◎The First Agricultural Cooperative in China

◎The First Agricultural Cooperative in China

In the spring of 1944,an agricultural production cooperative was established at Wugong Village,Raoyang County,Hengshui,Hebei Plain,North China,as the first one in China.It implemented a new method of unified use of manpower and unified distribution of agricultural income.It created the first prototype of China’s socialist cooperative movement.The founder of this cooperative was Geng Changsuo,one of National Agricultural Labor Models.(https://www.daowen.com)

In 1943,the Japanese invaders began a crazy mopping-up campaign in the North China Plain.Almost no grain was harvested due to a drought this year.The Anti-Japanese Democratic Government called on the masses in the enemy-occupied areas to help each other in production and support the front line.Geng Changsuo was the first to respond,by uniting three families of farmers to set up the first land partnership group in China in the spring of the following year,which was expanded into “Geng Changsuo Agricultural Production Cooperative” later.After a year of cooperation and mutual assistance,the yield of grain per mu reached 200 jin,and the farmers benefited from mutual aid and cooperation.More and more farmers wanted to join the cooperative.By 1951,the average yield per mu of the cooperatives had increased to 510 jin,more than double that of other local villages.“Agricultural Production Cooperatives” were known as “the flower of socialism blooming in the Central Plain of Hebei Province.”