In 1958, Mao Zedong, chairman of the central government council of the newly established People's Republic of China, announced a new economic program aimed at quickly increasing industrial and agricultural production and revitalizing all sectors of the ailing Chinese economy. Known as "The Great Leap Forward", Mao's plan was intended to communize industry by, for instance, building thousands of backyard steel furnaces to replace large steel mills. The concept turned out to be completely unrealistic. More than 20 million people starved to death, and Mao was temporarily forced to turn control of the government over to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.