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Zhen Liying (b. 1929) is a resident of Changxing Village, Gaolong Town, Chaling County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Zhen recalls how she went to Jiangxi Province to carry iron pipes and went to the nearby village to carry charcoal during the Great Leap Forward, and how she ate tree bark, tree roots, as well as chaff and stole turnip during the Great Famine. Zhen also talks about an old man in the village, who died of constipation because of eating chaff. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.

Zhen Zhongyun said that in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward movement, people at her village melted their cooking pans to make iron and claimed successful after geting some metal balls, which was nothing but a failure. She and other villagers looked for kaolin clay and wild vegetables as food. She married into this village in 1962 as her mother wanted her to escape the terrible situation at her own village. Luckily her mother in law was very nice to her.

颐和园昆明湖东岸知春亭

Zhi Dongming (b. 1939) is a resident of Xiguan Village, Shaanxi Province, and the grandfather of the interviewer, Zhi Pengbo. In this interview, Zhi recalls the life from 1958 to 1961. When constructing blast furnace in 1958, the villagers had to work both day and night. They mined coals, cut firewood and pumped the bellows. In 1958, all the young men in the village were sent to build road and cultivate wasteland for farming in different places. During the Great Famine, like most of the young men in the village, Zhi was working outside. Only the old people were left in the village. Although no one died of starvation, many got sick.