Three feet three, five feet two

Three feet three, five big two

Author? Lu Dongping

Looking at the title, people who have experienced three years of famine will recall the scene at that time . At that time, the supply standards of each province were different. "Three feet three, five big two" was the food and clothing standard in rural Shandong at a specific period. I can't remember exactly how many years it was implemented.

In 1953, the unified purchase and sale of grain was implemented. After 1954, various coupons began to be issued, such as: food stamps, cloth stamps, cotton stamps, sugar stamps, oil stamps, and coal stamps. .....Wait, everything is available by ticket. These tickets were worthless vouchers, but without supply tickets, money could not buy anything. If you have the tickets in hand, if you don't have the money to buy them, some tickets (cloth tickets, etc.) will expire in one year!

Uniform purchase and sales means to cancel all market activities and implement a planned economy. Although grain is grown by farmers, it must be purchased and sold uniformly by the state. No concealment is allowed, no food is secretly hidden. After being purchased by the state, it will be distributed according to plans to all non-agricultural personnel in state agencies, cities, factories, etc. and to support foreign friends. At that time, the country was leaning towards the development of heavy industry, and it was necessary to ensure that workers had enough food to eat, and that farmers should be allowed to retain more and less.

"Three feet and three inches" means that each person can buy three feet and three inches of cloth every year, which can only be used to patch a few patches. At that time, the width of the cloth was narrow, and it was not enough to make a pair of pants or a top. Everyone has heard of the popular saying "Three years of new life, three years of old life, and three more years of mending and repairing", right? It's true, and it's not an exaggeration at all. In the end, if it wears out, it will be patched again, and if it breaks again, it will be repaired. Play "Kezi" to hold the soles of shoes!

In the summer at that time, before the little girl was three or four years old, and the little boy was eleven or twelve years old, except when going to school, he was naked after school.

People who have not lived through that era may find it incredible, but it is a fact. At that time, children matured late and did not grow taller even if they were hungry. First, at this age, I don’t know how to be shy, but I know how to be hot. Second, they all dress up the same and no one laughs at anyone. The main reason is that if you have a ticket but you don’t have money, you can’t buy it. If you have money but you don’t have a ticket, you can’t buy it. You have to let the adults get dressed first!

? Slightly older children put on their raincoats when they come back from school and go out. Made of Mazhi leaves, it can not only cover the body, but also provide ventilation and coolness.

My classmate x×× was promoted to junior high school after graduating from sixth grade. He was thirteen years old. I invited him to see the list. He was wearing a raincoat and cutting grass in the river in front of the door, so he had to go home and find a I wore my family's pants. In fact, he already knew he was shy, but he couldn't help it!

"Five taels" means giving you five taels of food a day. Why is there the word "big"? This is because we have just transitioned from the sixteen liang system. The customary name for coming over. These five ounces of grain are not rice noodles, but dried sweet potato noodles, which are black. At that time, people worked hard, ate a lot, had no body fat, and had thin bellies that were very long. Young people need to eat two kilograms of food! Only three and a half kilograms a week is not enough for one day, so grass roots, leaves and bran vegetables are the staple food. Many people were so hungry that they were bloated. In order to save the lives of these people, the brigade distributed a small scoop of soy milk to these people every day. Grandma loved me the most. She was reluctant to drink the soy milk when she got it, so she wanted to give it to me. But I have become sensible and stopped drinking after a sip. I deliberately said it didn’t taste good and gave it to my grandma. I was afraid that grandma would starve to death!

The most unforgettable time was when I got malaria and had a high fever for several days. I want to retreat, but there is nothing good to eat, and I am looking at the end of my life! I want to eat a cornbread made from grain, but because my family is poor, the canteen will not sell it. Because the rations were distributed based on work points that year, we had a large population of seven, and only my father earned work points, so the rations were the same as for two people.

My mother was very anxious, fearing that I would starve to death because two of my younger sisters had already died. I remember my second sister, I was holding her, she was as skinny as a stick. Seeing that she was going to die, my mother told her with tears in her eyes, "If you want to leave, just leave." She died the next day.

? My malaria never got better, but later, thanks to Grandma Qi, she bought two steamed buns, and the mother of a classmate (*jingfen) also bought two. There was no bran in it, but there were still pea grains. It felt delicious at the time. After I ate it, I slowly recovered and gradually got better! It’s still unforgettable. Thinking about it makes me feel sad and bring tears to my eyes.

During that period, although most of the grain grown by farmers was paid to the public and they used bran and vegetables to satisfy their hunger, there were no complaints. However, there are some who are bold enough to complain, for example: "Three feet three, five feet three, never forget ×××*, sweet potato seedlings, peanut skins, never forget ***" and other offensive remarks, They were all arrested or criticized!

Alas, recalling the past makes it difficult to look back. Looking at the present, the country is strong and the people are prosperous! Cherish the new era!