Peasant woman in Anhui, the daughter of a country doctor
A rural commune mess hall in 1958 beneath the slogan 'Eating meals costs no money, work hard on production', before granaries were depleted.
er father was a doctor who had saved many lives. Dying of hunger, he kept asking her for a bun.1
Bian Shaofeng lived in a village in Anhui. In 1958 the commune kitchen let everyone eat their fill.
By the end of the year the kitchen rationed food. The harvest had been good. The grain was taken away.
By spring 1959 the trees had no leaves and no bark. They ate toads, rats and leather belts.
Thirteen people lived in her family compound. Five survived.
Stealing wheat at night, she fell over one body, then another. No one buried the dead any more.
Her baby son died. Her milk had dried up.
Her village had about 330 people. About 150 survived.
“Why take away all the grain we grew? Why stop us picking up leftover wheat?”
The Party still calls it natural disasters. Her village had a good harvest, and half of it starved.