Talk about "Big Canteen"

In 1959, the "people's commune" system was implemented across the country. All land was returned to collectives, and production teams organized collective production. The production team eats together, which is called the "big canteen."

There are 26 households in our production team, with about 140 people. Everyone eats in the same pot, so some people call it "big pot rice".

The first half year is okay. In addition to paying all the grain to the public and purchasing grain for the production team, the remaining grain is reserved for unified meals. But by the spring of 1960, all the food was gone. After three years of natural disasters, there was no more food for everyone in the cafeteria. Sometimes the cooked porridge is described as "making a bubble when you blow it, and a groove when you drink it". By the second half of 1961, wild vegetables and tree bark were dug everywhere, and everything that could fill the stomach was eaten. Several people in our production team had starved to death.

In the second half of 1962, the state put forward the policy of "adjustment, consolidation, enrichment, and improvement", decentralizing canteens, and each family reopened its own restaurant, but the land was still collectively owned, and each family relied on labor When you earn a lot of work, you go to the production team and share the grain and go home.