The Dazhai Production Team in Xiyang County, Shanxi
Province, was made a national model in 1964 when Mao Zedong issued the
call "In agriculture, learn from Dazhai" 农业学大寨. The essay "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains", one of Mao's "Three
Constantly Read Articles"
written in 1939, was seen as the theoretical basis for this emulation
movement. Dazhai's success story was based on its self-reliance in
turning its infertile soil into productive land by relying on manpower
and hard work. Water was transported over many miles for irrigation,
land was cleared in the mountains, and terraced fields were built that
withstood drought and flood. Dazhai became an object of intense study.
The main driving force behind these achievements was Chen Yonggui,
a true Party activist who represented the poor and lower-middle
peasants of the team. Chen, usually shown with a towel around his head,
organized the villagers into teams with names such as "Oldsters and
Youngsters", and "Iron Girls", to perform the backbreaking work that
was needed to convert barren Dazhai into a "Pacesetter in China's
Agriculture".
In the early 1970s, Dazhai had become the benchmark
for all agricultural production. The Dazhai example had to be followed
everywhere, regardless of what the local conditions might be. Daily,
some 20,000 visitors passed through Dazhai to study this model of
self-reliance. Following Dazhai turned out to have disastrous
consequences, in particular in areas with abundant water resources.
Only by late 1980, the Dazhai model was officially discredited. It
transpired then that Dazhai's achievements were the result of the
extensive assistance from the People's Liberation Army.
Moreover, heavy machinery had been used, whereas Dazhai had been
propagated as a model that relied on pure manpower and a clear
understanding of proletarian politics.
The influence of the Dazhai campaign proved tenacious. Even today, one can still see faded slogans proclaiming Nongye xue Dazhai
(In agriculture, learn from Dazhai) in rural parts of China. By the
late 1990s, Dazhai's inhabitants no longer stress self-reliance and
hard work, but strive to become as well off as the rest of the people.
Not a single household is solely engaged in agriculture anymore, and
more than 80% of the villagers now work in industry and the service
sector, in particular tourism. Most of the arable land has been turned
into orchards and dense woods.
Study Dazhai
Sources:
"China's Model Village: From Political Symbol to Brand Name", Xinhuanet, 27 June 2002
Tachai—Pacesetter in China's Agriculture (Peking: Foreign Languages Press 1978)
Kwok-sing Li (editor) & Mary Lok (translator), A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press 1995)
Xin-An Lu, Dazhai: Imagistic Rhetoric as a Cultural Instrument
Peter J. Seybolt, Throwing the Emperor from His Horse -- Portrait of a Village Leader in China, 1923-1995 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996)
Wen Yin & Liang Hua, Tachai—The Red Banner (Peking: Foreign Languages Press 1977)
Xiyang County Geography of Dazhai Writing and Editorial Group, Geography of Dazhai (Peking: Shangwu yinshuguan 1975) [in Chinese]
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