Question

What was the main provision the villagers in Xiaogong agreed to when they signed their secret document (mentioned in the podcast)

a. The villagers would produce steel in backyard furnaces to compete with the state-owned steel plant
b. The villagers, instead of sending their kids to state schools, would educate their children at home
c. The villagers, instead of working collectively, would work on their own farms and keep their surplus
d. The villagers would form a cartel to control bullet train transportation and use the rice monopoly to police it

Answer 1

The main provision the villagers in Xiaogong agreed to was to work on their farms and keep the surplus produce, diverging from collective state-controlled farming.

Step-by-step explanation:

The villagers in Xiaogong agreed to work on their farms and keep their surplus. This decision represented a shift towards individual farming efforts instead of collective labor, as was typical at the time. The villagers made this agreement in secret, moving away from collective farming which was often state-controlled, to privately manage their agricultural production and retain the fruits of their labor for themselves.

This provision is mentioned in the podcast and it states that the villagers were ordered to produce steel in backyard furnaces, often working at night after their regular farming duties. However, the steel produced was of poor quality and ultimately worthless. This provision reflects the attempt of the villagers to compete with the state-owned steel plant by producing their steel. However, due to the lack of resources and expertise, their efforts were unsuccessful.