Big Pot Meal - The Beginning and End of the Public Canteen

Author: Luo Pinghan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: "The term 'Public Canteen' was once a popular phrase across China, but it vanished from public view within just a few years. What caused it to rise to prominence, and what led to its disappearance from people's sight? This book, through detailed research, traces the historical context and describes the brief yet highly influential development of 'Public Canteens,' taking you back to that extraordinary period in history. For centuries, Chinese farmers had lived in a scattered and leisurely manner. Overnight, they were brought together in public canteens for collective meals, marking a significant change in their way of life. However, there is no inherent connection between eating habits and social systems. Whether farmers ate at home or in public canteens was, at most, a matter of lifestyle. Yet, during the 'Anti-Rightist' campaign following the Lushan Conference, the simple issue of where to eat, like many other things at the time, was elevated to the level of a struggle between two lines of thought. Public canteens were given the special significance of a 'socialist stronghold.' To uphold public canteens was to defend the 'socialist stronghold,' while to oppose them was to undermine socialism and attempt to take the capitalist path. As a result, the once-defunct public canteens were revived, and the country experienced a second wave of large-scale efforts to establish public canteens.