In the early winter, walking into Xiaogang Village, Fengyang, Anhui Province, there are many farmhouses and specialty shops on both sides of Friendship Avenue in the village, and the shop owner warmly greets guests. The "Dabaogan" memorial hall is full of vitality by tourists who come and go from the north to investigate and visit.
In front of the "Jinchang Restaurant" on the main road of Xiaogang Village, 80-year-old Yan Jinchang is leisurely basking in the sun. Forty-five years ago, also in early winter, Yan Jinchang and the villagers of Xiaogang Village secretly pressed the red handprint of the implementation of guaranteed production to households, opening the curtain of China's rural reform. Over the past 45 years, Xiaogang Village has gone through the reform from a large package to the issuance of land rights confirmation certificates to the "red book", and then to the reform of turning rural resources into assets, funds into shares, and farmers into shareholders.
The life of Yan Jinchang's family has also undergone earth-shaking changes. Today, four of Yan Jinchang's five sons have opened restaurants or supermarkets in the village, and their business is booming, and their lives have reached a new level. Yan Mei, the granddaughter of the old man Yan Jinchang, chose to return to Xiaogang Village after graduating from university and became a tour guide in the visitor center, where she gained her own world.
Recently, the New Yellow River reporter walked into the home of Yan Jinchang to explore the changes of the times that have occurred in this small village in the past 45 years through the fate and changes of this family.
When I first met the old man Yan Jinchang, he was sitting in front of the farmhouse he opened with his son, chatting with the old people next to him. Yan Jinchang, who has lived in Xiaogang Village for 80 years, has a deep love for this small village where he was born and raised, and even the great drought 45 years ago did not force him to have the idea of fleeing.
Back in 1978, Anhui Province experienced a rare drought in a century, Fengyang County was affected by the natural environment, the drought was more serious, and the population outflow of the entire Fengyang County spread to most of China. At that time, Xiaogang Village was a well-known "three-reliance village" - "food depends on supply, spending money depends on relief, and production depends on loans", and almost every family goes out to "ask for food" after the autumn harvest every year. At that time, there were 20 households in Xiaogang Village, with 1,100 acres of cultivated land, but only 300 acres were suitable for growing crops, and the annual per capita ration was only more than 200 catties.
Yan Jinchang, an 80-year-old man this year, lives every day to help his children visit the store and bask in the sun.
"At that time, there were 8 people in my family, and 6 children were waiting for food with their mouths open, and they had to starve to death if they didn't have any choice. Yan Jinchang recalled that era, when their production team ate a big pot of rice, doing more and doing less, the enthusiasm of the villagers was frustrated, and "grinding foreign workers" became a common phenomenon. At that time, Xiaogang Village also thought about changing the production model, 20 households were first divided into one group, then divided into 2 groups, 4 groups, and finally divided into 8 groups. ”
If you are poor, you will think about change. On a cold night in December 1978, 18 peasant households in Xiaogang Village met to sign a "secret agreement", pressed a bright red handprint, and distributed the land, cattle, and farm tools of the production team to each household according to the capita, and started a "big package". "When we signed the contract, I was excited and nervous, and it was against the land policy of the time that we divided the land to each family. But if you don't, you'll starve to death. On the night of signing the contract, Yan Jinchang and others distributed the land, cattle, and farm tools of the production team to each household overnight, and started a "big package". "The night the red handprint was pressed, I hardly slept all night. The next day, the family got up early in the morning, picked up farm tools, and went down to the field. Yan Jinchang would never have imagined that this "secret agreement" gave birth to the famous "Red Handprint Lonely Book" in history, which fixed the starting point of China's rural reform.
In the blink of an eye, in 1979, the total grain output of Xiaogang Village reached more than 130,000 catties, five times that of the past, and "one year of work was enough to eat for five years"; that year, the per capita income of Xiaogang Village increased from 22 yuan to 350 yuan; and the loan of 800 yuan was returned, which was the first time in history that the state loan was repaid. So far, from Anhui to the whole country, from the countryside to the city, the ice has melted, the earth has rejuvenated, and China has opened a golden age of reform and opening up.
The story of Yan Jinchang and this small village is still sung today. And now, this old man, who has entered his old age, lives every day to help his children look at the store, walk around and bask in the sun. Standing outside his farmhouse, looking at the tourists coming and going on the street, Yan Jinchang sighed: "That red handprint is the most important and correct decision I have ever made in my life. ”
Returning to his hometown "Bao second generation" Yan Dequan: Taking advantage of the "second entrepreneurship", life is prosperousBorn in 1978, Yan Dequan (Yan Xiaoliu) is Yan Jinchang's youngest son, and he does not have much memory of the event that determined the future of hundreds of millions of farmers in Xiaogang Village and even the whole of China. In his impression, the most profound thing is that in the first few years of "big package", his parents worked very hard, got up early and greedy for darkness, and his mind was all on the ground. However, the family is eating better and better, and more and more food is saved at home. After growing up and being sensible, Yan Dequan admired his father's actions from the bottom of his heart, and also thanked his father for his choice back then, allowing him to have a well-fed and clothed childhood.
The pioneering work of 18 people in that year made Xiaogang Village famous in the whole country, and the research groups and inspection groups that came one after another, Xiaogang people were shrouded in various halos. However, more than 20 years after the "big package", Xiaogang Village has once again fallen into a development dilemma. From the 90s of the 20th century to the early 21st century, the whole village of Xiaogang Village mainly farmed, there were no township enterprises, the per capita income of the whole village was only 2,000 yuan, lower than the average level of the county, the village collective owed 30,000 yuan, and the village did not elect the "two committees" for many years...... The population of Xiaogang Village has been outflowed again, and many Xiaogang people have gone out to work to make money. Yan Dequan is one of the outflows from Xiaogang, and in his 20s, he followed his fellow villagers to Hefei and Chuzhou to work.
