Wake up（75）

 

Chapter 14 Man-made Disaster

 

75

 

Summer is an unpredictable season, with clear skies for a while and dark clouds for a while. There was a thunderclap and immediately it rained cats and dogs. Li Tiandao, He Jiafu, and Nanshan Yun finally walked out of the grove amidst the storm.

At this time, the rain is over and the sky is clear, and a beautiful rainbow hangs in the sky, like a bridge of seven colors.

Li Tiandao asked Nan Shanyun: "Son, have you joined the Communist Youth League yet?"

Nanshan Yun shook his head, this is a question that no one has ever asked him. This is also a question that Nanshan Yun has never considered.

Li Tiandao said to Nan Shanyun: I don't know what are the requirements for joining the group now. Before the Cultural Revolution, a "political review" had to be conducted on the family conditions of the students who applied to join the league. Not only did they have to check their family status, political background, economic conditions, whether they were murdered, but they also had to find out whether their relatives were involved in the famine. The dead were killed to prevent students who were dissatisfied with starving their relatives from sneaking into the Communist Youth League. Joining the Communist Youth League is the first step in joining the party. You can become an official if you join the party. What is the purpose of being an official?

Li Tiandao said to Nanshan Yun:

The corruption and privileges of cadres during the Great Leap Forward were extremely prominent, running through all levels of officialdom. On the one hand, ordinary people cannot afford enough to eat, a large number of people starve to death, and even eat each other, and on the other hand, there is a big trend of "specialization of cadres" and wantonly embezzling people's fat and cream. According to the January 1961 briefing of the enlarged meeting of the Dingxi Prefectural Committee of Gansu Province, Zhang Zhongliang, the first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, went to Dianzi Street, Lintao County to conduct a pilot project, and delivered food from the best restaurant in Lanzhou in Gansu by special car. Dou Minghai, Secretary of the Dingxi Prefectural Party Committee, in 1960 alone, from the commercial and food departments, went to the commercial and grain departments to remove 339 catties of meat, 23 catties of oil, more than 260 eggs, as well as ham, chicken, canned food, fruits, etc. Lu Xianwen, Party Secretary of Xinyang County, Henan Province, had five or six guards accompanying him when he went in and out. He called in advance to prepare meals wherever he went. In Guangshan County, he arranged 24 dishes in one trip.

According to Yang Jisheng’s interview and investigation, during the Great Famine, cadres in the Chunhua Management District of Chengxi Commune in Dianjiang County, Sichuan Province deducted the farmers’ rations and ate and drank, and even divided up the remaining 2,000 catties of Xiaochun’s seeds privately, resulting in no rice for the public canteen; Dozens of ducks were also brought back from the sideline team for the enjoyment of several cadres. Among the 12 committee members of the general branch of Taoping Commune in Changning County, 9 were involved in corruption and misappropriation; more than 60% of the cadres in the commune were involved in corruption, misappropriation, and private division. 68% of the cadres in Tuqiao Commune, Dazu County overeat and account for 68%; Jiang, the branch secretary of the Xiaohe Brigade, celebrated his father’s birthday in 1961, and even held 20 tables of banquets; 1661 catties of grain. When the members of the commune are struggling to death, the cadres often "fight with each other" (dinners) in private and engage in "extra meal campaigns".

When the cafeteria ran out of food and people’s life was the most difficult, the Hongguang Management District of Pi County, which was famous for its inspection by Lao Mao, opened a cadre canteen regardless of the lives of the people, rice and white noodles, wine and meat, and several cadres ate more than 200 beef catty.

During the Spring Festival, a team member canteen killed a 150-jin pig, and the cadre canteen took more than 90 catties. They also ate sugar and eggs that were used to care for patients and kindergartens. After New Year's Day in 1960, a pig weighing 130 jin was slaughtered. All six canteens in the district were shut down, and many people died. Liu Shaoyuan, secretary of the general branch of Hexing Commune, and You Fuqun, secretary of the party branch of Dubai District, took advantage of their positions as lovers. Walked and ate 60 catties. Zhang, the leader of the Fifth Team of the Ninth Management District of the Shengdeng Commune in Gulin County, often eats double meals. Once member Huang Wenxian did not work early, Captain Zhang immediately announced that Huang Wenxian's meal would be deducted. Huang Wenxian said: "Why do you have to deduct my meal, and some people still eat double meals?" Captain Zhang thought it hurt his face, and ordered Mao Xueyou, a member of the commune, to push Huang Wenxian to the ground and pour feces into Huang Wenxian's mouth. , making Huang Wenxian's head and mouth full of shit.

In Shixing Commune, Nanxiong County, Guangdong Province, from the commune secretary to the team cadres, they eat wherever they go. Both the commune and brigade canteens set up small kitchens for cadres to eat during the day and at night. If the commune secretary, committee members, and brigade cadres want fish, meat, or oil, they can just put the name of a certain secretary on it. The Shixia brigade, which had the most starving deaths, specially designated several of the best fish ponds for cadres to eat fish. The secretary of the commune, Wei, worked in Shenshuidu, and had to be served by correspondents for meals. He also thought that beef and boiled fish were not delicious, and scolded the commune members for disrespecting the leadership.

This kind of large-scale and all-round corruption of power is always at the cost of sacrificing a large number of lives. As a result, a large number of ordinary farmers starved to death during the Great Famine, but very few cadres or canteen cooks starved to death at home. A woman’s family in Daniugou, Tongwei County, Gansu Province starved to death. Whenever cadres came to the village, she followed closely, and as soon as the cadres were relieved, she went to grab their excrement to eat. It is said that cadres have food to eat, and there is nutrition in their excrement. She thus survived and became a survivor of the Great Famine. Guo Changhua, Fuhe Village, Yanguoxia Town, Yongjing County, Linxia recalled: I saw a woman looking for someone’s feces to eat. She ate the big feces on the side of the road and died. The woman was only in her 20s.

Li Tiandao told another strange story of the "grain mouse" brewing wine during the Great Famine, which is also a cold humor that hits the table with surprise. In 1937, the Guizhou Provincial Government of the Republic of China issued a decree, strictly prohibiting the use of grain to cook wine, sugar, and rice milk to scrape cloth during famines, otherwise there will be severe punishment.

During the Great Famine, Zhou Lin, the first secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, in order to implement Lao Mao’s will to “produce 10,000 tons” of Moutai liquor used by the emperor (annual output of more than 200 tons at that time), disregarded the disaster of a large number of people starving to death, and sent a large amount of wine to the whole province. Confidential telegrams were issued to force grain collection for wine making, and 1.2 million yuan was invested in the expansion of the Moutai distillery. The central government also transferred grain from Sichuan to Moutai. From 1959 to 1961, during the three years when most people starved to death, the output of Moutai soared exponentially. In the three years, the total production of wine was 2079 tons, and the consumption of grain was 22.6 million catties (5 catties of grain produced 1 catty of wine). The output was several times higher than the normal years, but It is not known who drank this large amount of "national wine" during the famine when so many people starved to death.

Li Tiandao glanced at He Jiafu and Nanshan Yun, and sighed:

The cannibalistic tragedy that occurred during the Great Famine in China dwarfs any famine-related tragedies in human history. If there is a little human conscience that regards the common people as human beings and stops in time and takes some rescue measures, how can the man-made famine caused by the Great Leap Forward last for four or five years? How could it cause the tragic tragedy of cannibalism! ?