This article was completed on Lunar New Year's Eve in 2021, and it will be published in the new book "Hundred Flowers Recalling the Past" in October this year. The original intention of writing, first, is to get a glimpse of that strenuous era and the unremitting efforts and exploration of an ordinary economist in the tide of reform by sorting out several fragments of his father's academic career. The second is to admire the intellectuals of my father's generation, who experienced social changes, revived their spirits and devoted themselves to reform and opening up, because they had "hope".
If I hadn’t come across the original site of the Moganshan Conference while climbing the mountain, I might not have thought of consulting my father’s academic research, nor would I have the following texts.
The original site of the Moganshan Conference, Zhejiang, Moganshan
In the summer of 2020, I stopped briefly in Deqing, Zhejiang, and went to climb the nearby Mogan Mountain. I walked past a church-like building inadvertently, and the sign said: The original site of the Moganshan Conference. Curiosity led me into this original cathedral. A large number of pictures and explanatory texts are placed against the walls in the empty auditorium. It turned out that something big happened here. In 1984, outstanding young and middle-aged economists from all over the country gathered here through the selection method of paper submissions. They spoke freely, debated fiercely, and discussed national policies. The results of the meeting influenced a series of important economic reform policies in the late 1980s. Some people called this historic meeting "the first cry of young and middle-aged economists".
Interesting, the parents should be contemporary economists. Continue reading and see the following text: In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party ushered in a new era of history. By 1984, the rural reform had made important achievements, but the urban reform had not yet started. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out in time: "The reform must be transferred from the rural areas to the cities."
Rural reform, isn't this father's research? Curiosity led me to search the Internet. I entered my father's name "Chen Wuyuan" into HowNet, and found more than 40 papers. I was surprised when I saw those familiar words, household contracting, people's communes, joint operation of agriculture and industry, township enterprises, migrant workers, WTO, small property rights housing, agricultural tax, new countryside... I seemed to see the entire rural economic reform in China More than 40 years of development history!
After returning to Chengdu from Zhejiang, I downloaded these articles and read them to my father who was hospitalized. He smiled and nodded. This is the research he devoted his life and wisdom to, and he will never forget it. After careful review, I found that the information on HowNet only showed a small part of my father's decades of research. Since the beginning of the reform in 1979, my father has conducted systematic pioneering research and exploration on issues such as rural reform, township enterprises, transfer of rural labor force, urbanization, farmers’ income increase, “three rural areas” and other issues, and has undertaken and completed more than 30 national projects. More than 20 provincial and international cooperation projects, published more than 300 papers and survey reports, monographed and co-authored more than 10 academic works and teaching materials, and many research achievements have won national and provincial awards.
This is a vast study, worthy of a book. Due to space limitations, only a few fragments can be extracted to get a glimpse of that vigorous era and the unremitting efforts and explorations of an ordinary economist in the tide of reform. Looking at my father's lifelong research, I found that he was not only writing books, but more importantly, in that special era, he put the research results into practice and had a positive impact on society, especially in rural areas.
Guanghan Xiangyang People's Commune delisted
A few years ago, my cousin who was reviewing the college entrance examination sent a picture saying that my uncle (my father) appeared on their college entrance examination review materials. I saw it, it really is! This is related to a major event that happened in Guanghan more than 30 years ago. My father was a participant and witness, and he was also one of the first authors who spread this major news all over the world.
In 1980, the Xiangyang People's Commune in Guanghan County (now Guanghan City), Sichuan, took off the last of the "Three Red Flags": the People's Commune.
In 1980, Guanghan Xiangyang People's Commune replaced the People's Commune brand with the township government brand
Father's early research began in Guanghan, and the time began with "returning to the team". At the end of 1979, my father returned to the research position and joined the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, which was being established, as one of the founding scholars of the Academy. At first, he worked in the Guest House of the Provincial Party Committee on Shiye Street. Later, the office building and dormitory were built in Baihuatan, where my father's more than 30 years of rural economic research was carried out.
