At that time, China started its rural reform and farmers were no longer forbidden to dabble in industry and commerce. The No 8 group is near Guanqiao town, which had only one store back then.

Zhou organized some villagers to set up an agency, a shop selling prepared food and a popsicle factory in the town. In one year, they earned a net profit of 7,000 yuan, a considerable sum at that time. The group spent the money by setting up a coal mine and factories to make sofas, carpentry works and bricks and tiles. Back then it had 10 hills, rich with coal, and forestry reserves and soil suitable for making bricks.

Income from the mine and factories was further reinvested. The group opened shops, a forest farm, an orchard, a fish farm, saw mill, truck transportation center, tea plantation and a refined rice-processing factory.

Within a few years, the group became known for doing well. Nearly every household moved into spacious two-story buildings with running tap water. The group was praised many times by governments at all levels as an example of how people in a rural area could become rich together.