"A thousand days to collect firewood and a day to burn" means: after spending a thousand days going up the mountain to chop firewood, all the accumulated firewood was consumed in one day. It’s a metaphor for saving money and spending it once.
The original text of "Once again returned to before liberation" is: After working hard for more than half a year, once again returned to before liberation. In the early days of reform in the late 1970s, after the implementation of the rural household responsibility policy, some rural cadres complained, which is what a reporter said when writing about Dazhai at that time.
"A thousand days of collecting firewood and a day of burning, and once you are back to before liberation" means: after working hard and working hard, you finally accumulate something, but you spend it all in one day, and you are all gone in one fell swoop. Back to the beginning.
Extended information
Household production contracting was originally called the household contract responsibility system. It was first implemented by 18 farmers in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province. A production responsibility system implemented by China's rural collective economic organizations.
Rural collective economic organizations, under the conditions of adhering to the public ownership of the means of production and adhering to unified planning, unified management, unified accounting, and unified distribution, contract the production tasks of arable crops and certain animal husbandry, breeding and sideline industries ( Farmers are responsible for including labor, expenses, and output, and implement rewards for over-production and compensation for production reduction.
As the first step in the reform of the rural economic system, the "Household Responsibility System" has broken through the old system of "one government and two public institutions" and "big pot". Moreover, with the implementation of the contract system, personal contributions are linked to income, farmers' enthusiasm for production has greatly increased, and rural productivity has been liberated. Farmers can sell their excess grain, forming a free market. The cash on hand of farmers has greatly increased, and the rural economy has greatly improved.
Reference materials: Baidu Encyclopedia - A thousand days to collect firewood and a day to burn
Baidu Encyclopedia - Household production quota