Three Years of Difficulty

E944869

economic crisis famine historical period

Three Years of Difficulty refers to the catastrophic period of mass starvation and economic hardship in China from 1959 to 1961, largely resulting from the policies of the Great Leap Forward and adverse natural conditions.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
Three Years of Difficulty canonical	2
Three Years of Hardship	2

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11749906 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Three Years of Difficulty
Context triple: [Great Chinese Famine, alsoKnownAs, Three Years of Difficulty]

A. Three the Hard Way
Three the Hard Way is a 1974 blaxploitation action film in which three tough heroes team up to stop a white supremacist plot to poison the Black population of the United States.
B. Troubled Times
"Troubled Times" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day from their album *Revolution Radio*.
C. Seven Year Ache
"Seven Year Ache" is a country song written and originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, known for its introspective lyrics about romantic disillusionment and its success on the country charts in the early 1980s.
D. The Hardest Challenge
"The Hardest Challenge" is an episode of the reality competition series "The Hunt," likely featuring one of the show's most demanding and high-stakes survival tasks for its contestants.
E. Trouble with the Curve
Trouble with the Curve is a 2012 sports drama film about an aging baseball scout, starring Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Three Years of Difficulty
Target entity description: Three Years of Difficulty refers to the catastrophic period of mass starvation and economic hardship in China from 1959 to 1961, largely resulting from the policies of the Great Leap Forward and adverse natural conditions.

A. Three the Hard Way
Three the Hard Way is a 1974 blaxploitation action film in which three tough heroes team up to stop a white supremacist plot to poison the Black population of the United States.
B. Troubled Times
"Troubled Times" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day from their album *Revolution Radio*.
C. Seven Year Ache
"Seven Year Ache" is a country song written and originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, known for its introspective lyrics about romantic disillusionment and its success on the country charts in the early 1980s.
D. The Hardest Challenge
"The Hardest Challenge" is an episode of the reality competition series "The Hunt," likely featuring one of the show's most demanding and high-stakes survival tasks for its contestants.
E. Trouble with the Curve
Trouble with the Curve is a 2012 sports drama film about an aging baseball scout, starring Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	economic crisis ⓘ famine ⓘ historical period ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Three Years of Famine ⓘ linked to: Three Years of Great Famine Three Years of Hardship ⓘ linked to: Three Years of Difficulty Three Years of Natural Disasters ⓘ
country	People's Republic of China ⓘ linked to: China
demographicImpact	drop in birth rates in China ⓘ excess deaths in tens of millions (various estimates) ⓘ
economicImpact	decline in industrial production ⓘ disruption of rural communes ⓘ
endTime	1961 ⓘ
fieldOfStudy	Chinese history ⓘ development economics ⓘ famine studies ⓘ
followedBy	policy readjustment in early 1960s China ⓘ
governmentNarrative	emphasis on natural disasters as primary cause ⓘ
hasCause	Great Leap Forward ⓘ linked to: Great Leap Forward policies adverse weather conditions ⓘ agricultural collectivization policies in China ⓘ excessive grain procurement by the state ⓘ natural disasters in China ⓘ policy failures of the Chinese Communist Party ⓘ
historicalSignificance	largest famine in the history of the People’s Republic of China ⓘ major turning point in Chinese economic policy debates ⓘ
languageOfName	Chinese ⓘ
mainEffect	economic hardship in rural China ⓘ increased mortality ⓘ mass starvation ⓘ sharp decline in agricultural output ⓘ widespread malnutrition ⓘ
policyResponse	adjustment of grain procurement quotas ⓘ import of grain from abroad ⓘ partial retreat from radical Great Leap Forward policies ⓘ
politicalContext	Chinese Communist Party rule ⓘ
politicalLeaderDuringPeriod	Mao Zedong ⓘ
precededBy	launch of the Great Leap Forward in 1958 ⓘ
regionMostAffected	Chinese interior provinces ⓘ rural China ⓘ
scholarlyInterpretation	emphasis on policy errors as primary cause ⓘ
socialImpact	erosion of trust in local authorities ⓘ increased rural-urban disparities ⓘ
startTime	1959 ⓘ
timePeriodWithin	Great Leap Forward ⓘ linked to: Great Leap Forward policies Mao era ⓘ
typeOfCrisis	agricultural crisis ⓘ food security crisis ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Great Chinese Famine → alsoKnownAs → Three Years of Difficulty ⓘ

Three Years of Great Famine → alsoKnownAs → Three Years of Difficulty ⓘ

Three Years of Natural Disasters → hasAlternativeName → Three Years of Hardship ⓘ

linked to: Three Years of Difficulty

Three Years of Difficulty → alsoKnownAs → Three Years of Hardship ⓘ