Xiaogang village

 It's true that Xiaogang village farmers signed confidential contract to privatize the land after Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, and it's often regarded as the beginning of the reforming and opening-up policy in 1978. Village Xiaogang (in Anhui Province) is hailed by officials as where amazing happened, and it is one of the ten famous villages in China, but the reality may not be like that good:
Village Xiaogang, regarded as the pioneer village of revolution, is not rich. Instead, it is the POOREST village in the ten famous villages. A Chinese book named The Story of Village of Xiaogang, described the situation from the perspective of a disinterested observer. The village has miserably become the tool used by some people to get wealth and promotion. 


IN order to get real and fresh information, the two authors of the book, couple Chen Guidi and Chun Tao went to the village disguised as generic farmers who wanted to learn experience from local people. They interviewed the 12 farmers who signed the contract in 1978, (the other six died or left) The situation of Yen Hongchang written in the article you gave me is true. Now Village Xiaogang can attract foreign investment, but now farmers are now deprived of the land and cannot get the jobs in the investment program. 


According to Yen Hongchang, the head officials of Village Xiaogang since 1993 are all sent by central government rather than local election. Besides, the officials don't have a consistent plan of development, thus resulting in different goals and rules in different periods. (The difference between politicians and economists, of course) Bureaucrats pay attention to short-run benefit for the sake of his own promotion.