Chapter 7 Chapter VII

In a brightly lit meeting room of the Great Hall of the People, the head of the Central Committee received all representatives of the Yunnan educated youth petition group to Beijing. "...I will meet with foreign guests in the past few days. Today I will talk to you. I will meet with you domestic guests and have a heart-to-heart conversation. . . . How can you still carry out construction? When you come to Beijing, we have told you that you will never be held accountable, but when you go back, you must turn around and criticize yourself first.” After listening to the report of the representatives of the educated youth on the serious problems existing in the frontier farm, the chief pointed out: "... after more than ten years of operation, you should have been able to go to school, but all of you have been delayed. You are also victims. (Educated youth applaud) This is The land reclamation has also been messed up for more than ten years, the number of people has increased a lot, but the production has not increased, and the rubber trees are still the same.... You must improve the production, run the public canteen, and feed the pigs..."

The representative reflected on the marriage problems of the educated youth, and the chief pointed out: "What's wrong with getting married later? We used to fight every day, so how can we care about getting married..." The chief finally said earnestly: "You are people of the 21st century, and your vision should be enlarged. We pin our hopes on you. We are responsible for conveying your opinions to the Party Central Committee. The Central Committee has sent the Deputy Minister of Forestry and the State Agricultural Reclamation Administration The bureau chief is going to your place, and when you go back, you will help some cadres on the farm change their style of work.” Yun Yun.

Two weeks later, on January 24, 1979, three representatives of the educated youth called the head of the central government in their own names and reviewed the following: I feel guilty and ashamed in my heart for the way I have done, some of the things I have done. Especially on the issue of strikes, because we are young, we don’t see the problem comprehensively, and we tend to act emotionally... Please forgive us and believe us. We must be working in practice to correct previous mistakes.  …” The speeches made by the head of the central government when he met with representatives of the educated youths in Yunnan and the telegrams of the educated youths’ criticisms were simultaneously published on the front pages of newspapers across the country.The 30-member educated youth petition group finally achieved the goal of "requiring the central leadership, that is, the equivalent of members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and heads of the level above the vice premier of the State Council, to meet and report the situation."On January 10, representatives of the petition group returned to Yunnan via Chongqing and Shanghai respectively.

The ferocious wave of educated youth strikes gradually subsided.