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Yan Zheni (b.1939) is a resident of Daguo Village, Daguo Xiang, Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province. When people ate at the eating halls, they could only have porridge like noodle soup without noodles. If the porridge was spilled, people would lie on the ground to lick it. People also had various kinds of famine foods. Every family needed to work for credits, so Yan worked in the field at night, leaving her little daughter at home. She could not come back to her except to feed her breastmilk. Dozens of people died every day and villagers did not have time to bury them. Yan's parents also died then. Yan's first husband was from a family of rich peasant, and three people died in their family. She only survived the hunger because she was later married to her second husband, a cadre. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.

Yan Zhongyi (b.1940) is a resident of Xiaoliujiagou Village, Suide County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. Yan recollects that people ate grass and bark after 1958. They had to labor with swollen bodies. His two kids were so starved that they stole black beans from their father to feed themselves at school. Yan tried his best to let his kids go to school, but they only studied till they turned 18 years old and went into labor afterwards.

Yao Guangxue (b. 1945) is a resident of Diaoyutai Village, Yindian Town, Suizhou City, Hubei Province, and lives in an old house with a hundred years of history. In this interview, Yao talks about what kind of food (tree bark, wild plants, etc.) his family ate and how they ate them to survive the Great Famine. He particularly remembers a Production Team leader called Dai Mingshan, who often peaked into their house when they were eating. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Performer(s): Buna Hicks; Location: Beech Mountain, NC

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