the officials and journalists who'd often been coming to our factory, stopped. We didn't know why. Some people advised us to quit, saying we had to choose between the capitalist and socialist paths, or we might have big problems."

In 1989, Anhui's Wuhu Newspaper carried a story about Nian Guangjiu, a self-employed businessman who had been famous for his "Fool's melon seeds" several years before. He had been arrested on charges of corruption and graft. Another piece of news concerned Wang Tingjiang, a private entrepreneur from Shandong, who had donated his entire factory worth 6 million yuan to the nation. He had subsequently been admitted to the CPC. Opinion was divided, as to whether the private economy was a positive supplement to the public economy or a capitalist variation. Was it "socialism" or "capitalism"? In 1989, the number of private enterprises actually fell, from 200,000 in the previous year, to just 90,000; the number of self-employed workers also fell, by 3.6 million. The private economy was going through a period of stagnation.

Liu Yonghao said, "There were more and more negative remarks about us. The pressure on us was mounting. We faced obstacles with purchasing, transportation and marketing. It was a hard time for us. What was wrong? We decided to approach the party secretary."

Chen Yuxin said, "Liu Yonghao and I told Secretary Zhong that opinion about our factory was mixed. We suggested the county should take it over."

Zhong Guanglin said, "Chen Yuxin suggested I take over the factory. What for? If I took over, the business would fail in 6 moths – it was quite simple. But Chen said we were intellectuals and part of the working-class, and they were confused about their status. I told him not to think so, not to panic, since the government's basic policy hadn't changed. I said not to worry about what others thought."

In a speech he made in Guangdong in 1992, Deng Xiaoping said: "The reason our reform and opening are slow in pace is we're afraid of becoming capitalist. It is a matter of choosing between socialism and capitalism. We should judge by the standards whether it can develop socialist productive forces, enhance the comprehensive power of socialist countries and improve people's living standards." Thus he confirmed the socialist nature of the private economy, clarified the confusion about choosing between "socialism" and "capitalism", and cleared the way for the individual and private economies to develop.

That year, the Liu brothers' "Hope Group" became the biggest forage enterprise in the country.

Twenty years later, ten Chinese private entrepreneurs entered Forbes magazine's list of the World's Richest Billionaires; the four brothers were in the top four places. Their registered private and individual enterprises then reached…the tax they paid accounted for ..% of the national total.

In his autobiography Hope Forever, Liu Yongxing wrote: If we had been working in government institutions, we would be department directors at most. If we had carried on in partridge feed, we might be care-free bosses. If we hadn't changed to pig forage, we might only be mediocre managers.

(CCTV October 27, 2008)