- Classmates said there was an old man named Yang, who used one soybean to make three bowls of porridge, rinsing the first bowl, half a soybean in the second bowl, and the other half in the third bowl.
- One time on the eve of the New Year, after school, Gao Xiaoxiao came home and my mom gave me a salty chicken leg. I sat on a small stool at the door and ate, it was really fragrant.
- I heard my mom say that because our family belonged to the landlord class, during holidays and such, the poor and lower-middle peasants and cadre from the village would come early in the evening and say, "It's time to sleep."
- When Hua Guofeng was on stage, at home, Mao's portrait and Hua's portrait were hung side by side in the main hall.
- During elementary school classes, a few teachers from other schools sat behind listening to the lesson. When we stood up, they also stood up. A girl and I couldn't help but laugh, and afterwards, we were both slapped by Teacher Wu.
- During tomb sweeping, teachers and students lined up to bow, and I wanted to laugh but held it in.
- At school, Chen Lan brought water caltrop, and everyone asked her for some. I said I wanted three, she gave me three, and after I finished eating, I asked for more, but she said you asked for three, so no more for you.
- Only the poorest children could eat oranges because no one else had fruits to eat. But the poorest families received fruit when the commune came to offer condolences.
- When I had tonsillitis, the village doctor said "rat stick." At school, Teacher Wu asked what happened to my face, and I said "rat stick." My classmates burst into laughter.
- Grandpa was sick, one morning, my brother and I peed in a bowl to give him to drink, it was child's urine. I only then realized that urine was yellow, I thought it was white.
- Grandpa ate a lot of eggshells from the villagers, collecting and grinding them to eat because they couldn't afford eggs.
- Farmers rarely ate eggs, usually selling them at the town's supply and marketing cooperative to buy salt, soy sauce, and the like.
- When making steamed buns in the summer, they couldn't afford sugar, so they used saccharin, a chemical, to add sweetness.
- At my grandmother's house, I saw a red-covered book of Mao Zedong's Quotations, with the inscription "Lin Biao" underneath being scratched out, as if it was done by a retired soldier.
- At that time, we were poor. My cousin Xiao Gu came to visit our house, and after my grandmother (her grandmother) finished cooking, she licked the oil bottle.
- In the fourth grade, our desks were made of mud.
- Paper hitting classmates in front was folding paper at the end of a pencil and hitting the classmate in front, then pretending to write, until Teacher Cao saw it from outside the window.
- My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather made the three of us brothers memorize ancient poems and texts, and I was always the best. My father had a handwritten copy of ancient texts for us to memorize.
- During our elementary school classes, when we were thirsty, we would go to someone's water tank during break time, scoop up fresh water with a ladle, but not very often.