China's celebrates half a century under communism and economic health, writes A V Rajwade
Last Friday, China celebrated the completion of 50 years of communist rule in that country. And what a tumultuous half a century it has been for that ancient civilisation. First came Mao's great leap forward in the 1950s. One of the more bizarre elements of the programme was the manufacture of steel in cottage furnaces. In the process, huge amounts of wood was burnt, forests destroyed, agricultural output crashed and many millions suffered death from famine.
Then came the Great Helmsman's Cultural Revolution