Deng Yingchao: "Uncover the pot when the steamed bun is ripe"

In July 1947, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a national land conference in Xibaipo Village, Jianping County (now Pingshan County), Hebei. The meeting decided to implement a policy of equal division of land. Then, Fuping County, Hebei Province, held a land conference in Chengnanzhuang, mainly to criticize the right-leaning thinking of county and district cadres in the land reform. More than half of the district and county cadres were punished, saying that they were "not necessary" and must be removed as "stones"., Replaced with the so-called resounding poor farm laborers, and even some grassroots party members and cadres in the village were also affected. At this time, the Central Land Reform Working Group came to Xigou Village, District 2, Fuping County, Hebei Province to conduct a pilot project, led by Deng Yingchao.

One day, the land reform staff of the Youth Federation were informed to hold a land reform work meeting in the district. Before the meal, a few members of the Youth Federation went to the kitchen and asked, "Is the meal cooked?" The cook said, "The food is cooked. The steamed bun still owes two fires. "All right, uncover the pot! "A comrade reached out to uncover the lid of the pot, and the cook shouted," You can't uncover it. "But the lid has been uncovered, through the steaming heat to see steamed bread is only seven ripe, had to cover the lid to continue steaming, the result is delayed time, steamed bread is not cooked.

At the end of the meal, the land reform work conference of the whole region began. First, the villages were informed of the problems of infringing on the interests of the middle peasants and beating people indiscriminately. Then, in the warm applause, Deng Yingchao stood up and said, "the topic I want to talk about today is: why did I eat raw steamed buns?" She went on to say, "What is the taste of the steamed buns you just ate? (A burst of laughter) The comrade who went to the kitchen to uncover the pot just now caused a' acute disease' and the consequence was to eat raw rice, which is really not easy to swallow. The reason for the problems in the land reform work in our second district is that some of the comrades present here have suffered from "acute diseases" ...... "The room was quiet, and everyone was stunned. Deng Yingchao went on to say that land reform must be carried out in accordance with the Party's policies. In dealing with village cadres, we should solicit more opinions from the masses, make a comprehensive and historical analysis, affirm their achievements, and help them overcome their shortcomings. We should not remove them as "stones". Even if we deal with individual incompetent cadres, we should have correct procedures. Deng Yingchao repeatedly stressed that "the steamed buns are ripe and then the pot is uncovered". With a simple and easy-to-understand reason, he lit a lamp in the hearts of the land reform workers, corrected the extremely "left" behavior, and made the land reform work in Fuping District 2 smoothly.

Wang Zhenhu

March 09, 2017 Source: China Organization and Personnel News