Chen Yuxin said, "People couldn't understand us. They thought there was no point in farmers trying to run a private business."

Liu Yonghao said, "The news quickly spread to my school. People thought I was just kidding."

Chen Yuxin said, "We met even fiercer opposition from the city institutions, where people said it was shameful for a graduate to run a private business, rather than devoting himself to the country, since our tuition had cost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan."

The officials from the provincial CPC committee, when they received Chen Yuxin's application to quit his job, were shocked.

Chen Yuxin said, "The county agricultural bureau forwarded my application to the personnel bureau. The personnel bureau didn't dare to approve a resignation, so they consulted the municipal bureau in Wenjiang. The municipal bureau consulted the provincial personnel bureau. Finally, the application went to the vice secretary of the provincial CPC committee."

Zhong Guanglin said, "They came to see me. They asked me to mobilize 10 key households."

Liu Yonghao said, "We did a calculation. I whispered to Yuxin. I said mobilizing 10 households wouldn't be difficult. We didn't think it would be easy to get the vice secretary's approval, after being "shot down" so many times. So we shouldn't hesitate. We agreed without another word. All right! We'd do it! We were really happy."

In 1982, the Liu brothers opened a breeding farm in Gujia village. That year, the number of private rural workers nationwide increased to 13,590,000, 10 times the figure for 1978.

But the Lius were short of capital. They had only a little money in hand, so they were forced to apply for a 1000-yuan loan from a credit cooperative. But the application was rejected.