There’s no such thing as a free lunch. But not in China. Once upon a time in Chinese history, there was not only free lunch but also free meals everyday, for everyone.
没有免费的午餐。 但不是在中国。 从前，在中国历史上，不仅有免费午餐，而且每天都有免费餐食。
The People’s Commune was the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas of the People’s Republic of China during the period from 1958 to 1983, after which they were replaced by townships. Communes, the largest collective units, were divided in turn into production brigades and production teams. It was the result of the “Great Leap Forward” movement aiming to rapidly transform the country into a socialist society through rapid industrialisation and collectivism. Mao Zedong had a vision of surpassing Great Britain and the United States in steel production in 15 years. As an approach to “free work force and ease to communism”, the “People’s Commune dining hall” system was introduced.
1958年至1983年期间，人民公社是中华人民共和国农村地区三个行政级别中最高的，之后被乡镇所取代。 公社是最大的集体单位，依次分为生产大队和生产队。 这是“大跃进”运动的结果，旨在通过快速工业化和集体主义将国家迅速转变为社会主义社会。 毛泽东有一个愿景，即在15年内在钢铁生产方面超越英国和美国。 作为“自由劳动力和轻松共产主义”的方法，引入了“人民公社食堂”系统。
Private kitchens became redundant, and everything in personal kitchens, such as tables, chairs, cooking utensils and pans (even the proverbial kitch sink) were all contributed to the commune’s kitchen. Private cooking was banned and replaced by communal dining. Everything originally owned by the households; animals, stored grains and other food items were also contributed to the commune. All farming activities were to be centrally assigned by cadres every morning. Everybody in the commune was assigned jobs by their commune leaders.
私人厨房变得多余，个人厨房里的所有东西，如桌子、椅子、炊具和平底锅（甚至俗话说的厨房水槽）都为公社的厨房贡献了。 私人烹饪被禁止，取而代之的是公共用餐。 原本由家庭拥有的一切；動物、储存的谷物和其他食品也捐給了公社。 所有农业活动每天早上都要由干部集中分配。 公社里的每个人都被公社领导分配了工作。
In some places, even money was outlawed.
在某些地方，连钱都是取缔的。
“Loosen your belt and eat all you can” was a popular slogan around that time. Imagine you were living in the Chinese countryside in 1958. You bring your bowl and chopsticks to the dining hall, where it offers an all-you-can-eat buffet style meal served in big porcelain basins. For staples, the usual is porridge for breakfast; rice cake for lunch and steamed rice and yam for supper. The regulations for commune kitchens state clearly that each commune has to serve meat at least twice a month and try to change menus as often as possible.
“拉下腰带，吃所有你能吃的东西”是当时流行的口号。 想象一下，1958年你住在中国农村。 你带着你的碗和筷子去餐厅，那里在大瓷盆里提供自助自助餐。 对于主食，早餐通常是粥；午餐是年糕，晚餐是蒸米饭和山药。 社区厨房的规定明确规定，每个社区必须每月至少提供两次肉类，并尽可能频繁地更换菜单。
If you were lucky, you might have fellow comrades bringing your food to the table, almost like dining in a restaurant. The only differences are that you eat with the whole village and when you are done, you can just walk away with your bowl and chopsticks without having to pay a single penny.
如果你幸运的话，你可能会有同伴把你的食物端到餐桌上，几乎就像在餐厅用餐一样。 唯一的区别是，你和整个村子一起吃饭，吃完后，你可以带着你的碗和筷子走开，而不必付一分钱。
“It’s our rule not to take meal ticket or money from anyone. We are one step away from Communism. This is how it should be”, a former cadre wrote in his later published diary on the dinning hall system.
“我们的规则是不要从任何人那里拿餐券或钱。 我们离共产主义只有一步之遙。 事情应该是这样的，”一位前干部在他后来出版的关于餐厅系统的日记中写道。
In October 1958, more than three million People’s commune dining halls had sprung all over the country. 90 percent of the countryside population was dependent on the commune kitchen. It has been documented that in a small village in Hebei province, 2,889 people were grinding rice everyday in order to meet the demanding needs.
1958年10月，全国有300多万个人民公社食堂。90%的农村人口依赖公社厨房。 有记录表明，在河北省的一个小村庄里，每天有2889人在磨米，以满足苛刻的需求。
However in 1959, most dining halls could not be sustained any longer. On account of governmental control over rural resources and bad weather that year, famine became widespread throughout the countryside, with many food resources being exported to urban areas. The commune kitchen started to limit portions for everyone in the form of meal tickets given to each household every month.
然而，在1959年，大多数餐厅都无法再维持下去了。 由于政府控制农村资源和那年的恶劣天气，饥荒在整个农村蔓延，许多粮食资源出口到城市地区。 公社厨房开始以每月给每个家庭的餐券的形式限制每个人的份量。
It was to become worse in 1960 when every household could only have 250 grams of rice per day. Then, as a solution to food shortages ,the government urged the farmers to go out in the wild and gather whatever they could eat, such as plant seeds and leaves. In a small town of Hebei province, 590 villagers harvested 458,000 kilograms of leaves and herbs in a week.
1960年，当每个家庭每天只能吃250克大米时，情况会变得更糟。 然后，为了解决粮食短缺问题，政府敦促农民到野外去，收集任何他们能吃的东西，如植物种子和树叶。 在河北省的一个小镇，590名村民在一周内收获了45.8万公斤的树叶和草药。
Finally in 1961, thanks to Deng Xiaoping’s investigation in the countryside and letters to Beijing, the central government released a written document allowing the commune members to decide whether they want the dining hall system or not. So after three years of free meals for all, the public dining hall system came to an end as a result of farmers’ consent.
最后，在1961年，由于邓小平在农村的调查和给北京的信件，中央政府发布了一份书面文件，允许公社成员决定他们是否想要餐厅系统。 因此，在三年的免费用餐之后，由于农民的同意，公共餐厅系统结束了。
Nowadays, some restaurants capitalise on nostalgia for the period. One chain restaurant in Nanjing, the “Jiangnan People’s Dining Hall”, serves spicy cuisine from Mao’s hometown in Hunan. Surrounded by decorations on red brick walls carrying fervent slogans while watching waitresses in 60s-style atire bring out dishes the size of basins, one might have a faint feeling of stepping back into the old red China. However, upon asking for the bill, you will be pulled back to reality that China is on its highway towards commercialism with no intention of turning back.
如今，一些餐馆利用对那个时期的怀念。 南京的一家连锁餐厅“江南人民餐厅”提供来自湖南毛的家乡的辛辣菜肴。 被红砖墙上的装饰物包围着，上面挂着热烈的口号，同时看着穿着60年代风格的女服务员拿出盆子大小的菜肴，人们可能会有一种回到旧的红色中国。 然而，在询问法案时，你会回到现实中，即中国正走上商业主义的高速公路，无意回头。
