Rural Revitalization in China: A Socialist Road with Chinese Characteristics 9811990271, 9789811990274

Table of contents :
Contents
1 Introduction
1 Importance of Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People
1.1 The “Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” Are Fundamental Issues in the Progress of China’s Modernization and Realizing Great National Rejuvenation
1.2 China’s Food Security Is a Strategic Concern in National Economic Development
1.3 “If China Wants to Be Strong, Agriculture Must Be Strong”
1.4 “If China Wants to Be Beautiful, the Countryside Must Be Beautiful”
1.5 “If Countryside Wants to Be Improved, the Key Lies in Hundreds of Millions of Farmers”
1.6 “To Achieve Initial Prosperity in the Country, It Is Crucial to Raise the Rural Living Standard”
2 President Xi Jinping’s Exploration and Practice in the Field Concerning Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers
2.1 Learning More About China from the Personal Experience Related to the “Issues Relating to Agriculture,Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”
2.2 Being Courageous in Exploring, Developing and Bringing Forth New Ideas
3 Main Work Related to Tree Rural Issues for a New Era
3.1 Ensuring Food Security Is a Top Priority for Governing the Country
3.2 Stabilizing and Improving the Rural Basic Operation System
3.3 Taking the Road of Agricultural and Rural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics
3.4 Promoting Integration of Urban–Rural Development
3.5 Building New Socialist Countryside
3.6 Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Reduction
3.7 Accelerating Rural Ecological Civilization Construction
3.8 Strengthening Party Leadership and Rural Governance
2 Stabilizing and Improving the Basic Rural Operation System
1 Adhering to the Basic Rural Operation System
1.1 The Basic Rural Operation System Serves as the Cornerstone of the Party’s Rural Policy
1.2 Adhering to the Collective Ownership of Rural Land of Farmers Is the “Soul” of Adhering to the Basic Rural Operation System
1.3 Adhering to the Basic Status of Household Operation of Production and the Collective Land Contract Rights Belonging to Farmers Is the Fundamental Requirement for Stabilizing and Perfecting the Basic Rural Operation System
2 The Implementation of Separating Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right of Rural Land
2.1 Separating Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right is an Effective Form of Collective Land Ownership
2.2 Stabilizing the Contractual Operation Rights of Farmers Is the Key to Protecting the Interests of Farmers
2.3 Enlivening Land Operation Rights Is the Key to Guiding the Orderly Circulation of Land
3 Improving Unified Operation and Developing Appropriate Scale Operation in Various Forms
3.1 Improving Unified Operation
3.2 Developing Various Forms of Operation with Appropriate Scale
3.3 Sticking to Appropriate Scales, Respecting Farmers’ Wishes and Protecting Their Rights and Interests in Conducting Appropriate Scale Operation
3 Deepening Rural Reform
1 Main Content of Comprehensive Reform in Rural Areas
1.1 The Reform of the Rural Collective Property Rights System
1.2 The Construction of a New Agricultural Operation System
1.3 Improvement of the Agricultural Support and Protection System
1.4 The Innovation of the Institutional Mechanism for the Integration of Urban and Rural Development
1.5 The Innovation of the Rural Social Governance System
2 Deepening the Reform of Rural Collective Property Rights System
2.1 Promoting the Reform of the Land Stock Cooperation
2.2 Exploring the Development of a Rural Mixed Ownership Economy
2.3 Exploring the New Mechanisms for Collective Accumulation
3 Improving the Agricultural Support and Protection System
3.1 Adhering to the Direction of Market-Oriented Reform
3.2 Perfecting the Agricultural Subsidy System
4 Promoting the Comprehensive Reform of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
4 Ensuring National Food Security
1 Background of Forming China’s New Food Security Strategy and Its Significance
1.1 The Issue of World Food Security Is Increasingly Prominent
1.2 The Total Supply and Demand of China’s Agricultural Products Is Basically Balanced but Structurally Scarce
1.3 Food Security Is the Top Priority of Ensuring National Security
2 China’s New Food Security Strategy
2.1 The Bottom Line of the Food Security Strategy Is to Ensure the Basic Self-Sufficiency of Grain and Absolute Safety of Grain Rations
2.2 The Primary Principle of the Food Security Strategy Is to Rely on Domestic Food with Moderate Imports
2.3 The Endogenous Driving Force of the Food Security Strategy Is to Ensure Farmers to Profit from Growing Grains and to Keep the Continued Enthusiasm of Major Grain-Producing Areas
2.4 The Key Component of Ensuring a Food Security Strategy Is to Improve Crop Production Based on Farmland Operation and Technological Application
2.5 The Ultimate Goal of the Food Security Strategy Is to Protect the Safety of Every Bite of Food
3 Effective Ways to Ensure National Food Security
3.1 Accelerating the Promotion of Effective Food Supply
3.2 Accelerating the Optimization of Grain Industry Structure
3.3 Accelerating the Improvement of Food Quality
3.4 Accelerating the Promotion of Food Industry Integration and Technological Innovation
5 Realizing Agricultural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics
1 Significance of Realizing Agricultural Modernization
1.1 Agricultural Modernization Lays the Foundation for Socialist Modernization
1.2 Enormous Challenges Faced by Agricultural Modernization
1.3 Supports for Agricultural Modernization
2 Goals, Positioning and Fundamental Way of Agricultural Modernization
2.1 Goals of Agricultural Modernization
2.2 Positioning of Agricultural Modernization: Developing Scale Agriculture
2.3 The Fundamental Method: Accelerating the Transformation of Agricultural Developmental Models
2.4 The Motivation and Stance of Agricultural Modernization
3 Key Tasks of Agricultural Modernization
3.1 Establishing the Industrial System for Modern Agriculture
3.2 Establishing the Production System for Modern Agriculture
3.3 Establishing the Operation System for Modern Agriculture
4 Taking Technological Advancements as the Key for Agricultural Modernization
6 Promoting the Development of Urban–Rural Integration
1 Significance of Promoting the Development of Urban–rural Integration
2 Strategic Path of Promoting the Development of Urban–Rural Integration
2.1 Improving the Integration of Urban and Rural Development Shall Be Based on Local Culture
2.2 Promoting the Integration of Urban and Rural Development Shall Give the Top Priority to Planning
2.3 Promoting the Integration of Urban and Rural Development Shall Rely on the “Two-Wheel Drive”
3 Developing New Type of Industry-agriculture and Urban–rural Relationship
3.1 Product-Linked Integration of Urban and Rural Areas
3.2 Comprehensive Practice and Reflection on “Industry Promotes Agriculture, Urban Areas Support Rural Development”
3.3 Building a New Type of Industry-Agriculture and Urban–Rural Relationship
4 Perfecting the System and Mechanism for the Development of Urban–rural Integration
4.1 Intensifying Rural Reform to Establish the Urban and Rural Integration Development System and Mechanism
4.2 Steadily Propelling Rural Reform to Empower Farmers with More Property Rights
4.3 Deepening the Reform to Improve the Equal Exchange of Urban and Rural Factors and the Balanced Allocation of Public Resources
5 Enabling Farmers to Share the Fruits of Reform and Development
5.1 Enabling Farmers to Share the Fruits and Benefits of Reform and Development is the Starting Point and Objective for Integrated Urban and Rural Development
5.2 Enabling Farmers to Share the Fruits of Reform and Development Must Be Based on Upholding the “People-Oriented” Value Orientation of Urban–Rural Integration
7 Building a New Socialist Countryside
1 Taking the Road in Line with the Reality of Rural Areas
1.1 The Building of the New Countryside Should Fully Embody Rural Characteristics
1.2 The Building of the New Countryside Should Conform to the Law of Rural Development
1.3 The Building of the New Countryside Should Respect Farmers’ Wishes and Protect Their Interests
1.4 Urban and Rural Areas Development Should Be Balanced
2 Building a New Countryside in Light of Local Conditions
2.1 Making Plans According to the Reality
2.2 Basing on Realities and Carrying Out Classified Implementation
2.3 Adapting Measures to Local Conditions and Highlighting Key Points
3 Promoting the Building of Beautiful Countryside
3.1 Building a Beautiful Countryside is the Deepening and Upgrading of Building the New Countryside
3.2 Building a Beautiful Countryside is the Inheritance and Development of Traditional Chinese Ecological Culture
3.3 Building a Beautiful Countryside Should Realize the Protection and Continuation of Excellent Local Culture
4 Improving the Quality of Farmers in All-Round Way
4.1 To Train and Bring Up a New Type of Farmers
4.2 To Run Rural Compulsory Education Well
4.3 To Strengthen Rural Vocational Education
4.4 To Strengthen the Ideological Education of the Farmer Masses
8 Implementing Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy
1 Significance of Poverty Alleviation
1.1 The Essential Requirements of Socialism
1.2 The Top Priority of the Party’s Work and the Historical Mission of the Communist Party of China
1.3 The Inevitable Requirements for Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Realizing the Chinese Dream of Great Rejuvenation
2 Adhering to the Road of Poverty Alleviation with Chinese Characteristics
2.1 Adhering to the Philosophy of Emancipating the Mind in Poverty Alleviation
2.2 Following a Pragmatic Approach to Poverty Alleviation
2.3 Giving Full Play to Endogenous Development Power and External Input Power on Poverty Alleviation
3 Implementing Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Reduction Strategy
3.1 Targeted Poverty Alleviation is the Essence of President Xi Jinping’s Important Exposition on Poverty Alleviation
3.2 Following a Practical Path of Targeted Poverty Alleviation
4 Innovating the System and Mechanism of Poverty Alleviation
4.1 Breakthroughs and Innovations of the Local Assessment System and Mechanism
4.2 Breakthroughs and Innovations of the System and Mechanism of Assistance and Support for Officials Settled in Villages
4.3 Breakthroughs and Innovations of the Poverty Alleviation Investment System and Mechanism
4.4 Breakthroughs and Innovations in the System and Mechanism of Supervision and Assessment of Poverty Alleviation Funds
9 Accelerating Ecological Civilization Construction in Rural Areas
1 Strengthening Ecological and Environmental Protection in Rural Areas
1.1 Regarding Ecological and Environmental Quality as a Key for Measuring the Progress of Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects
1.2 Protecting the Ecological Environment to Benefit Generations to Come
1.3 Green Mountains are Mountains of Gold
1.4 Taking Holistic Measures of  Protecting the Environment to Ensure National Ecological Security
2 Promoting Green Development of Agriculture
2.1 Paying Attention to Balancing the Speed, Quality and Efficiency of Green Development of Agriculture
2.2 Paying Attention to Coordinating the Protection of Water and Soil Resources
3 Accelerating Forestry Reform and Development
3.1 Forests Take at a Strategic Position in Ecological Civilization Construction
3.2 Forest Resources Still Face Severe Challenges
3.3 Forests are the Core of National Ecological Security
3.4 Ecological Protection and Economic Development Shall Be Considered as Whole in the Development of Forestry
4 Strengthening Water Resource Utilization and Protection
4.1 Recognizing the Strategic Importance of Water Resources From the Perspective of Overall Development
4.2 Following the Instructions for Water Governance by President Xi Jinping
4.3 Taking Scientific Planning as the Guidance for Water Governance
4.4 Taking the Improvement of Water Resource Utilization Efficiency as the Premise of Water Governance
4.5 Taking Water Ecological Construction and Protection as the Core of Water Governance
4.6 Taking the Management Mechanism and System Innovation as the Guarantee of Water Governance
10 Strengthening Social Governance in Rural Areas
1 The Significance of Strengthening Social Governance in Rural Areas
2 People-Centered Development Orientation Shall Be Taken
3 Attention Shall Be Paid to the Effective Connection Between the Systematic Governance and the Source Governance
4 Attention Shall Be Paid to the Effective Combination of Law-Based Governance and Comprehensive Governance
Postscript
References
Index

