Chapter 16 "The first certificate in the Chinese market"

Zhu Guanlong was one of the first farmers to go to the city. This villager from Taojieling Village in the northern mountainous area of ​​Yiwu was 36 years old when he walked out of the mountains. Around 1978, he had been setting up a stall near Futian Township to sell needles and threads. In 1979, he followed several fellow villagers to the city with burdens.They first found an open space next to the most prosperous Xianqian Street in Choucheng Town, and then moved to the Beimen Street area. One early morning in October, while he was still asleep, he was suddenly dragged out of bed and onto the street.

It was daylight, and the streets were already full of people standing in piles. Just like that, standing on the street in a daze, he heard that the county was going to issue some certificates, and asked them to go to the county government to get them within three days with the certificates from their respective villages. Zhu Guanlong muttered for a while, then went back to sleep. He really didn't know that his fate changed on this ignorant morning. "Temporary license for small department stores to exchange candy for chicken feathers and other fertilizers". This is the certificate Zhu Guanlong received.

A very awkward name, a long string, at first glance, people are still confused. However, it is this awkward "Temporary License" that has become an important historical text in the development history of China's professional market. In the archives of the Yiwu Industry and Commerce Bureau, we found it from a package of slightly yellowed archive documents. The notice issuing this provisional license reads: In order to implement the spirit of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, invigorate the rural economy, promote the development of agricultural and sideline industries, and give full play to its advantages, according to the advantages of our county's traditional business of small department stores, knocking sugar for chicken feathers and other fertilizers, we use them to visit villages and households, collect old and waste, and transform This license is hereby issued for the characteristics of turning waste into treasure and active operation.

In October 1980, the CPC Yiwu County Committee and the county government issued such licenses, and the number of issued licenses was 7,000. Judging from the name and notice of the certificate, it undoubtedly retains the traces of "food as the key link" at that time, but its issuance undoubtedly opened a quiet gap in the iron barrel-like fence of the planned economy.It means that Yiwu County has recognized the legal status of the candy gang from a policy, and thus indirectly affirmed the legitimacy of the small department store market composed of these candy gangs. Today, several years later, people regard this license as the first cry when China's small commodity market landed.That is to say, from then on, merchant farmers can justifiably go to other places to do business with their licenses in their pockets, and their footprints began to spread all over the country.They transport small commodities from all over the country to Yiwu, and then ship them to all parts of the country from Yiwu.These more than 7,000 farmers who have obtained the license have also become the first generation of orthodox entrepreneurs in the history of the professional market.

In the early 1980s, the reform of rural land contracting to households has begun to bear fruit. The living standards of farmers all over the country have achieved the greatest improvement since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The demand for daily consumer goods has also increased step by step. few.Therefore, for the Yiwu knockers who have obtained "legal passports", this is naturally a once-in-a-lifetime golden age. Many years later, Zhu Guanlong told people about the wonderful effect of this "temporary license". One year, his booth bought a batch of plastic glasses. Someone said that this kind of glasses sold well in Xiamen, so he planned to try his luck there.Unexpectedly, the glasses booth was confiscated by the local industry and commerce office as soon as it opened.

That was more than 300 pairs of glasses, all of Zhu Guanlong's belongings except his life. He followed up with the industrial and commercial office with a stern face, saying good things, but it was useless; handing cigarettes, it was useless. "If you keep messing around, I'll take you back to your hometown." Very serious, it seems that he met a principled cadre. "Go back to my hometown? My hometown agrees with my business." Zhu Guanlong was cornered. "Certificate, do you have a certificate?" In a hurry, Zhu Guanlong suddenly remembered the "Temporary Permit", fortunately he had it with him.

A pair of hesitant eyes, read it once, looked at Zhu Guanlong, and read it carefully again. Make a call to Yiwu.It was an old-fashioned shaker phone that made Zhu Guanlong's heart flutter.Putting down the phone, his face seemed to clear up, and he dug his ears and thought about it. "You, and the glasses, can go." In November 1981, the number of stalls in Choucheng Town had increased to more than 300.This is no longer a small number. There is still no information that can reflect the original intention of the county leaders to issue 7,000 "temporary permits" at that time.

From the word "temporary", it can be guessed that their intention may be to ask for directions. Even today, Yiwu people habitually regard around 1980 as the "spontaneous formation" stage of the development of the small commodity market.In fact, in the two years after 1980, the debate about the small commodity market never stopped in the Yiwu county government compound. Because, according to the provisions of the relevant departments at that time, this fair violated at least three policies: farmers cannot abandon their agriculture to do business, the market trade is not allowed to distribute industrial products, and self-employed individuals are not allowed to sell wholesale.

If you just do business from village to village, you can turn a blind eye or close one eye, but now there are more than 300 stalls in the county town, and anyone can come from above or from neighboring counties. See, it is inevitable that people who point and point are indispensable. At one time, some departments in Yiwu took methods of persuading, blocking, and driving it away, and some even wrote to the provincial government, reporting that Yiwu had become a "small hotbed of capitalism." It seems that just having a "temporary permit" is not enough, and it is not enough to answer shyly.

allow?Not allowed? Countless pairs of eyes are fixed on the leadership team of Yiwu County, you have to give an explanation.