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五台山碧山寺内松树和石碑

山西五台山，碧山寺

五台山

五台山

山西五台山，碧山寺白玉观音像

Wu Tinqia (b. 1942) was born in Longju Village, Baimi Town, Hejiang County, Sichuan Province. In this interview, he talks about his family being classified as landlord, two were even killed during the Land Reform. He talks about what people ate and how some stole food during the Great Famine. He also remembers the struggle sessions during the Cultural Revolution.

Wu Tinyi (b. 1937) was born in Longju Village, Baimi Town, Hejiang County, Sichuan Province. As a son from a landlord's family, Wu's life has been strongly influenced by his class background. In this interview, he recollects about the struggles of poor peasants against landlords. He also recalls his experience during the Great Leap Forward after the village started the People's Commune in 1957. He talks about all kinds of food people ate during the Great Famine, and the struggle against village cadres during the Cultural Revolution.

Correspondence (clipping)

Wu Xiuzhe (b. 1934) is a resident of Yangjiazhuang Village, Hebei Province. In this interview, Wu recalls the life during the Great Famine. Because of hunger, Wu tried wild herbs, green dates, raw eggplants and cabbage roots.

Wu Yangbo (b. 1946) is a resident of Jimingqiao Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Wu recounted how his family's house was pulled down and used as fertilizers when running the people's commune canteen, how he was forced drop out of middle school to work, how his family relied on neighbors' help after his mother lost food coupons for ten days, and how a relative committed suicide by hanging because he was accused for stealing other's food coupons. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.

Wu Yumei (b. 1942) is a resident of Jimingqiao Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Wu recalls how she lived on the other family members' grains after she lost the food coupons for 10 days in 1959. During this period, some villagers were criticized for stealing sweet potatoes to eat, and several villagers died of starvation. Wu also recounts how leaders of the local production team were criticized orally and punished physically by the superior leaders because they failed to complete the production task during the Great Leap Forward. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.

Wu Yunsen (b.1943) a resident of Wanbaochang Village, Tongchang Town, Yimen County, Yunnan Province. He remembers that there was severe shortage of food at the Commune Canteen, people had to to look for wild vegetables as food. These plants had to be boiled and soaked in brine water so people eat. He said that the famine was caused by paying debt to the Soviet Union. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Wu Zhanliang (b. 1939) is a resident of Hegou Village, Shaanxi Province. In this interview, Wu recalls the life during the Great Leap Forward and the Great Famine. The people's commune and the communal canteen in Hegou Village were established in 1958. The food supply started to become tight in 1959 and the villagers had to eat tree leaves and bark. Life was the most difficult in 1960. Many people from Shanxi fled to Shaanxi. Some even married their daughters off for food, and some accidentally turned their kids crippled because of eating the wrong type of food.

Wu Zhanting (b. 1935) is a resident of Shaziying Village, Yang Town, Shunyi District, Beijing. In this interview, Wu talks about the life during Land Reform. Born as a poor peasant, Wu gained 3 mu fields during the Land Reform. However, he refused to move into a landlord's place when he could. According to Wu, the landlord that his dad worked for treated them very well, so during the Land Reform when the officials asked his dad to take food from the landlord he refused to do so.

1 sound tape reel : 7 in.