8 | Thursday, May 27, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | DAILY PATH TO GLORY Manifesto becomes village heirloom

Thanks to generations of caretakers, lage branches was secretly estab- 1931 and gave the booklet to a His grandfather protected the lished in Liuji. Former village member of the Liuji Party branch, booklet like a treasure for dec- 1926 communism booklet survives wars Party chief Liu Liangcai was giv- Liu Kaowen, who then passed it ades. en the manifesto by Liu Yuhui, on to Liu Shihou, an “honest and In the autumn of 1975, the By LI YANG been renovated. Liu Hongye, a who acquired it in the provincial reliable” Party member. Guang rao county cultural [email protected] 65-year-old villager, likes to hang capital, , in 1926. He then Soon afterward, Liu Liangcai administration committee visit- out there when he has time. The “translated” it into the local dia- was killed in a revolutionary bat- ed Liuji in search of cultural rel- Liu Yuhui, a member of the objects and the photos exhibited lect. The farmer distilled the tle, and Liu Kaowen was arrest- ics. The then 84-year-old Liu Communist Party of China from in the memorial hall bring back manifesto’s meaning into one ed. To protect the booklet from Shihou donated the manifesto to Liuji village in , memories of his childhood. vivid saying: “Follow the words Kuomintang searches and the the county, and it was quickly province, could not Liu Hongye’s grandfather, Liu of ‘Big Beard’, and there will be Japanese puppet army’s “mop- identified as a first-class national have known that the Chinese- Shihou, was the manifesto’s care- land to till and food to eat.” up campaign”, Liu Shihou care- cultural relic. language version of The Commu- taker. He donated it to the Liu Liangcai wove the mani- fully wrapped it up and hid it in Liuji has more than 190 Party nist Manifesto she brought back memorial hall when it was built. festo into local operas, which his house. In January 1945, the or army members, 27 of whom to her home village in 1926 “I remember from a young age quickly became popular. More Japanese army started a fire that are recognized as revolutionary would become an heirloom a that my grandfather had a book- and more peasants began to real- burned over 500 houses in the martyrs. century later. let locked in a box. He treated it ize the truth; that they had to village to ashes. Liu Shihou was Zhang Feng, curator of the The cover of the first Chinese This small pamphlet, which as an object above all others and unite and be bound together like able to rescue the booklet, memorial hall, said: “The Com- version of The Communist has survived wars and natural would not let the family touch it,” the strands of a rope and reso- although its cover was partly munist Manifesto took root in the Manifesto kept by Liuji disasters, sowed the seeds of Liu Hongye said, adding that the lutely fight for liberation. As a burned. hearts of the farmers and helped village. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY communism in the small hamlet. image of his grandfather sitting result, under Party leadership, “My grandfather sneaked back them find the right direction for To celebrate the 100th anniver- on the bed talking about ‘Big local residents took part in into the burning village to search their mass movement and revo- 200,000 visitors a year, and tour- sary of the founding of the CPC, Beard’ (Karl Marx) remains countless revolutionary battles. for it. If he had gone a moment lutionary activities.” ism revenue is now a reliable the village exhibition hall that deeply imprinted in his mind. Liu Liangcai was promoted to later, it might have been burned The village has become a Red source of revenue for the farm- contains the manifesto has just In 1925, one of the first CPC vil- Party chief of Weixian county in completely,” said Liu Hongye. tourism attraction, receiving ers. Agriculturist creates national maize revolution

By LI YANG [email protected]

Li Denghai, director of the National Maize Engineering Technology Center (Shandong) and president of the Shandong Denghai Seeds Company, has received 23 science and technol- ogy awards at the national and ministerial levels for break- throughs made in breeding high- yield maize. Born in , Shandong province, Li has carried out more than 790 experiments on high- yield maize over the last 49 years. In 1972, the yield of maize per hectare in his experimental fields exceeded 7,500 kilograms, double the national average at the time. Today, some varieties of the compact hybrid corn devel- oped by his team can yield twice Wang Chuanxi introduces the Lanling National Agricultural Park to overseas students in Lanling, Shandong province, in 2018. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY that amount in experiments. In the 1990s, maize seeds developed by Li were planted nationwide. Over the course of Nation’s first agricultural park transforms rural lives five years, more than 6.7 million hectares of farmland was plant- ed, and yields increased by 10 bil- By LI YANG “As long as we find the right regardless of the investment and dens, one belt” idea first suggest- lion kg. Since then, the seeds [email protected] way, we are not afraid of difficul- management model followed — ed by Wang, was approved as the have been planted in more than ties,” Wang said, summarizing his be it a collective joint-stock sys- country’s first national agricul- 800 million hectares of farm- The Lanling National Agricul- previous business experience. He As long as we tem, a joint-stock cooperative tural park. land. tural Park, located in Daicun vil- set about inspiring his fellow vil- find the right system or mixed ownership — the Since then, the influx of tour- Li’s company was floated on lage in Lanling county, Shandong lagers to change their lives. collective’s share of a project ists has brought in a great deal of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in province, is the first national-lev- He immediately discounted way, we are not should be at least 50 percent to revenue. Not only have the vil- 2005, one of the few seed compa- el agricultural park in China. A the idea of making money by sell- afraid of ensure that it can have a say. lage’s infrastructure and facilities nies to be listed. combination of modern agricul- ing land or developing polluting In 2007, the Daicun collective been modernized, but the public As far as the future goes, Li has ture and tourism, as well as cul- industries like some neighboring difficulties.” signed land transfer agreements services provided by the collec- said that he does not want to tural and agricultural history, the villages had done. Instead, with Wang Chuanxi, founder of the with 2,200 farmers in five neigh- tive have also been greatly retire, but would rather continue park presents a beautiful, vivid the villagers’ support, Wang Lanling National Agricultural boring villages for more than 467 improved. working on projects that benefit picture of Lanling as “the home- began building parks and gar- Park, the first of its kind hectares of land and hired The park brings jobs, pensions the country socially and econom- town of vegetables in China”. dens. in China experts from the Chinese Acade- and education to the villagers. ically. Today, Daicun is peaceful, The village set aside agricultur- my of Agricultural Sciences to Every resident has work, and He said that life has no end, clean and tidy, and residents al land for a project entitled “five projects. design a high standard agricul- every family earns a share of the nor does innovation or the pur- enjoy happy lives. As hard as it is gardens, one belt”. This was to be Despite this, Wang showed tural demonstration park that bonus income. Today in Daicun, suit of high-yield seeds. “We, to imagine, just 20 years ago, comprised of a flower garden, a confidence and foresight. covers nearly 700 hectares.