Interview with Zheng Yuanfu

Zheng Yuanfu (b. 1934) is a resident of Xiguan Village, Shaanxi Province. In this interview, Zheng recalls the life from 1958 to 1960. The villagers were constructing blast furnace for the whole year in 1958. Almost all the villagers did work like mining, carrying coals, transporting, and pumping the bellows. The villagers started to eat at the communal canteen in August, 1959. Each village was a production team and there were around 170 to 180 people in one team. Everyday they had to build reservoir and dig terraced fields day and night. The communal canteen was closed down in 1960. When there was no enough food, the villagers had to eat starch and elm tree bark. While many people from other villagers died of starvation, no one from Zheng’s Xiguan Village starved to death.

郑远福1934年出生，是陕西省商洛市商南县城关镇西关村村民。在这段口述中，郑老人回忆了58年到60年的生活。58年一整年都大炼钢铁，几乎所有村民都参与挖矿、背炭、运输、拉风箱等工作。59年8月开始吃食堂，当时一村为一个小队，一共一百七八十人，每天白天黑夜都要修水利、挖梯田（terraced fields）。吃食堂吃到60年，粮食不够就只能吃淀粉、榆树皮，有的村子饿死不少人，不过郑老人所在的西关村并没饿死人。

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。