Yan Jinchang's son Yan Dequan and daughter-in-law Yang Xingye.
The stagnant development has made Xiaogang people realize that the reform is only in progress, not completed, and that Xiaogang Village must keep up with the pace of the times if it wants to develop. In 2004, under the leadership of the leader of the party organization represented by Shen Hao, the second batch of selected cadres in Anhui Province, Xiaogang Village began a difficult "second venture" and formulated a "three-step" development strategy: developing modern agriculture, engaging in scientific planting and processing of agricultural products; developing tourism, building a large bagan memorial hall, using the Xiaogang brand to bring fire to characteristic tourism; attracting investment to set up industries, developing industrial parks, and carrying out deep processing of agricultural products. At the same time, Xiaogang actively promotes land circulation, builds high-standard farmland, and the development of modern agriculture is also on the fast track. It is understood that in 2022, the collective economic income and per capita disposable income of Xiaogang Village will reach a new high, reaching 13 million yuan and 33,000 yuan respectively, an increase of 6.6% and 8.2% from 12.2 million yuan and 30,500 yuan in 2021.
Taking advantage of the policy, Yan Dequan, who was working outside, also returned to Xiaogang Village, and after transferring his family's land, he planned to start a business. "Rural people feel Xi to entering the factory, and they come back after working for a while. Later, he learned the craft of a chef and finally opened his own restaurant and became the owner. Yan Dequan told the New Yellow River reporter that four of their five brothers have returned to the village to open restaurants or supermarkets. The "Jinchang Restaurant" named after Lao Yan was opened by the fourth brother, and the Xiaogang Manor was opened by him and his daughter-in-law. "Sometimes there are too many people to sit down, and when there is an empty table on my side to sit down, I will arrange for guests to eat at my side. Family members take care of each other and earn a lot of money. "With the continuous development of tourism in Xiaogang Village, there are more and more tourists, and now, Yan Dequan's farmhouse has an average annual net profit of more than 100,000 yuan.
Yan Dequan's wife, Yang Xingye, told the New Yellow River reporter that more than 20 years ago, when she married Xiaogang Village from other villages, it was when Xiaogang's development was in a difficult situation. Household appliances, buildings, and cars, which were unimaginable in the past, are now available in almost every household. The village has also built memorial halls, public schools, folk scenic spots, and roads are getting better and better.
"When I was a child, I could only see it in folk scenic spots. In the past 45 years, my family's life has changed qualitatively. Yan Dequan said.
Dream chasing Xiaogang Yan Mei: After graduating from university, I returned to the village and harvested my own world hereYan Mei, born in 1997, is the granddaughter of Yan Jinchang, who refused the opportunity to stay in the big city after graduating from university and returned to Xiaogang Village to work as a commentator in a travel company. As a new generation of Xiaogang Village, Yan Mei has felt the hardships of her ancestors since she was a child, and she understands that the spirit of Xiaogang is to dare to think and dare to do, and this spirit also affects her future.
Yan Jinchang's granddaughter Yan Mei
"I majored in broadcasting and hosting in college, and I also wanted to stay in the big city when I graduated, but as a person from Xiaogang Village, I had an unshirkable obligation to promote Xiaogang Village, so I chose to return to Xiaogang Village. Yan Mei explained that Xiaogang Village is just an ordinary village, but there are many employment opportunities, wide development opportunities, and the job of a narrator has satisfied her spiritual needs. "Because every time I explain to others and promote my hometown, I am always full of pride. ”
As a post-90s generation, Yan Mei has not experienced the great changes in the history of Xiaogang Village, but she is still very familiar with this history. "When I was a child, I often heard my grandfather and father tell me how difficult their days were and how hard-won their lives are now. Yan Mei said that when she entered the workplace, she had a further understanding of the history of Xiaogang Village, and then she had a better understanding of the difficulties of the elders and the significance of the historical changes of Xiaogang Village. With the development of tourism in Xiaogang Village, in the face of more and more tourists, improving her professional quality has become a compulsory course for her.
Like Yan Mei, more and more young people in Xiaogang Village are returning to their hometowns to work. In recent years, Xiaogang Village has developed a red tourism industry in full swing. A few years ago, Chuzhou Xiaogang Village Tourism Investment Management Co., Ltd. was established, with the creation of Xiaogang National 5A-level scenic spot as the starting point, and the second phase of the construction of "Farmhouse of the Year" was launched. At the same time, Xiaogang Village has established a national agricultural science and technology park, and continues to release agricultural vitality through high-standard farmland management, "water diversion to posts" and "Huairun Gang" and other projects. Panpan Food, Kaisheng Agriculture, etc. have successively landed in Xiaogang Village and put them into production, creating jobs for the local people.
"There are many employment opportunities in Xiaogang Village, as long as you are willing to work, you can harvest your own world in Xiaogang. Yan Mei said affirmatively.
Reporter: Li Qingbin Planner: Pan Qingzhao Planner: Guo Jigang Photography: Wang Zhanghua Camera: Wang Zhanghua Editor: Wang Zhanghua Editor: Lu Ting Editor: Yang Yiqing Proofreader: Tang Qi