvus2673]

About 7:00. This is what happened everywhere in every famine. 😢😢😢 it’s what the legends say, passed down to children to this day.

[@Nachos237]

This is why insects, cats, and dogs are on the menu there.

[@WKRP187]

@@harryhanz1690 ... What are you on about?? Think he was saying if a country has a history of famine then cats, horses, dogs are all fair game. Why wouldn't they be on the menu since they're made out of meat!!

[@Erinxh]

Well, we in the west do have horses, frogs and snails on the menu. Oh and also don't forget the cheese with maggots. There are probably more examples out there.

[@andersenzheng]

for what is worth, both the great leap and culture revolution were taught in school, at least when I was in high school and junior high there. and it was a mandatory part of the history exam too. a bunch of schools that I know also talked about tiananmen square incident even though this one is not in the text book, many teacher probably felt it was important enough for our young minds to see some real shit. it was not through the western lenses granted, but I'm retrospective, fair enough none the less.

[@lovesiriusblack]

Sadly I've hear this has narrative has changed since new school books with more heavy propaganda has been introduced.. of course I don't know what they say about this specific topic but I wouldn't be surprised if the future generation of China is going to be very different from the current one if this all continue to escalate 🤐

[@andersenzheng]

​@@lovesiriusblack I hope this will not be the case. but I can see them doing it. History needs to be remembered to not repeat itself. Not remembered by everyone to the extent of putting it in a mandatory textbook, but I sure appreciate the forthcoming and honesty for them to do it while was in school. Nothing says I'm an excellent authority faster than admitting your own faults. Oh and those propaganda in a text book? nobody took them seriously, its like kids in the US pledging loyalty to the flag every week. most of them will look back when they reach the age and reason and think, that was a load of shit. the few who took it seriously were already fucked up upstairs anyways. the openly hostile sentiment from the yeehaw people on online games toward Chinese players, does more to drive the hate towards to the west than anything else from my observation.

[@Black-Sun_Kaiser]

The backyard furnaces and the sparrow massacres are hilariously incompetent beyond belief.

[@hebneh]

Part of this unbelievable story is that the 1959-1961 famine was so heavily censored and covered up that there was virtually no news about it in the world at large. The few foreigners who were allowed to visit China during this period were strictly confined to certain cities, which were kept supplied with food while peasants starved by the millions. So the handful of outsiders who actually were in China were never allowed to get close to any of the starvation, thus no news reports about it.

[@twocvbloke]

These days, they just have to put up with plastic rice, artificial eggs and "gutter oil"...

[@SweetLilWren]

Or walnuts full of rocks, lamb meat made from rats n oh the most wonderful totally not toxic baby formula 😓

[@cravenmoordik]

Thank you for bringing back th Infiniblaze stream, Fact Boi #SimonTheHero #TheHeroWeNeed #OGBB #OGLC

[@peterhird7306]

Simon.... this channel is PERFECT for an exploration of my home country's darkest hour - the White Australia Policy and the Stolen Generations.... us Aussies don't like talking about it but it something that SHOULD be more wildly known... please make a video about it !!

[@pancholopez8829]

Now in curious to see that

[@koharumi1]

Parts of the white Australia policy is still around unfortunately.

[@djdrack4681]

How about one about the Madgeburg Massacre/Sack of Madgeburg during the 30 Years War? How it came for almost 200yrs to reference a complete lack of mercy, and became one of the 'pinnacles' by which sacking a city was gauged against (usually in horrific statistics)

[@brianedwards7142]

In geography I was taught that famine may be triggered by natural events but are caused by human factors like distribution, monoculture agriculture and cash crops.

[@chriseustice9919]

This channel needs advertising on the others. I love it. Simon keep up the great work

[@ButWhyWasTaken]

Simon, please turn the volume on your mic up, just to hear you I have to turn the volume on my speakers so high everything else is extremely loud.

[@susanrobinson910]

Listening to this has made me unbelievably sad. I don’t even know how to put my thoughts into words…

[@Metallica4Life92]

I was wondering "how bad can these famines have been?" and then Simon hits us with 40-60M deaths o_o

[@Fizzyphukoff]

Another Simon Whistler Channel. I'm already subscribed to and I don't even remember subscribing to it.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Can we get a video on how the Soviets starved the Ukrainians to take their land? Or a video on Castro’s Cuba throwing the gays into forced labor camps? Or the Gulags? Or the atrocities committed during the Spanish conquest of the Americas? Or the atrocities committed by the Belgians in Africa?

[@boxwoodgreen]

Che Guevara ran a concentration camp for Fidel after the revolution, where he liked to personally execute "enemies of the people". Most of the victims he shot in the head were black. One wonders why the college and high schools halls have "woke" teachers, and students wearing Che t-shirts ?

[@ilajoie3]

There's already one on the Spanish conquest of the Americas, specifically what happened with Mexico

[@Jezus42]

Or how the brits starved the Irish to death. Worst famine is kinda of who you asking China's famines was from ignorance. Ireland's famine intentionally caused. Which is really worse?

