Family Receives 70,000 Yuan After 70-Year-Old Grain Loan Certificate Comes to Light

A family in Anhui Province donated a grain-loan certificate that had been preserved for decades to local authorities in July. In a gesture of honoring its wartime commitments, the local government paid the family 70,000 yuan (US$10,339) to settle the debt recorded in the historic document.

The certificate was handed over during a donation ceremony at a martyrs' cemetery in Qianshan, Anhui, in July. Ding Guangyi presented the document, preserved by his grandfather Ding Wanmin, to the city's veterans affairs authorities, China Central Television reported today.

In 1947, when the troops of the People's Liberation Army were advancing into the Dabie Mountains and facing shortages of food and supplies, Ding Wanmin lent more than 1,700 jin (850 kg) of grain to the soldiers.

The certificate, issued by the government of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan border region, recorded loans of 110 jin of rice and 1,612 jin of unhusked rice.

Ding Guangyi found the certificate unexpectedly in the 1990s, wrapped in layers of kraft paper and hidden in a gap between bricks. His family kept it as a treasured heirloom.

After learning that Qianshan had begun collecting revolutionary-era cultural artifacts, Ding decided to donate the document.

If there was a loan, there should be repayment. The Qianshan Party committee and government arranged for relevant departments to calculate the value of the grain and assess the certificate's historical significance. They then decided to give Ding Wanmin's family 70,000 yuan in total.

After receiving the repayment and award, Ding donated 20,000 yuan to a local charity fund supporting military veterans, continuing his ancestor's support for the armed forces.