Citation preview

Xiwen Chen · Houkai Wei · Yaping Song Editors

Rural Revitalization in China A Socialist Road with Chinese Characteristics

Rural Revitalization in China

Xiwen Chen · Houkai Wei · Yaping Song Editors

Rural Revitalization in China A Socialist Road with Chinese Characteristics

Editors Xiwen Chen National People’s Congress Agriculture Beijing, China

Houkai Wei Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Beijing, China

Yaping Song Hubei Academy of Social Sciences Wuhan, China Translated by Weiguo Chen School of Translation Studies Xi’an International Studies University Xi’an, China

Zhenhui Liang School of Translation Studies Xi’an International Studies University Xi’an, China

ISBN 978-981-19-9027-4 ISBN 978-981-19-9028-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1 Jointly published with China Social Sciences Press The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: China Social Sciences Press. Translation from the Chinese Simplified language edition: “走中国特色社会主义乡村振兴道路” by Xiwen Chen et al., © China Social Sciences Press 2019. Published by China Social Sciences Press . All Rights Reserved. © China Social Sciences Press 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Contents

1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changqing Ren

1

2

Stabilizing and Improving the Basic Rural Operation System . . . . . Peng Yuan

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3

Deepening Rural Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bingchuan Hu

47

4

Ensuring National Food Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wei Peng

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5

Realizing Agricultural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liangliang Gao

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Promoting the Development of Urban–Rural Integration . . . . . . . . . 105 Defu Ma

7

Building a New Socialist Countryside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Jinhua Wang

8

Implementing Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Yaping Song

9

Accelerating Ecological Civilization Construction in Rural Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Fawen Yu

10 Strengthening Social Governance in Rural Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Cheng Mao

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Contents

Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Chapter 1

Introduction Changqing Ren

“Sannong” is the abbreviation in Chinese for “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. The issues related to agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers have always been fundamental to China, as they concern the overall situation of China’s revolution, construction and reform. These issues are also fundamental to China’s modernization. As the foundation of China’s economic development and the cornerstone of social stability, these issues are critical to the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Leaders of the Communist Party of China have paid high attention to issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and rural people, and have combined the fundamental tenets of Marxism with the realities of China in different stages to provide guidance to, target and serve the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”, thus promoting socialist modernization. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping attached great importance to the work related to the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” and stressed that addressing these issues should have a top place in the work agenda of the Party. The 19th National Congress put forward the initiative (of rutal revitalization strategy) and saw it as one of the seven strategies in the decisive stage of building a prosperous society in a comprehensive way. It is a major strategic decision for the Party Central Committee to solve the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” for a new era. Thinking strategically about the overall situation, and starting from the twin goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and realizing the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation with respect to the new conditions and problems faced by the countryside in its reform and development, President Xi Jinping came up with a series of new ideas, new theories and requirements on the development of “agriculture, rural

C. Ren (B) Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_1

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areas and farmers,” which constitute an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

1 Importance of Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People Agriculture is the foundation of the national economy, the most basic material production sector, and the fundamental guarantee of economic and social development, which is related to the overall situation of reform, opening up and modernization. Since agriculture holds the key to feeding over 1.3 billion people, it is of great importance. As the place where the majority of rural people live, the countryside maintains the local culture of the Chinese people and is also an agricultural ecosystem and leisure space for urban residents. As an agricultural country with a large population, rural people make up the largest percentage of the population in China. Therefore, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the Party should attach great importance to issues related to agriculture, rural areas and rural people.

1.1 The “Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” Are Fundamental Issues in the Progress of China’s Modernization and Realizing Great National Rejuvenation “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” have special historical and practical significance in China. If China handles these issues in different historical periods well, her cause would advance smoothly so that socialist modernization would achieve further development; otherwise, her course would suffer from setbacks. President Xi Jinping indicated in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that, “Issues related to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people are fundamental to China as they directly concern our country’s stability and our people’s wellbeing. Addressing these issues should be placed on the top of the Party’s work agenda.”1 Since the 18th National Congress, President Xi Jinping repeatedly stated that the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” are fundamental to the progress of China’s modernization and ability to actualize great national rejuvenation. An important experience that the Party learned from governing and rejuvenating the country is that China should be committed to solving the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” as a 1

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House. 2017: 32.

