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Carl Whirley Lecture notes, religious literature

Biographical information. Faculty/Staff

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Biographical information.

Zeng Fanxin was 6 when the village built iron furnace and he remembered that all big trees were cut off to burn in the furnace. He also recalled that people had to eat grass and kaolin clay because there was no food. Several dozens died in the Zeng family including his grand uncles. Zeng Fanxin thought Mao was responsible for all this.

Zeng Fanzhong was born in 1950. He recalled that all big trees were cut off to burn the iron furnace in the village. In 1950 and 1960, more than a dozen died of starvation in the Zeng family, several of his grand uncles died. His mother negotiated with the work team during the Land Reform so his family was classied as rich peasant but he was not accepted into the middle school although he passed the exam.

Zeng Guiying (b. 1932) is a resident of Pengtian Village, Jiangxi Province. In this interview, Zeng recalls the life during the Great Famine. In 1957 when the communal canteen was established, every household's pots and stoves were confiscated. The famine started in 1958. With three members, Zeng's family was only assigned one jin of rice everyday. The over 200 people at the communal canteen had to scramble for the scarce supply of food at every meal. In fear of hurting the unborn babies, pregnant women did not dare to join them. Because Zeng was usually not strong enough to get her portion of food, she had to rely on the food her dad, who was the leader of the people's commune, saved for her. Because of starvation, many people stole food from others, ate daffodils and even river mud. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Zeng Lianying (b. 1925) is a resident of Pengtian Village, Jiangxi Province. In this interview, Zeng talks about the life during the Great Famine when she was working at the production team. The workload was very heavy and overtime at night was very common. The famine was at its worst in 1960 and 1961 when each person could only be assigned with 2 liangs of rice everyday. Due to starvation, Zeng sometimes had to steal food. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Zeng Linjian (b.1931) is a resident of Zhaixia Village, Pengzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. As he recounts, after the communization, people ran out of food, and had to ate unpalatable leaves and had potato vines in place of tea. An old lady in the village carried a cage for chicken to steal wheats from the production team's fields; her aunt at home wanted to remarry someone for food. Zeng's father as well as her first and second husbands were all starved to death. In the family, she is the only senior alive now.

Zeng Man (b.1929) is a resident of Zhaixia Village, Pengzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. Zeng took part in the denunciation of landlords during the Cultural Revolution. She went to landlords' homes to tie people up and carry their properties. The landlords were put in pig cages and their properties were shared between other villagers. The Red Guards wronged many people. After the communization, many starved to death. The production team put too many seeds in the field, and could not get enough harvest afterwards. People ran out of food quickly. Zeng did not suffer hunger because her family works at the eating hall and secretly brought back food. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Zeng Qingfeng lost his mother at four and his father died of starvation when he was six. His grandfather and his two grand uncles also died of starvation. He said that the famine was at its peak in 1959 in the village. He later joined the army. In 1976 when Mao Zedong died, he remembered that the mourning music kept playing for a whole week.

Zeng Qingxing said that in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward movement, trees were all cut off to burn the iron furnace. The Commune Canteen started in 1959, for three years, it only served very think congee, many people died of starvation. His mother went blind after giving birth to him and starved to death in 1961.

Zeng Qingyun said that the famine was most serious in 1959 and 1960. The head of the village sold all grain to the state so show his loyalty so Huangjuwo village has the most people died of starvation. A temporary hospital was later set up for those who were sick because of starvation. A little food was provided, hoping to save some lives. He said that those who guarded the filed at night all stole from the field, and remembered that his father brought back some broad beans for him.

Zeng Xianggui is a communist party member. He was the accountant at the production team starting in the 70s and was the village party secretary in the 90s. He said that the Great Leap Forward movement started in 1958 was an inevitable result of the international situation. China at that time didn't have iron production capability. But the iron produced by these backyard furnaces were useless and a total waste. It was just a formlism and the village trees were all cut off to burn in the furnace. The production team had a canteen, an adult villager had only three liang of rice each day. There was a little food in 1959, no food at all in 1960. Villagers ate tree barks and kaolin clay. His parents went to build Simenluo Reservoir, he had to take with him his younger brother and sisiter when he went to school. He later also worked at the same reservoir because workers could get seven and half liang's food every day. He said that many people starved to death, but few cadres starved to death.

Zeng Xianli was born in 1949, His father Zeng Shaoqing starved to death in 1960. His two uncles, his older brother all died of starvation in 1959 and 1960. His mother died in 1963. He became an orphan and lived together with his nephew Zeng Qingfeng. He said that grain purchase was completely controlled by the government, peasants had to sell their harvet to the state. Because Mao owed Russia debt and had to pay back by grain, pigs and eggs. So the peasants had little grain left for themselves. People starved to death the most at Huangjuwo village.

Zeng Xianxin is the village stelemaker. He said that trees in the vallage were all cut off during the Great Leap Forward. The head of the village liked to brag about production so the team sold almost all their grain to the state. In the canteen there was only a few jin of grain for the whole team for each meal. Huangjuwo village used to have more than 100 people, more than half died of starvation.

Zeng Xinyuan was quite emotional when she talked about the great famine. She said that the commune canteen started in 1958 was a true disaster, people had to eat chaff, wild leaves and kaolin clay. People starved to death the most in Huangjuwo village, the older generation all died and she lost all her hair. She said that the cause was the government policy.

Zeng Shaokang said that the iron furnace built during the great leap movement fialed in a few months. Trees in the villages were all cut off to burn the furnace. The famine started in the second half of 1958, there was only three-jin rice each meal for the whole village at the canteen. He said that all this was because of Mao. In those years, people were critcized at class struggle meetings for their wrong words, so he is careful even today not to record anything bad against the communist party.

Zeng Shaoying has his won political opionions. He said that agricultural cooperation started in 1956. The anti-rightist campaign in 1957 was because there still many spies of Kuomintang, the government actually value intellectuals very much. During the 1958 great leap forward, trees in the villages werre almost all cut off to burn the iron furnace. The the three-year difficult period started in 1959 because China owed foreign debts. There were more than 100 people in Huangjuwo village, more than 60 people survved the famine. Deng Xiaoping started the reform and opening policy, which was good but people started to value money more than anything else. He said that peasants are realistic, as long as they have enough to eat, they will be contented.

Zeng Zihua became the school headmaster in 1958. There were iron furnaces built in schools that year and students were organized to operate the furnace. From 1958 to 1961, there was a shortage of food, schools organized students to plant produce and kept the harvest to themselves which helped the students survive the famine. Some people in the village starved to death. There were health clinics set up in villages to try to help those who were sick due to the starvation.

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