Interview with Guo Jingye

Guo Jingye (b.1942) is a resident of Daguo Village, Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province. When people ate at the eating halls, there were not much food, because there were not enough fertilizers to yield a good harvest. The production team, to deal with their higher authorities, borrowed tables and chairs from families to fake a good eating hall. At better times, people could eat sweet potato leaves, but when things were really hard in 1959, people could only have certain kinds of famine foods. People who did not work for the production team could not have food and people would rather steal food and got beaten up. Being an accountant, Guo knew that any excess of food would be turned in to the government. Guo also recollects people working on the reservoir, who only wore scanty clothes in the winter, and that some cadres beat people there.

郭景业（1942年生）是河南省临颍县大郭乡大郭村村民。郭老人回忆吃食堂的时候，国家化肥供应不上,粮食减产，人们没有东西吃。有时生产队为了应付上级检查，吃饭“桌子化”，即从各家各户搜集桌椅板凳凑到一起，等检查完了再归还各家。生活容易一些的时候，人们可以吃红薯叶等，1959年最艰苦时，只能吃苇根和扁豆糠。不去生产队干活的人就没有饭吃，人们宁愿偷吃东西然后挨打。老人当时做会计，粮食多就得交给国家。老人还回忆了人们都得在冬天穿着单衣去修水库，工地上有干部打人。

Transcripts for this interview and more may be available under the ‘Documents’ link above. 采访抄录和相关内容，请点击查看上面的’Documents’链接。