Xiyang County, Shanxi Province, once had a brilliant moment, starting from the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, this small county town, there have been three titles, a tanhua, and 31 jinshi, which can be regarded as a treasure of feng shui.
And these Yuanyuan Tanhua, the final achievements, are not as good as Chen Yonggui after liberation, he achieved the position of vice premier in New China, and the local people also circulated a saying that "Xiyang is a big monster, illiteracy can bring the official hat of the prime minister"
Chen Yonggui is a native of the countryside, he was born in 1914, three generations of ancestors are poor peasants, where the land is barren and the people's life is very difficult.
In 1920, the local drought, the mother was starved to death, in order to support the only son, the father sold the nine-year-old daughter, barely survived.
But two years later, Chen Yonggui's father suddenly had a serious illness, knowing that it costs a lot of money to treat the disease, and the family did not have so much money at all, in order not to drag down his son, he chose to hang himself.
7-year-old Chen Yonggui had no one to rely on, so he could only herd cattle for the landlord's family for a living, and when he grew up, he rented a field from the landlord's family and became an ordinary long-term worker.
When he was 26 years old, he married a daughter-in-law under the introduction of relatives, and although he lived in poverty, the relationship between the younger two was still very good.
Later, with the liberation of the whole country, Xiyang County also launched a land reform movement, and the people owned their own land.
Chen Yonggui instantly had a head, he got up early every day and was greedy, very industrious, and he also had a set of crops, and gradually got the attention of the village branch secretary. Chen Yonggui joined the Communist Party in 1948.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became the director of agriculture in Dazhai Village, in order to lead the people to increase grain production.
He also realized the importance of culture, so in 1956, at the age of 42, he began to learn to read, hoping to learn more about farming through literacy and reading.
Chen Yonggui proposed to adopt the form of grouping young and old, specially dividing the old, weak, sick and disabled in the village into a group, assigning them to the work they can, and concentrating young and strong laborers to take charge of high-quality fields.
After his proposal was popularized, it also effectively increased food production.
In 1963, when there was a famine in other places due to natural disasters, it was necessary to mobilize relief food from the central government.
Chen Yonggui's Dazhai village not only does not need relief subsidies, but even doubles grain production.
That year, Dazhai Village also suffered floods and mudslides, and many fertile fields were destroyed.
After Chen Yonggui saw it, he actively organized the villagers to build water conservancy, transported the large stones in the fields, and rebuilt the terraces.
Finally, in this year, Dazhai Village handed over 240,000 catties of grain to the state.
The story of Chen Yonggui and Dazhai Village spread throughout the north and south of the great river, and the State Council also launched a wave of "learning from Dazhai, catching up with Dazhai", calling on farmers throughout the country to learn from Chen Yonggui.
On January 19, 1964, Chen Yonggui ascended to the Great Hall of the People, a dark-skinned old farmer who told the participants about the process of leading the people to reclaim wasteland to fight drought, won the applause of the audience, and then began to give speeches across the country.
On December 26, 1964, he attended Chairman Mao's 71st birthday with Qian Xuesen, Wang Jinxi and others, and was arranged to sit next to the chairman, and later he was rated as a model worker and promoted to a member of the Central Committee.
After that, he returned to his hometown to continue to engage in agricultural construction, and became the secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, under his leadership, the lives of the local rural people have been greatly improved.
In 1975, he became Vice Premier of the State Council, responsible for agricultural production.
He divided his work into three parts, one-third of the time in the field to work, listen to the opinions of the peasants, one-third of the time to Beijing to deal with the work, solve problems for the peasants, the rest of the time, continue to promote the spirit of Dazhai to the whole country.
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping put forward the household contract responsibility system, and his proposal, from our current point of view, was beneficial to the country and the people, but at that time it was opposed by many people.
Chen Yonggui did not understand this policy, and he felt that his Dazhai Village was the right experience and worth learning from everyone.
At that time, hua Guofeng, who was also from Shanxi, was the president of the country, and he knew Chen Yonggui's personality very well, and he also held special talks with him, hoping that he could support this policy.
But Chen Yonggui always insisted on his own opinion, and the two even quarreled several times because of this matter, and finally turned their faces.
In 1980, Chen Yonggui resigned from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, when Deng Xiaoping specially approved the retention of his treatment and gave him a large house in Beijing.
Chen Yonggui was unwilling, and he was born as a farmer, accustomed to a hard life, and did not have much pursuit of life pleasures, and most of his leisure time stayed in Dazhai Village.
Usually, the car allocated by the state is rarely used for travel, and it mainly relies on feet.
Later, he also worked as a consultant at a farm in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, and after being seen, he did not think so: "I was originally a farmer, what is it to work in the fields."
In 1985, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and needed to be hospitalized, and Hua Guofeng personally visited him after learning the news.
Because it was terminal cancer, after a year of treatment, the condition did not improve, in 1986, Chen Yonggui on his deathbed instructed his family not to do a big funeral after death, and transported his body back to Dazhai Village for burial.
At the time of his death, his family also did not hold a funeral in accordance with his last words, and there were almost no party and government personnel at the funeral, only Hua Guofeng could not help but come to the funeral site after learning the news.
He stood in the spirit hall, remembering the bits and pieces between him and Chen Yonggui, and also remembered the dispute between the two of them, turning his face, and finally he couldn't help but have tears in his eyes, bowed three times to the coffin, and then left silently.
Chen Yonggui was a pure farmer, who was valued by the state for his hard work and became vice premier.
In his life, no matter what position he held, he never forgot the responsibility of the peasant.
Even as vice premier, he was always thinking about the peasants.
Hua Guofeng came to send him on his last journey, which is also a recognition and affirmation of him.