[@--enyo--]

Seconding Belgian Congo. I know some other Whistler KZbin Empire channels have done it, but damn. If you want to go into the shadows the heart of darkness is a good place to start.

[@Bitchslapper316]

Don't take this as a personal attack, it happened, it's history and he's talking about it. I'm sure Simon will get to some of the others, this channel is new. He's already covered some of it on his other channels just not in this format.

[@truemoayyed8482]

Hello Somon congratulations to your new channel

[@rainyrainold]

Pearl S Buck has some fascinating historical fictions that go into many of these issues as told by common people of China.

[@nukers1234]

This channel would be perfect for those raid money ads 🤣🤣

[@mariahmoon8775]

If you want to talk about current stuff that's going down in China in a future video, I highly suggest you talk to Chris Chappell and his amazing team over on the China Uncensored KZbin channel. China is *still* doing a lot of stuff that puts their people in danger. Forced organ harvesting, concentration camps, you name it... and China's CCP has probably done it somehow. A collab between Simon and the China Uncensored team would be intriguing if you could work with the time difference!

[@Jimblefy]

Super informative. Thanks :)

[@--enyo--]

I know World War II is just a coal mine of videos for all factions involved, but one issue I was wondering if you’d cover is the ‘comfort women’ which is still a very contentious issue.

[@Bitchslapper316]

Youn should check out Mark Felton. He has some great unbiased WW2 content.

[@ArchDeusAirsoftNC]

This video brings -100000 social credit to all who watches.

[@charlieinabox1164]

9:45 Plague of locust? Sounds like a blessing of protein!

[@williamwelch7]

Thanks again Simon

[@FirstLast-qf1df]

2:05 Oh look someone finally used the words "decimated" correctly.

[@khameronsmith108]

One of Simon's clones with yet another channel. We love to see it

[@Steelwolf171]

Suggestion for a future topic: 1755, Acadie (currently Atlantic Canada)

[@ImissVine782]

12:11 Thank you for making that point!!!

[@1003JustinLaw]

Ah yes, the most common way to deal with mistakes in China since almost 300AD: recognize the mistake and address it, but don't EVER admit to making a mistake. 知错改错不认错

[@zreadz]

You should dive into the strange, often sexist and racist, grave robber-y history of neuroscience/psychology.

[@hubertboisvertboucher2071]

Which would also lead to the subject of how cocaine was popularized in Europe ! (by Freud)

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@briester510]

Thank you!

[@fungi5923]

The Xuhuan Provence incident is an interesting little piece of history

[@Lumen_Obscurum]

While not an easy to research topic, I'd be interested in the impact of European colonialisation of Australia. Particularly with regards to the cultural impact that it has had, and continues to have. It's something that wasn't spoken about while I was in high school, barely mentioned while we watched Rabbit Proof Fence and then off we went away from it again. It's something I wish more people could, or would, take the time to understand.

[@magnus1776]

One of the main issues with China and their food supply especially with growing rice and wheat is that most of their land isn't fertile and they have to import a ton fertilizer from other countries to be able to farm. Fun fact china's main supplier for fertilizer the the USA

[@ianh1504]

During the great leap forward sparrows were deemed a pest, so people would bang pots and pans near where theyd rest until the birds dropped dead midair from exhaustion. Bet theyd wished theyd let the sparrows hang out when the famine started. Tough to feel pity for people who tortured animals like that.

[@prestontucker6171]

Simon... MIGHT be an AI program whose only purpose is to deliver information via KZbin videos. I'm convinced that no one human person has enough time to produce content for as many channels as he hosts.

[@EuphoriaPiana]

He might be either a hologram, and/or a robot that looks (almost identical) to a real human! 🤢

[@froggystyle642]

Highland clearances would be a good one to do.

[@boxwoodgreen]

Tis how my ancestors got where we call home now.

[@TostiTostelli]

Mr Pooh wants to know your location.

[@JoeMartinMusic]

Simon can we get a video on the Elan school please? Seems suitably dark for this channel.

[@aaroneverett296]

Good God Simon, how many channels do you have now days??? I swear, half my subscriptions are your channels Lmao. Do you sleep???

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you

[@Lijdare]

Poverty in China According to the latest data supplied by the World Bank, only 0.6 percent of the Chinese population lived below the country's official poverty line of having less than $1.90 at their disposal per day. But shouldn't China be holding itself to a higher standard? The World Bank draws a higher poverty line for upper-middle-income countries, which tries to reflect economic conditions. It sets this at $5.50 a day. China is now an upper-middle-income country, says the bank. Based on that about a quarter of China's population (300 million) is living in poverty. There is also widespread income inequality in China. Last year, a Chinese official said China still had 600 million people whose monthly income was barely 1,000 yuan ($154). He said that was not enough to rent a room in a city. You give China too much latitude here.

[@pebcak420]

Whats China? OH, you must mean the "100 Acre Wood". Don't let Winnie the Pooh hear you talking bad about it.

