On July 26, 1960, Liu Guiyang, a female worker in Hunan, saw that the people of her hometown were suffering from the great famine, and decided to take the train to Beijing alone to petition the central government. After arriving at the State Council, she posted signs that read: "Down with the people's commune!", "Eradicate and destroy the people's commune!", "People's communes starve everyone, people's communes are not good!", "People's communes are obstacles to the development of production!", "People's communes are mountains that hinder the advancement of socialism!" as well as other slogans. The guards were also informed of her intentions on the spot. Afterwards, Liu Guiyang was immediately arrested. The case was initially characterized by the Chen County People's Court as an incident of current counter-revolutionary activity; the court sentenced her to 5 years in prison.

When Liu Shaoqi (then-Chairman of the PRC) learned of Liu Guiyang's case, he asked the Hunan Provincial Party Committee to review the matter to avoid premature characterization. In 1961, Liu Guiyang was released and returned to work in her original unit.

After the Cultural Revolution began, Liu Shaoqi was overthrown, and Liu Guiyang was repeatedly criticized and persecuted for having received Liu Shaoqi's attention. Her 1961 acquittal verdict was also overturned. In March of 1969, the Zixing County Public Security Bureau, the Procuratorate, and court military management team changed Liu Guiyang's original sentence to 10 years in prison. It was not until April 1979, after the end of the Cultural Revolution, that Liu Guiyang was acquitted of all charges.

References: [民間歷史 ("Folk History")(Chinese)] (http://mjlsh.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/book.aspx?cid=2&tid=2834&pid=7244); [中國共產黨新聞網 ("Chinese Communist Party News Network")(Chinese)] (https://web.archive.org/web/20130928091435/http://dangshi.people.com.cn/BIG5/144956/11723606.html)