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BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Former Chairman of the Chinese National People's Congress, Wan Li, has died at the age of 99.
He is remembered as one of the greatest reformers in China's history. After the Cultural Revolution, the country needed to rebuild and develop its economy. Wan Li was then appointed as the Communist Party of China's First Secretary of Anhui Province, a place where only one tenth of the population could feed themselves at that time. On his own authority, he instituted a contract responsibility system whereby farmers divided communal lands and assigned them to individual farmers. He also relaxed trade controls, permitting farmers to independently sell their surplus produce.
The Anhui agricultural reforms were heralded as brilliant innovations by the central government. And Wan Li was immortalized in the folk saying, "If you want to eat rice, look for Wan Li." Wan was promoted to Vice Premier in 1980 and was elected Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee in 1988.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
