Original title
Ticket Years, My dialogue with the times
Author: Luo Weikai
In the 1950s and 1990s, most living materials were supplied by tickets. The most difficult time of tickets was in the 1960s, when there were many tickets, and food coupons were the elder brothers, and cloth coupons were the elder sisters. Without these two votes, it is impossible to survive.
01
grain coupons
Back then, the state issued grain coupons to urban households, and farmers were self-sufficient because they were digging food from the soil, so the state did not issue grain coupons. If they went to the city to eat in a restaurant, they could bring rice. Therefore, society formed a chain of contempt: those who use national food coupons look down on local food coupons; those who use local food coupons look down on rice and rice, farmers are at the low end of this chain of contempt. I was farming back then, and there were a few things about eating in restaurants, and I still learned from my mistakes:
The era said: I only have money but no food coupons or rice, so I can’t eat
That was a few days before New Year’s Eve of a certain year in the late 1960s. I got up in the early morning, carried a hundred kilograms of taro , and went to the market in Wuxiang, fifteen miles away from home. When I opened the door, I saw that it was white. It turned out that it was snowing quietly at night. Fortunately, it had stopped, so I bit the bullet and picked up the taro to rush to Wuxiang. To the Wuxiang, you have to walk the mountain road first. The road is covered with snow. There are occasionally howlings of jackals and dogs in the distance. I stepped on the air with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and suddenly I stepped on the empty basket, and the potato rolled all over the floor. Fortunately, there was snow on the ground, and the taro scattered on it was easy to identify and picked it up very quickly - the howling jackals seemed to be approaching in the distance, and I was creepy and quickly picked up the taro, took up the burden, and escaped from this dangerous place.
A few hours later, sweating profuses to the five towns. A farmer who was rushing to the morning market has arrived. He heard two people around the neighbors discussing that in recent days, the taro in Ningbo city is very popular (that is, it is easy to sell). I raised my ears and listened for a while. I thought, there is snow today, and it is inconvenient to travel. There must be even fewer taro in Ningbo city, so why not sell it in Ningbo? Thinking of this, I made a quick decision, picked up the taro, and rushed to Ningbo City, which was more than 30 miles away from the five towns.
Along the road, the sand and gravel on the road are mixed with snow, which is very uncomfortable when you step on it, but it is attractive to you. You will only get closer if you take one step and you will be able to stay there for three hours. Although the wind is bitter after the snow, it is covered with burden and sweating on your body. It is counteracting twice, and I don’t feel cold. It was getting brighter and there were more and more pedestrians. As the snow on the road surface stepped on, it began to turn into water, splashing the two trousers wet. Before nine o'clock, I finally arrived at the farmers' market next to Ningbo's "Great World". Citizens carrying empty baskets suddenly surrounded me. As expected, most of the farmers did not come to sell goods because of the snowy day. Today I finally caught up with a good opportunity. So, in the competition for the three inner and three outer layers, more than 100 kilograms of taro were sold out one half more than usual.
At this time, my stomach felt hungry reminded me that I hurried out in the early morning and had never eaten anything. I wanted to go home after I sold it in Wuxiang, but in one go, I carried a load of more than 30 miles and was actually in Ningbo. Although the taro has become a banknote, its stomach is yelling.
But I had no food coupons and no rice, and the price of taro is very good. I was lucky and gritted my teeth and asked several restaurants:
I: ''Is it possible to eat without food coupons? ''
Hotel: ''No. Have you brought rice? Just have rice. ''People in the service desk answered.
Me: "I didn't bring the rice, can't I buy it with money? ''
Hotel: ''No! ''The rejection was very straightforward, and I heard obvious impatience.
The restaurant was eating. People instantly focused their eyes on me. They must have been secretly raising happiness because of my predicament. I quickly withdrew tactfully...
This is fifty years ago, when I was twenty years old, I had an empty stomach at three o'clock in the morning and carried a hundred kilograms of taro. I rushed for nearly fifty miles, and talked with several restaurants in my hunger.——No, this is a dialogue between farmers and the times. Salesmen represent the times, and I represent farmers - because the situations of farmers were the same back then. The country did not issue food coupons, and brought rice himself when they went to the city. If they didn’t even bring rice, they wouldn’t be able to eat. This story is national!
