The Dafeng Zhiqing Farm is a museum comprising five pavilions and has about 40,000 items on display.

Trace a bit of Shanghai's history and head north to Dafeng District in Yancheng City of neighboring Jiangsu Province, home to a big zhiqing (intellectual youth) community.

Zhiqing were the vast majority of educated youth who were sent down to the countryside to learn farming skills during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

About 80,000 Shanghainese were sent to Dafeng where they lived and worked. They encountered numerous hardships and reclaimed three farms from the wastelands.

One of those who lived and struggled there was Wu Ruiyi, who was sent to the Haifeng Farm as an 18-year-old. "The conditions were harsh," recalls Wu, now in her 60s.

She says they used reeds to build houses and slept on damp floor inside shabby thatched cottages filled with mosquitoes. There were leeches on the land they toiled and cold wind whistled through the leaky walls in winter.

That piece of history has been preserved at the Dafeng Zhiqing Farm, a museum comprising five pavilions with about 40,000 items on display.

Some of the structures such as the canteen and public bathroom are original ones that have been well maintained.

"I spent my youth on the farm. It was like my second hometown despite all the hardships," says Wu, who has been a regular visitor to the farm since it was set up.

Among the things at the farm is a post office, where zhiqing can send letters or postcards to their fellow zhiqing bearing a special mark of the farm.

Canteens, dormitories and supply and marketing cooperatives of a bygone era can also be found here, along with various food stamps and clothing coupons distributed during that time when food shortage was frequent and food was rationed. The number of stamps each person received were used to exchange for staples.

There is a wall inside the farm that bears the names of all zhiqing who spent time there.

"I almost burst into tears when I found my name on the wall," says Cai Chaoying, who is in her 50s now, and visited the farm after over 30 years.

Cai went to Haifeng Farm when she was only 17 years old. She was with a team of 70 people whose work included ditching, cutting thatch, weaving ropes, digging canals, transplanting rice seedlings and planting cottons.

"The thatch was taller than us, and men were responsible for shoveling soil and women carried soil blocks. They weighed about 40 kilograms each time," she recalls. "The soil blocks were so heavy that our feet got swollen. Many girls cried inside quilts after they returned to their dormitories."

Cai visits Dafeng every year to keep in touch with history — and memory. Two years ago, more than 50 people from the team she worked with gathered together again for the first time.

"That kind of bond is hard to cut. The farm is a special and nostalgic place for us," she says.

Cai donated her diary and washbasin to the museum several years ago.

It was only on festive occasions like National Day and Chinese Lunar New Year that zhiqing could enjoy meat.

And they would eat slowly just to ensure the flavor lasted for a while.

Greens and sauce soup were the most common food here.

"There was even no potato. Our team shared a pig together on special occasions," says Cai. "Rice with bacon and vegetables was the most delicious food for me at that time, but it was very rare."

The marriage certificates and love letters of zhiqing are also on display. Visitors to the museum can also find old-style kerosene lamps, enamelware bowls, washbasins and "Chairman Mao's Selected Works" that they took with them when they worked on the farms.

The Spring Festival was the most exciting time for the zhiqing because it was the only time when they were allowed to make the rare trip back home.

Carrying heavy bags, they would leave the farm at 3am and take long-distance coaches for a 7-hour ride to the Nantong Port. They would then wait there until midnight to board the ship and arrive at the Shiliupu Dock in Shanghai at 5am or 6am the next day, says Wang Jihu, director of the Shanghai Zhiqing Museum.

"That period was special, and precious for many zhiqing," he says.

Among the things on display include "scenes" of zhiqing marriage, their Shanghai homes, and diaries.

Many zhiqing tied the knot in Dafeng and their marriage certificates are also on display at the museum.

Dafeng Zhiqing Farm

Admission: 60 yuan

Opening time: 8:30am-4:30pm (closed on Mondays)

Address: Shengfeng Road

Tel: (0515) 8328-0909

? Driving: It takes about three hours to cover the distance of about 270 kilometers.

G15 Shenhai Highway — G15 Zhuqiao toll station — G15 Taicang toll station — Dongbang — G15 Sutong Bridge south toll station — G15 Dafeng toll station and exit at Dafeng District

? By public transport: Bus service is available from Shanghai to Dafeng. There are more than 20 buses from Shanghai Bus Terminal, Shanghai Long Distance South Bus Station, Hongqiao Long Distance West Bus Station to Dafeng Bus Station. There are separate buses for the Dafeng Zhiqing Farm, Milu Nature Reserve and Dutch Flower Sea from the Dafeng Bus Station and Dafeng Sightseeing Bus Center.