Chen Yonggui

Chen Yonggui (Chinese: 陈永贵; pinyin: Chén Yǒngguì; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Yung-kuei; circa 1914 – 26 March 1986) was a Chinese politician. Though he was an illiterate peasant, he became a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and Vice Premier of China because of Mao Zedong's recognition of Chen's leadership, during the Cultural Revolution, in turning Dazhai into a model for socialist agriculture. According to official record of the Xiyang County in Shanxi Province, from 1967 to 1979, under Chen's leadership, the county completed 9,330 projects of agricultural and hydraulic infrastructure construction, extending the total arable land by 6,533 hectares (16,140 acres) but at the cost of 1,040 casualties including 310 deaths.

After Deng Xiaoping initiated the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, Chen gradually lost power and resigned in September 1980. He died of lung cancer in Beijing in 1986.