A few lines written on a report [I]
(March 1960)

Strengthen leadership, canteens for all, abundant pigs and vegetables, planned grain use, quotas assigned to households, grain delivered to the canteen, fixed rations per person, meals by ticket, surplus goes to the individual, monthly accounting, clear and plain, account sheets posted on the wall, production and livelihood, both are strong, people’s hearts are roused…

[I] These lines were written on the record of a telephone report on the situation of rural public canteens, made by the Rural Work Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China on March 5, 1960. The report stated: At present, year-round canteens in our province account for about 75%, and seasonal (busy farming season) canteens account for about 25%. By nature, labor-force canteens account for about 90%, and all-people canteens account for about 10%, but the development trend is toward a transition to all-people canteens. Judging from the current situation, most canteens are run fairly well. Generally, they have vegetable gardens, most raise pigs, and some raise chickens; canteen facilities are relatively complete, sanitary conditions are fairly good, and a set of regulations has been established; canteens everywhere have persisted in the systems of fixed rations per person, meals by ticket, surplus going to the individual, monthly settling of accounts, and account sheets posted on the wall; leadership at all levels is also paying very close attention to the canteens, and in many places unified leadership and area-based responsibility are practiced, grasping production with one hand and livelihood with the other.