Update | Chinese media commentary on Great Leap Forward death toll draws fierce online debate

A commentary on the Great Leap Forward published in official media has come under fire online after it said studies which concluded tens of millions of Chinese starved to death were “schemes of Western hostile forces”.

The article touched on Mao Zedong’s massive-scale economic drive of 1958 to 1961 that attempted to rapidly transform China from an agrarian society to a Communist nation through industrialisation and collectivisation.

Several studies released in recent years – none recognised by the Chinese government – have estimated that as many as 42 million people starved to death during the famine caused by the campaign.

“Some Western hostile forces repeatedly hype and exaggerate that China starved to death tens of millions of people … [They] were attempting to undermine and disprove the Chinese Communist Party’s validation to rule,” wrote Bei Yuan in an article published in Social Sciences Weekly, a publication of China’s top official think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Bei, a retired teacher at the Anhui Administration Institute, acknowledged there was “great loss” during the period but called it “an exploratory miscarriage” as the Communist Party sought a path to socialism.

“Since it was an exploration, it could have been a success, but it could also fail,” he wrote.

On social networking site Weibo, which has become a vigorous space for public discussion, the article was overwhelmingly greeted by outrage. Comments flooded in, criticising the article as a poor attempt to justify Chairman Mao’s campaign.