Chapter 2 1.1 First appearance

Chen Yun's financial career started in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region on the Loess Plateau.He himself once humorously described this period of financial work as engaging in "small stalls". Production has developed, but fiscal and financial chaos has occurred frequently, and opinions from both inside and outside the party have arisen.Mao Zedong asked Chen Yun to take charge of the financial power and solve the problem. On March 5, 1944, the Politburo meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, based on Mao Zedong's proposal, decided that Chen Yun would be a member of the Northwest Bureau, deputy director of the Northwest Finance and Economics Office and director of the Political Department, and take charge of daily work. .The Northwest Finance and Economics Office was established in June 1942. It belongs to the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Previously, Chen Yun served as head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. In March 1943, he recuperated due to illness and lasted nearly a year.In order to take care of his illness, Mao Zedong asked him to move from Yangjialing to Zaoyuan, his residence. It was a special circumstance for Chen Yun to take the leadership position of financial work at that time. Northern Shaanxi is located on the Loess Plateau, with barren land and poor people, lack of modern industry, and a very backward economy. In 1935, the Central Red Army marched to northern Shaanxi, and it became the base camp of the Chinese revolution.A large number of party, government, and military populations are concentrated here, and financial supply is a huge burden that is difficult to solve. In March 1940, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to strictly blockade the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, constructing five encircling blockade lines around the border region, exercising control over trade in the border region, and prohibiting the import of cotton and cloth needed by the border region into the border region.Beginning in August, the Kuomintang first defaulted on funding to the Eighth Route Army. In January 1941, the Kuomintang launched the Southern Anhui Incident, and the second anti-communist climax began. The Kuomintang not only completely stopped the Eighth Route Army funding, but also prohibited external donations from being sent to the border areas, and completely cut off all foreign aid in the border areas. From 1940 to 1942, the border area was hit by floods, droughts, winds, and hail disasters year after year, causing heavy losses.Foreign aid was cut off, famines were frequent, and income in the border areas was greatly reduced.Refugees from disasters and wars outside the country poured in in large numbers, and a group of troops were transferred back from the front lines to defend the border areas, and expenditures soared.As a result, the financial and economic difficulties of the border area were unprecedented.

In order to reduce the burden on the masses, the border region carried out a vigorous mass production campaign while implementing better troops and simpler administration, growing grain and vegetables, spinning yarn, and even doing business and setting up industries, realizing most of the self-sufficiency and overcoming difficulties. After going through the most difficult two years, in 1943, the industrial and agricultural production in the border area achieved great development.Agricultural production increased by 160,000 shi of fine grain, more than double the plan, not only for self-sufficiency, but also 220,000 shi of surplus grain.Cotton production can meet half of the border area's needs.In the past, most of the industrial necessities of life such as fur, iron, paper, kerosene, fuel, matches, and soap were imported, and they were able to be self-sufficient or more than self-sufficient.The economy of the border area is gradually breaking away from foreign dependence and transitioning to complete self-reliance.

However, what is extremely incongruous with the prosperity of production in the border area is the chaos of finance and finance. In 1943, there were several large financial price fluctuations. On May 15, 1943, the Northwest Finance and Economics Office decided that the Border Region Bank would be managed by the Border Region Finance Department, the county offices affiliated to the Border Region Bank would be abolished, and the commercial Guanghua Store would be under the leadership of the Material Bureau.This decision made the finance and trade in the border region all subordinate to the finance in the leadership system, which laid a hidden danger for the large fluctuations in financial prices.Due to the mistaken determination that the Border Region Bank is the cashier of the finance, the one-sided emphasis on financial support for the fiscal budget resulted in a loss of control over fiscal issuance.The Materials Bureau has become a supply department. All agencies and units, especially large units, will directly ask the leaders for instructions when they need something. They will not be paid when the items are taken away, but only keep notes; the management of enterprises is lax, and operating losses occur.

On June 18, 1943, Hu Zongnan held an anti-communist military meeting in Luochuan, preparing to "blitz" Yan'an.In order to cope with the war, military expenses increased sharply; in order to ensure the supply of raw materials for winter clothes, cotton must be purchased in time; and in terms of finance, due to the interruption of foreign trade in the border area, salt and various local products could not be sold abroad, and the source of French currency (the currency issued by the Kuomintang government) cut off, fiscal revenue decreased. In the first half of the year, 231.37 million yuan of currency in circulation in the border area, the border currency, was issued, and financial prices in the border area have begun to fluctuate.After the financial department took over the power of finance and trade, it did not proceed from the overall economic situation of the border area, but only to deal with the temporary difficulties and crises. In the second half of the year, the border currency was issued 1,436.63 million yuan, which was more than 7 times that of the first half of the year.The excessive growth of border currency issuance has stimulated violent fluctuations in financial prices.Inflation, panic buying, and prices skyrocketed.

There are quite a lot of opinions on this situation inside and outside the party.Mao Zedong proposed that Ren Bishi organize Zhu De, Lin Boqu, Gao Gang, He Long, Li Fuchun and other members of the Central Financial and Economic Commission and the head of the Northwest Finance and Economics Office to jointly study financial and financial issues. When Chen Yun recovered slightly, he should be asked to preside over Northwest Finance and Economics. Work everywhere to come forward and solve this difficult problem. Chen Yun did not engage in financial work in the past, but he is based on realistic working methods and thinking methods, and he attaches great importance to learning and is good at learning.During his recuperation period, he carefully studied Mao Zedong's writings and documents, and believed that one of the basic ideas running through them was seeking truth from facts.How to find out the facts and seek truth from facts, he summed up fifteen words: "Do not rely only on the above, not only on books, only on the facts, exchange, compare, and repeat", and use this as a lifelong criterion.

Realism and learning are the magic weapons for Chen Yun to enter a new field of work.After confirming that he was working in finance and economics, he was not in a hurry to issue orders, but instead investigated and studied the situation. On December 9, 1943, Chen Yun, Mao Zedong and Lin Boqu visited the Third Production Exhibition of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.Afterwards, he began to attend a series of meetings such as the Standing Committee Meeting of the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Logistics Supply Symposium of the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Joint Defense Force Headquarters, and the Meeting of Senior Government Officials of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, focusing on understanding the situation of the border region's financial work.He also got two Chinese economic yearbooks, and seized the time to learn financial knowledge.

On March 10, 1944, the Secretariat of the Central Committee officially issued a notice of Chen Yun's appointment, and Chen Yun took office immediately.