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Zhu Shunlian (b. 1937) was born in Zhushan County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province, and moved to Diaoyutai Village (Yindian Town, Suizhou City, Hubei Province) in 1988. Her husband was once the production team leader. In this interview, Zhu recalls that she and her husband worked at Zhushan mine and ate at the People's Commune canteen in 1959. The food available in the canteen and households included buckwheat, corn flour, grass root, rice chaff, tree leaves, chingma abutilon seed and wild walnut, as well as a mixture made of soy milk, pumpkin leaves, string bean leaves, potato leaves and wild plants. Zhu also remembers that some people from Sichuan escaped to Hubei because of the famine.

Qiu Jiafa (b.1940) is a resident of Diaoyutai Village, Yindian Town, Suizhou City, Hubei Province. During the Great Famine, Qiu was in middle school and his teachers led students to find oak tree seed and bark, vitex leaves and Chinese scholar tree flowers for food. All members of the production team had to participate in building the reservoir and a meal provided by the People's Commune Canteen included only two liang of rice and boiled water grass. Qiu's father starved to death in 1959. Qiu believes that the Great Famine happened partly because the cadres much exaggerated the grain production to gain political achievements, and partly because the cadres stole some grain given by the government. Commune members of the production team dared not report because they were afraid of the vengency from the cadres.

Fang Xuekun said that the People's Commue was a total failure. The Great Leap Forward movement gave only empty promises. The village cadres bragged about production and sold all harvest including grain seeds to the state. In 1959 many people were sick because of starvation. Their belly was so bloated and big. He almost died. People had to mix kaolin clay with little grain to eat in order to survive.

Tang Taozhen (b. 1937) is a resident of Jimingqiao Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Tang recalls how she cooked in the people's commune canteen, and how some villagers ate grass seeds because of starvation. Tang also recalls no babies were born during 1958 and 1961 because couples were working separately at different places and they were too starving.

Tang Chaogao (b. 1944) is a resident of Jimingqiao Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Tang briefly talks about how he ate tree bark and grass seeds because of starvation when running the people's commune canteen.

Liu Yuzhen (b. 1919) is a resident of Wangjiayan Village, Baiyun Town, Shimen County, Hunan Province. In this interview, Liu recalls how her in-laws died of starvation and how some villagers were forced to stand for eating grass seeds when running the people's commune canteen.

Lu Fenglan (b. 1947) is a resident of Nanhou Village, Shanxi Province. In this interview, Lu talks about her experience during the Great Leap Forward and the Great Famine. After the communal canteen was established in 1958, whoever didn't work in the field couldn't get any food from the canteen. Those who owed the production team work points had to be fined. Therefore, Lu had to ask someone to take care of her kids while she went to work at the dam. She had to pay the nanny with some of the work points she earned. Although her own life was quite difficult, Lu lent several buns to her maternal grandpa twice.

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