2.My family was given land during the land reform

Hengdian Township was then under the jurisdiction of the Huxi District government.A union of peasants was set up in Hengdian.Soon, the land reform team came to Hengdian.After promoting the land reform policies, they started land inventory, and re-registered farmer’s property.They assessed the class of each family and allocated property to the households.

After the land reform team came to the village, they held various meetings, even in the evenings, mainly to promote the land reform policies.The land reform policy was to rely on the poor and employed farmer, unite the middle-class farmers, isolate the rich farmers and overthrow the landlords.The slogan claimed all the poor farmers were like a family.In unity, there was strength.

After the launch of publicity, the land was measured and registered block by block.Then, according to the land conditions and labor force of each household, income sources and living standards, and in light of the Land Reform Law and policies, the cadres and the masses gathered together to identify the landlords and rich farmers, while middle class farmers, and poor farmers were self- reported and approved by the general assembly of the union of peasants.

According to certain standards, the surplus land held by the landlords was confiscated.Rich farmers’ leased land was expropriated and distributed to the poor farmers.Meanwhile, furniture and surplus houses belonging to the landlords and rich famers were confiscated and distributed to the poor households.

At that time, my father had sold my family’s land, bit by bit, in my hometown, leaving our family only about one mu of land.My mother went back to our hometown to take part in the land reform there.Our family had neither land nor real estate in Hengdian, so we were assessed as poor farmers and were given more than one mu of land.The fields we were given were good, just at the back door of our house.Everyone was overjoyed.In the meantime, we were given a house with a room and a half.At that time, my older brother, Wenhao, was married and had a family of his own, so he also got a house too.

The house we were given was the house we had rented, because the owner was classified as a rich farmer.Half of the house was given to us by the government.The other side still belonged to the rich farmer, and we continued to rent it.

It was not surprising the rich farmer’s family was not pleased and harbored dissatisfaction.But they could do nothing about the situation.Years later, they still argued the half room that was given to us belonged to them.For this matter, the two families went to court for many years.The head of the Lakeside court even came to our house to do some fieldwork, and we won the case in the end.But they never got over it.Whenever there was a political movement, such as the “Four Clear-ups Movement” or the “Cultural Revolution”, they always schemed ways to get the room back. gRcnxUY2iWpXHg2Ja35knwEayhYeHzyGEWpQwdai2HaTZ68HO0W9pfftL4SI8Byb