Interview with Li Shengbin

Li Shengbin (b. 1947) is a resident of Xiangyangyiminxin Village, Shaanxi Province. In this interview, Li recalls the life during the Great Leap Forward and the Great Famine. In 1958 when eating at the communal canteen, because his family was very poor but had lots of people, Li had to quit school and worked for the production team. During the Great Leap Forward, people had to work overtime at night. Many women were so busy that they could only breastfeed their babies after dark when they got home. There was a proneness to boasting and exaggeration at that time. Once in order to deal with the state’s inspection, although the villagers only had chaff buns for lunch, the production team made it seem like they were eating noodles. At that time in the village, there were people who fled from Gansu and even Anhui Province. The state then had to control the outflow population: people could only eat with grain ration coupons and the refugees would be sent back home once caught. In 1966, Li was recruited to work as a worker. At that time, there was no bonus and Li had to give the production team 2 Yuan from his 30-Yuan monthly salary.

李笙斌1947年出生，是陕西省延安市子长县向阳移民新村村民。在这段口述中，李老人回忆了大跃进和大饥荒时期的生活。58年吃食堂的时候，因为家里又穷人口又多，李老人只能辍学在生产队劳动。大跃进时经常晚上还要夜战，妇女忙得只有在天黑回家后才能给孩子喂奶。当时刮浮夸风，为了应付政府检查，午饭虽然只能吃糠馍，生产队却裝成是吃面。村里有不少从甘肃、甚至安徽逃荒来的人，国家因此控制外流人员，无论去哪里都只能靠粮票吃饭，一旦逃荒被抓住就会被遣返。李老人66年被招去当工人，那时候工作没有奖金，每月挣30块钱还要交给生产队2块钱。

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。