In 1985, at the state-owned grain store in Jiangcheng, a pound of japonica rice cost 1.82 cents, a pound of Fuqiang flour costed 2.2 cents, a pound of peanut oil cost 8.3 cents, and a pound of lard cost 1 yuan and 30 cents; in the state-owned vegetable market, a pound of pork cost 1 yuan 80 cents, and 1 pound of pork lard 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 residents 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 sickly. 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 (his mother lives with him) every year as his mother's Due to the 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 New Year, my grandma takes one hundred yuan of living expenses back to her 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 their children. There was a six-day work system, and the grandchildren had day shifts. Sometimes, during the winter and summer vacations, when their 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 was six or seven years old, knew how to light a coal stove, cook, stir-fry and wash dishes. He often accompanied his mother on the streets to buy things. The family had food purchase certificates, coal purchase certificates, 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! What was first bought was coal ash, which was mixed with water and kneaded into small briquettes. Later, it was turned into briquettes. Later, the gas produced by Jianggang's coking and external natural gas were used.
When Sun Jian was a child, he and his younger siblings pinched briquettes many times, often causing trouble.
These documents and bills 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 very early. 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. , there has been no mistake, and parents can work with peace of mind. This is a very useful 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 could not 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’s mother 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 lanky except for genetics. In addition, it also has a lot to do with the inability to keep up with oil and water when I was a child.
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. Only his father and mother ate two pieces!
After Sun Jian entered the health 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.
In the cafeteria of Z hospital, a fried pork with green pepper costs 20 cents and 5 cents, and a portion of bok choy costs 7 cents. However, in the canteen of the Health School, a stir-fried pork with green pepper only costs 2 cents, and a portion of bok choy costs 5 cents. In this school, the first-class scholarship costs 16 yuan, and you can eat. That's enough, but in the cafeteria of the Z hospital branch, meals cost twenty yuan.
Before the school celebrates the National Day or has a holiday, the school will give all students a meal (I pay 20 cents, and the school subsidizes 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. 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 empty.
The school also distributes 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 Jiangnan Theater in a private theater. "The Thirty-nine Steps" and "Mysterious Yellow Rose" were watched at the May Day Club, and the drama "Wild Girl," Come Back" etc. I watched it at the Jiangnan Theater.
At that time, movie theaters were reserved in schools and tickets cost three cents or five cents. Sun Jian seemed to have watched more movies in his first year of medical school than he had watched twenty years before his rebirth.
There are more movie theaters around the branch of Z Hospital, including the People's Theater, Jiangnan Theater, 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 Z Hospital to 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, adopted contract purchasing and market purchase, expanded market regulation under the guidance of the national plan, and adopted the policy of not relaxing food production and actively developing diversified operations. Agricultural trade The market boomed.
Nowadays, you can buy chicken, duck, fish and eggs at the farmer's market without any meat or egg stamps.
