In what year did people start exchanging whole grains for rice?

Exchanging rice was a popular activity when we went to the countryside. At that time, it was difficult for everyone to have enough to eat, so exchanging rice was all for survival. "Change rice...", "Change rice..." Decades have passed, and now this loud shout seems to still be echoing in my ears.

The team sent Old Jiangtou to cook for the educated youths. Uncle Jiang came to Harbin from Guandong. He is a well-informed rural person. When he has time, he will tell us about his experience of traveling to Guandong. Educated youths The relationship with him is also quite harmonious. After a long time, some people felt that the food was not to their liking, and they thought Uncle Jiang’s cooking was not delicious. The team leader said: "How about the educated youths provide food for themselves, and the team will give them credit for their work."

At first, the female students took turns cooking for everyone. Later, some male students saw that cooking did not require going to the ground and asked to cook. There was no other way, so everyone took turns cooking. Taking turns cooking, all kinds of conflicts continue to arise: who doesn't pay attention to cooking, who eats too much, who hides delicious food... Since everyone can't eat one piece, let's separate. So, two or three people who were angry with each other worked together to cook, and the team also took back the cooking points. The ration given to each educated youth in the team every year is 400 kilograms of rice. One kilogram of rice can be sold for 60 cents or exchanged for more than two kilograms of coarse grains. They eat separately. Some people think that the rice is at their own disposal and they should have money to live on. The day has come.

No better than not knowing, you only know which end of the kang is hot when you cook. In summer, I have to go to the field at four or five o'clock to have breakfast, come back for breakfast around seven o'clock, and go to the field again around eight o'clock. When the fellow villagers return home, someone will prepare a meal for them. After eating, they can go to the fields. The educated youths were busy cooking. Before they even had time to eat, the shouts of people going to the fields could be heard. Educated youths have no choice but to stop working early in the morning. If they don’t work early in the morning, they will earn 4 less work points every day. If they earn less, they will earn a few less. Filling their stomachs is the first priority.

The firewood used by educated youths for cooking was the straw from the team. It rained for a few days, and the straw piles in the team were soaked. The meal was eaten. When the team cooks for the educated youth group, the team has to worry about the food, rice, oil and salt. We just have to eat when the time comes. It's not possible to cook together as a team. If you're not careful, you may be starving or starving. Once, the educated youths had no oil, salt, or firewood, and only had cornmeal left. They could only cook some firewood to fry cornmeal, and turn large salt from the stable into water and mix it with cornmeal to satisfy their hunger.

However, all the educated youths soon adapted to it. When it was time to oil, when it was time to grind flour, and how to avoid delaying going to the fields, they were all arranged in an orderly manner. Our village mainly relies on private land for food. The educated youths also have two private plots. However, due to the late return from Tianjin, the vegetable planting season on the private land will be missed. For a long time, we have to eat the potatoes left behind after the team members cut the potato sprouts. Then he asked fellow villagers for miso. Although the doenjang in the Northeast is made from soybeans, it has a stinky smell. At first, the educated youth could not get used to it, but after a year, they all regarded wild vegetables dipped in doenjang as the last dish to go with their meals. In the first few years, the educated youths brought fried sauce and mustard vegetables, kerosene stoves, and electric stoves from their homes in Tianjin, all to solve the problem of eating. The problem of eating is solved, and the biggest difficulty of jumping in line is overcome.

Later, the state allocated funds to build houses for the educated youths, and the team built seven thatched houses for the educated youths. Each house had a small cooking pot, making it easier for everyone to cook together. Educated youths also began to have more food, and their cooking skills were honed. They were proficient in pasting pancakes, pancakes, steaming buns, making dumplings, and rolling noodles. Every educated youth was a good cook.

Huang Hong's sketch "Exchanging Rice" is well-known to every household, but I don't agree with the idea of ??"relegating people who exchange rice to inferior people" in the sketch. During the years when we went to the countryside, the educated youths in our team would collectively perform a "rice exchange" every one or two months. At that time, the superior's requirement for the team was that the educated youth's annual ration was 400 kilograms of rice. There is not much new rice to begin with, and young men aged 16 or 17 only consume one kilogram of rice a day, which is definitely not enough to eat; secondly, the educated youth want to use rice to exchange for some change to buy oil and cigarettes; thirdly, every year When I return to Tianjin, I have to carry dozens of kilograms of rice home. Therefore, every one or two months, the educated youth in our village organize a collective exchange of rice and sell rice.

More than a dozen people each carried five to sixty kilograms of rice and brought one or two empty pockets, or took a horse-drawn carriage or bus to Harbin. After getting off the bus, they discussed the meeting place, and two or three people A group of people started walking through the streets carrying rice.

"Change the rice...", "Change the rice..." The shouting made my heart feel tight at first, and my voice was trembling, but soon I started shouting loudly and loudly. "Young man, how can I change the rice...", "Auntie, two and a half kilograms of whole grains can be exchanged for one kilogram of rice...", "Is your rice good?", "We are from North Korea. Look at this rice, which is white and transparent. Green, every grain is neat.” Immediately, we all became masters at negotiating for rice. At that time, the citizens of Harbin were only supplied with two kilograms of rice a month, and rice was a commodity in short supply. In the first one or two years, one pound of rice can be exchanged for two and a half pounds of cornmeal (big ballast or sorghum rice). One pound of rice can be sold for six cents. In the next few years, one pound of rice can only be exchanged for two pounds of coarse grains, and the price of selling rice has also begun. decline. "You children are not locals," "We are students from Tianjin going to the countryside." "Oh, these children are so far away from home. Parents are so worried." "Aunt Li, please change. Look at these children. How pitiful...", "Come, come, come to our yard, there are several rice exchangers." Most of the rice exchangers are aunties and aunts. Seeing that we are young, they surround us and ask questions, and they are very caring about us. . Some people lent their scales at home, and some handed them water. Changing rice was always a bustling process. After weighing the rice and calculating the kilograms of coarse grains, the aunts took the grain books and took us to the grain store. The salesperson in the grain store weighed the coarse grains and poured them directly into the pockets we brought. We said goodbye to the aunts. , and rush to the next rice exchange target. Usually, the rice exchange is finished after walking two or three yards.

For the job of exchanging rice, the weight was lighter when I went there, but when I came back, I carried more and more weight on my shoulders. When I returned to the village, it usually weighed more than 70 to 80 kilograms. While exchanging rice, we also sell some rice, which is only ten to twenty kilograms each time. The main purpose of selling rice is to pay for food. The rice exchange task can be completed before noon. After the rice is exchanged for coarse grains and money, a dozen people gather at the meeting point, find a small restaurant nearby, ask for wine and the food they want to eat, and guard the bags of exchanges. The food began to satisfy my craving, and every time I changed the rice, it culminated in improving the food. After eating and drinking, I didn’t feel tired even after carrying nearly a hundred kilograms of whole grains. Over the years of going to the countryside, exchanging rice has become a regular activity for us.

Later I went to Harbin to go to school. Walking on the familiar streets, I always felt a sense of emotion when I thought of the scene of changing rice. Changing rice not only made us familiar with the streets and alleys of Harbin, but also left us in Daoli, Daowai and Nangang districts. Changing rice also became a window for us to contact the society, allowing us to realize that most of the people in society People are kind, and integrity is the foundation of being a human being. At that time, private trading of grain was not allowed, and exchanging rice was an underground activity, but no one reported on it, there was no shortage, and there was no fraud. People just exchanged what they had and got what they needed. Our action of exchanging rice is far more profound than Huang Hong's "exchanging rice" skit. Changing rice is not only a necessity for survival, but also a training of survival ability and life skills.