Mature crops were left to die in the field because all of the young men had been drafted to operate primitive backyard furnaces.

Peng criticized the poor allocation of labour across China, especially the inefficient, country-wide practice of forcing farmers to work in backyard furnaces.

Rather than build steel mills, small "backyard furnaces" would be used.

The steel produced in backyard furnaces at low temperatures proved to be useless.

Uneducated farmers attempted to produce steel on a massive scale, partially relying on backyard furnaces to achieve the production targets set by local cadres.

The backyard furnaces favoured by Mao Zedong during the Great Leap Forward were of this type.

Mao was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei, Anhui in September 1958 by provincial first secretary Zeng Xisheng.

Substantial effort was expended during the Great Leap Forward on large-scale but often poorly planned capital construction projects, such as irrigation works and 'backyard furnaces'.

Life in People's commune, backyard furnaces, and factories.

Among her memories were the roaring backyard furnaces that consumed the family's woks and iron bedsprings as the mobilizing slogan "Everybody, Make Steel!"