There was no way at that time. I had been hungry for a day, so I could only endure my hunger and walk fifty miles home...
On the way, I was thinking about the "food coupons... rice... grain coupons... rice", but I forgot that I had the money to sell taro in my pocket. Because only having money and not being able to eat, the good mood of selling taro smoothly was replaced by hunger.
Alas, this era...
era said: If you bring rice, you may not be able to eat
In that era, don’t think that farmers can definitely eat if they bring rice into the city.
The captain of our production team was named Hu Zhiliang, very dark, and his nickname was "Black Charcoal". The nickname in the village is called Shunkou, and calling his name makes him look like he is different. That year, the production team raised dozens of geese and decided to take them to Ningbo to sell them. Hei Tan personally led the team and ordered the generals, so I went there too.
A group of four people set off in the middle of the night and pulled to the farmers' market next to the "Big World" west of Laojiang Bridge in Ningbo. The goose is very good and sells it at a good price. Captain Hei Tan was very happy and suggested that everyone go to a decent restaurant to open a foreign meat meal at noon. Captain Hei Tan is both the production captain and the natural leader among young people. Today, he suggests this to reward everyone and respond naturally. Moreover, when you go back, you can blow it when young people talk about the mountains.
He was carrying a bag of rice - four people had a meal today, and the rice was brought by Captain Hei Tan and went back to settle - in the hotel that year, there was a small -pound scale on the desk, which was used to scale farmers' rice, which was the standard configuration of popular hotels.
Go to "find a decent restaurant to open a foreign meat" and everyone was very happy. Follow Jiangxia Road, turn left to the east gate, follow Zhongshan Road, and look west. I found a hotel with a luxurious storefront and walked in happily.
''Go out, this is not a place for you to eat! ''A man in white clothes in the hall instantly determined that we were farmers who used rice to eat, and they rushed guests unfriendly from afar.
''There is rice, but can't you eat? ''Captain Black Charcoal often stutters a little when he is anxious. He raised the rice bag and signaled to the white-clothed person.
''No, this is a high-end hotel, and only food coupons are accepted. ''The man in white said disdainfully, raised his hand and gestured with his thumb and index finger, and made the width of the food coupon, repeatedly emphasizing, 'Is there any food coupon? ''
- A food coupon with two fingers wide, the farmers did not have it back then. Of course, the man in white knew that he obviously had the smell of ridicule and contempt for us. In the
, several girls looked at us and whispered, looking down on the country people in their expressions. There is indeed no small scale on the counter, and it seems that there is no business of collecting rice and mixing rice. People coming and going in and out, dressed decently, looked at us with strange eyes.
It turns out that I brought rice, not all restaurants can eat. ''High-end hotels''re not accepting rice and only food coupons, which is equivalent to refusing farmers to eat - this is what we did not expect. It turns out that luxury hotels do not belong to farmers.
''You can't eat, eat, or eat rice? '' Captain Hei Tan was a little confused and annoyed, and was stunned with the rice bag. "It was his suggestion to open a decent restaurant with foreign food, but now the hotel does not give him "decent". His black face couldn't help but turn red. This was the prelude to his emotions. Before his daily quarrel with members, he had two characteristics: one was that his black face turned red, and the other was that his speech was stuttering. I quickly pulled the corner of his clothes and whispered him: "Change one, change one, this dish is too expensive."''
''The food is too expensive'', which is a very reason worth considering. Captain Black Charcoal forced himself to calm down. When farmers eat, they are reluctant to let go of the food too expensive, which is in line with their thinking habits and rules of life. Captain Hei Tan also knew that this place was Ningbo after all, not the production team with him as the leader, so he led us out. ——In fact, if he finds a decent restaurant to open foreign meat and food, he won’t eat it. It is logically problematic. If he eats a decent restaurant, he naturally cannot think that the food is too expensive. But because the food is too expensive, the decent restaurant originally had no chance of getting a decent restaurant to buy foreign meat and food. But the goose is very popular, which still supports Captain Black Charcoal to lead everyone to the excitement of "playing foreign meat".
So, our group continued to look for a restaurant with decent orders but not too expensive.
This time I have some experience. I first go to the door of each store to see if there are any small scales for weighing rice on the service desk, so as not to be called out again, and I will be embarrassed.
