The Ditch (夹边沟)

and testimonies of survivors, including Ti Zhongzheng.

JIABIANGOU

October 1960, Gobi desert

Mingshui Camp, part of the Jiabiangou Labour Camp

Li Minhan, Wei Changhai,

you'll go to dorm number eight.

Come on.

Here are your beds.

Zhang Weiliang,

take a place in the back.

Zhao, the work is going too slowly.

We can't do better.

Director, shouldn't we receive 20,000 men?

Our superiors say they'll arrive in spring.

Chen Yuming!

Director...

Chen, what is the situation in your team?

A third is missing. They can't stand up.

They must all write to their families

to ask them to send food stamps.

Understood.

Director Liu,

if reinforcements arrive only next year,

we won't be able

to clear 4,000 hectares

with the men we have.

I can't help it. Orders from the Rehabilitation Bureau.

Stand up!

Are you playing dead dog?

Stand up!

Zhang Weiliang, let him go!

Put him on the slope.

You cannot scrape the bottom, and mix better?

- Chen... - You're back.

Lao Dong, what are you looking for?

Something to barter with for food.

I still have a pair of pants and a shirt.

If I swap them, I'll have nothing more for the summer.

Poor Dong...

you look forward too much.

Try to hold on until tomorrow first.

Fucking idiot! You still eat that?

You wanna die?

Throw it!

Come on!

I see that you live in luxury;

you still have a watch.

A watch here is useless.

I cannot even trade it.

What kind is it? Let me see.

What is the brand?

Longines.

What?

Longines.

"Long-gin"?

Funny name for a watch.

Stow it away carefully.

Wei Shanghai, wake up.

Here is your divorce decree.

Chen...

Chief...

It is the decree of the divorce court.

Do not eat these seeds!

You'll swell until you burst!

She filed for divorce

without asking my opinion!

This is disgusting!

Stand up! Soup time!

Listen to me carefully.

As you know,

the building of socialism encounters difficulties.

Temporary difficulties.

Given the lack of supplies,

it was decided that starting today,

you won't work anymore.

It doesn't mean that you will remain lying around doing nothing.

To feed yourself, you will make your own harvest

of wild plants and seeds.

The soup is very clear.

Not a speck of cereal inside.

With a ration of 200 grams per day, what do you expect to find?

Come here.

Xiao Li, what's wrong with you?

My dear brother...

I hope you're okay.

And that children are nice with you.

You must know

that I'm in a new camp.

And for several months,

I have not received any letters.

I know nothing

about what happens at home.

It...

worries me

terribly.

Above all,

I hope that after reading this letter,

you can quickly

answer me.

I must say that...

since my arrival here,

I'm sick.

Now,

I'm past

my dysentery crisis.

But my body is

still very swollen.

The last time I wrote,

it was on October 29;

it was

to my children.

I asked them to discuss with you

how

you could send me

more rations.

On my arrival

at Jiabiangou Camp,

I had already

received from you

a tobacco pouch and some tobacco.

I am very grateful to you.

Now...

I find myself

in a desperate situation,

and I hope...

that you will remember

our brotherly ties,

to help me again.

Furthermore,

I beg you to inform our brother

of my situation,

so that he can help me.

Finally,

I hope he can

write me too.

I cannot say all

I have in my heart.

Forgive me.

Your brother, Weixuan.

November 15

1960...

Director...

- You wanted to see me? - Sit down.

Here, this is for you.

Inmates who die, it can't be helped.

But there are also sick men.

It was decided to open infirmaries.

You'll take care of infirmary number one.

Chen...

You're an old friend from the Party.

With you, I'll be quieter.

And the infirmary is heated.

Go settle yourself, you will be warm there.

Chen...

You are awake?

Professor Luo...

you want to urinate?

I just did.

Chen...

you work all day long,

and at night,

you cannot sleep.

You'll make yourself sick.

Come lie here.

I can stay seated.

Professor Luo,

drink a little.

No.

If I drink, I'll have to pee.

If you need to pee, I will help you.

When we were at the main camp,

everyone admired you.

The cart that you built,

it was beautiful and practical.

It spared the horse.

When we went to town for provisions,

the men formed a circle to admire it.

I was engineer in civil engineering.

But here, I became a "right-wing deviant".

What have you done?

During the "Hundred Flowers", at the Party Committee,

I issued an opinion.

I said

that "dictatorship of the proletariat" was not a good phrase.

That it was too limited.

And that "dictatorship of the people" would be more appropriate.

Because the country belongs to the people.

Zhao Tingji died. The crying man is from his village.

I told him to leave, but in vain.

Stop crying, go to bed.

Gathering at the dormitory!

Hurry up!

Meeting at the dorm!

Faster than that!

Zhang Weiliang!

Where is he?

It's him, there.

There you are, chicken! Tie him up!

I will teach you to eat human flesh!

It was a rat!