In 1985, the state-owned grain store in Jiangcheng sold a pound of japonica rice for 1.82 cents, a pound of Fuqiang flour for 2.2 cents, a pound of peanut oil for 83 cents, and a pound of lard for 1 yuan and 30 cents; at the state-owned vegetable market, a pound of pork cost 1 yuan and 80 cents, and a pound of pork fat cost 1 yuan and 30 cents.
A pound of beef costs 2.15 cents...
To buy these things from state-owned grain stores and state-owned markets, people don't just have money. They also need food stamps, oil stamps, meat stamps and egg stamps. Urban people have different quotas based on age, gender and occupation listed in the household registration book.
Classmate Sun Jian is the eldest son in the family. His mother-in-law (grandma) is older and frail. She is taken care of by his uncle and two aunts in the countryside of Hunan Province. Sun's father sends 100 yuan to his younger brother (whose mother lives with him) every year as his mother's
Due to living expenses, grandma with small feet did not have the opportunity to come to Jiangcheng; Jiajia (grandma) was not in good health, and the house only had two rooms, which was overcrowded. After helping to take Sun Jian to elementary school, his mother sent him back to the construction commune.
My uncle, second uncle and aunt take care of me. During the Chinese New Year, my grandma takes 100 yuan of living expenses back and gives them to my eldest brother (my mother lives with my eldest brother).
At that time, most of the parents of Jianggang workers' families lived in the countryside, and most of the couples were half-households. Parents who worked both ways tried to stagger their working hours. The husband and wife both went to work and took care of the children. There was a six-day work system, and the grandchildren had day shifts.
Sometimes, during the winter and summer vacations, when the parents go to work, Sun Jian, who is over seven years old, takes care of his younger brother Sun Shun, who is over four years old, and his younger sister Sun Yuan, who is over one year old.
The children of dual-career parents have become parents early!
Sun Jian, who is six or seven years old, can light a coal stove, cook, stir-fry and wash dishes. He often goes shopping with his mother. The family has a food purchase certificate, a coal purchase certificate, food stamps, oil stamps, meat stamps, and soy product stamps.
, sugar stamps, liquor stamps, cigarette stamps, coal stamps, cloth stamps, soap stamps and match stamps, etc.
To buy rice in a state-owned grain store, it is not enough to have money and food stamps. You also need a grain purchase certificate that only has an urban household registration. You also need to go to a nearby designated state-owned grain store to buy rice.
To buy coal at a state-owned coal store, in addition to money and coal stamps, you also need a coal purchase certificate that only has an urban household registration! At first, what I bought was coal ash, which was mixed with water and kneaded into small briquettes. Later it became briquettes.
, and later used the coal gas produced by Jianggang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and external natural gas.
When Sun Jian was a child, he and his younger brothers and sisters pinched briquettes many times and often made trouble.
These documents and receipts were carefully collected by Sun's mother to prevent them from being chewed by rats at night.
There were not many thieves in this era, but there were many rats competing with people for food.
Sun Jian helped his parents with housework at an early age. These experiences cultivated a sense of independence and responsibility. When his parents went to work during the day, he took his younger brothers and sisters to play together. At noon, he took his rice bowl and meal tickets to eat in the canteen of Jianggang's single dormitory.
, without making a single mistake, parents can work with peace of mind, which is a very beneficial exercise for his future study and work.
As they grew older, Sun Jian and Sun Jia often recalled their childhood experiences of being kept free. Although they couldn't eat meat once a week, they felt happier than their daughter's childhood.
When Sun Jian reported to Jiangcheng Health School, when going through the household registration transfer procedures, the grain and oil relations must also be transferred to the school. The household registration was added to the school's collective household registration. Technical secondary school students began to have thirty-two kilograms of food stamps every month.
Along with the national scholarships, gas stamps and egg stamps were requisitioned by the school cafeteria. To buy meal stamps, you need money and food stamps, but to buy vegetable stamps, you only need money.
At that time, the average grain quota in society was only twenty-eight kilograms. As long as you had an urban household registration, you were born with it. Grandson's father and grandson's mother were front-line workers at Jianggang. Grandson's father had thirty-six kilograms of food stamps a month, and his grandson had three
Fourteen kilograms of food stamps. I heard from Sun’s father that the front-line workers in the steelmaking plant had forty-two kilograms of food stamps a month, which was very enviable!
Because his parents had a high food quota, the Sun family could only eat meat once every half a month. Although they were never hungry as a child, they had very little oil and water. A family of five only had two and a half kilograms of vegetable oil a month. He was so lanky except for genetics.
In addition, it also has a lot to do with not being able to keep up with oil and water when I was young.
The Han people are provided with one pound of pork per person per month, and the Hui people are provided with one pound and four taels of beef and mutton per person per month. Fresh fish is also provided on May Day and Chinese New Year.
One pound of pork per person per month was a lot in the eyes of Sun Jian, who ate very little meat in his previous life. However, his father told him in his later years that once he bought two pounds of pork belly and his mother cooked a big bowl of it, but his parents had not eaten it yet.
One piece was taken away by the three brothers and sisters. There were only four pieces left in the bowl. Sun Jian asked him to stop. The grandson's father and mother each ate two pieces!
After Sun Jian entered the medical school, the gas stamps, meat stamps, and egg stamps issued by the government were included in the school meals. The school meals were subsidized by the state, and the meals were much cheaper than those in the canteen of the Z Hospital branch.
z In the hospital cafeteria, a stir-fried pork with green peppers costs 20 cents and a portion of bok choy. However, in the health school canteen, a stir-fried pork with green peppers only costs 2 cents and a portion of bok choy. In the school's first-class scholarship, which costs 16 yuan, you can eat.
That's enough, but eating in the cafeteria of the Z hospital branch costs twenty yuan.
Before the National Day or holiday in our school, the school will give all students a meal (I pay 20 cents, and the school will subsidize 80 cents), and issue a meal ticket. At noon, go to the cafeteria to receive a piece of fried fish (or grilled fish pieces) and a piece of fish.
A plate of roasted pork dumplings (eight pieces), rice bought by oneself, everyone ate with gusto, just like Chinese New Year.
In this era, the water tanks in schools are all empty.
The school also gives out popsicles in the summer and two eggs to supplement nutrition before the final exam.
There are also autumn and spring sports games. In the morning, each student can receive two large meat buns for free with a ticket.
Every half month or so, the school organizes students to watch movies or plays at the May Day Club or the Jiangnan Theater in a reserved area. "The Thirty-nine Steps" and "The Mysterious Yellow Rose" were watched at the May Day Club, and the drama "Wild Girl,"
I watched "Come Back" at the Gangnam Theater.
At that time, movie theaters were reserved in schools and tickets cost three cents or five cents a ticket. The total number of movies Sun Jian watched in his first year of medical school seemed to be more than what he had seen twenty years before his rebirth.
There are more movie theaters around the Z hospital branch, including the People's Theater, Jiangnan Theatre, Central Theater, Jiangcheng Theater and Liberation Theater. One of Sun Jian and his classmates' spare time is watching movies. Once, Sun Jian and two classmates went to the
I bought three "flying tickets" from a scalper for a dime at the entrance of the Round Theater, and one person spent more than three cents to watch the movie "White Collar Beauty".
In 1985, the state abolished the thirty-year system of centralized purchase and distribution of agricultural and sideline products and adopted contract purchasing and market purchase. Under the guidance of the national plan, it expanded market regulation and adopted the policy of not relaxing food production and actively developing diversified operations. Agricultural trade
The market is booming.
Nowadays, you can buy chicken, duck, fish and eggs at the farmer's market without any meat or egg stamps.