"Children's Canteen in Old East Highlands"

Childhood memories of "East Highlands Children's Canteen"

　　This happened when I was seven years old in the first grade of elementary school, and the East Highland Children's Canteen before the Cultural Revolution was located just south of the old seven and eight buildings in the East Highland living community. It is an old-fashioned bungalow of 1,200 square meters, which looks a bit like an old-fashioned auditorium from the outside.

　　The dining hall of the canteen is 1,000 square meters, and there are many square columns in the house, and there are 20 or 30 large wooden tables of square shapes, each with four long slabs of orange. The canteen gate faces north, two large wooden doors that open apart, and in winter there are quilts hanging on the doors to block the wind. On the left-hand side of the entrance door of the canteen is a row of large long tables, which are counters selling staple foods and various hot dishes, and on the right-hand side is the dining hall, and there are many ceiling fans hanging on the roof of the dining hall. The children's canteen opened at 12 noon, and only the noon meal was served every day, which was mainly to solve the problem of lunch for the children of the dual-worker families, and to relieve the worries of the dual-workers and to make more contributions for socialism, so the leaders at that time were really concerned about the lives of the workers, unlike the current leaders who were vain; eating in the children's canteen was a very interesting thing, and at that time I looked forward to eating in the children's canteen every day, and I had the feeling of going to the restaurant, because at that time the food in the poor family was less oil and water So everyone is proud to go to the restaurant for a meal, and it is a very decent thing to say that the restaurant is also a very decent thing. Every time school is out at noon, you will see the eldest of each family at the school gate waiting for brothers and sisters at the school gate, and when the people arrive, they will line up to eat in the children's canteen. At that time, most of the four or five brothers and sisters in the family were usually the eldest with meal tickets, and each person had a cloth bag hanging outside his bag, and the cloth bag contained a lunch box inside.

　　The time interval between the brothers and sisters of our four children is relatively large, the eldest is in middle school, I am still in elementary school, so our family is assembled at the door of the children's canteen, and this situation is also common for families. Because the children's canteen belongs to the welfare canteen for the children of employees, the price is very cheap, and each person can eat a meal for an average of seven cents, and there are soups, vegetables, meat in the dishes, and the staple food is also very rich in steamed buns, flower rolls, flaky cakes, buns, and hair cakes. There will also be dinners in time for the festival, and the dinners are free! The food served is also delicious that you don't usually see. As soon as I arrived at this stall, there were many children who were not in the East Highlands who also came to eat, but it seemed that no one cared about eating, that era was very kind between people and people, the school and society people took the initiative to do good deeds, remember once my sister lost the meal ticket, our family of four children was in a hurry at the entrance of the canteen, my sister was also anxious to cry, then an aunt came over, asked about the situation, and took our sisters and brothers directly to the back kitchen, and brought us meals, remembering that the food that day was better than usual In that era, such a helpful thing was a very common phenomenon, everyone was willing to give and help others, and everyone was so good and simple in that era!

　　There are more people eating in the children's canteen every day, and sometimes there are some older children who do not queue up to buy food everywhere, so sometimes there will be some contradictions, and every time the uncles and aunts of the canteen will stand up to preside over justice, so the order and atmosphere of the children's canteen are particularly good.

　　When the East Highland Children's Canteen was closed, when we didn't go to the Children's Canteen to eat, I really can't remember, but the children's canteen was full of people every day when it was time to open, and the happy and excited mood at every dinner party made me remember it vividly! Childhood memories are beautiful, and I enjoy this little memories of a thick childhood life, very clear! Vividly remembered! This reminds me of a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, "Gulang Moon Line": the grass warbler flies in February, and the willows on the embankment are drunk with spring smoke. Children return from school early and are busy taking advantage of the east wind to release paper kites. It seems that both ancient and modern people like to miss the stars and dots of their childhood.

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　　 Written in June 2017 by Lu Zhengqing in Xiluo Garden, Beijing