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top priority of the Party’s work. This is what China should uphold for a long time without wavering.2 China should not neglect agriculture, forget farmers and show indifference to rural areas at any time. China should continue strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers and raising rural living standards, advancing the building of a moderately prosperous society in the countryside, and build momentum in respect to heightening awareness, degree of attention and intensity of input.3

1.2 China’s Food Security Is a Strategic Concern in National Economic Development As a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion people, a major strategic task for China lies in feeding its people. The key focus of China’s agricultural development is ensuring national food security. President Xi Jinping indicated in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that, “We must ensure China’s food security so that we always have control over our own food supply.”4 Xi has repeatedly reminded the Party that, for a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, no one can save China if there is a problem with food supply. Therefore, China should ensure that she has control over her own food supply at all times, so that Chinese people are self-sufficient. This fully reflects President Xi Jinping’s strategic concept of having vision and being vigilant against possible threats in times of peace. The family contract responsibility system adopted in the early 1980s ushered in rural reform. This system greatly liberated rural productivity, releasing the vitality of rural production and realizing the annual increase in grain output, helping to solve the problem of food and clothing shortage in a short time, thus laying a foundation for China to maintain rapid economic growth over an extended period of time. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Party Central Committee and State Council have paid more attention to China’s food security instituting a series of supporting policies to boost grain production, which has contributed to an enormous increase in grain output increase for the twelfth consecutive year. National grain output increased from 431 million tons in 2003 to 621 million tons in 2015. By consistently maintaining food security in an important strategic position, China has provided a solid guarantee for the rapid growth of the national economy. In the new era, China confronted two challenges: the restrictions from the environment and resources and increasing the cost of production. In this case, 2

The Theory Learning Central Group of the Leading Party Group of the Ministry of Agriculture of CPC. “Create a New Realm in the Rural Reform and Development with Scientific Theoretical Thinking”. Qiushi. 2015(11). 3 “Maintain Strategic Firmness, Enhance Development Confidence, and Persist in Seeking Innovation, Progress and Breakthroughs in Changes”. People’s Daily. 2015-7-19(1). 4 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House. 2015: 32.

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the Party Central Committee put forward a national food security strategy under new circumstances, i.e., domestic supply-based, guaranteed production capacity, moderate import, and science and technology support to achieve the goals that grain production is basically self-sufficient and that food is absolutely safe.

1.3 “If China Wants to Be Strong, Agriculture Must Be Strong” Agriculture is fundamental to the survival of human society, which is the most basic material production sector that provides food and other major necessities in the national economy. As a large developing agricultural country, the basic position of agriculture in China’s economy is even more prominent. To realize modernization and the Chinese Dream of great national rejuvenation, China must lay a solid foundation for agriculture. In the Central Rural Work Conference held in December 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized that attaching great importance to agriculture forms the foundation of social stability, and emphasized the need for relentless work in, and a high degree of concern about, the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016–2020), China should stay commited to placing top priority to addressing these issues on the work agenda of the Party, firmly establishing and implementing the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, opening-up and sharing; increase support for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers and raising rural living standards; further advance all reforms in rural areas; surmount difficulties met in addressing the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”; strengthen innovation, cultivate development advantages; actively promote agricultural modernization; and deliver a solid performance in poverty alleviation and development. By doing the above, the possibility of the construction of a new socialist countryside will be improved, as both agriculture and rural areas could become important locations for people to make a difference. At the Party’s 18th National Congress, the goal of harmonized development of four modernizations in China was put forward, in which agricultural modernization was prioritized. However, China should know that agricultural modernization is an especially difficult task. In the Central Rural Work Conference held in 2013, President Xi Jinping stated, “We must know clearly that agriculture remains the weak part in the synchronic development of four modernizations, and countryside is still the short stave of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”5 He also reminded the whole Party that China should pay more attention to the development 5

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I), edited by Party Literature Research Centre of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Central Party Literature Press. 2014: 658.

1 Introduction

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of agriculture in terms of thinking and political stance, as well as to the realization of agricultural modernization. Therefore, more efforts would be made to strengthen this weak part. Only by achieving agricultural modernization can China make the goal of balanced development of these four modernizations come true in China; and thus, the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation would be realized.

1.4 “If China Wants to Be Beautiful, the Countryside Must Be Beautiful” The countryside is where the majority of the rural population in China lives, an area which maintains the local culture of the Chinese people. To speed up the construction of the new countryside, better the conditions in the countryside, and build a beautiful new countryside is the concretization of a prosperous society in rural areas where the construction of rural economies, politics, culture, social development will be harmoniously and coordinatedly integrated into the construction of ecological civilization and Party building. President Xi Jinping has set up requirements for the construction of new countryside, especially, that is, “Countryside should never be a place which is desolated, full of left behind people, and a home town merely in our memory”.6 And that, “If China wants to be beautiful, the countryside must be beautiful,” means that only if the vast rural areas become beautiful can harmonious development between human beings and the environment be real, allowing us to make China more beautiful. To build a socialist new countryside, China needs to keep Chinese characteristics and be clear about the reality in China. During an inspection to Yunnan Province, South China, on January 20, 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized that the new rural construction should conform to the reality and law of development in rural areas. The rural flavor and landscape should be retained, and the natural environment and local culture should be protected.7

1.5 “If Countryside Wants to Be Improved, the Key Lies in Hundreds of Millions of Farmers” China is a large agricultural country with the largest number of rural people in the world. At the end of 2016, the total rural population in China was 589.73 million, 6 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference,contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I), edited by Party Literature Research Centre of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Central Party Literature Press. 2014: 682. 7 “Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas”. People’s Daily. 2015-1-22(1).

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accounting for 42.65% of the total population. China’s affluence is closely connected with that of rural areas. As such, President Xi Jinping said that, “If China wants to be stronger, then rural people must be richer”. As an important segment of the Chinese population, farmers are an critical part of the labor force, as the producers of wealth, they cannot be ignored. When presiding over the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC, President Xi Jinping stressed that if the countryside wants to be improved, the key lies in hundreds of millions of farmers. China should constantly promote reform and institutional innovation in rural areas, giving a leading role to the initiative of hundreds of millions of farmers, along with continuously liberating and developing rural social productivity, and thus stimulating the vitality of rural areas.8 First, more importance shall be attached to making farmers richer to ensure that no farmer is left behind. Since the reform and opening up, China has seen sustained and rapid economic growth, and people’s income has increased substantially. However, as it is difficult to change long-standing differences between urban and rural areas in a short time, there is still a relatively large gap between the incomes of rural and urban residents. To achieve the goal of building a prosperous society in a holistic way, the solutions, along with the challenges, have to do with rural areas in China. As President Xi Jinping said, “To achieve initial prosperity in the country, it is crucial to raise the rural living standard.” In December 2014, President Xi emphasized in his investigation in Jiangsu Province, South China, that the Chinese government should give more weight to increasing the income of farmers, so that all farmers could enjoy a happy life, with no single farmer or household neglected.9 Since 2010, although farmers’ income has grown more rapidly than that of urban residents for seven consecutive years, building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects remains a formidable task. Thus, more efforts by the Chinese government need to be put into raising the income of farmers—and it must be considered whether the income level of the majority of farmers has been improved, rather than simply concerning their average income. Second, to enrich farmers, the integration of urban and rural areas must be promoted. To eliminate the seemingly oppositional duality of the urban–rural structure, and to promote urban–rural integration, all farmers should have the opportunity to share the fruits of economic development. The 18th National Congress set forth that the goal of achieving synchronic development of four modernizations in China was to make development between cities and the countryside more coordinated and comprehensive. President Xi Jinping stated that: China needs to develop industrialization, information technology and urbanization as well as develop agriculture modernization and new rural areas construction. The development of these two aspects should be conducted simultaneously. With the duality of the urban– rural structure eliminated and urban–rural integration advanced, China can construct 8

“Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily. 2015-5-2(1). 9 “Seize and Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development, Push Reform and Opening-up and Modernization drive into a New Stage”. People’s Daily. 2014-12-15(1).

