1915.2.14.–1986.3.26.
↓ Left office 1980 · lung cancer
The peasant leader of the model village behind “In agriculture, learn from Dazhai”, who rose to vice-premier
The symbol of Mao-era self-reliance: after Mao's 1964 “In agriculture, learn from Dazhai” his brigade became the national model, and he rose to the Politburo and vice-premiership before the reforms sidelined him in 1980.
A barely literate peasant from Dazhai in Xiyang County, Shanxi, he terraced hillsides as brigade secretary and rebuilt the village after the 1963 floods without state aid. When Mao said in 1964 “In agriculture, learn from Dazhai” the village became the national model, and Chen became a Central Committee member in 1969, a Politburo member in 1973 and vice-premier for agriculture in 1975. The Dazhai model preached collective labour and self-reliance, but inflated statistics and coercion came to light; after the reforms began he left the vice-premiership in 1980, lived on a farm outside Beijing and died of lung cancer.
Also known as: Ch’en Yung-kuei
Activities and affiliations
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1948–1986
Agriculture and land policy
- Secretary, Dazhai CCP branch1952–1973Political and party leadership
- CCP Politburo member1973–1982Political and party leadership
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People’s Republic of China state institutionsVice-Premier for AgricultureMain
Agriculture and land policy
Career Timeline
- 1948Joined land reform and the CCP
- 1952–1973Secretary, Dazhai CCP branch
- 1969Elected to the CCP Central Committee
- 1973–1982CCP Politburo member
- 1975–1980Vice-Premier for agriculture
- 1980Resigned as vice-premier during reform and opening
Related historical events
Birth and early years
Chen Yonggui was born around 1914 in rural Shanxi, the son of a poor peasant. The date he later gave, 14 February 1915, was the day of the Chinese New Year in 1915; a Chinese biography records that he never established his own birth date and set it by convention on New Year's Day, so his birth is recorded either as circa 1914 or as 14 February 1915. His father moved the family to Dazhai when Chen was six and later hanged himself; Chen had to work from a young age to make a living and never received a formal education.
In 1942, as anti-guerrilla fighting in Shanxi intensified and the Japanese tightened their hold on local villages, he was elected Dazhai's representative to the puppet Rejuvenating Asia Society. He resigned and left the village after barely surviving a year of detention in a camp in 1943-1944, and this record led to his brief detention as a suspected collaborationist after Japan's defeat and to his prompt release. He then threw himself into the CCP's land reform against landlords and joined the party in 1948.