Interview with She Wanying

She Wanying said the commune canteen started in 1958. Zhuma hided some rice was soon found and taken away. The famine started in 1959. The village head sold too much grain to the state that village was left with very little to eat. People ate anything they could find: tree bark, wild vegetable, kaolin clay, rat and frog were considered delicious food. Her younger sister died of starvation. In a rather short time, a lot of people starved to death in her village. No one except the party secretary and the canteen master had new babies born in those years.

佘晚英说1958年开始吃食堂，朱妈藏了几罐米被没收了。59年村长上缴太多粮食，饥荒开始，树皮，野菜，观音土，什么都吃，老鼠和青蛙是好东西。她的妹妹饿死了，村里在很短的时间内饿死了很多人。那几年全大队没有人生崽，就司务长和支书生了孩子。

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。