Xinhua Headlines : Past and present : 40 years of change in the lives of the Chinese people ( 181214 ) -- BEIJING , Dec . 14 , 2018 ( Xinhua ) -- The upper part of this combo photo taken in 1982 shows Yan Hongchang ( C rear ) and his son Yan Yushan ( 1 st L ) posing for a group photo in front of their thatched dwelling at Xiaogang Village , the birthplace of China ' s rural reform , in east China ' s Anhui Province . Yan Hongchang was among the first 18 farmers to sign the secret agreement to divide communally owned farmland into family plots in 1978 . At that time , Xiaogang villagers all lived in thatched houses . The lower part of the combo photo taken by Liu Junxi on Nov . 28 , 2018 shows Yan Hongchang ( 6 th L ) and his son ( 4 th L ) posing for a group photo in front of their residential building in Xiaogang Village . As the villagers become rich , much better houses were built in the village . ( Xinhua ) ( wyl ) ▶ 뭐 하 고 놀 까 ? # 흥 ▶ 쇼 미 더 뉴스 ! 오늘 많이 본 뉴스 영상 ▶ 네이버 홈 에서 [ 연합뉴스 ] 채널 구독 하 기