Two letters from his father's "Return to the Team" letter, "Mr. Chen Wuyuan's "Return to the Team" Letter" (Chen Ying, Su Donglai, "Contemporary History Materials", Issue 4, 2021). Left: Father's self-recommendation letter to Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences on February 18, 1979. Right: A letter to my father from the Economic Research Office of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences on July 4, 1979.
The early 1980s was an era of turbulent thinking, and the theory and practice of reform coexisted with great strides and hesitation. Sichuan is one of the birthplaces of rural reform, and researchers dare to be the first in the world. My father pointed out in his paper "A Preliminary Exploration of Household Contracting of Production" [1] that the Sichuan practice of household contracting of production stimulated production and effectively promoted the widespread implementation of the household contract system.
Around 1980, he and his colleague Liu Zheng were stationed in Guanghan to conduct research on rural reform. According to my father’s later recollection in the article “From Qiliying to Xiangyang”[2], the specific date when Xiangyang Commune in Guanghan, Sichuan picked up the People’s Commune sign was probably one day in June 1980. In addition to the grand occasion and publicity of singing, dancing, and gongs and drums, apart from the leaders saying hello and not promoting or reporting, there was also a bit of fear and vigilance at the time that they were afraid of being labeled as "opposing the three red flags" and "three anti elements". From the establishment of the first people's commune in Qiliying, Xinxiang County, Henan Province in July 1958 to the removal of the first people's commune sign in Xiangyang Township, Guanghan County, Sichuan Province in June 1980, this experiment that lasted more than 20 years has finally come to an end , "People's Commune" has since withdrawn from the stage of history.
In 1980, my father (the third from the right in the front row) and teachers from Southwest Agricultural College, Sichuan Agricultural College, and Southwest University of Finance and Economics were conducting agricultural economic surveys in Guanghan, and the author was in the back row (first from the right)
At the end of 1980, my father, together with his colleague Liu Zheng, wrote the article "A Preliminary Attempt to Reform the Rural Management System——Investigation on the Reform of "Government and Social Integration" System in Xiangyang Commune, Guanghan County, Sichuan Province"[3], which was the first to report this to the whole society. A major historical event. As soon as the article came out, it immediately attracted the attention of the society. Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, the news quickly spread all over the world. Japan's "Asia Xunkan" reprinted the full text, and the British "Times" carried out an excerpt, with the title "The Last of China's Three Red Flags-The People's Commune Has Fallen in Guanghan County, Sichuan". Then the domestic newspapers and periodicals also carried out reprints and excerpts. From then on, the news of Xiangyang picking up the People's Commune brand spread like wildfire and spread throughout the society.
This article is not only the first to report to the whole society that Xiang Yang picked up the brand of the People’s Commune, but also the first article to reveal the disadvantages of the People’s Commune in a public journal since the People’s Commune was founded. The disclosure of the news made Xiangyang Township of Guanghan County famous far and wide. Like the construction of the first people's commune in Qili, it attracted visits from international friends, central leaders, relevant ministries and commissions, and heads of provinces, cities, and counties. The practice of Guanghan Xiangyang was quickly recognized by the top decision-makers. On January 2, 1983, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued "Several Issues in the Current Rural Economic Policy", which proposed the issue of reforming the people's commune system across the country and restoring townships, villages, and communes across the country. (group) establishment.
Father (second from left) won the first prize at the "Building the Golden Triangle in the North of Chengdu and Creating a New Situation for Comprehensive Reform—Commemorating the 35th Anniversary of Guanghan Rural Reform"
This was an important event when my father participated in the research at the beginning of the rural reform. While publishing a large number of papers, he wrote the books "Rural Economic System Reform" and "Research on Rural Commodity Economy".
A Survey of the North and the South
Completion of a national project
Entering the 1990s, my younger brother and I both graduated from university and started studying abroad, while my father's research pace entered the era of blowout. During this time, he focused his research on township enterprises and the subsequent wave of migrant workers.