Finally found a storefront that can be considered "luxury" and meets the requirements of "decent" and has small scales on the service desk. After entering the store, Captain Black Charcoal untied the bag and was about to pour rice on the plate, a male waiter in the cabinet quickly came over and asked for the rice bag. He reached out and grabbed it. He smelled it first, then looked carefully, frowned and said, "This rice is too rough, and it is not collected here." ''
In the past, in order to increase the rice production rate, farmers would always instruct the rice rolling machine master to relax the rolling mouth and make the rice coats less rice, thereby increasing the rice production by two or three kilograms per 100 kilograms of grain, but the rice would be a little yellow and look a little rough. ——Farmers are thrifty and thrifty, and eating brown rice has become a habit.
Brown rice was brought out by Captain Black Charcoal from his home. He was anxious: "Is this rice, rice, rice, rice? Brown rice is even more fragrant, fragrant, fragrant…'' Before I finished my stuttering, the person in the cabinet grabbed a handful of rice collected from someone else and compared it to us. The rice in the palm of the two hands is indeed much inferior to ours...
The rice cooked from brown rice is more fragrant than the refined rice, which is real. Some people say that the nutrition contained in rice is much richer than the rice core (this may be a saying made up by those who advocate eating brown rice), but what the restaurant wants is rice white and does not have the nutrition of rice. The rice cooked with fine rice is also fragrant. Customers always like white and fragrant rice, so the hotel becomes picky about farmers' rice. This is the way for merchants.
The person in the cabinet pointed to the small scale again and said, "No brown rice is required by the store!" ''
We looked carefully and saw a small notice standing next to the small scale, which read: Brown rice is not allowed.
cannot eat because of the rough rice, which is the essence of the first company that refuses to accept rice without food coupons. Most of our interest in selling goose at a decent restaurant for sale was extinguished.
We were kicked out in disguise again. Captain Hei Tan felt sorry for us and stuttered apologetically. When he brought rice, he did not think about the question of whether the rice was rough or not, but now it became a problem.
We comforted him and said that the rice in every family is equally rough. Maybe...
always have to eat rice. Keep moving forward. This time I have more experience. Not only do I need to have a "detective" or not, but also a "detective" or a "detective" or a "broken rice" next to the scale.
In this way, I looked at three or five of them, and every family had such notices. I even saw some farmers carrying rice bags, and the restaurant refused to give them food because they were suspected that the rice was too broken.These people had to wander helplessly at the entrance of the hotel...
''only collect food coupons but not rice'' and refuse to redeem rice because the rice is too rough or too broken, which makes us completely passive. Seeing that noon was about to pass, my stomach was roaring more and more frequently. Captain Hei Tan was carrying a rice bag, his face turned darker and redder. We walked on the street, at a loss, and what we heard were all the words rejected by the hotel just now:
Hotel 1: "Go out, only food coupons are collected here but not rice..." - I can't eat if I bring rice!
Hotel 2: ''Your rice is too rough, and the store stipulates that it cannot be collected...'' - I still can't eat after bringing rice!
Hotel 3: Reject brown rice...
Hotel 4: Reject Broken rice ...
This is undoubtedly the times are calling to farmers: If you come to the city, you may not be able to eat if you bring rice!
In those years, it was really difficult for farmers!
Just like that, we were gingering in our stomachs, and in order to comfort Captain Heichar, we pretended to be "foreign meat", but we didn't feel bad about it: Mom's, rice was grown by farmers, but the luxury hotel was not allowed to go in because farmers did not have food coupons. Could it be that the food coupons represent rice? The rice is rough, isn’t it rice? Is there a standard? There are also a few people over there who break some rice, which may be because of the rice rolling mill, but the punishment is their belly. Everything is up to the hotel. What can the farmers do?
Finally, we ate some roasted sweet potato from street stalls and came back to fill our stomachs. On the way, everyone was depressed and talked: "The rice is too rough, and you must roll the white spots next time, and you can't be too broken... "'' No! '' Finally someone opened up his mind, ''We should try to get some food coupons. It seems that it is the most worry-free. ''
Yes, everyone recognizes that the white-clad man in white gestured with his index finger and thumb, which was only two fingers wide, was the best solution to the city to eat.
——"Food coupons that are only two fingers wide"", where are you? Farmers need you so much!
