Xilou Conference

From February 21 to February 23, 1962, the Enlarged Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was held at the Xilou of Zhongnanhai in Beijing, known as the " Xilou Conference". The Conference was presided over by Liu Shaoqi, and was attended by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the first secretaries of the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and the main members of the Party groups of various ministries of the Central Committee and the State Council. Mao Zedong was not present at the Conference because he was out of town. The center of the Conference was the discussion of the state budget and the overall economic situation in 1962. The Conference concluded that it was necessary to set a period of recovery and to make a comprehensive and substantial adjustment of the national economy. The Conference pointed out that the financial and economic difficulties were very serious and that the economy was in an extraordinary period. Thus, the main task at present was that the whole Party must have concentrated its efforts on vigorously developing agriculture and the production of daily necessities, first solving the problems of food, clothing and all necessities, stabilizing the market, stopping inflation, and striving for a basic improvement in the financial and economic situation of the country. The capital construction process, in the next two or three years, except for the maintenance of simple reproduction and the very necessary expansion of reproduction of certain projects, all other stopped, based on agriculture, and quickly adopted to the annual plan for 1962. At the Conference, Chen Yun made an important speech on "The Current Financial and Economic Situation and Some Methods for Overcoming Difficulties". The participants at the Conference agreed that Chen Yun's report had spoken enough of difficulties, and then thoughts were exchanged, solutions were found, and the confidence to overcome these difficulties was increased. Liu Shaoqi agreed with Chen Yun's speech and suggested that a State Council Conference must have been held to Chen Yun speak to the State Council members. Thus, all members of the State Council Conference would understand the economic situation and the corresponding policy offered. After the Conference, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping made a special trip to Wuhan to report the content of the Conference to Mao Zedong, which was agreed by Mao Zedong, and also agreed to set up a central financial group, with Chen Yun as the leader and Li Fuchun and Li Xiannian as the deputy leaders.

The Xilou Conference realistically estimated the difficult situation of our national economy at that time and determined the principles and specific ideas for economic adjustment. Through this Conference and the work afterwards, the Party not only achieved unanimity in ideological understanding, but also found concrete ways to overcome difficulties, so that the "Eight-Word Policy" of adjusting the national economy was fully implemented and the recovery and development of the national economy was promoted.