Yes, a man who had lived through that told me all about it over dinner in Beijing. His academic parents were sent to the country to farm, with predictable results. They ate bark, grass, rats, pigeons - anything to survive when their crops failed.
Plenty didn't make it. He did, and he became strong, starting a company in the US and then a venture firm back in China. But I doubt he would tell you that it was worth it.
Mao was on to something when he ordered students down to the countryside to learn from the peasants.
Yes, a man who had lived through that told me all about it over dinner in Beijing. His academic parents were sent to the country to farm, with predictable results. They ate bark, grass, rats, pigeons - anything to survive when their crops failed.
Plenty didn't make it. He did, and he became strong, starting a company in the US and then a venture firm back in China. But I doubt he would tell you that it was worth it.