(B)
(1) To my surprise, I can not find meat consumption of Shanghai or Chengdu of 1980, 1982 or 1985 in the web--in both Chinese (including 国家粮油信息中心 and 国家统计局 websites) or English (including website of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations).
(2) Fundamentally, your husband is wrong. Shanghai was WORSE off than both Neijing and Urban Szechuan.
Kenneth Richard Walker, Food grain procurement and consumption in China By Cambridge University Press, 1984, at pages 191-194
http://books.google.com/books?id=SK48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=1980+shanghai+meat+consumption&source=bl&ots=qsK-LjzlMt&sig=HKldDh7Ig4gtQLUsCL6E8wa6KKM&hl=en&ei=nVJ_TvnbNKjG0AGGv5kK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=1980%20shanghai%20meat%20consumption&f=false
("Outside the predominately livestock areas of the North West, very small amounts of beef and lamb were consumpted. Few data on poultry consumption are available but fragmentary evidence suggests that in the late 1970s it amounted to 1.0-1.5 kilograms per head." p 193)
Please take notice
Table 61
(a) whose heading is "Meat[a] consumption per head in China (kilograms);"
(b) content: There is no data for Shanghai in 1980 but in 1979 Shanghai was 19.00, whereas in 1980 (no data for 1979) both Peking (28.45) and Szechaun (28.55 for Urban population; 13.85 for rural population).
(c) "Notes:
a. Excluding poultry.
b. Pork only and therefore excludes mutton and beef."
My comment:
(a) Please note that in the same table, Kirin is Chinese Postal Map Romanization 郵政式拼音 for
Jilin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilin
(b) Why was (and is) grain important to meat production in China? Because
"The well-known economist, Mr Yu Guangyuan, considered that the grain problem in China was essentially a feed issue. As indicated before, per capita grain output is 389 kg, more than enough to cover direct food grain needs (230 kg each), but not enough for feed."
Guo Tingshuang and Yang Zhenhai, Chapter 1 Introduction
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y1936E/y1936e05.htm
in
Animal production based on crop residues; Chinese experience (ed. Guo Tingshuang, Manual D Sahchez and Guo Pei Yu). FAO 2002 (FAO animal production and health paper 149).
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y1936E/Y1936E00.HTM
(3) Shanghai is shining nowadays. But it was not the case before China opened up in 1979.
Shanghai was nothing until the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing designated it as a treaty port. In the Republican era, Shanghai was Paris of the East as well as Pearl of the East. Communists took over China in 1949 and basically shut teh nation up. What was Shanghai, with its harbor, for?
Yue-man Yeung and Sung Yun-wing, Shanghai: Transformation and modernization under China's open policy. The Chinese University (of Hong Kong) press, 1996.
http://books.google.com/books?id=b3MX4eQrl50C&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=shanghai+%22living+standard%22+1980&source=bl&ots=Ai7Anm-RU2&sig=Wb3xk8tI-GrFwW2G1nlVPkMHcS4&hl=en&ei=MXJ_TrrpGqi80AGX-tnUDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
("In the early days of socialist construction, Shanghai was not among teh designated key points cities. The geological location of the municipality renders her too vulnerable to foreign attack in the event of warfare. * * * People chose to stay in the city core in spite of a deteriorating standard of living.")
(4) Even today, people in Shanghai consume less pork than those of the ENTIRE Szechuan/Sichuan (including teh rural areas, that is). See
China's Pork Industry: Recent trends and implications for world meat trade and grains trade. Informa Econimics, Inc, undated, page 32 (a multi-client study)
http://unitedsoybean.org/images/uploads/multimedia/Informa_China_Pork_Sector_09_public%5B1%5D.pdf
(Exhibit 23: Per Capita Pork Consumption by Province (kg/person))
In page 194 of the book see footnote 44 about Beijing's AIM (dream actually).
(2) 四川 was 天府之国. But * * *
Jung Chang, Wild Swans; Three daughters of China. various publishers, 1991
vividly depicted people in Sichuan starved to death in Great Leap Forward. And author's father was party proganda head of the province, among the top ten in the provincial leadership.
Even today, Sichuan is among the poorest in China,
List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_China_administrative_divisions_by_GDP_per_capita
(2010 from China NSB: Sichuan was 25th out of 31)
, and sends out the the largest migrant-worker contingency year after year.
Sara Hsu, Shiyin Jiang and Halcott Heyward, The Global Crisis' Impact upon China's Rural Migrants. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 39: 167-185, at 172. http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/viewFile/258/258
("Wang (2010) finds that the largest number of migrant workers originated from Sichuan, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Guangxi, and Jiangxi
provinces.")
(2) Mr Zhao Ziyang was (the first) party secretary and governor of Sichuan, from 1975 to 1980. "要吃糧，找紫陽."
Ex-Chinese Communist Leader Zhao Dies. Associated Press, Jan 6, 2005.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-01-16-zhao_x.htm
("Zhao was named party secretary and governor of Sichuan, China's most populous province, in 1975. With Deng's backing, he dismantled the commune system, restored private plots and rural businesses, raised farm prices and revived bonuses for extra work. His policies turned acute food shortages into bumper harvests. Between 1977 and 1980, Sichuan's farm output went up 25% and industrial production rose 81%. The 'Sichuan Experience' became a model for the nation. * * * Deng brought Zhao to Beijing in 1980 as a vice premier and member of the party's powerful Politburo.")