Interview with Zhang Qixiang and Wang Shufeng

Zhang Qixiang (b. 1941) is a resident of Shaziying Village, Yang Town, Shunyi District, Beijing. Wang Shufeng (b. 1941) was married to Zhang and therefore moved to Shaziying in 1962. In this interview, Zhang and Wang talk about the life during the Great Famine. Because of malnutrition, many people had edema, but thanks to the two jins of soy beans assigned for each patient by the government, no one starved to death in their village. Many people went to pick up sweet potato leaves and other edible things in the fields so that they could send them to places like Sichuan and Guangxi where the famine was worse. For every four jins of such “foods”, the government would provide 1 jin of grains in exchange. Those days, because of hunger people would eat anything. Once a horse died in the village, so many people rushed to eat the meat. However, it was a sick horse so many people got food poison and were sent to the hospital.

张启祥1941年出生，是北京市顺义区杨镇沙子营村民。王淑凤1941年出生，1962年搬到沙子营嫁给张启祥。在这段口述中，两位老人回忆了大饥荒时期的生活。那几年好多人因为营养不良得了浮肿病，所幸病人可以得到两斤黄豆补充营养，才不至于饿死。当时很多人去地里捡白薯叶等吃的，运到四川、广西支援当地，支援四斤政府就给一斤粮食。那阵人什么都吃，有一回村里死了一匹马，好多人去吃，结果都食物中毒送医院了。

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。