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vast rural areas into beautiful homesteads in which all farmers live happily.10 Focus should be put on establishing a viable system, with mechanisms for promoting integrated urban–rural development: establishing a new type of relationship between both industry and agriculture, and urban and rural areas, in which industry promotes agriculture, urban areas support rural development, industry and agriculture reinforce each other, and urban development and rural development are integrated. The targets are to equalize urban and rural residents’ access to basic rights and interests, and public services; to make urban and rural personal income equitable; and to allocate resources equitably between urban and rural areas; and to integrate industrial development between urban and rural areas.11 As China’s comprehensive national strength continues to grow, China can realize industry nurturing agriculture and cities supporting the countryside with the preferable policy of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers while increasing state financial support to the work of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. President Xi Jinping stressed that China should construct the model where industry nurtures agriculture and cities support the countryside as a long-term policy, committing to and implementing the policy of strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, and raising rural living standards as an effective framework, mobilizing all social forces to provide greater support to the work of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers,” and striving to form a new model of integrated urban and rural development.12 Third, China should improve the education of rural areas and train professional rural service personnel who have a good knowledge of agriculture, love the rural areas, and care about rural people. The rural–urban development divide is also reflected in the education field, and rural education in China remains underdeveloped. Providing quality education and working hard to improve education levels in rural areas are urgent needs in building a new socialist countryside and a prosperous society in a holistic way. President Xi Jinping showed much interest in rural education courses and stressed that China should make a marked improvement in rural compulsory education, giving access to higher levels of education, along with access to the acquisition and development of new knowledge and skills, for the next generation of the rural population.13 Furthermore, education development in poverty-stricken areas is of great significance. As there exists a relatively large gap in situations of education and talents between poverty-stricken areas and developed regions, a low level of education will have a great impact on economic growth. Corresponding to the situation that rural areas have experienced a large gap in both quantity and quality 10

Selection of Xi Jinping’s Statements on Promoting the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy in a Balanced Way, edited by Party Literature Research Centre of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Central Party Literature Press. 2015: 32. 11 “Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily. 2015-5-2(1). 12 “Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily. 2015-5-2(1). 13 “Deepen Reform and Opening-up and Promote Innovation-driven Development Strategy to Achieve the Year-round Economic and Social Development Goals”. People’s Daily. 2013-11-6(1).

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of resources and positive development, supports will be strengthened for vocational education development in rural areas, ethnic minority areas, and poor areas to make everyone there have access to better vocational education, said President Xi Jinping.14 Poor areas have lagged behind in compulsory education and are unable to attract the high-end talents to work there; therefore, China will promote vocational education in the rural areas, cultivating knowledge, skills, and expertise in the operation and development of technology. This will be conducive to expanding employment and promoting the transfer of the labor force. The development of modern agriculture cannot happen without well-qualified farmers. In moving toward modern agriculture, China now needs new farmers who are different from traditional farmers, to meet the requirements of modern agriculture. President Xi Jinping said in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that the aim of training professional rural service personnel, who have a good knowledge of agriculture, love our rural areas, and care about rural people,15 is to meet the need for creating a group of highly qualified farmers in the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. Early in 2013 at the Central Rural Work Conference, President Xi Jinping pointed out that: “…we should improve the quality of farmers, and cultivate a new type of farmers…the cultivation of young farmers will be covered in a national plan for training practical personnel, ensuring that the agriculture does have qualified agriculture…, we will take accelerating the development of new agricultural operating entities as a major strategy, focus on attracting young people to be engaged in agriculture, and fostering professional farmers, establish special policies and mechanisms, and build professional farmer teams…, so as to provide solid foundation of human resources and support for agricultural modernization and sound, sustainable development of agriculture.”16 With the increasing development of urbanization, the number of people leaving the countryside continues to rise; the new agricultural operating entities will gradually replace household operation of production to become a major mode of agriculture operation in China. Changed mode of operation demands professional operation and technical talent, so cultivating and building new and professional farmer teams are requirements of agricultural modernization. Fourth, to enrich farmers, one important thing that needs to be done is improving infrastructure conditions. Rural infrastructure is an important material basis for economic development. Speeding up infrastructure construction and providing more rural public goods are obligatory duties of the government. For poverty-stricken areas, investment in infrastructure will bring about especially high 14

“Better Support and Help Development of Vocational Education to Train Talents for Realizing Two Centenary Goals”. People’s Daily. 2014-6-24(1). 15 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—A Report Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House. 2017: 32. 16 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference,contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Centre of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Central Party Literature Press. 2014: 679–680.

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marginal benefits and achieve remarkable positive success in promoting economic development and increasing farmers’ income. President Xi Jinping noted in an inspection visit to Hunan Province, South China, that if poor areas want to alleviate poverty and become prosperous, it will be important for the areas to improve infrastructure conditions such as transportation. China should work hard to provide further support in the areas.17 President Xi Jinping made comments in the report on countryside road development and emphasized that, especially for some povertystricken areas, upgrading a zip line or repairing a section of highway can create an opportunity to become prosperous.18 With regard to the questions of how to increase infrastructure investment and improve institutional mechanisms for investment in infrastructure in poor areas, President Xi Jinping provided clear instructions at the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that China should improve mechanisms for building the rural infrastructure, promote the connectivity, co-construction and co-sharing of infrastructure in urban and rural areas, develop new mechanisms of making decisions, investment, construction, operation, and protection of infrastructure and public service facilities in rural areas, and actively guide the private capital to be involved in the construction of public infrastructure in rural areas.19

1.6 “To Achieve Initial Prosperity in the Country, It Is Crucial to Raise the Rural Living Standard” Society can never be counted as prosperous in a well-rounded way without prosperity in rural areas. Additionally, the difficulty in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects lies in the countryside. Thus, President Xi Jinping reminds the whole Party that China should not leave the countryside behind in the endeavor to achieve the goal of building a prosperous, well-balanced society. The building of a prosperous, well-balanced society can only be successfully completed when it is actualized in the rural areas, since this is an area that presents challenges to the building of a moderately prosperous society in well-rounded way. President Xi Jinping has reminded the whole Party many times that, “To achieve initial prosperity in the country, it is crucial to raise the rural living standard.” This is because Xi desires that Party members understand the key points and difficulties in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, as well as to understand that the totality of this prosperous society cannot be achieved without the 17

“Deepen Reform and Opening-up and Promote Innovation-driven Development Strategy to Achieve the Year-round Economic and Social Development Goals”. People’s Daily. 2013-11-6(1). 18 “Building a Section of Highway Brings About a Window of Opportunity for Prosperity-Record of President Xi Jinping’s Concerns about Rural Highway Development”. People’s Daily (overseas edition). 2014-4-29(1). 19 “Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily. 2015-5-2(1).

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participation of the rural areas. In the course toward modernization, the countryside should never be left behind. Additionally, in the process of pursing the Chinese Dream with concerted effort, the dreams and efforts of nearly 600 million farmers are essential. The understanding that it is crucial to raise the rural living standard means that the success of China’s effort to build a prosperous society depends on whether farmers have become prosperous or not. Therefore, China should endeavor to promote agricultural modernization and the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas. More channels will be opened up, new potential explored, and new growth fostered to increase rural incomes, strengthen agriculture sector, and realize the consolidation of agriculture, simultaneously raising farmers’ income and developing the countryside. It is crucial to raise the rural living standard to determine whether farmers are satisfied with their conditions. The degree of farmers’ satisfaction is a measure of the Party’s work. The initiative of building a prosperous society can only be a success when farmers feel satisfied. It is crucial to raise the rural living standard—this also means that the whole Party should be fully aware of the difficult challenge of finishing the construction of a prosperous society in the countryside, ready to face and overcome these challenges. The building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020 is the first centenary goal of the Party, while the difficulty of realizing this goal lies in the countryside. President Xi Jinping stated that “We have sounded the trumpet to finish the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The key to this mission is that we should build up our confidence in overcoming difficulties firmly, create a mighty force for advancing causes, and rely on the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, so that one victory after another will be secured in the cause of the Party and the country.”20 The building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects is a difficult job with many challenges, which requires the whole Party to make concerted efforts to overcome jointly. As President Xi Jinping said, “To build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the most difficult and arduous tasks can be seen in the countryside, especially in the poor areas. However, to finish the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, a well-off society in the countryside, especially in poverty-stricken areas, is indispensable. Everyone needs to have a deep understanding of the meaning of this sentence.”21 President Xi Jinping further stated in “Instructions on ‘Recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development’” that, “We will take the 13th Five-Year Plan as an endgame plan of the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, focus on the weak points in the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and put more efforts in the areas. For example, one of prominent weak points is how to help the rural poor population. To build a prosperous society in a 20

Xi, Jinping. “Speech on National Committee of the Chinese New Year Tea Party”. People’s Daily. 2013-1-2(2). 21 Xi, Jinping. Speech on Investigating Work of Poverty Alleviation in Fuping County, Hebei Province, cited from Be A County Party Committee Secretary like Jiao Yulu. Central Party Literature Press. 2015: 16.

