Interview with Yu Maoli

Yu Maoli (b. 1929-2010) is a resident of Changxing Village, Gaolong Town, Chaling County, Hunan Province. He was a cadre of the local People’s Commune during the Great Leap Forward. In this interview, Yu talks about how people focused on constructing blast furnace while the crops were left uncollected in the field and got rotten in 1958. In 1959 some villagers were criticized for collecting sweet potatoes in the field to eat, and other villagers escaped to Jiangxi Province to survive the famine. Yu expresses his understanding of some villagers who stole grain from the People’s Commune because of starvation, as well as his disapproval of the production team leaders, who gave themselves more stamps to buy meat and other non-staple food.

俞茂立（1929－2010）是湖南省茶陵县高陇镇长兴村村民，大跃进时期在当地公社担任干部。在这段口述中，俞老人讲述了1958年当地集中大炼钢铁、粮食没人收割、烂在地里的情况。1959年粮食短缺，到田地里捡红薯吃的百姓遭到批斗，有些百姓为生计逃去江西。另外，俞老人表示了大饥荒时期普通群众因为饥饿偷集体粮食的理解，和对生产队干部搞特殊化给自己多发粮票买肉和副食品的不满。

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。