Yeah, not buying that argument at all. Practically every country was devastated after the war, China’s hardly unique in that regard.

That's because evidently you're historically illiterate. China went through a century of humiliation prior to the war, being colonized and devastated by predatory western powers. That was, in fact, a very different situation. Meanwhile, 15 years is not that long of a time to restructure your whole society. It's pretty clear that you and logical sense don't really get along.

Mao wanted to reform China, and tens of million of deaths was the price he was willing to pay. It’s a lot easier to make great strides when you don’t give a fuck about your own people. I’ll reserve my admiration for leaders who manage the feat without inflicting untold human misery on the their own citizens.

When you make things up, anything can be true.