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well-rounded way, rural areas as a weak point should be strengthened. China should make great efforts to improve rural infrastructure and basic public service and tackle ecological and environmental problems so as to eliminate regional imbalance and rurl poverty.”22 The first weak point is the development of infrastructure and basic public services. Due to historical reasons, the gap in infrastructure and basic public services between urban and rural areas in China is still very large. Disparities still exist between urban and rural areas in transportation, communication, public education, sanitation, culture, social insurance, and other spheres. Therefore, No. 1 Document of the Party Central Committee in 2016 indicated that China should make rural areas a priority in the infrastructure construction with state fiscal support, rural areas and the towns to which large agricultural populations have migrated a priority in the development of social undertakings. By investing financially, China will speed up the improvement of production and living conditions such as water, electricity, roads, natural gas and networks, take significant steps to develop rural education, culture, sanitation, social insurance, and other social affairs, and steadily promote equal access to basic public services in urban and rural areas. China will implement a project for strengthening and improving drinking water safety in rural areas, make tarmac and cement roads and shuttle buses accessible to all towns, townships and administrative villages that meet the criteria, and help villages with certain population sizes to build highways. In terms of public service, China will put more efforts into improving preschool education in rural areas, make senior secondary education universally available, implement a system of serious disease insurance for rural and nonworking urban residents, and put in place a system for rescuing and protecting minors, as well as a welfare and protection system for children living in difficulty. To achieve the goals mentioned above, on the one hand, China can improve the degree of connectivity and co-sharing in infrastructure between urban and rural areas by extending urban infrastructure to the countryside and establishing a unified security system for infrastructure and public service; on the other hand, China will provide some preferential financial policies supporting rural areas ahead of urban areas. For example, policies such as waiving tuition and miscellaneous fees for students in senior high education can be carried out first in rural areas. By introducing preferential policies, the gap between urban and rural areas will be narrowed. The second weak point lies in the ways the environment and ecosystem have been used in the past and the critical need to radically alter the ways China approaches using them in the future. With 10 percent of the world’s total farmland and approximately 6 percent of the world’s total freshwater, China feeds twenty percent of the world’s population to which agriculture has made great contributions. However, agricultural production is highly dependent on chemical fertilizers, which cause heavy nonpoint source pollution, while the overuse of cultivated land has led to a decline in soil fertility. All of this has destroyed the sustainability of agriculture. Agricultural development now faces two constraints from resources and 22

Xi, Jinping. “Explanations on the ‘Proposals on the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development’”. People’s Daily. 2015-11-4(2).

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the ecological environment. Therefore, it is essential for China to transform agricultural development models, and to take to the path of resource-conserving and environmentally-friendly agricultural modernization. The third weak point lies in uneven regional development and existing rural poverty. The imbalance in regional development is mainly reflected in the large disparity existing in the economic development between the eastern and western regions. Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China has seen rapid and sustained economic growth. Moreover, the income and living standards of the majority of Chinese farmers have rapidly improved, and the number of impoverished people in rural areas has been considerably reduced. From 1987 to 2015, the number of poor rural people decreased by 715 million; the annual average number of people lifted out of poverty was 19.31 million; the poverty incidence fell by 91.8%; and the annual average poverty rate was reduced by 6.9%. Especially since 2010, rural poverty in China has dropped significantly. In 2010, the rural poverty incidence was 17.2 percent, and the number of poor people was 165.67 million. From 2011 to 2015, the total number of people living in rural poverty was reduced by 109.92 million; the annual average number of people lifted out of poverty was 21.98 million; the poverty incidence fell by 11.5%; and the annual average poverty rate was decreased by 19.6%.23 However, there is still a long way to go for alleviating China’s poverty. According to the current rural poverty standard, by the end of 2016, there were 43.35 million poor rural people across the country, and these people were mainly in the central and western regions. Among them, rural poverty in the central region accounted for 15.94 million, with a poverty incidence of 4.9 percent, and in the western region, it accounted for 22.51 million, with a poverty incidence of 7.8 percent.24 Especially for contiguous areas of extreme poverty and poor counties, the large number of poor people and high poverty incidence have made it difficult to lift people out of poverty. In 2015, poverty incidence in poor counties across the country was above 13.3%, and in contiguous areas of extreme poverty, it was above 10%, including 8 contiguous areas that were beyond 15%.25 As such, China’s poverty reduction has come to a sprint period with hard nuts to crack. President Xi Jinping said that “We cannot declare that we have finished the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects while letting tens of millions of people live below the poverty alleviation standard. This will not only affect people’s satisfaction with the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, but the international community’s recognition of it.”26 In the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation Work held in December 2015, a bugle call of the battle against poverty was sounded. A poverty alleviation strategy with principles 23

Li, Peiling & Wei, Houkai. Annual Report on Poverty Reduction of China 2016. Social Sciences Academic Press. 2016: 50. 24 Wei, Houkai & Huang, Bingxin. Analysis and Forecast on China’s Rural Economy (2016–2017). Social Sciences Academic Press. 2017: 43. 25 Li, Peiling & Wei, Houkai. Annual Report on Poverty Reduction of China 2016. Social Sciences Academic Press. 2016: 58. 26 Xi, Jinping. “Explanations on the ‘Proposals on the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development’”. People’s Daily. 2015-11-4(2).

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of targeted poverty reduction and alleviation was put forward, which demanded that every party committee in all departments and governments at all levels should see poverty alleviation as the top priority, and the first people’s livelihood project during the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan. Under the current standards, the goal of lifting rural people out of poverty across the board by 2020 will be fulfilled in accordance with the general deployment of the Five-channel Project. No. 1 Document of the Party Central Committee in 2016 indicated that by 2020, significant progress will be made in agricultural modernization, grain production capacity will be further improved, national food security and the supply of important agricultural products will be guaranteed, and a remarkable increase will be seen in the quality and efficiency of the agricultural product supply system. Farmers will live a high quality life, the per capita income of rural residents will be doubled in comparison with 2010, and the income disparity between urban and rural residents will continue to decrease. It must be ensured that all the rural residents living below current poverty line will be lifted out of poverty, and region-wide poverty is eliminated in all poverty-stricken counties and regions. With these changes, the quality of farmers and the level of social civilization in rural areas have been significantly improved, and the construction level of the new socialist countryside has been further upgraded. Further improvements can be envisioned in the basic rural economic system, the system for supporting and protecting agriculture, the rural social governance system, and the mechanisms and institutions for integrated development of urban and rural areas.

2 President Xi Jinping’s Exploration and Practice in the Field Concerning Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers President Xi Jinping’s important views on the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” have taken shape during his long-term practice of rural work and political career, and the views are all based on a summary of the experience and theoretical generalization from the practice of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” in China. In President Xi Jinping’s political career over the past decades, he has held deep feelings about the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” since the time he was a young person in school and the Party secretary of the production team of Lingjiahe Village. He has always envisioned this dream of modernizing agriculture to achieve prosperity in rural areas by developing agriculture, bringing benefit to the countryside and enriching farmers. Before the 18th National Congress of CPC, most of the academic works he wrote when he was in leading posts at different levels were all about the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. After that, from the point of view of governance, President Xi Jinping made a host of comments on and indications for the work related to the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”, thus forming a

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complete set of theoretical systems concerning the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”.