Since this time, when Captain Hei Tan's family went to roll rice, he no longer asked for a rougher one. Not only that, our households also saved the eggs they used to eat for their children and got them into food coupons every month to avoid going to Ningbo next time, and replaying the embarrassment of not being able to eat even if there is rice.
02
cloth tickets
tickets for the years, food coupons are big brothers, cloth tickets are big sisters. The previous article talks about food coupons, and this article talks about cloth coupons.
Some people say that in the era of tickets, the country issued tickets, the same as in urban and rural areas. In the most difficult period, there is no difference between urban and rural areas. Friends, please listen to me slowly. Although the per capita per capita in urban and rural areas at that time, there was a huge hidden difference: many people in the city could actually enjoy more clothing resources than farmers.
Times said: Although the average person is only "three-foot cloth", it is natural to send work clothes
In the most difficult early 1960s, each urban and rural person in the country had only three-foot cloth tickets, but many urban workers had work clothes. How much cloth does a set of work clothes require? What does it mean for a family to have one or several sets of work clothes per year when only three-foot cloth is supplied per capita?
Some people may denounce me as absurd, thinking that it is natural for workers and institutions and institutions to get work clothes or uniforms. It is a boring discussion and should be sneered.
, and I'm slow. If my living information is relatively abundant today, my intention is indeed absurd, and even I think it's extremely boring. But don't forget that in the early 1960s, when only three-foot cloth was supplied per capita, the problem was not the case.Ask: At that time, if only one or several people in a family could have one or several sets of work clothes every year, which was the same as how many "three feet" he (or she) had first? Is this a great effect on family members in solving the problem of clothing when every household is extremely scarce?
I absolutely have no egalitarianism, workers, industrial and commercial tax authorities and other civil servants, the seriousness of labor protection or law enforcement at work, and it is understandable to wear work clothes (or uniforms). The reason why I give this seemingly absurd example is to show that although there were difficulties in dressing in the city and rural areas, the workers or civil servants of state organs in the city still had work clothes or uniforms to deal with. Objectively, the conditions for dressing are much better than those of farmers - if urban people have difficulty in dressing, then farmers are in the N-power power.
This is also an implicit difference between workers and peasants in extraordinary times!
It was strange that in that era, workers' work clothes or uniforms of public agencies, except for special regulations, most work clothes evolved into dual-purpose clothes. In addition to wearing them at work, people even wear them during leisure time, which looked very pleasing to them. Some people even wear work clothes when visiting relatives and friends, social gatherings, and blind dates. In that era, work clothes were disguised life clothes, which were very tasteful and even demonstrated the identity of the working class. They were the symbol of the iron rice bowl. In those years, when I appeared in work clothes in public, my impression was no less than that in Zhongshan suit . In the eyes of some people, it was more noble than wearing Zhongshan suits because he had a stable career, which made people envious.
So at that time, even the old work clothes were regarded as treasures by everyone. Anyone who has experienced this has this memory. Some families will send work clothes every year. If there are new ones, they will be modified for their families to wear or give them to others. ——Work clothes have become the only life advantage for the city people, objectively alleviating their lack of tickets. This is a secret that people have tacitly told during the years of ticketing.
So someone said a joke: work clothes and work clothes are our dual-purpose clothes, and work and life are suitable for both work and life; three-foot cloth tickets do not worry about clothes, because I have work clothes...
Let me ask, do farmers have such conditions? To be honest, at that time, when farmers saw workers wearing work clothes, I felt ashamed. Farmers have three-foot cloth tickets per capita and are extremely difficult to wear clothes. During their labor, they can only wear ragged clothes. Occasionally, relatives and friends in the city send out old work clothes, and they will be grateful...
After the above analysis and comparison, who said that the work clothes of urban people in extraordinary times cannot reflect the difference between urban and rural areas?
I was frozen due to lack of clothes back then, and I still remember it. The winter in the south of is the same as below zero, because the climate is low, it feels colder than in the north. I was doing farm work in the biting cold wind, and my clothes were so thin that I was now hard to talk about. I only wore two pairs of single pants on my lower body, one on the outside was a little decent, and the other on the inside was full of pudding. At that time, I didn’t have gloves, and my hands were numb when I was working, and my fingers hurt. From time to time, I put my hands, which were red and swollen, to my mouth, to recover my consciousness a little. At this time, I thought that God would give me a set of work clothes and a pair of work gloves, but unfortunately God is too far away from me.
