Final Draft of question and source

Source 3.
This will be the final edit of my essay question which I will answer:
'How far did Mao achieve his initial aims in the Great Leap forward?'

I want to publish another propaganda poster in showing how Mao went about publicising the importance of achieving his aims.
http://chineseposters.net/themes/great-leap-forward.php

The commune is like a gigantic dragon, production is visibly awe-inspiring, 1959

The Poster is showing Chinese citizens of all sorts of different jobs, caring a basket of grain and agriculture produce, and you can see gold steel coming out of the basket to highlight Smelting. The are standing on a dragon, symbolizing the great patriotism of China, and bringing back memories to people of the great nation China once was. It promotes patriotism through the dragon and the colours of gold and red running through the picture for people to rediscover their love for China.

 The poster is really key in understanding the publicity of the GLF, in order to understand why people were so enthusiastic on the GLF, and not many questioned Mao on his aims being impossible. People wanted to pull out of the poverty lifestyle China has entered, and Mao has created an opportunity in which China can become a great world Power.
In publishing this poster, Mao wanted to give people a geiunue idea of what China will be like if they just work together as one nation and achieve their aims, and by doing so, relifting the great nation of China once more.

Cannibalism. Where it began to go wrong...

Source 2.
Here I have two sources on the affects of starvation, and the famine had on people
First is from a writer called Yang Jisheng, who wrote the book tombstone (2008) exposing Mao's secret Famine, this extract he is asking a local, Yu Dehong, a retired cadre from the local waterworks bureau, gives an account on his experience In China,
'The surviving residents protested later that they had been too short-handed and exhausted to give the dead the dignity of a burial. They blamed the disfigured corpses on hungry dogs, whose eyes, according to rumours which swept the area, had turned red after gnawing at human flesh. “That is not true,” said Yu. “All the dogs had already been eaten by humans. How could there be dogs left at the time?” The corpses hadn’t been eaten by ravenous animals. They had been cannibalised by local residents. Many people in Xinyang over that winter, and the two that followed, owed their survival to consuming dead members of their families, or stray corpses they could get their hands on.'
This source is vital for historians, in showing the brutality and cruelty people endured throughout China's famine, not only are we looking at figures of 20 million lives, not just a figure, but really understand the depressing, horrific state China was in, yes China did some good in the great leap forward, but was it worth the millions of lives Mao claimed? Did China ever become a world power by allowing a mass self-genocide to happen?

My second source is by J.Becker, whose extract is from Hungry Ghost (1996)
'That Winter (1960) Cannibalism became common. Generally the villagers ate the flesh of corpses, especially those of children. In rare cases, parents ate their own children, elder brothers ate younger brothers, elder sisters ate their younger sisters. In most cases, cannibalism was not punished by the Public Security Bureaux because it was not considered as severe a crime as destroying state property and the means of production. This latter crime often merited the death sentence.Travelling around the region over thirty years later, every peasant that I met over 50 said he personally knew of a case of cannibalism in his production team.'
This source is chilling in itself 'parents ate their own children', a horrific period, in which not only was their famine, but families destroyed, and emotional bonds broken because of this disastrous period of time. Even worse was the idea that corpses were genuinely not treated rightly and the Public Security Bureaux saw it as no crime, which suggests that the government had no care of the extent people are willing to go due to famine as long as it didn't destroy state property. Also it shows that cannibalism in these regions were not a rare thing, and it was just what people had to do to get by, showing us the true contents of Mao's famine.

These two sources will help me in identifying the difficulties and horrific life these citizens had to go for, It helps me understand a failure of the Great Leap Forward, and creates graphical, visual images for me to interpret what life was really like for people in Mao's Famine.
These sources are more of a devasting aftermath of the GLF which means I need to collect sources for positivity towards Mao's GLF, in order to create a balancing argument for my essay question.

Mao's Great Leap Forward Poster Campaigns

Source 1.
I think my question may be along the lines of Mao's great leap forward, whether it was a success or failure for Mao. I want to display the outcomes of the GLF and whether it pushed China into a world power, or rather pushed it down the ladder of becoming its initial aims.
I found this poster, which promoted the GLF, my question is not a source question, however I want to understand the attitudes and promotions, and propaganda pumped into the Great leap forward.

This poster was promoted in 1960, the caption reads 'Start the movement to increase production and practise thrift, with foodstuffs and steel at the center, with great force!, 1960'
I believe it shows at the bottom, groups of people, from all different kinds of jobs and backgrounds joining together, with all sorts of equipment, to promote the GLF, and using all their skills to be able to work together and create China into a world power.
The centre of the picture, shows a man and a woman, the man holding steel with great triumph to use for  smelting, note he is using only one hand which is practically impossible, showing the strength and effort he is putting into working and reforming China.
Whilst the women is holding a batch of grain, promoting the agricultural activity of China, and to increase food production.
In the background there are waves of China, in order to create patriotism among the people, and in order to make people feel that they WILL create a new China.