In the folder left by my father, there is a clipping of the 1988 People's Daily editorial "The Great Decade", and the reform is in full swing. Sichuan is the general direction of the country's western development. Township enterprises have become an important pillar of the rural economy. At the same time, they are also facing problems such as new technology revolution, market competition, shortage of talents, poor management, ineffective information, and unreasonable systems. The management of township enterprises The training of cadres is extremely urgent.
Some manuscripts of the outline of "Township Enterprise Studies"
In 1986, the "Training Materials for Township Enterprise Management Cadres" was released, and my father gave a lecture on "Township Enterprises" to train agricultural economic cadres in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Later, the "Sichuan Township Enterprise Research Institute" was established, and his footprints of investigation and research in various places were recorded in several notebooks. During that time, when I was at home on vacation, I also heard and familiarized the names of many towns in Sichuan: Suining, Anyue, Zizhong , Jing Yan and so on. These research accumulations also provided a large amount of raw materials and data for my father's subsequent National Social Science Fund projects. The monographs "Theory and Research on Township Enterprises" (1990) and "Comparative Research on Township Enterprises and State-owned Enterprises" (1991) were successively published, completed "Research on Resource Exploitation and Development Strategy in Southwest China" and won the second prize of scientific and technological progress of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1993 Award, the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award in 1995.
In 1991 , the monthly city bus pass during the investigation in the Netherlands
It is very exciting to go out after reform and opening up. What impressed me the most was that my father went to the Netherlands in 1991 to inspect the small and medium-sized enterprises there. Take the train from Beijing, cross Siberia, stop in Moscow and transfer to Amsterdam. His father is good at calligraphy and painting, and has the habit of painting all the way. He still keeps the sketches of passing by Moscow University, and he has kept the monthly bus pass in the Netherlands.
With the deepening of economic development, the rural surplus labor force began to flow and export, forming a rare large-scale "migrant labor wave", which the American "Time" magazine called "the largest population flow in history". Due to the raging force, the government and the city were unprepared, causing shock and impact on society, and it is still expanding. At that time, there were no targeted research results and monographs in the world. Against this background, my father started the research on the "migrant labor wave".
In the dossier left by my father, the 1994 national project "Following Investigation and Research on "Sichuan Migrant Worker Tide"" is very complete. From the establishment of the project to the transformation of the results, the schedule is tight and orderly. Those research methods are also of reference today and are worth a book. Due to space limitations, some parts are selected here, and a complete combing remains to be done in the future.
My father's research on the "migrant labor tide" was divided into two stages, the "migrant labor tide tracking research" in 1994 and the development trend and countermeasure research of the "migrant labor tide" in 1995-1996. The former is trying to find problems in a large number of field investigations, while the latter is thinking deeply and researching countermeasures with the sensitivity of scholars. These two parts are national key projects, which are strictly completed in a careful plan. What is commendable is that these survey and research results were finally transformed and adopted in a timely manner. At that time, my father was over half a hundred years old. If we subtracted the "Cultural Revolution" for 10 years, it would be a time when he was young and experienced.
In the 1990s , questionnaires used in the survey of "migrant workers"
On February 16, 1994, investigation notes on the "migrant labor wave" at Chengdu North Railway Station
The first phase of the "migrant labor tide" follow-up study lasted for one year. From the large amount of materials preserved (introduction letters, train tickets, contact letters, notes and photos), we can see the footprints of my father's investigations in Sichuan and all over the country, from counties and towns to From the village to the individual, the scope is wide, the content is substantial, and there is no sloppy. The younger brother still remembers going to the North Railway Station with his father during the Spring Festival to investigate the migrant workers who went home for the New Year. The small questionnaire used for the survey back then is still there, simple, clear and efficient. Even on ships and cars, my father's ability to strike up a conversation with people was perfectly used in the investigation. Sufficient first-hand information enables the subsequent comprehensive report to be meaningful and well-founded. "Following Investigation and Research on "Migrant Workers' Tide" in Sichuan" won the second prize of the Research Achievement Award of the Soft Science Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1994. On related issues, my father also wrote more than 10 broadcasts for Sichuan Radio Station, so that the research results can be transformed and promoted in a timely manner.
