In 1978, an unprecedented natural disaster broke out in Chuxian County, Anhui Province, which devastated the local agriculture and almost lost its harvest. Wang Yuzhao, then secretary of the Chuxian County Party Committee, was very anxious when he saw this, and he hurriedly convened a work meeting of the county party committee to discuss how to deal with the disaster and save the people who were in dire straits.
The comrades of the secretariat of the county party committee first proposed to appeal to the Anhui Provincial Party Committee for an urgent need to apply for relief grain, first solve the immediate urgent need, stabilize the mood of the common people, and avoid mass incidents. In addition, the comrades of the Agricultural Bureau also suggested that the peasants should be organized to launch a self-help movement in production, and that the commune should be used as a unit to open up the barren fields, and strive to grow a crop of grain before the onset of winter, so as to help everyone tide over the period of lack of crops, and as long as they survive the spring ploughing season of the next year, the disaster will subside.
At this time, however, the comrades of the auditing unit stood up again and said that there was a phenomenon of "sabotage" in many communes under Chuxian, and many people usually did not work at all, but only wanted to open their mouths to eat, so even if they organized a self-help campaign, I am afraid that the results would not be much better. As soon as these words came out, the audience was instantly silent, and everyone was dumbfounded.
In fact, everyone understands that since the mid-60s, the malaise of agricultural collectivization has gradually become apparent, and this policy has seriously suppressed the peasants' enthusiasm for production. This has directly led to a rapid decline in grain output, taking Anhui as an example, several counties were model units of agricultural construction in the early 60s, but after 1968, they began to slowly move towards "decline", and the agricultural output value was not as good as year by year, and later even began to reach out to the state for relief grain.
This situation also prevailed in Chu County, where Wang Yuzhao once thought of carrying out "reforms" and relaxing restrictions on peasants, but other comrades of the county party committee resolutely expressed their opposition, and some even made alarmist remarks that Wang Yuzhao was digging into a "corner of socialism." Now, the situation is urgent, and Wang Yuzhao must try his best to eliminate public opinion and implement the "extraordinary law", so he once again took out the "reform plan" that was abolished at the beginning for discussion.
Fortunately, not long ago, Deng Gong had just proposed to emancipate his mind, so the comrades of the county party committee were not as stubborn as before, and after some fierce discussions, they finally adopted Wang Yuzhao's opinion and decided to abolish the commune system in private and implement the policy of "guaranteeing production to households." This policy really had a miraculous effect, since the county party committee issued the order, the members of the communes began to work hard as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, day and night, and before the winter, the county really planted a crop of grain, although the amount was not much, but it was enough for everyone to carry through the whole winter.
When the spring ploughing of the following year, the people of Chu County rose up to sow seeds and worked hard, and as a result, a bumper harvest was ushered in in the autumn, and the county's grain output almost doubled, and the people no longer had to worry about being hungry. Soon, the news reached the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, and Comrade Wan Li, then secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, immediately talked to Wang Yuzhao. Wang Yuzhao was very worried about this, he felt that he would be criticized for reporting to the provincial party committee this time, and he might even be directly removed from his post and investigated! Therefore, before leaving, he handed over the work to the county magistrate in advance to prevent accidents.
Facts have proved that Wang Yuzhao was too worried, and Comrade Wan Li did not come to him to ask for guilt, but to understand the basic situation of the delivery of goods to households. Wang Yuzhao immediately truthfully reported all the agricultural development in Chu County in the past two years, and Wan Li was overjoyed when he heard the news, and instructed him to adhere to the policy and carry out the "reform" to the end! With the endorsement of Comrade Wan Li, Wang Yuzhao's confidence was much tougher, and he immediately wrote the package production to households into the local administrative regulations, and dissolved the communes that had lasted for decades one by one.
In 1982, Wang Yuzhao was promoted to the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee because of his contribution to promoting agricultural reform, and in 1983, he was recommended by Wan Li to serve as the deputy secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and concurrently the governor. In 1987, Wang Yuzhao was transferred to the Party Central Committee, where he was mainly responsible for studying rural policies and providing guidance for agricultural reform.
In 1990, Wang Yuzhao transferred to the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), slowly withdrew from the front line, began to live a recuperation life, in 1993, he completely retired, the Party Central Committee consulted him, arranged for him to settle in Xishan, Beijing, and allowed him to enjoy the treatment of provincial and ministerial senior cadres. In his later years, Wang Lao indulged in practicing calligraphy, as long as he spent four hours in the study every day, when the weather was good, he would go out to fish, relax, feel the beauty of nature, in 2016, this comrade who made a significant contribution to the revolutionary cause unfortunately died of illness at the age of 90.