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Wang Guirong was born in 1953. She remembered that the situation was the worst in 1958 and 1959. Because of the help of a co-worker, her mother could get a few jins of brown rice each week. They cooked the rice at night in secret so no one died in her family, but peole died of starvation in her village. She stopped schooling at age 13 and began working at the construction sites of reservoirs.

Wang Guiying (b.1937) is a resident of Wanbaochang Village, Tongchang Town, Yimen County, Yunnan Province. In this interview, Wang recalls life during the Great Famine. She moved to here from Baiyuguan after getting married at 19; she had five children when eating at People's Commune canteen. Although both her husband and she were not healthy, they still have to work in order to earn work points and get food. People then would eat what is fed to pigs now. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.

Wang Guizhi (b.1932) is a resident of Wanbaochang Village, Tongchang Town, Yimen County, Yunnan Province. She married and moved to this village around 1949. Her husband was village head for many years till Cultural Revolution, and was critized in struggle sessions multple times. She said that people were not allowed to cook at home, had to eat at village canteen. There was not enough food and they ate wild vegetables. People had edema, some had stomachache and died eventually. 1959 was the most difficulty year. Villagers participated in various construction works: building road and dams and working at backyard furnace, but they had more food working at these sites. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Wang Guizhi (b. 1954) is a resident of Hezhuang Village, Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province. She said that she was little when the famine happened. Children in the village were so starved that they just sat there all day. Her grandfather died of starvation. People were not allowed to cook at home. Those who can walk long distance all went to Shaanxi Province to beg for food.

Wang Hongying (b. 1932) is a resident of Wangjiayan Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Wang recalls how her family was bullied and criticized (eg. the bones of their ancestors were digged out of tombs to make farming fertilizers) by the local leaders and fellow villagers because of their class status.

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Wang Hua (b.1920) is a resident of Daguo Village, Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province. Wang was once married to a guard of the Kuomintang and had four children, who all died of sickness when they were little. When the Liberation Army came, Wang's husband was scared to death. After Land Reform, Wang got married with her current husband and had a little girl, who was starved to death around 1958.

Wang Huiling (b.1943) is a resident of Qujia Village, Yuqiao Town, Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province. In this interview, Wang remembers life during the Great Famine. Working at the agricultural cooperative then, she could barely sleep for two hours every night. It was good when the People's Commune canteen first started, but it went from bad to worse and people had to eat chaff and wild herbs. People stole clovers from the field at night and ate corn skins because they were too hungry. She says even dogs would not eat those things now. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Biographical information. Faculty/Staff

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