One day, in the cold wind, an old farmer next to him was wearing a pair of gauze gloves - someone gave it to me - he grinned at the cold and looked painful, and understood very much. He smiled and took off one and handed it to me. I took the cover, and the painful fingers gradually regained consciousness. At that time, I felt what it means to provide timely help... More than fifty years have passed. The smiling face of the old farmer who shared with me a glove in the bitter cold wind often comes to my mind... Because it was too cold at that time, the warmth produced by a glove is enough to make me unforgettable for the rest of my life. At that time, I wanted to have urban people's work clothes to relieve my mother's helplessness.
Later, my aunt and uncle in Shanghai learned about our situation and saved some of the labor gloves sent to them from the factory, so that I ended the painful days of working by hand in winter.——While I am grateful to my aunt and uncle, I have always been looking forward to: the workers are so good, and there are free work clothes and gloves.
Factory or civil servants must give priority to the full work clothes or uniforms. This is natural. As for others, they can only supply three-foot cloth. That is because the country is in difficulties - the times answered me like this.
Times say: You need cloth tickets to buy all cotton fabrics
Rural people only have three feet of cloth tickets, but the supply and marketing cooperatives in the countryside are still lively.
The pattern of township supply and marketing cooperatives in the 1960s and 1970s was very different from that of today's supermarkets. At that time, the slightly larger department stores had a collection center. This center point is located in the center of the store or on the side of the store, significantly higher than the surrounding sales counters. The collector sat on the collection table, condescending, and could clearly see the transactions at each counter. Between the center and the surrounding sales containers, a tight iron wire (or steel wire) is connected, and an iron is clamped on the iron wire (or steel wire). Each counter clamped the sales orders, ticket prices, etc. with a clip, and pushed them hard. With a "whisper" sound, the clip clamped the sales orders and ticket prices, and slid towards the collection desk on the heads of people in the store. After the payee quickly checked, he clamped the recovered ticket price and the issued invoice in a clip, and then returned to the counter as usual. The salesperson took the recovered banknotes, cloth notes, and the things purchased by the customer from the clip above his head, and handed them over to the buyer outside the counter.
When the store is busy, there are continuous "swooshing" sounds in the store, and the banknotes and orders in the clips are flying around people's heads.
The salesperson standing at the counter of the department store, in addition to paying attention to the clips on the top of his head at any time, must also patiently answer customers' inquiries:
One day, my mother wanted to buy me a new piece of clothing and took me to the supply and marketing cooperative. My mother asked: "Do you need cloth tickets to buy underwear?" '' Answer: ''Yes. '' ''Where to buy a pillowcase? '' Answer: ''Yes. '' ''Where is the face? '' Answer: ''Yes. '' Where is the bed blanket? ''Answer: ''Of course, too. ''
''Even if you buy underwear, pillowcases, quilt surfaces, bed blankets, etc., you need cloth tickets. Alas, how can you pull cloth to make clothes if you want to buy three-foot cloth tickets! ''My mother sighed and felt helpless...
The conversation between my mother and the salesperson is actually the conversation between me and the times. My mother represents me, and the salesperson represents the times.
Outside the cloth counter of the supply and marketing cooperative, my mother was wandering, her eyes never leaving the cloth displayed on the cloth rack. She was comparing the width of the cloth door. The door width of
cloth is the width of each cloth, which is one meter or one meter or two. The cloth ticket is based on the width of the door, and the wider the width, the more cost-effective it is.
Most of the people who come to tear cloth are "concentrated to do major tasks". After discussion at home, I will concentrate the cloth tickets this year and you will do it next year. Parents always make it for their children first, and relatives and friends often transfer cloth tickets to young men and women who are about to get married... Therefore, those who came to pull cloth at the cloth counter were planned, and they had very limited cloth tickets for the whole family in their arms.
