Tang Ning went on to explain: "China is now practicing a planned economy, do you know what a planned economy is? That is, the production of the factory should be carried out according to the plan, not more or less, and the receipt of everyone's living materials is also according to the plan, for example, a person can only buy five catties of rice and two feet of cloth a month. The reason for the implementation of a planned economy is that at present, China is extremely scarce in materials and cannot provide open supplies to meet the needs of all. If you think about it, even the rice flour and oilcloth have to be planned and controlled, and the supply of chocolate, a high-end non-staple food, must be more scarce, so children will drool when they see you eating chocolate, and this is still in Beijing, in Henan Those places where you can't even eat enough will be even more serious, of course, it is estimated that there are many children who have never seen chocolate, so they will naturally not be greedy. (It's not that I'm slandering, but at that time the famine in Henan, Hebei, and Shandong was particularly serious.) ）

Speaking of this, Tangning seemed to remember something, and asked, "Carter, do you know what a food stamp is?" ”

Carter shook his head: "I don't know, what is that?" Is it the same as banknotes? ”

"Well, it's similar to the role of banknotes, in China, when you buy grain, you don't just have money, you must also have food stamps, otherwise the people at the grain station will not sell you grain."

Carter suddenly realized: "I understand, did we also issue this thing in the United States during World War II, and it's not just food stamps, many goods have tickets, and you can't buy things without relevant tickets." It would be nice if China only had one type of food stamp. ”

"How can there only be food stamps, in addition to all kinds of grain and oil stamps, there are also pork, beef and mutton stamps, chicken, duck and fish stamps, all kinds of egg stamps, sugar stamps, soy product stamps and vegetable stamps. Tickets for clothing and goods are even more varied. You can get everything from undershirts, vests, and shoes to handkerchiefs, soap, tissue, laundry detergent, matchsticks, and more. Some valuables, such as electrical appliances, bicycles, and watches, are hard to find. And the food stamps themselves are divided into several types. The national grain stamps are issued by the Ministry of Food, and the food stamps in various regions are issued by the grain bureaus in various regions, and the food stamps in different regions cannot be used in each other, and only the national grain stamps can be used in all regions of the country, but it is very troublesome to get the national grain stamps, and you must have a letter of introduction issued by the unit to go to the grain store to exchange them.

In addition to various bills. There are also various goods, such as grain, non-staple food, coal, etc., which are only daily necessities, if you want to buy industrial products, you also need industrial vouchers. (I believe that most readers and friends have not experienced the era of food stamps, so it should be difficult for everyone to understand what the days were like at that time, although I have not experienced it, but I have seen food stamps at home when I was a child.) ）

At that time, similar scenes were often staged in various cities in China. The grain store is a lively place after the movie theater. On a fixed day every month, the higher-level unit of the grain store will issue food stamps to the grain store, and the grain store will then issue it to the residents. On weekends or at the end of the month, there is always a long queue in front of the grain store, and people with children often send their children to queue up. When the line was almost up, the adults came again with noodle bags. They always have to carefully observe the crosshair of the scale bar, for fear of encountering a shortage of catties. After buying the grain. Then carefully tie your pockets tightly and leave.

At that time, the employees of the grain store were no less valued than the staff in the bank now. When they buy food, they first ask the other party to show the food supply certificate to "verify the identity". After the stamps are collected, the staff will paste the stamps on the newspaper, fill a newspaper and then paint it with a special purple paint to prevent it from being reused. In some parts of the South, food stamps are seen as life stamps. At that time, the grain stamps issued to all districts and counties were transported by special ticket trucks, escorted by the armed police, and the recovered grain stamps were also counted by special personnel, and sent to the paper mill for destruction every six months. Food stamps are treated like banknotes.

Until 1984. It is said that when Shenzhen was about to implement this policy, the common people went to the grain station to queue up overnight to buy grain and oil, because they were worried that once the habit of buying grain with tickets for decades was broken, there would be no grain to buy, and everyone would be hungry.

At that time, the implementation of this policy was also unavoidable, because in 1953 the demand for agricultural products in the whole country was growing rapidly but the supply was relatively insufficient, agricultural products became a scarce resource, and even triggered a food crisis for a time.

In China's history, there have been many political crises caused by food crises, and even after the Chinese government experienced disasters such as the "Great Leap Forward" and "cultural activities", there was no more serious situation, and it should be said that it is closely related to the positive role played by this unified purchasing and marketing system.

Soon, the week-long visit to China ended, and Tang Ning had to leave China with the delegation, and on the last day of leaving China, China and the United States issued a "joint communique" in Shanghai. After expounding the respective views and positions of the two sides on major international issues and acknowledging the essential differences between the social systems and foreign policies of China and the United States, the joint communique emphatically pointed out that the two sides agreed to handle state-to-state relations with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The two sides solemnly declare that the normalization of Sino-US relations is in the interests of all countries, and both sides hope to reduce the danger of international military conflict. Neither party should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, and each party opposes the efforts of any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony; Neither party is prepared to negotiate on behalf of any third party, nor is it prepared to enter into agreements or understandings with the other party with respect to other countries. The two sides also believe that it is contrary to the interests of the peoples of all countries in the world for major powers to collude with each other to oppose other countries or to divide the sphere of interests in the world.

The issuance of the joint communiqué not only meant that China and the United States broke the ice and rebuilt their relations, inspired the renewal of the ideological system in international politics, and promoted world peace and economic circulation, but also triggered a series of other reactions, the most conspicuous of which was the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. (To be continued.) )