Yes there was a big famine, and yes the Great Leap Forward was not handled well. But if any of that is a systemic problem of Chinese communism, we really got to ask ourselves: Why was that the last famine ever experienced in China? One would expect this to be repeated over and over. Why has life expectancy and standard of living being skyrocketing in China since then? On the other hand, if we take a look at the history of China before the communists came to power, we see famines being a regular event.