A gathering of eighteen peasant families became a hallmark of China's reforms

One evening in the early winter of 1978, in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province, 18 peasants in tattered clothes led by Yan Hongchang, Yan Jinchang, and Guan Youjiang went to a dangerous gathering separately and mysteriously. Even their families didn't know what they were doing.

Later, Yan Hongchang, one of the conveners of this gathering, said that this secret gathering was for four words: "Divide the fields and do it alone." The method was what I thought, and I would pick the lead. Quite simply, to complete the country, to leave enough for the collective, and to have more or less left is their own. This practice can be said to have poked a hole in the sky. Doing so in the political environment at the time was in danger of going to jail. At that time, the ten-year catastrophe had just ended, ultra-left ideology was imprisoning China, and under the system of cauldron rice, peasants' independent management was explicitly prohibited. Some farmers grow vegetables privately and raise livestock and are beaten up continuously.

Their gathering lasted from dusk until late at night, and finally with a tragic feeling, they pressed their bright red handprints on a pledge. The contract is written like this: Our cadres are willing to go to jail and kill their heads, and everyone must ensure that our children are raised until the age of 18.

The secret rally was tightly hidden by 18 peasant families, but in the spring, the seedlings that were growing happily revealed the secret. One afternoon in April 1979, Chen Tingyuan, the secretary of the county party committee who heard the wind, came to Xiaogang Village to find out. Neat farmland, thriving crops that had never been seen before. He saw a couple sweating like rain in the field, and Chen Tingyuan asked, "Why do you two work?" You're assigned to the household, right? The honest farmers could not answer for half a day. At this time, Chen Tingyuan already knew it.

Under the pressure of huge political risks, the commune withheld the seeds sown in the spring in Xiaogang Village. Chen Tingyuan said after knowing this: "Xiaogang Village just wants to eat a full meal, and it has little impact on the overall situation." The commune asked the county to issue a consent document, and Chen Tingyuan smiled: "This kind of thing can only be done, how can the document be issued?" Under his sponsorship, Xiaogang Village received the seeds.

Xiaogang Village's practice has aroused a wave of opposition that has been higher than a wave, and a group of leading cadres who dare to take responsibility have withstood tremendous pressure and tried every means to protect the masses. Fengyang County also played a word game with the outside world, calling it "big bag of dry" and avoiding the two words "to the household". Not long after, Wan Li, secretary of the provincial party committee, also heard about the incident and came to Fengyang County. Chen Tingyuan reported to Wanli a slip of the tongue: Big bag of work, really good, cadres and the masses want to do it. Just give it three or five years to dry, eat old grain, and burn old grass. This means that as long as large bags are allowed to dry, it will not be long before there will be surplus grain in the grain storehouse. Wanli was very happy to hear this: "Well, I will approve you to do it for three or five years." "In the autumn, the peanuts, wheat, and rice in Xiaogang Village were harvested more than 130,000 catties. From 20 kilograms per capita to 400 kilograms, more than 60,000 kilograms were sold to the state. This is the magic of the package to the household.

The news reached the center. Deng Xiaoping made up his mind: Will the big package of cadres affect the collective economy? I don't think this worry is necessary.

History has once again proved that the masses of the people are the creators of history. What was done with the lives of his family became a thunderclap of China's reform! Become a symbol of China's reform.