"That year, the village recorded a harvest of 66,500 kg of rice, six times of that reaped a year ago," said Yan Yushan, whose father Yan Hongchang was among the first 18 farmers to sign the secret agreement to divide communally owned farmland into family plots in 1978.

The family land contract responsibility system that derived from Xiaogang was spread nationwide by 1984, when China's per-capita grain amount reached 400 kg. It basically solved the country's food problem.

The name of Xiaogang has since been fixed in the nation's memory as the start of China's reform.

"We fought hard to get the land use right. Now we transfer it to earn rent. We are relieved from farming and can focus on things that we want to do," said Yan the senior.

The pioneering reform spirit has been taken on by village, which continues to motivate new reform initiatives.

Yin Yurong, a pig farmer in the village, recently brought up a new idea -- setting up a land stock cooperative.

"The former reform helped ensure us food. It is the responsibility of our generation to make new reforms to make people rich," she said.

Yin explained that her idea of land stock was not just to reward land leasing with rental fees, but also a certain amount of dividends from the land use if the land leaser joins the cooperative.

In August, her proposal was endorsed by the village committee. So far, over 40 households have signed to join the cooperative.

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