Interview with Xia Wangmei

Xia Wangmei (b. 1917) is a resident of Tangwan Village, Hunan Province. In this interview, Xia recalls the impoverished life during the Great Famine and the villagers who died of starvation. Because she had too many kids, Xia had to stay at home and take care of them. However, she also needed to make five pairs of straw sandals for the production team everyday for 3 work points. Since the grain the kids got was very little, Xia saved her own portion for the kids and ate chaffs and vegetables. Nonetheless, six out of her nine kids died of starvation. Many villagers developed edema because of hunger, and the treatment was to eat a kind of candy made from dates.

夏望梅1917年出生，是湖南省怀化市溆浦县双井镇塘湾村村民。在这段口述中，夏老人回忆了大饥荒时缺衣少食的生活和饿死的村民。因为孩子多，夏老人当时只能在家带孩子，但每天还要给生产队交五双草鞋挣三个工分。由于孩子分到的粮食很少，夏老人便省下粮食给孩子，自己吃糠和野菜，尽管如此，九个孩子里还是饿死了六个。好多村民都饿得得了浮肿，治疗方法就是吃枣子做的糖。

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。