Henan had previously suffered as a result of the war . Thousands of its young men had already been conscripted . In 1938 the Nationalist government flooded the Yellow River in an attempt to stop the advance of the Japanese . The flooding killed 500,000 to one million people in Henan , Anhui and Jiangsu . When Japanese troops did enter the area they caused much destruction , which contributed to causing the famine . By the time of the famine itself , Henan was divided , with the eastern half of the province under occupation by Japan and the western half part unoccupied and nominally under the authority of the Nationalist government based in Chongqing
flooded the Yellow River
1938 Yellow River flood
Chinese famine of 1942–43