Call of Beauty, a documentary shot in 1982, featured Yi Shengxi, an office director with Da Zhalan in Beijing. In the year when the Central People's Government gave permission for the development of individual and private enterprise, he took a group of young job-seekers to sell Big Bow Tea at Qianmen.
By 1982, the household-contracted production system had been introduced in Liu Yonghao's home town. The government was encouraging multiple-cultivation, in addition to good farming practices. As a result, communes were replaced by cooperatives.
Autumn had come, but it was still hot in the Sichuan Basin. Under a tree in their home village, the Liu brothers held an important family meeting.
Liu Yonghao said, "We'd seen the changes in our country, the emergence of specialist farmers, the government's promotion of science and technology in agriculture, and the development of households that introduced specialization with the help of intellectuals. As we talked, we got more and more excited. We thought it was time to run our own business. It was a dream we'd always had."
Chen Yuxin said, "The meeting was crucial, because we fixed the direction we'd take. I was the only one who'd studied agriculture. We chose it because it was least risky, as the reform and opening started from the rural areas."
Liu Yonghao said, "Chen Yuxin, my third brother, said: "Why not start in my village? I know about agriculture, too. Why not let me give up my job and try?"
At the meeting, the Liu brothers made a decision that would change their lives; they'd all quit their government jobs and become specialist farmers. Soon afterwards they had the photograph taken that would appear in newspapers and magazines ever afterwards.
The four brothers were all working under formal contracts. In 1956, China had introduced socialist reform, establishing the system of public ownership, which embraced the state-owned and collective economies. Someone formally contracted to a government agency, a government-sponsored institution or a state-owned factory, besides having a stable job and income, was entitled to medical and housing welfare even after they retired. This was the basis of a system that became known as the "Iron Rice Bowl".
People could not understand why the Lius should decide to give up their "Iron Rice Bowls".
