Chapter 5 introduction

 In the spring of 1983, after Deng Xiaoping visited Suzhou and returned to Beijing, he quickly called the central economic leaders and told them: If the country wants to realize the goal of quadrupling, the rural areas must take the road of developing commune and brigade enterprises. "From 1977 to last year in Jiangsu, the total output value of industry and agriculture doubled... I asked the comrades in Jiangsu, how did you go? They said that there are two main ways. One is relying on Shanghai's technology strength, there is also the development of collective ownership, that is, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Jiangsu has absorbed many retired old workers from Shanghai. These old workers are capable, and it doesn’t cost much to invite them to work. They just pay some wages and solve problems. I am happy to work on the house, and it has played a very good role in production..." Deng Xiaoping said here, lit a cigarette, and then told the person in charge of the central government in charge of economic work that he saw the development of township enterprises in Suzhou. Well, it brought benefits to farmers, "people are beaming and new houses are built a lot".Then there was a smile on his face, as if he was talking to himself: If Suzhou continues to develop like this, the hope is quite high.

This year, the central government issued the No. 1 document, in which a passage read: "Community and brigade enterprises are also a cooperative economy, and must work hard to promote perfect development." Two years later, the central government issued a special document, which not only affirmed Based on the experience of social-run enterprises in Suzhou, the name of the social-run enterprises was officially changed to "township enterprises".Since then, the "Southern Jiangsu Model" has become famous in China. When I was writing this book, I interviewed an old Suzhou leader who lived in a small Soviet-style courtyard in a former creek and backyard in the urban area.He is Comrade Gao Dezheng who served twice as the main leader of the Suzhou District and Suzhou Municipal Committees.

Gao Dezheng was originally from Jiangyin, which was also a county under the Suzhou area before 1983, and was later assigned to Wuxi City.Gao De was a cadre of the county Youth League Committee in Jiangyin, and then worked in a supply and marketing cooperative. He was the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the county party committee at the age of 24 and the secretary of the commune at the age of 28.Later transferred to Shazhou County (now Zhangjiagang City) as deputy secretary of the county party committee. In 1964, during the "Four Cleanups" and the "Cultural Revolution", he was sent to the Social Education Work Team and served in the Organization Department of the Central Committee. In 1968, he was transferred back to Shazhou at his own request. In 1977, he served as Secretary of the Shazhou County Party Committee, and in 1981, he was exceptionally promoted to the Suzhou District Commissioner.

"From the underground communes and brigade enterprises to the open development of collective small industries, township enterprises have been made vigorous and become half of the country. This is the history created by the people of Suzhou. This history can be traced back to those extraordinary years before and after the reform and opening up... ..." Gao Dezheng said. I very much agree with the words of the old secretary Gao Dezheng. Suzhou has been a place that emphasizes commerce and economy since ancient times.No matter before or after liberation, the handicraft industry and small peasant economy have been very developed, which can be called the first in the country.Especially in the vast rural areas of Suzhou, even in the era when even a blade of grass could be regarded as a product of "capitalism" in the "Agricultural Learning from Dazhai" movement, the people of Suzhou have not completely given up the idea of ​​"side business".My father is an example. Before the "Siqing Movement", he was the captain of the rural production brigade. Because he advocated the planting of a peach orchard, the "Siqing" social education team came, and someone revealed that he "often brought a few peaches home" and was dismissed. .Next came the "Cultural Revolution", and he was therefore classified as a small "capitalist roader".Later, he felt that he did not have any "anti-party" or "anti-socialist" words and deeds, so he resumed his post.At that time, the "Cultural Revolution" was not yet over, but people in rural areas of Suzhou were engaged in "sideline business" underground, secretly running some small processing factories and small agricultural machinery workshops. At this time, my father was very enthusiastic about setting up factories. "Establishing a factory can equal the income of a thousand acres of land." This is an account in his mind.

"When I was doing well, Wu Renbao came to our factory to learn experience!" During the "May 1st" period in 2005, when I was ordered to interview Wu Renbao, the leader of the new socialist countryside construction and the old secretary of Huaxi Village, he was terminally ill. My father once said to me with a proud smile before the sick bed.A few months later, his father died, and the nationwide craze for learning from Wu Renbao started again... I know that my father and Wu Renbao and their generation are the pioneers and pioneers of Suzhou’s reform and opening-up economic development. It was created under the leadership of the vast number of rural cadres who were the first to eat crabs.