As the wave of reform and opening-up surged across China, by 1982, Xiaogang village in Fengyang county, Anhui Province, popularly known as the forerunner of China's rural reform, had already been practicing the household contract responsibility system for over three years. The system contracted collective land to individual households, allowing farmers to manage their own production and retain the majority of their harvests, which significantly increased production efficiency at that time.

(File photo: Xinhua)

However, during his investigations while working as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhengding County Committee in Hebei Province, Xi Jinping found that it had become the norm for production to be chaotic and unorganized, for distribution to follow an "everyone gets the same share" approach, and for people to slack off and drag out their work regardless of actual contribution in Zhengding.

Despite the unknown risks of making changes, under Xi's advocacy, the county Party committee and county government decided to launch a pilot program first in the Lishuangdian commune – an economically backward area with poor production conditions and far from the county's core area. This move commenced with the rural land contract trial, making Zhengding the first in Hebei to adopt this practice already tested in southern provinces. That same year, Lishuangdian's agricultural output doubled, and farmers' annual income rose from 210 yuan to more than 400 yuan.

The results not only shocked the entire county but also attracted a steady stream of visitors from inside and outside the province.

In January 1983, Zhengding issued measures for implementing the household contract responsibility system. By 1985, the county's total agricultural income had reached 430 million yuan – nearly quadrupling that of 1982.

After visiting Zhengding, a county Party secretary from Shanxi Province remarked with emotion, "Here, you don't hear people chanting 'reform,' but reform is happening everywhere."

Regarding this, Xi's attitude was clear and resolute: "I never talk about reform all the time on purpose. I simply want to accomplish a few things that benefit the country and the people."