2.1 Learning More About China from the Personal Experience Related to the “Issues Relating to Agriculture,Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” President Xi Jinping started his time of “educated youth” when he went to live and work on a production team in Liangjiahe Village, Wenanyi Commune, Yanchuan County, Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province in China during his youth, which was the beginning of his experience with China’s “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. During the seven years on the production team in Liangjiahe Village, he worked as an ordinary commune member with other members of the production team in Liangjiahe Village, doing work that included uncultivated land reclamation, farming, chopping fodder, herding sheep, hauling coal, damming, carrying excrement, etc. According to villagers in Liangjiahe Village, Xi was always a hardworking young man, and while doing this work, barely rested. The experience of working as an educated youth in rural areas helped him strengthen ties of flesh-andblood with the people of rural China, deepening his sincere feelings toward farmers. The important views of President Xi Jinping on the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” are rooted in the forefront of China’s agricultural production activities; and his experience of working with farmers enables President Xi Jinping to understand better the needs and situations of farmers, rural areas and agriculture. In his political career that followed, Xi Jinping was in charge of agriculture successively in Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai and other places. When he was the secretary of the Party committee of a county and the secretary of a provincial Party committee, his main concern was the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”, which contributed to a strong bond between him and the work of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. It is his personal participation, bold innovation and in-depth exploration in the work related to the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” when he was at different positions in different historical periods, that have helped him accumulate much practical experience, which he then made into a systematic and theoretical summary. Before the 18th CPC National Congress, most of his academic works, speeches, comments and instructions on work were all about the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. For example, he had a book named Up and Out of Poverty published in his early years. He edited the Theory and Practice of Modern Agriculture and finished a monograph named A Tentative Study on China’s Rural Marketization during his tenure as Deputy Secretary of the Fujian provincial CPC Committee. When he was first the governor of

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Zhejiang Province and then the secretary of the provincial Party Committee, Zhejiang Province took the lead in developing widespread local regulations of the Regulations on Farmers’ Professional Cooperatives, which laid a foundation for the introduction and issue of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Farmers’ Professional Cooperatives in 2006 across the country.

2.2 Being Courageous in Exploring, Developing and Bringing Forth New Ideas President Xi Jinping’s important views on the Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers“ were developed when he was in charge of works related to agriculture and rural areas in different periods; his views are directly related to the spirit of being courageous in exploring and constantly breaking new ground in the work of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers.” Xi Jinping started his exploration into understanding how to help the countryside eliminate poverty when he worked on a production team and served as a Party branch secretary of the team in the countryside in Shaanxi Province. In his later positions of leadership at different levels of regional and central governments, he undertook a broad range of reforms and practices in accordance with local contexts, thus building up rich experience. While working in Ningde, Fujian Province, Xi Jinping pointed out that issues related to food have always been a strategic problem in the development of the national economy, and this issue has a more important and special meaning for eastern areas of Fujian. At that time, he gave ongoing priority to the work of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers,” guiding it with a strategy of being prepared for danger in time of safety and exercising foresight. His book, Up and Out of Poverty, which was published in this period, was a periodic summary he made about the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. While working in Zhejiang Province, he personally guided the reforms of the system of “Three in One” farmers’ cooperative economic organizations in the province, promoted its pilot work in Ruian, and held a provincial meeting on the spot to summarize and promote the experience. The “Three in One” refers to the integration of farmers’ professional cooperation, supply and marketing cooperation and credit cooperation, which features the integration of the triple functions of cooperation, three kinds of cooperative organizations, and three-level cooperation systems. Currently, the “Three in One” has become one of the goals of the comprehensive reform of Chin’s supply and marketing cooperatives. When working in the eastern regions of Fujian, Xi Jinping indicated that, in terms of some fundamental issues related to developing large-scale agriculture, China should take the unique ideas developed as “thinking of East Fujian”and extend them

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to rest of the country. This is what Xi Jinping put forward to find out a way of developing large-scale agriculture which should be developed into a multi-storied agriculture featuring multiple functions, openness, and comprehensiveness. The “thinking of East Fujian” is a systematic thinking of modern agricultural development, including food production, a family contract responsibility system, integrated agricultural development, rural collective economy, scientific and technological development of agriculture, and rural service system.

3 Main Work Related to Tree Rural Issues for a New Era The important views of President Xi Jinping on the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” cover the important fields of the work related to the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” for a new era, which constitute a full set of theoretical systems and policy guidelines to deal with China’s “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” in a systematic way. President Xi Jinping has made a series of major statements on issues such as: ensuring food security, comprehensively deepening rural reform, speeding up construction of “new countryside”, transforming modes of agricultural development, increasing farmers’ incomes so that they become prosperous, address how to accurately understand and grasp the nature of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” at the present stage, as well as how to accelerate the solution of the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” by deepening reforms. At the same time, he also set forth the principles that need to be adhered to, and a bottom line that cannot be broken through while China deepen rural reforms. This set of theoretical systems is a foundation for the government to formulate policies relating to the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” and an important basis for guiding the practice of China’s “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” in the current and future time periods.

3.1 Ensuring Food Security Is a Top Priority for Governing the Country As a developing country with a large population, China should view feeding its people as a strategic problem to solve. The Central Rural Work Conference held in 2013 put forward a national food security strategy centering on domestic supply with moderate imports and ensuring sound production capacity supported by science and technology. “Centering on domestic supply” means that, in any situation, the bowls of the Chinese must rest soundly in their own hands. Chinese bowls should be filled mainly

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with Chinese grain. Only when a country is self-sufficient in food production can it take the initiative in food security and grasp the overall situation for economic and social growth. The primary condition for achieving basic self-sufficiency in food production is that China’s arable land area mustn’t fall below the red line of 1.8 billion mu (120.6 million hectares), which is the foundation for Chinese existence. If China loses the arable land, every related aspect of development would meet constraints. “Ensuring production capacity” means that China should motivate and protect “initiatives coming from two sources” to let farmers growing grains have profits to make and major grain production areas have enthusiasm to focus on grain output. China will give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, implement reforms to the grain price formation system, and explore the formation of a mechanism linking agricultural subsidies to food production in order to let those who produce more grain receive more subsides, putting limited funds to work where they are most needed. China should do a thorough job of regulating grain reserves, mobilizing the activity of market entities to purchase and store grain, while making full use of private facilities for storage. The central government and the local governments at all levels should share these responsibilities. The central government should bear the primary responsibility, while local governments at all levels should be aware of the need to think in big-picture terms, which are the need to increase grain production, and to consciously assume responsibility for safeguarding national food security. “Moderate imports” means that, in the process of allowing agriculture to be open to the outside world, China should make full use of two markets and two resources, appropriately increasing imports and accelerating the pace of agriculture exports , and controlling the scale and pace of imports well. China should attach great importance to grain conservation and cultivate the habit of saving food which should be started from childhood and the dining table, thus making saving food become a common practice across the country.

3.2 Stabilizing and Improving the Rural Basic Operation System President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that China will strengthen and improve its rural basic operation system, deepen the reform of the rural land system, and improve the system of separating the ownership rights, contract rights, and operation rights of contracted land.27 China will ensure that rural land is owned by farmer collectives, since this is the “soul” of upholding 27

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—A Report Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House. 2017: 32.

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the basic rural operation system. President Xi Jinping indicated that the rural basic operation system is the cornerstone of the Party’s rural policy. China should continue to explore an effective realization system of collective land ownership, improve the system of separating the ownership rights, contract rights, and operation rights of contracted land in accordance with the principles of implementing collective ownership, stabilizing household contracting rights, and loosening control of land operation rights. China will move faster to establish a three-dimensional and multiple modern agricultural operation system that is based on the household operation of production, tied together by coordination and combination, and backed up by socialized service. Following the guidelines, China will adhere to the principles that farmers, in accordance with the law, are willing to have land orderly transferred on a compensatory basis so as to develop various moderate-scale operations while adopting measures suitable to local conditions and implementing gradual reform but without making “great leap forward”, forcible orders and arbitrary instructions. On the premise of ensuring the fundamental position of the household operation of production, China will step up efforts to foster new type operation entities such as large farmers, family farms, farmers’ cooperatives, and industrialized leading enterprises of agriculture. Xi Jinping stated that when he was working in east Fujian, the combination of centralization and decentralization constituted the basic form of the socialist operation system with Chinese characteristics in the present rural areas. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has provided specific instructions that China will establish a three-dimensional and multiple modern agriculture operation system that is based on the household operation of production, tied together by coordination and combination, and backed up by socialized service. This is the fundamental compliance for innovating agricultural operation systems. Upholding the rural basic operation system requires China to respect the wishes of farmers, to give no forcible orders, and not to do things against the will of farmers in the name of reform. At the fifth meeting of the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the CPC Central Committee held in September 2014, President Xi Jinping stressed that: China should respect the wishes of farmers and in accordance with the law, let the farmers have land orderly transferred on a compensatory basis without forcible orders and arbitrary administrative instructions. The development scale shall be appropriate with focus on developing mass production of grain so as to make the farmers the active participants and real beneficiaries of the appropriate scale operations of land.28

28

“Strict Quality Supervision Ensures Visible Progression of the Reform Schemes”. People’s Daily. 2014-9-30(1).

