Search

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.

Zhang Xiaogeng (b.1930) is a resident of Xizhai Village, Hanguguan Town, Lingbao City, Henan Province. In this interview, Zhang remembers experiences during the Great Leap Forward and the Great Famine. Due to the proneness to boasting and exaggeration at that time, tens of thousands jin of wheat and sweet potatoes were reported while the actual yield was only two or three hundred, and otherwise they would be criticized. When constructing backyard furnace, the village was organized into military units. Starvation began in 1960, because too much food was collected, the peasants didn't have enough to eat. He recalls eating corns and all kinds of leaves, eating grain seeds secretly while planting them as long as the cadres didn't know. At that time, peasants were divided into two classes, and landlords and rich peasants were struggled and beaten up.

Zeng Man (b.1929) is a resident of Zhaixia Village, Pengzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. Zeng took part in the denunciation of landlords during the Cultural Revolution. She went to landlords' homes to tie people up and carry their properties. The landlords were put in pig cages and their properties were shared between other villagers. The Red Guards wronged many people. After the communization, many starved to death. The production team put too many seeds in the field, and could not get enough harvest afterwards. People ran out of food quickly. Zeng did not suffer hunger because her family works at the eating hall and secretly brought back food. The transcript of this interview has been translated into English.

Ye Yaolang (b.1938) is a resident of Zhaixia Village, Pengzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. Ye learned tailoring with his father after elementary school and then taught himself painting bed boards. He went to places to paint boards to escape the Great Famine. Ye recollects that, during the Great Leap Forward, the production team planted crops on two sides of the road just to impress their leaders, and used soil to fake fertilizers. The production team also spilled too many crop seeds and gained no harvest. They put layers of sweet potato vines on the field, which did not lead to more sweet potatoes at all.

Ye Shiying (b.1938) is a resident of Zhaixia Village, Pengzhai Town, Heping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. Ye recollects that, during the Great Famine, people could only get two tablespoons of porridge from the eating hall every day, and ate them with steamed sweet potato slices at home. She also ate many other kinds of famine food and she could hardly find potatoes in the mountains after working for a whole day. Many people starved to death after the communization, including people in the elderly homes and maternities. The production team sprinkled seeds instead of actually planting them; they had no harvest, but reported the opposite to the higher authorities.

Keywords: Child and adult; Children; Country cloth; Golu; Weave / Prep thread

Keywords: Child and adult; Children; Country cloth; Golu; Weave / Prep thread