Archives Revealed: How was the former Central Agricultural Experiment Institute taken over when the Kuomintang fled?

On April 23, 1949, the Kuomintang troops abandoned the city and fled, and Nanjing was liberated. At the beginning of May, the Nanjing Municipal Military Control Commission took over a number of agricultural units of the Kuomintang: the Central Agricultural Experiment Institute, the Central Forestry Experimental Institute, the Central Animal Husbandry Experimental Institute and its subordinate units, as well as the Central Cotton Production Improvement Department, the Tobacco Production Improvement Department, and the Agricultural Extension Committee (referred to as the Agricultural Promotion Committee). Yao Erjue served as the military representative of the agricultural and forestry takeover group, and Sun Hao and Ma Xiaoyuan were the military liaison officers of the Central Agricultural Experiment Institute, responsible for the registration of personnel and property. Through the Military Control Commission, a large number of scientific research personnel evacuated from other places have been brought back to the institute one after another, organized the study of the party's policies, and opened night schools for workers. Wang Zuhua served as an assistant military representative of the Zhonglin Institute and Li Ruimin as an assistant military representative of the Zhonglin Institute, Chen Jinyu as an assistant military representative of the Agricultural Promotion Association, and Wang Jiaxun as a military liaison officer. Xu Ji served as the secretary of the party branch of various agricultural units outside zhongshan gate.

In early October, the agricultural units were handed over to the East China Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Office in Ningbo to take over. Xu Ji was appointed as the military representative of the Zhongnong Institute, and Zhu Ye was appointed as an assistant military representative; soon Xu Ji was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of East China, with Zhu Ye as the military representative, and Wang Zuhua and Li Ruimin were still serving as assistant military representatives at the Zhonglin Institute and the Zhonghuo Institute. The work in this section is the restoration work after the takeover, the organization of operational work, and the study of the Party's policies for the newly liberated areas.

On the eve of the liberation of the whole country, there were two main factions in the agricultural circles: the Central University School and the Jinling University School. Led by Shen Zonghan, Jin Dapai took charge of the Central Agricultural Experiment Institute and later went to Taiwan. The Zhongda faction was represented by Zhou Shilu and Jin Shanbao. In the process of defeat and retreat, the Kuomintang evacuated the middle peasants' house in advance. The scientific research instruments are stored in the home of experts surnamed Zhang in The Drum Tower. Evacuate the rice cultivation department to Changsha, Hunan, evacuate the grain system to Chong'an, Fujian, evacuate the soil and fertilizer agrochemical department to Shanghai, and evacuate the agricultural economic department to Guilin, Guangxi. During the takeover by comrades Sun Hao and Ma Xiaoyuan, they transported back the scientific research instruments and registered the property, but fortunately the instruments were not damaged. Later, he accepted the suggestion of Jiang Deqi and others, reported to Wan Li, director of the Economic Department of the Nanjing Military Control Commission, for approval, and sent a letter to the Military Control Commission in relevant places to recruit the personnel of the former Middle Peasant Institute. For example, Zhou Taichu in Changsha, Mei Zhifang in Chong'an, Lu Liangshu, and Dai Hong in Shanghai all returned to Nanjing one after another.

At the beginning of 1950, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Central People's Government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Resources of the East China Military and Political Commission decided to relocate all the personnel and equipment of the Agricultural Economics Department of the former Central Agricultural Experimental Institute, the Central Animal Husbandry Experimental Institute and the Central Forestry Experimental Institute to Beijing, and most of the personnel and all the books and instruments of the former Cotton Production Improvement Department and the Tobacco Production Improvement Department to the central and southern regions. The former Central Agricultural Experiment Institute and other institutions in Nanjing were merged into a comprehensive agricultural science research institute, the East China Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Director Liu Chun'an, Deputy Directors Zhou Liping and Zhou Shilu.