The salesperson's movements are very ornamental: the cloth puller selected the cloth, the salesperson took it off the vertical cabinet, skillfully placed the whole cloth on the counter and rolled it a few times, loosened it, picked up the long ruler, measured it enough to pull it, and then went one inch (a discount for the cloth puller), folded it, pinched it, cut it out a small hole on the edge with shear force, then pinched the edge of the cloth with both hands, and pulled it hard to both sides. With a sound of shattering, the sound of the silk cracking sounded, and the tear was folded squarely, and these movements were done in one go. As the ticket clips on the wire (or wire) on the head neck came, the salesperson took the invoice and the money they retrieved from the clip, placed them on the square cloth, and handed them out from the counter. The cloth-pulling man caught it, and his face was filled with happiness.
This is a very ornamental two-hand tear-opening tear-breaking cloth. Most of them are warp and weft cloth, pulled apart according to the weft line, and the edges of the cloth are straight. If it is knitted cloth , you cannot pull it with your hands, you can only cut it with scissors. Only those who are experts understand this principle.
Back then, it was really not easy to pull out clothes. People who were watching the cloth pulling cloth were often full of envy on their faces, of course they were covered with invisible jealousy. My mother finally pulled the cloth for me and left the cloth cabinet in the envy of people, because I was the eldest among my brothers and sisters, and the home was given priority...
The era said: New A-Da, old A-Da, broken A-Da, and rotten A-Si; the new three years, old three years, sewing and repairing for another three years
This is the dressing song of rural farmers in the past, and it is also suitable for use in some cities.
In the farmhouse back then, children often had to wear it for many years. If there are many brothers and sisters, the second brother often wears old clothes worn by the eldest brother, the third brother wears treasure clothes worn by the second brother, and the fourth brother wears bad clothes worn by the third brother, so there are rumors among the people: "New Ada, Old Aer, Broken A3, Broken A3"...
My brother and sister are four, I am the eldest brother, and the younger brother is first, so the two brothers are apart in four years. The new clothes my mother often makes a very big deal in the first year. I wear them for two to three years before I wear them for my younger brother. Therefore, the new clothes worn on the first year often cover the hand, and the sleeves are so long that they can dance well. The shoulder seams of the clothes are hanging on both sides of the shoulders, and the new pants are dragged to the ground. If you don’t roll the sleeves and pants tightly, it will sag at any time, and it will stumbling around, which is particularly troublesome. This has become a trouble for me when I was a child. Every time I wear new clothes, I always protest to my mother:
''Mom, the clothes are too big and uncomfortable to wear. Why do I have to make such a big deal after measuring my body? ''
The mother said: ''It's not easy to make a piece of clothing. Children grow up quickly. They have to wear clothes for several years. They must be bigger in the first year, otherwise they will not be able to wear them next year or after. ''
My conversation with my mother, mother represents the times, and I represent the children of the farm. Because in that era, peasant families bought clothes for their children, and no one did not do this, which was universal.
I remember those years when we children visited relatives and friends. As soon as the Spring Festival ended, my mother chased us with her old clothes, forcing her to take off her new clothes and lock them into the box, and then wear them again during the Spring Festival next year...
I remember that the adults bought a new clothes. In the first year, they only wore them for a few days when they visited relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year, and then took off the lock and put them in the box to wait for the next year. This will last for at least three years. It was only in the fourth year that the clothes were "daily", but I still couldn't bear to wear them when I did heavy work. From the seventh year, the clothes were torn and pudding were covered with pudding, so they became the farmers' "work clothes" and they were worn for at least two or three years. The farmers said: Wearing such clothes makes you feel at ease. Someone made up a rumor: the new three years, the old three years, the sewing and repairing for another three years.
and above memories will always be lingered in my heart. Even now, I see the clothes of a family full of wardrobes. When my grandchildren have only been wearing more than a year, they are treated as obsolete clothes by my daughter-in-law, and they are packaged, given away or treated as waste. I always feel an indescribable feeling, and the soreness of my childhood years will also arise in my heart.
Now, the years of tickets have become a distant past, and my conversation with the times in my meals and clothes has also been sealed. As a person who has experienced that time, I really feel deeply moved when I think about the past. Original title
Author: Luo Weikai, born in 1950, worked as a farmer for ten years. In 1977, he was admitted to the Chinese major of Ningbo Normal University, and since 1984, he has also studied , Zhejiang Normal University , politics and education major. He has been teaching for 33 years and has served as a class teacher, teaching director, middle school principal, and academic director of teacher training school. Retired.
Source: New third
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