People see Nian Guangjiu, the first pedlar in communist China, as a typical victim of the party's anger against private business.
In memory of his struggles, he called his product The Fool's Melon Seeds.
The party confiscated his business and put him in prison for three years. Now he is celebrating the planned change to the constitution that is supposed to prevent such a thing happening again.
Tian Jiyun, an NPC vice-chairman, will address about 3,000 delegates tomorrow on the need to revise the constitution to re-designate the private sector as an 'important' part of the economy, instead of 'complementary', as it is now.
If the party had done this years ago, Mr Nian's life would have been much happier. He was born in 1937, the son of a poor farmer in the central province of Anhui. Mr Nian and his father sold fruit, lollipops and fish at a street stall in the city of Wuhu in the 1960s.
Mr Nian was arrested for 'speculation' and 'trading' and his stall was confiscated.
Once the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, he set up a new business selling melon seeds.