In 1994 , Sichuan Broadcasting Station recorded the broadcast draft, provided suggestions for the provincial government's Migrant Workers Guidance Office and wrote publicity materials and records
The second phase of research on the development trend and countermeasures of the "migrant labor wave" was part of a project commissioned by Canada. It was completed during 1995-1996 and involved more provinces and cities. My father used a well-thought-out and in-depth research method. At that time, there were 12 million migrant farmers in Sichuan, accounting for 1/6 of the country, and there were 6.5 million migrant workers across provinces. China's huge "migrant labor wave" attracted worldwide attention. The results of the research were directly used in practice. "Organizing the Orderly Flow of Migrant Workers" written and preached by my father was adopted by the Office of the Provincial Migrant Workers Guidance Leading Group (1999), and "Specific Countermeasures for Strengthening Migrant Worker Management" was published in the National Social Science Fund The 29th issue of the project "Outcome Report", in which 10 measures were sent to the central government.
During this time, my father’s summary of his career was as follows: firstly, writing, secondly, teaching, and thirdly, painting.
an epoch-making proposal
a club in an alley
Entering the millennium, my father has been engaged in rural economic research for more than 20 years, and his professional title has been rated as a researcher. He is over 60 years old, and his thinking is still active. While continuing to pay attention to the "three rural" issues, he also studies the WTO. At the same time, he has one more Status - member of Jiusan Society. Starting from the wish of "protecting the interests of farmers and promoting the development of the rural and agricultural economy", he paid attention to people's livelihood and pleaded for the people. Through the two platforms of the Academy of Social Sciences and Jiusan Society, he gave full play to the role of "think tank" and submitted a number of research results and policies. Suggestions and proposals, such as "resolving the problem of migrant workers' children's difficulty in studying", "exempting agricultural tax issues", "vigorously streamlining township institutions", etc., have successively adopted more than 20 policy suggestions, and have frequently "appeared" in newspapers and radio stations. As in the last 10 years, my father's papers and projects have not decreased at all, so he was rehired twice after reaching the retirement age. During this period of research, my father is most proud of his proposal in 2003.
At the end of 2002, my father drafted the "Proposal on Exempting Taxes and Reducing Farmers' Burden", which listed 10 convincing reasons. The proposal was submitted by the Jiusan Society to the National and Provincial People's Congresses and the "Two Sessions" of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and was later valued and adopted by the government. Since 2005, the whole country has been exempted from agricultural tax, which has since announced the end of the "imperial grain tax" that has been "old" for more than two thousand years. This proposal was rated as the best proposal of "the most influential and most concerned with people's livelihood" in 2003-2006.
China's agricultural tax (or land tax) began in the Spring and Autumn Period and has been a huge burden for farmers for more than 2,500 years. The agricultural tax is exempted, and farmers get benefits. I am grateful. Wang Sanni, a 60-year-old farmer in Qinglian Village, Lingshou County, Hebei Province, devoted all his family property to casting a large bronze tripod weighing more than 250 kilograms, "Farewell to Tian Fu Ding", and personally wrote the inscription Document this historical event. There is a poem praising it:
Prosperous and strong country through reform and opening up
The disparity between the rich and the poor worries the party
Love the people and govern the country to seek harmony
Scientific development seeks balance
The Prosperity of Sixty Old Farm Songs
Pro-cast "Farewell to Tian Fu Ding"
900 million farmers exempted from agricultural tax
Live and work in peace and contentment
Concerned about the suffering of farmers, my father can do it very carefully. Among his relics are several letters from a female high school student named Yan in Jiange, which occurred between 2003 and 2006 . After reading those letters, I realized that my father sponsored a female student from a poor family to finish high school.
Left: In 2000 , the Jiusan Society application form Right: In 2005 , the Jiusan Society’s "Excellent Member" notification document
Many of my father's proposals were submitted through the platform of Jiusan Society. There are two interesting things about Jiusan Society.