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3.3 Taking the Road of Agricultural and Rural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics In the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping indicated that China must prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas. To build rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, China needs to put sound systems, mechanisms, and policies in place to promote integrated urban-rural development so as to speed up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. These are not only the general requirements of the rural vitalization strategy but also the profound understanding of agricultural and rural modernization with Chinese characteristics. Xi also pointed out that national modernization will not be complete, comprehensive, or solid without agricultural modernization, rural prosperity or the well-being of farmers.29 Modernization is the basic way for agriculture, while agricultural modernization is the foundation and support for China’s modernization. As a foundation, agricultural modernization should not lag behind in the comprehensive development of new types of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. Addressing the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” lies in essentially deepening reform and taking the road of agricultural and rural modernization with Chinese characteristics. Thriving businesses means that China should, through supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, adjust and optimize the product structure, improve the production mode, and smooth the industrial system so as to realize the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural industry and accelerate the transition from traditional agriculture towards modern agriculture. China will reduce the supply of low-quality agricultural products and increase the production and supply of highquality agricultural products so as to coordinate the relationship between ecological conservation and agricultural production. By developing new industries and new forms of business in agriculture and rural areas, China can realize industrial convergence, upgrading of all links, and up the valuation of the whole chain in agriculture. A pleasant living environment means that China should place great focus on ecological conservation in the countryside and improve the living environment, thus making the countryside a beautiful homeland in which farmers live and work in peace. To achieve this goal, China should, on the one hand, realize that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and act on this understanding, adopt a comprehensive approach to conserving our mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, and roads in rural areas, and do well in the treatment of garbage and sewage, stacks of straw, and other works related to environmental treatment in rural areas, to realize harmony between humans and nature. On the other hand, China should boost investment in rural public infrastructure and strive to equalize public services between urban and rural areas to realize integrated urban-rural development. Rural civilization means that core values of Chinese socialism should be fostered in the countryside to pass 29

“Seize and Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development, Push Reform and Opening-up and Modernization Drive into a New Stage”. People’s Daily. 2014-12-15(1).

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on the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation and make the countryside a land of harmony and a place of civilization. Effective governance means that China should promote social governance in rural areas, strengthen basic services in rural communities, and improve the rural governance model, which combines self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue. Prosperity means that China will let farmers share the fruits of economic development and live a better life. In March 2018, President Xi Jinping emphasized when participating in a panel discussion of the Shandong Provincial delegation at the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress that the implementation of rural vitalization is a large task, so China must adopt a holistic approach to formulating a plan for it and carry it out in a well-conceived way. He came up with a scientific judgment of “Five Vitalizations” to promote the vitalization of industries, talents, culture, ecological environment, and organizations in rural areas, making a detailed scheme for rural vitalization. In the Central Rural Work Conference held in January 2018, President Xi Jinping first put forward taking a socialist rural vitalization road with Chinese characteristics and profoundly expounding its implications: first, China must reconstruct urban-rural relations and take the road of urban-rural integrated development; second, China must strengthen and improve the rural basic operation system and take the road of common prosperity; third, China must deepen the supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector and take the road of developing agriculture by raising its quality; fourth, China must ensure harmony between humans and nature and take the road of rural green development; fifth, China must ensure the preservation, development and upgrading of agricultural civilization and take the road of the prosperity of rural culture; sixth, China must develop new forms of rural governance systems and take the road of sound governance in the rural areas; and seventh, China must take the difficult steps to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, and choose the road of rural governance systems. To choose the road of agricultural and rural modernization with Chinese characteristics, China should base this choice on China’s reality and explore a modernization mode suited to China’s actual conditions. As a country with a vast territory, China has various agricultural production conditions, which result in various agricultural operation modes. In the near future, farmer households will hold a principal position in agricultural operation. This means that China’s agricultural modernization should be based on the authentic national condition, be suitable to local conditions, and make no “one size fits all” measure. The relationship between moderate-scale agricultural operations and small household agricultural operations should be kept balanced. China will establish industry, production, and operation systems for modern agriculture and improve the systems for supporting and protecting agriculture. China will develop appropriately scaled agricultural operations with various forms, cultivate new types of agribusiness, improve specialized agricultural services so as to make small household farmers systematically integrate with modern agriculture. Agricultural modernization is an important part of the strategic objective of the harmonized development of four modernizations in China, a target and solution for agricultural development. To achieve modernization, China must rely on science and technology. President Xi Jinping indicated that China should rely on science and technology to develop agriculture, follow the principles of placing equal

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emphasis on increasing production and efficiency, good seeding together with good methods of cultivation, combining agricultural machinery with agronomy, coordinating production with ecological environment, promoting integrated agricultural technology, mechanized labor processes, production operation, information-based, and law-based safety and environmental protection, so as to accelerate the establishment of a technical system that meets the agricultural development requirements of high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, ecology and safety.30

3.4 Promoting Integration of Urban–Rural Development To implement a rural vitalization strategy means that China should bring forth new ideas in the mechanisms and institutions constraining integrated urban-rural development, put in place sound systems and policies for promoting integrated urban-rural development, and continue to narrow the gaps between urban and rural areas to realize integrated urban-rural development. President Xi Jinping said that coordinated development in urban and rural areas is a key mark of our country’s modernization. China will continue to strive for the building of a new countryside and achieve coordinated and integrated development between them, with a new type of urbanization to form a relationship. China will promote overall planning for industry and agriculture, and cities and the countryside, and form new relations between industry and agriculture, and urban and rural areas, in which industry promotes agriculture, urban areas support rural development, industry and agriculture reinforce each other, and urban development and rural development are integrated. Our goal is to ensure equalization of basic rights and interests, equitable access to public services, equalization of personal income, rational allocation of key factors, and integration of industrial development in urban and rural areas. To take the road of urban–rural integration development with Chinese characteristics, China must base herself on her own actual situation. “The unbalanced development between urban and rural areas is a serious problem hindering the development of our economy and society, a major problem China must solve in order to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and accelerate socialist modernization. Tremendous changes have taken place in China’s rural areas since the reform and opening-up policy was introduced in late 1978. However, the urban–rural dual structure has not changed fundamentally, and the widening gap between urban and rural development has not been reversed. To solve these problems, China must push forward the integrated development of urban and rural areas.”31

30 “ Follow

Guiding Principles, Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. People’s Daily. 2013-11-29(1). 31 Xi, Jinping. “Explanations on the ‘Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform’”. People’s Daily. 2013-11-16(1).

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While working in the eastern part of Fujian, Xi Jinping put forward many insightful ideas on how to promote the development of agriculture and industry, how to realize that industry promotes and subsidizes agriculture, and other aspects. Since the 18th National Party Congress, President Xi Jinping indicated that the countryside should never be a place that is desolated, full of people left behind, and a home town merely existing in our memory. China should ensure that green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas will be protected. China should be cautious about things such as cutting trees, filling in lakes, and demolishing houses. These viewpoints showing dialectical thinking and rich in profound philosophies, have pointed the way forward toward integrated urban and rural development. To promote the integrated development between urban and rural areas, China should first take into consideration China’s authentic national conditions, the reality of imbalanced and inharmonious urban–rural development and the urban–rural dual structure, natural endowments and historical and cultural traditions and systems, and then follow the universal rules but not stick to the rules mechanically. Finally, China must refer to international advanced experience, but not copy it blindly.32 The Central Urbanization Work Conference held in December 2013 emphasized that urbanization together with industrialization are two engines for modernization. To take the road of new scientific development of urbanization with Chinese characteristics, the core is people-centered, the focus is on improving its quality with industrialization, information technology, and agricultural modernization synchronized. To be people-oriented, China will promote urbanization with people at the core, better the quality of populations and the quality of life of residents, and take it as a top priority to promote the orderly citizenization of permanent populations who can keep jobs and live in the cities and towns.33

3.5 Building New Socialist Countryside As a major historic task, building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the construction of a new socialist countryside is holistic work covering various fields, such as the economy, social causes, politics, culture, party building, and the ecological environment. According to the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, building rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity is a general requirement for rural vitalization and an essential characteristic of new socialist countrysides. Since the countryside is the birthplace of traditional Chinese civilization, it should be ensured that the roots of local culture should not be destroyed. President Xi Jinping stated that the new rural construction should conform to the reality and law of development in rural areas. The rural flavor and landscape should be retained, and the natural 32 “ Improve

Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily. 2015-5-2(1). 33 “Central Work Conference on Urbanization Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily. 2013-12-15(1).

