ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Chinese famine of 1942–1943

So, a long, long time ago in China, there was a big problem with food. Lots of people didn't have enough to eat and they were very hungry. This happened in 1942 and 1943, during a time when there was a war happening (World War II).

The problem was that there wasn't enough food for everyone in China to eat. Lots of the food was being used to help the soldiers fighting in the war. This meant that regular people didn't have enough to eat. There was also a big drought, which means there wasn't enough rain to grow crops, and that made things even worse.

When people don't have enough food to eat, they get really sick and sometimes they can even die. This is what happened to a lot of people in China during this time. It was called a famine, which is when there isn't enough food for a whole bunch of people.

The government in China tried to help by providing some food, but it wasn't enough. Many people had to resort to eating things that weren't really food, like tree bark and grass, just to try to fill their stomachs.

In the end, it was a really difficult time for the people in China. Lots of people died from hunger and sickness. It took many years for China to recover and for people to have enough food to eat again.