In the 1980s, in the poorer rural areas, women would use cloth for their periods. They would wash and reuse them. Families in slightly better financial situations, like Li Nuanchun's, preferred rectangular sanitary napkins. The paper was a bit hard and uncomfortable, but the price was indeed very affordable.
Only women like Yu Shiya could afford to use sanitary napkins. To them, these were considered luxury items, items that were disposed of after a single use. Why should they use such good stuff?
They reasoned that it would be better to save some money and buy a few pounds of meat instead.
Of course, although hospital nurses did not earn much, they had a tendency to compete with each other. Most of them also used sanitary napkins. Chen Yanmei would always make sarcastic comments behind their backs whenever she saw them. They were in no financial position to afford such things!