The first one was to fill out the application form for joining the Jiusan Society in 2000. When filling out the form, my father first summarized his academic experience, and then mentioned that he was able to draw and write. I couldn’t help laughing when I saw this. I remembered that in Da Vinci’s self-recommendation letter to the Grand Duke of Milan 500 years ago, he first listed 10 skills, such as designing war weapons and construction engineering. Finally, the master of art said: I can also paint and sculptures.
The second interesting thing is that in 2005, he was awarded the "Excellent Member" of Jiusan Society . On the red-headed document of the award notification, he wrote a comment, explaining that he won the award because he completed many projects and proposals in the past five years, 90% of which were adopted, resulting in economic and social benefits. Then he changed his pen and said that the 100 yuan bonus he got could buy 60 catties of rice, or enough for one-fifth of a month's basic living expenses. The father's sense of humor is evident.
Before and after his retirement in 2008, his father was honored as an advanced individual for "providing ideas and suggestions" by the provincial government, and was hired as one of the nine members of the Agriculture and Forestry Committee by the Central Committee of the Jiusan Society. After retiring, my father and several old professors in the college gathered at the Fanglin Teahouse in Baihuatan Alley at a fixed time every week, which was called the "Professors Club". Professors drink tea, and late students are also welcome to participate. This kind of teacher-student communication is easy and natural. According to Su Donglai, who was still a graduate student at the time, he learned a lot of professional knowledge from his father during these conversations, and the paintings his father gave him are still hanging at home. After my father fell ill in 2014, I went to less teahouses, and I didn’t drink tea much in the professor’s club. It’s like missing a teacher, like missing a soul.
Forty years by the Baihuatan
The Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences is located beside Baihuatan, where not only the footsteps of my father's academic research, but also the ink marks of his pursuit of art for decades. He created a large number of Chinese calligraphy and paintings here, and presented them to his colleagues, decorated the office, and participated in the calligraphy and painting exhibitions in the courtyard. The idle chapter of "making a fuss and painting second" is a portrayal of his career. On Father's Day 2020, I wrote an article "Father Writes Bamboo, I Paint Ladies" , recording the decades of calligraphy and painting affection between father and daughter.
1990s, Academy of Social Sciences Art Exhibition, father and teacher Yuan Ke
When I finished writing this article, my father had already left me for several months. At his funeral, I wrote: Dad’s tireless research motivation comes from the heart. One of the words he often said is: "I am the farmer who carries the hoe, understand them, poor farmer!" I still remember my father's voice with an eastern Sichuan accent. When I was taking care of my father in Chengdu, I passed by the office building of the Academy of Social Sciences every day, and the words "doing learning for the people" on the big stone in the courtyard of the building spoke out my heart.
After my father's funeral, his old colleague Uncle Da Fengquan handed me two carefully preserved letters, which were letters from my father requesting to return to the army 42 years ago. Reading my father's handwriting, I can't help thinking, what would our era be like without the era of rectifying the chaos and giving intellectuals the opportunity to use what they have learned? Perhaps, none of the above things will happen.
[1] Tang Hongqian, Chen Wuyuan, "A Preliminary Discussion on "Household Production Contracts"", "Agricultural Economic Issues", No. 12, 1980.
[2] Chen Wuyuan, "From Qiliying to Xiangyang—A Documentary of the Reform of the People's Commune System", "Rural Economy", No. 8, 2008.
[3] "Economic Management" Published in Issue 4, 1981
Chen Wuyuan (1937.11.1 - 2020.11.1)
One petal of heart fragrance, few words
Dedicated to father's grave
(Chen Ying, November 1, 2022)
【About the author】Chen Ying, graduated from Chengdu Shishi Middle School, was admitted to University of Science and Technology of China in 1987, studied polymer physics, and then went to the United States to study. After more than ten years of software development and project management at Motorola in Chicago, he has settled in Beijing since 2011. I have loved art since I was a child. In my spare time, I like to visit art exhibitions, look through picture albums, translate art history, and draw a few strokes from time to time. In recent years, her "Stone and Dad" series, "Ginkgo Leaf Painting" series and "Hospital Group Painting" have been loved by everyone.