"Look! Why Is the Goldfish Turning Belly Up?" : A Glimpse Into the Era of Vouchers and Scarcity

Today, when I saw Xi Van Fleet, author of Mao's America: A Survivor's Warning, sharing pictures of food stamps and the absurdities of the planned economy era, it reminded me of the 'dark old society' I once experienced.

These vouchers represent just one type among many that were required to purchase goods in China during the years of the planned economy.

I recall that each household member was allotted only 0.2 kg (0.44 pounds) of meat and cooking oil per month.

Numerous other essentials like sugar, rice, flour, and even tofu and bean sprouts required specific vouchers for purchase, which were distributed to the head of the household.

With five members in our family—my parents, my two sisters, and myself—we were entitled to only 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of pork and 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of cooking oil each month.

Consequently, my mother had to ration food within our family. Meat was a rare luxury; when we did have it, each of us was limited to three very thin slices of sausage.

I treasured them so much that I often couldn’t bring myself to eat them right away. Instead, I would pile them on top of the rice and save them for last.

One time, while I was eating, my father suddenly said, ‘Look, why is the goldfish turning belly up?’

I turned my head to look at the goldfish and saw that it was not turning belly up. When I turned back, I noticed that my parents and two sisters were all laughing heartily.

I was utterly confused, thinking, ‘What’s so funny about a goldfish turning belly up? Besides, the goldfish didn’t even turn belly up.’

It took me quite a while to realize that a piece of the sausage I had carefully piled on the rice, reluctant to eat, was missing!

It turned out that while I was distracted by the goldfish, my father quickly snatched a piece from my bowl!

To him, my reluctance to eat it was amusing; to me, however, it was almost the first time I realized how ‘deceptive’ people could be. How could my father deceive me and even snatch my sausage?

At the time, I felt deeply hurt.

But I can’t remember if I cried or not. Maybe I didn’t—after all, it was just a piece of sausage.

I was probably eight or nine years old that year. I still remember that tofu and bean sprouts were rare commodities that were sold only once in a long time. Whenever tofu was sole, it was my duty to queue up very early in the morning in order to get some, with vouchers, of course.

The other day, when I heard Kamala Harris talk about setting a "cap" for groceries, I told a Westerner the above story of my childhood, when you needed a voucher to buy virtually everything.

When the government wants to "regulate" the free market, I don't think the result will be good.

8/18/2024 **

Truth saves lives. Please support! 👇  真相能救命，敬請支持！👇

 🌺Donate 捐款贊助： https://donorbox.org/support-inconvenient-truths-by-jennifer-zeng

 🌺Membership 註冊會員：https://bit.ly/3biCEk5

 🌺Bitcoin 捐款：bc1qlkkvwyvw96x3xx6jgzkhlnnv0nv3d9vm078vfd

 ㊙️Website 網站：https://www.jenniferzengblog.com/

 ㊙️English Channel 英文頻道：https://www.ganjingworld.com/s/OJ41DveMZr

㊙️Chinese Channel 中文頻道：https://www.ganjingworld.com/s/aWRQXgBgvv

㊙️LBRY.tv: https://lbry.tv/@InconvenientTruths:c

🍀X/Twitter 推特：https://twitter.com/jenniferzeng97

🍀FB Page臉書: https://www.facebook.com/jenniferzeng97

 🍀SafeChat帳戶: https://safechat.com/user/1341871762892058624

 🍀Gab: https://gab.com/JenniferZeng

 🍀MeWe: https://mewe.com/p/inconvenienttruthsbyjenniferzeng

 👉Jennifer’s Bio 曾錚簡歷：https://www.jenniferzengblog.com/about/