For context, tens of millions of people being wiped out by famine was something that happened every couple of decades in China. What makes the famine under Mao notable was that it was the last famine China ever had, thanks in large part to the comprehensive revolution mentioned above, which allowed the state to pursue long term policies that benefitted the whole society instead of the wealthy class

Famines on this scale were relatively normal in China and a mainstay of the Chinese Empire's boom and bust cycles, as well as ecological catastrophe spreading thin the fragile bureaucracy. Only one government in China has been shown to be able to decisively end famine since, and it's the same one that eradicated absolute poverty. Hope that helps!

weird, I actually read the opposite if you look here

I love counting unborn people in my death rates

If you used the same metric to quantify the deaths during the Great Depression in the United States, you would end up with a death toll of 11 million