Five years after its publication in Hong Kong, the book, entitled Tombstone, is now thought to be the most authoritative text about the Great Leap Forward ever published. Tombstone has become a best-seller worldwide and, despite being banned in mainland China, has been translated into several languages. For his work in exposing the deadly famine, Yang was recently awarded The Manhattan Institute’s Hayek Prize for Literature.

Tombstone is more than just a story of how, during a three-year period free from war or natural disaster, at least 36 million people died unnatural deaths. It’s also the story of how the political and social environment helmed by Chairman Mao upended the livelihood of China’s rural population, punished individuals who didn’t echo the party line, and turned a blind eye to the millions who cried out for help.

In the past, such a blunt critique of the government would have ensured that Yang, who lives in Beijing, would face imprisonment or worse. But in fact, the Tombstone author goes about his life without undue trouble. “The book is about things that happened decades ago,” he explains, noting that talking about contemporary politics would be a different story altogether. Nonetheless, he acknowledges that publication of his book within China would be next to impossible.

As a young high school graduate in early 1960’s China, Yang Jisheng, like all young people in China, lacked the means to challenge the Communist Party’s interpretation of history. But after he took a job as a reporter for Xinhua, he realized how far his “news” stories were from the truth. Looking back, Yang is displeased with his writing. “I should have burned those articles. I am ashamed of them.”

But this shame also shaped Yang’s future. “I’d known the words shi shi qiu shi [a Chinese aphorism meaning to “seek truth from facts”] since I was very young, but it took ten years of my life to really understand them. These words have become my guide.”

Yang’s research took him across China, where he encountered many local officials and keepers of provincial archives who risked their careers to give him access to their records. He even interviewed an unprecedented number of officials who had committed crimes themselves, or incriminated others with their lies. “[Today] they admit that they were responsible for creating tragedies,” Yang observed. “But their superiors had more responsibility.”

“The communist ideology made them believe that stepping into communism was an inevitable movement of history, and that nothing should hinder that process. They thought communism would be as beautiful as heaven, so they took punishing and wiping out whoever stood between them and communism for granted. They felt no guilt.”

The resulting cost in human lives was immense. Yang believes that a great majority of officials have now gained perspective on the past, though a few still hold onto their original faith. “The left-wingers who still believe in Mao like to abuse me,” Yang says with a dry chuckle.