Interview with Yang Qirong

Yang Qirong (b. 1942) is a resident of Guanjiagou Village, Shaanxi Province. In this interview, Yang recalls the different kinds of non-staple food they had when eating at the communal canteen. The villagers didn’t have enough strength to work because of hunger. Under the strict supervision, they dug the field, removed grass and laid stones. The grains were planted widely, but the production was quite low and different plants were mixed and harvested. The agricultural tax was quite high back then. Yang had to get up very early in the morning to build the reservoir and worked till very late at night. Sometimes he even slept there. However, the work result was not really obvious.

杨启荣（1942年生）是陕西省商洛市商南县城关镇关家沟组村民。杨老人回忆了1958年在食堂吃各种副食，吃不饱，没有力气劳动。人们在严格监管下挖地、除草、砌石头，粮食是广种薄收，收混杂的东西。当时的农业税很重。杨老人起早贪黑地修水库，有时睡在工地上，却没什么劳动成果。

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。