Catch people
In the early sixties of the last century, there was a strange phenomenon on Wang Fan Street, when the common people called the catchers, when the commune canteen had just dispersed, and there was still a famine, and most of the people could not eat and were hungry. How strong is people's demand for food, whenever someone in the market takes a piece of bread or food, and is eating, inadvertently snatched by a person who suddenly appears, and after the snatching hand, hurriedly stuffs the food into his mouth, like a starving ghost, the robber or the child or the adult is startled, and the robber also hurriedly flees, on the way to escape, if someone chases, he is busy spitting on the food snatched in his hand, and even runs to the toilet, dipping the bun and food into the urine jar, and the chasing person sees this scene. If you feel sick, you give up chasing, or chase and beat the robber, and the robber will never fight back despite the beating. Afterwards, he still filled his stomach with filthy food.
Such a person is called a catcher or a catcher. This kind of people are the lowest people in society, but also the most vulnerable people, most of them are singles, lazy people, no relatives, no reason, no dependence, no basic security of life, so they have to wander in the street market, robbing others of the same lack of food to fill their stomachs and maintain their lives. Every day there are always several such acts performed on the street. So that whoever cries and makes trouble, the adults will frighten and say: see the catcher coming, the child will immediately stop crying, and this phenomenon has continued for years.
As the famine passed, this phenomenon slowly disappeared, and in some places there were bowl-lickers, who wandered around the cafeteria, picking up the bowls of the people who had eaten and drinking the leftover soup, licking the sides of the bowls clean, and chatting to wrap their stomachs. They were all locals, and they were often reprimanded by the people who opened the cafeteria, and poor people, they had no dignity and face, so they had to promise and go away.
Remember, these poor people, although they are ancient, remember their names: Guisheng, Cheng, Heizheng, etc.
Fleeing the famine and asking for food
In the following years, there was also a group of people who fled the famine and asked for food, most of whom came from Yudong, Shandong, Anhui and other places.
In the spring and desert in March, the green and yellow did not answer, the family was sad, men and women, old and young, dragging families to the west with their mouths to Luoning, staying in the dilapidated caves, when it was time to eat in the morning, groups of three or two, going from house to house, white-haired and weng fei, pulling the young children in rags, carrying a broken bowl, carrying a dog begging stick to the door of the farmer's house, shouting that the uncle, uncle, aunt, and lady were pitiful, okay! Most kind people put a spoonful and a half into the bowl of the beggar, and the person who asks for it is gratitude. At that time, our people here had just struggled from the line of death, and where there was more food, it was rare to eat a few dry meals and a white bread a year.
In 1963 and 1964, the central government liberalized its policy of allowing small areas of wasteland to be opened up and divided into private plots; his grandfather was old and his family lacked labor, so he took in Yutai in Shandong, Zhang Sanping and his wife in Xiaping, Anhui, and Sun Xiaocai in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. The letter they sent from home was: No. 25, Wangfan Theater Hutong, Luoning County, Henan Province. When the farm was busy, the two of them came to help my grandfather with some farm work. Later, Zhang Sanping picked a merchant to bear the burden, used small commodities such as five-color jelly beans, mirror wooden combs, needles and threads, and went to the village to do some small business to maintain a family of several people.
A few years later, Zhang Sanping's family returned to their hometown, and when they left, they thanked their grandfather and grandmother for their kindness. Sun Xiaocai recruited people in Mogou Village, and the situation gradually improved.
More than half a century has passed since these past events, and we should remember this unforgettable history. Recording such a bitter and tearful past now is to warn future generations to remember that a happy life is not easy to come by, cherish a happy life, and cherish the achievements of reform and opening up. Whoever dares to turn back the wheel of history and not worry about the safety and security of the people, food, clothing, and clothing, we will resolutely not agree.
About author:Zhang Songwu is a native of Wangxi Village, Hui Town.