I worked with a Chinese man who survived the Great Leap Forward in China where there was a lot of starvation. He said one time he was so hungry he took a ration card and ate all of the food he could buy with it. A ration card is for a whole family for a week. He has felt tremendous guilt for that for the rest of his life, and swore to always control his hunger from that time on.
I talked to a Chinese man who was imprisoned by the Communists during Mao’s famine.
He said they had a daily formation, where they had to stand in their shorts, with their heels and knees together. An inspector would check if their thighs were so emaciated, that his fist could fit between. When it could, they were judged to be near death, and would be moved to another area away from sight.