#337: The Secret Document That Transformed China




Planet Money show

Summary: Note: Today's show is a re-run. It originally ran in January 2012. In 1978, a group of farmers in a Chinese village called Xiaogang wrote a secret contract and hid it in the roof of a mud hut. They were afraid the document might get them executed. Instead, it wound up completely transforming the Chinese economy. On today's show, we travel to Xiaogang, and hear the farmers' story.