Editing Work unit (section)

== The ''danwei'' system as a failed means of economic recovery ==
Between 1962 and 1965, during the [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)|Mao era]], Beijing's leaders adopted emergency measures after the [[Great Leap Forward]] resulted in mass starvation and agricultural downturn.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dikötter |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Dikötter |title=Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62 |title-link=Mao's Great Famine |date=2010-09-06 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4088-1444-4 |language=en}}</ref> More than 20 million people who had settled in urban areas were forced back to the countryside to work when urban food and consumer goods were strictly rationed in the socially-controlled ''danweis''.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Lieberthal |first=Kenneth |title=Governing China: from Revolution Through Reform |publisher=[[Norton & Company]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-393-92492-0 |edition=2nd |location=New York: Norton |pages= |language=English}}</ref>{{Rp|page=109}} The CCP then put into place policies that "had the effect of freezing people into their current work units."<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=109}} This often meant that many workers had little or no knowledge of what was going on outside of their unit and there was close to no mobility between units or residences. The ''danwei'' unit system in tandem with strict residence registration requirements, namely the [[Hukou|Hukou system]], prevented migration from rural areas to urban ones, essentially dividing China into two tiers: a privileged urban society and an exploited rural society.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=110}}