Interview with Li Shurong

Li Shurong (b. 1929) is a resident of Yangxu Village, Shandong Province. In this interview, Li recalls the life from 1959 to 1961. In 1958 when all the men in the village who were capable of working went out to dig river, only women were left to farm in the village. They therefore didn’t have enough time to harvest the crops such as sweet potatoes and had to let them rot in the field, leading to the famine which started in 1959. Life was the most difficult in the spring of 1959 when the villagers had to eat chaff, wild vegetables and rotten taros. Many villagers therefore went to other places to beg and lots of people died of starvation.

李树荣出生于1929年，是山东省邹城市石墙镇羊绪村村民。在这段口述中，李老人回忆了59年到61年的生活。58年村里男劳力都外出挖河，只有妇女在村里种地，粮食如地瓜等都来不及收割，烂在地里，导致59年饥荒开始。59年春天最艰难，村民只能吃糠、各种野菜、烂芋头等，不少村民因此到外地讨饭，也有不少村民饿死。

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。