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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.