[@capnstewy55]

Now Simon can finally release that North Korea video from his business blaze archives.

[@mulebennet8438]

Please please do an episode on human experiments!

[@unifieddynasty]

This is a fair video. Much appreciated.

[@LostNspace-jn1ds]

Well that took a dark turn quick……😂

[@Ubersnuber]

Simon states, at the end, that China lifted several hundred out of poverty. The fact is, as it very often is regarding this country, that CCP merely redefined what poverty was. And yes, that meant that we make up numbers. Ironic, seeing how this solution landed them in famines over and over again.

[@Optimator7]

True

[@BiggaSpeedbuster]

Great video as always Simon. Can you do one on the Holodomor or about the atrocities that happend in the Congo when it was owned by King Leopold of Belguim?

[@maverick4462]

How about one on all the ocean dump sites of various countries. Nuke, bio, chemical.

[@pamelamays4186]

Suggestions: 1.The One Child Policy of China, which has led to a shortage of females in that country. During the One Child Policy era, because male babies were more desired, thousands if not millions of female babies were done away with. Now the Chinese government is encouraging young women to marry and have children. The irony is, modern young women want to have a successful career as opposed to living a domestic life. 2. How Native American/Canadian children were taken from their homes and placed in so-called "schools" to teach them to be "civilized". Those children were given new names and were forbidden to speak their home languages. They suffered all kinds of horrible abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to look after them. Lastly, 3. How, during World War II, the British government didn't lift a finger to help India when it was experiencing widespread famine. Definitely a very dark time in the history of the British Empire.

[@crazywarriorscatfan9061]

Another channel? Simon's takeover of KZbin is inevitable!

[@wretchedegg2208]

A video about the Cultural Revolution would be aprecciated.

[@joshuadelacruz6617]

Well ingrained. The irony.

[@AmandaTroutman]

Simon, I think you're addicted to making content. Anyway, subscribed

[@DeathDefiant]

Just curious, what was the total poulation at the time of "The Great Famine"? 20 - 55 milion deaths sounds like a sizable portion...

[@rayf8730]

At around 11:40 he says there were 660 million in China.

[@DeathDefiant]

@@rayf8730 Lol, my bad, missed it

[@RainbowTyrant]

People have no clue how much things like looting disrupt supplies. The week or so of looting here (south africa) a couple months back left our supermarkets empty. The area I live in wasn't actually looted, but people started burning up trucks and stuff on the highways, to the point where the trucks drivers found safe harbour with farmers and so on along the route for a couple days while it blew over. But it caused a while of eating canned goods my parents had bought in the previous lockdown. I know durban was especially bad. The supermarkets and government (maybe, can't remember if they assisted) and just random people in general were handing out bread and milk. A mosque near us drove food and supplies down to durban because some areas were completely cut off. I know a lot of the smaller townships banded around their supermarkets to keep looters away because the destruction of lack of supplies would have literally caused people to starve. Like sometimes people really don't think of the economic damage looting does. It doesn't matter if it's for some cause. It doesn't justify it.

[@Freshwaterboy]

The next one will make make all the previous ones pale by comparison.

[@midnightlightthevamp]

You should make a video about the Holodomor. Few people know about it

[@orcus6893]

Who would have thought that ruling through fear will not work

[@dwchen1]

Some western historical and economic analyst said through out 5000 years of Chinese entire history today is the only time where the entire population of 1,4 billion doesn't need to worry about hunger for the foreseeable future. Thanks to modernisation, industrialisation, globalization, and capitalism finally solved the Chinese neverending problems about famine for the first time.

[@shadowrfox]

I wonder if the Great Famine is taught about in China. Considering how big censorship is in China, I always wondered if they just outright don't talk about negative things like this or put their own spin on it to either downplay it or blaming it on something else entirely.

[@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88]

Thank goodness humanity realized how easy it is to move food from where there is an excess to where there isn't. Famines are a thing of the 20th centu.... Wait, this just in! What? You mean... Yes, yes. No. Squandered the commissariat. There's a possibility that... Oh, that's right. Nevermind folks! Go about your day!

[@DragonWizardGod]

Get a kabuto helmet and take us step by step through hideyoshi hashibas conquest of Korea

[@markzuckergecko621]

Uh oh. All the black fist icons aren't gonna like you for this one, Simon.

[@davefellhoelter1343]

Thank you for Reminding US to KEEP our History or we will Repeat.

[@thedarkdragon1437]

this feels like something that could use a touch of sam

[@abellopez2199]

Simon you should do a video on profrio Diaz and the disaster he made when he ruled Mexico

[@megandryburgh63]

the battle of blood river

[@kireznerol5170]

Awesome video as always and i really like to listen to your voice. How much of an impact did the loss of more than 15mio people to the Japanese invaders in ww2 have on chinas great famine, i want to research more.

[@tateranus4365]

under capitalism you occasionally have breadlines, under communism you occasionally have bread.