Yang Du (b. 1946) was born in Baiyun Village, Luodang Town, Lincang City, Yunnan Province. He used to be the keeper of commue property in the village, and also is the interviewer's maternal grandfather. In this interview, Yang talks about how his father starved to death due to the People's Commune canteen during the Great Famine. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.
Yang Guangyue (b. 1928) is a resident of Wangjiayan Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. Yang married a man in Wangjiayan Village in 1954. Her parents' class status was landlord, and her in-laws' was rich peasant. In this interview, Yang recalls how the people's commune canteen had adequate food supplies at the beginning and later lacked food. At this time the local leaders forbid villagers from eating wild herbs and tree bark because this would bring shame on the commune canteen. Because of complaining about the production team demolishing their house, Yang was punished to kneel and her father-in-law was criticised to death. In 1959, Yang was punished to run with a wooden horse on her back for refusing to join the "sister group" of the production team. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.
Yang Guanya (b. 1946) is a resident of Jimingqiao Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Yang recalls how he and his fellow pupils were forced to drop out of elementary to work, and how his village built a big earthen kiln to construct blast furnace during the Great Leap Forward. Yang also recounted in detail how every household took their own rice and bowls to the people's commune canteen to cook together, and how people collected wild herbs to eat because of hunger in this period.
Yang Guixiang (b.1942) is a resident of Zhifang Village, Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province. Yang recalled that she and other women had to bury the dead people in order to have a little food. She was only able to dig shallow pit and had to bend the arms of the dead in order to fit them into the pit. Her mother wanted to give her to others so she could survive but she insisted to stay with her family. Eight teenage girls were sent to build the reservior because there were not enough labor from her village.
Yang Houxin (b. 1948) is a resident of Diaoyutai Village, Yindian Town, Suizhou City, Hubei Province. His father died before his birth, he lived with his mother and an older sister, who got married during the Great Famine. Yang and his mother fed on tree bark and wild herbs. This difficult situation did not change until the second half of 1961.
Yangjialing Village is located in Danfeng County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province. The interviews in this sub-series were conducted and filmed by Wang Yufan.
Yangjiazhuang Village is located in Shenzhou County, Hengshui City, Hebei Province. Interviews in this sub-series were conducted and filmed by Jia Nannan.
Yang Lanfen (b.1937) is a resident of Liangmeng Village, Zhuliang Town, Qingzhou City, Shandong Province. In this interview, Yang remembers life during the Great Famine. Her production team was the poorest at that time, and many people starved to death. Her family members survived because they went to the Northeast China to work. Once she secretly cooked a pig that just died of starvation, but it was soon confiscated. Many people also died of heat when working in the field in the summer. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.
Yang Qirong (b. 1942) is a resident of Guanjiagou Village, Shaanxi Province. In this interview, Yang recalls the different kinds of non-staple food they had when eating at the communal canteen. The villagers didn't have enough strength to work because of hunger. Under the strict supervision, they dug the field, removed grass and laid stones. The grains were planted widely, but the production was quite low and different plants were mixed and harvested. The agricultural tax was quite high back then. Yang had to get up very early in the morning to build the reservoir and worked till very late at night. Sometimes he even slept there. However, the work result was not really obvious.
Yang Qiuzhen (b. 1932) is a resident of Wangjiayan Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Yang recalls how she and her husband were bullied by the local leaders after the people's commune canteen was established while she made every effort to resist the oppression. Yang also recounts how her family survived the famine because of the vegetables she stole from the canteen. The filmmaker's description of this interview has been translated into English.