The interest rates paid for private credit were extremely high in some areas. One such case was recorded in a study of Dancheng County, Henan Province. The study found that the combined revenues for production teams was 21.76 million yuan between January and September 1979, yet the expenditure was 36.33 million yuan.

[A]n objective needs to be followed up by some specific form of measurement or it is meaningless – It is a motherhood statement.

Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower eutectic critical temperature.

‘I had the happy notion of adding an egg,’ Williams shouted back. ‘It poaches in the soup. Not unlike an Italian stracciatella. Singularly toothsome...’