Frank Dikötter says Great Leap Forward food allocation was used “as a weapon”

Discussing the Great Leap Forward, Frank Dikötter says food rations were tied to ‘work points’, meaning people who could not work (including pregnant, sick, or elderly people) or who were deemed undesirable could be denied access to canteens. He argues this turned food into a coercive tool, saying many people were “cut off from the food chain as a form of punishment” and that “tens of millions” were banned from canteens and starved to death.