Great Chinese Famine
The period from 1959 to 1962 was marked by extensive starvation during the Great Chinese Famine brought about by drought and by the Chinese policies of the Great Leap Forward which affected all of China and not only Tibet. The Tenth Panchen Lama was a keen observer of Tibet during this period and penned the 70,000 Character Petition to detail the sufferings of the Tibetans and sent it to Zhou Enlai in May 1962.