While most of these early experiments are not very well documented,
Li Yunhe's influential article published in Zhejiang Daily provided some
detailed information about the experiment of the Liaoyuan Co-operative
in Yongjia county.1 From mid-1956, Liaoyuan Co-operative introduced
two forms of contract system - one 'the special management system'
and the other the 'contracting of production down to the household'.
All the properties of a co-operative continued - public ownership,
unified planning and management, collective labour and a distribution
system based on working points. Under the 'special management
system', the Liaoyuan Co-operative contracted a fixed piece of farm
work not suitable for collective labour to individual farmers. Under the
system 'contracting of production down to the household', the
Liaoyuan Co-operative divided its total land area into plots and
assigned the plots to households. Most farm work was still carried out
by collective labour. Collectively members worked for a certain number
of quota days on the plot and the household with contracted responsibility
for the plot (instead of the team leader) would monitor the
quality of the work done. The household would also work the plot (for
the farm work not suitable for collective labour) and the output of the
plot was directly related to the responsible household's income at the
end of the year. In fact, the contracting of production to individual
households was an 'output responsibility system' which put responsibility
for monitoring quality on a household basis. Li Yunhe (1957)
specified the four characteristics of the system: contracting output to the
team (from the co-operative); responsibility to rest with households;
quotas to be fixed for each plot; and unified management. With this
system, everybody on the team, rather than just the team leader, had
responsibility for monitoring quality of work and achieving yield
improvement.