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environment and local culture should be protected, where the hills are green and waters clean so people can recall the pleasant memories of home town easily.34 The road conforming to the reality in rural areas is based on the actual situation in the countryside. In the rapid development of urbanization, China should take the road of shared development and prosperity in rural areas. Under the backdrop of the rural labor force flowing into cities, the gradual decrease in the rural population, and the aging and low aging trend of rural left-behind people, problems facing the construction of new countryside are how to activate the vitality of the countryside and maintain a rural flavor and driving force for development. The Central Urbanization Work Conference held in 2013 indicated that China should give priority to the three issues related to children, women, and elderly people left behind in rural areas, put more efforts to ensure and improve people’s wellbeing, and put in place the system for supporting and caring for those people left behind in rural areas. China will attach great importance to vacant villages, take measures to improve rural living environments, continue to advance the construction of new socialist countryside, and build a happy home and beautiful countryside for rural people. The construction of the new countryside should respect the wishes of farmers, protect the ecological environment in rural areas well, stick to rural ethics, and pass on rural civilization. During a visit to the countryside in Ezhou, Hubei Province in 2013, President Xi Jinping indicated that China will build a beautiful countryside; but more importantly, China should not paint, unduly demolish, or reconstruct the farmers’ houses against their will. A major part of the construction of the new countryside is to improve rural living environments, especially the improvement of rural sanitary conditions. During an inspection to Jiangsu Province in 2014, President Xi Jinping said that solving the problem of toilets is of great significance in the construction of a new countryside. China should adopt measures suitable to local conditions in the construction of toilet sewage networks and rural sewage treatment in order to continue to improve the quality of life of farmers.35 Another important part of the construction of the new countryside is improving the quality of farmers. To build the new socialist countryside, China must give priority to the education of farmers. As the masters of the new countryside, the quality of the farmers will determine the level of the construction of the new countryside. During an inspection to Fuping County, Hebei Province, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China should develop compulsory education in rural areas. He said, “If we want the next generation to live a better life, we must educate them well. China needs to deliver a good performance in compulsory education, so that our children can receive a quality education”36 To improve vocational education in rural areas, China should invest more in rural vocational education, cultivate new professional 34

“Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas”. People’s Daily. 2015-1-22(1). 35 “Seize and Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development, Push Reform and Opening-up and Modernization drive into a New Stage”. People’s Daily. 2014-12-15(1). 36 Xi, Jinping. Speech on Investigating Work of Poverty Alleviation in Fuping County, Hebei Province, cited from Be A County Party Committee Secretary like Jiao Yulu, Central Party Literature Press. 2015: 24.

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farmers, and make them a main driving force of agricultural modernization. The objective of building the new socialist countryside is to realize all-round progress in the development of rural areas, foster a new model of rural civilization, and encourage a healthy and civilized lifestyle in rural areas. Therefore, China should strengthen the education of ideology, morality, democracy, and the legal system.

3.6 Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Reduction President Xi Jinping gave particular attention to poverty alleviation, as he has always been concerned about poverty reduction in poor areas. To achieve the two centenary goals, he has put forward the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation and elimination, which is a major strategy for China to finish the construction of a moderately prosperous society by 2020. President Xi Jinping said, “The most daunting and most onerous work lies in the rural areas, particularly in impoverished areas for the building of a moderately prosperous society. Society can never be counted as a well-off society in an allround way without prosperity in rural areas, especially without prosperity in poor areas. The central government has attached great importance to poverty alleviation through development. Therefore, party committees and governments at all levels should strengthen their sense of responsibility and mission to development-oriented poverty reduction, ensure that plans, funds, goals, measures, and inspections are all in place, and work hard to lift villagers out of poverty and make them live a fairly comfortable life.”37 In the Central Work Conference on Development-oriented Poverty Reduction held in 2015, President Xi Jinping indicated that China should commit to targeted poverty alleviation and reduction, focusing on improving the effects of poverty elimination. The point is that the right way should be found and a sound system and mechanism created to ensure that substantial efforts are made through targeted measures, real issues are addressed through precise advancement, and good outcomes can be seen through targeted implementation. To solve the problem of who will be supported, it should be clarified that who are the poor, how poor they are and what the causes of their poverty are so that the measures are targeting to each family and each individual. To solve the problem of who will provide assistance, China should speed up to establish a work mechanism featuring precise divisions of labor, clear accountability, assignments clear to each one, and appropriate assessments, in which the central government makes a plan as whole, the provincial governments take the overall responsibilities and cities (districts) and counties focus on implementing.38 The key to achieve targeted poverty reduction and elimination is to solve the problem of how 37 Xi, Jinping. Accelerate the Development of Poverty-stricken Areas through Poverty Alleviation, cited from Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. Foreign Languages Press. 2014: 189. 38 “Sound the Clarion Call of an Uphill Fight against Poverty and the Party and People Across the Board Shall Work Hard on the Goal”. People’s Daily. 2015-11-29(1).

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to provide assistance. According to the characteristics and specific condition of rural poverty in China, President Xi Jinping put forward a five-batch project, which means that China will achieve poverty alleviation through the following five channels: to develop poor people’s own productivity, to help them migrate to richer places, to provide them with eco-compensation, to improve their education, and to provide them with social security.

3.7 Accelerating Rural Ecological Civilization Construction The report to the 18th CPC National Congress set forth the Five-sphere Integrated Plan with economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological development and for the first time incorporated the notion of ecological civilization into the strategic layout of national development, which is a major innovation and development. In April 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out in his inspection to Hainan Province that sound ecological environments represent the fairest public products and the most universal form of public welfare.39 This statement contains specific economic implications, which means that ecological civilization construction is not a tool of but a goal for social development and shows people-centered development thinking. In May 2013, President Xi Jinping stressed in the 6th session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that “We should appropriately handle the relationship between economic growth and ecological environmental protection, and firmly establish the concepts that environmental protection is to protect productivity, and improving ecological environment to develop the productivity….”40 At its fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC, the Party put forward the five development concepts, among which the concept of green development belongs to the idea of “ecological civilization.” In light of the international experience, people’s understanding of “ecological civilization” has continued to evolve from the concept of “treatment after pollution” in the early years to the “governing while polluting” and then to “sustainable development” in recent years. However, there is a major defect in this process: people still see economic growth and environmental protection as tools and specifically regard resources, the environment and ecology as tools and means. According to President Xi Jinping, economic growth and environmental protection are the purposes themselves. Xi Jinping once indicated, when he was the Secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, that the environment is an indicator of the people’s well-being, lush mountains beauty, and

39

Party Literature Research Centre of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Selection of Xi Jinping’s Statements on Comprehensively Deepening Reform, Central Party Literature Press. 2014: 107. 40 Xi, Jinping. Usher in a New Era of Ecological Progress, cited from Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Foreign Languages Press. 2014: 189.

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blue sky happiness, so that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.41 As such, the ecological environment is placed as a new high priority and rated as a development goal that keeps pace with the times.

3.8 Strengthening Party Leadership and Rural Governance The“Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” should be placed as central to the work agenda of the Party Central Committee at all times. During a visit to Henan Province, President Xi Jinping stated that, as the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” are an important foundation for all other causes, every party committee in all departments and governments at all levels should pay more attention to addressing these issues. If there is a problem found in the work related to the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers,” it will shake the ruling status of the Party and affect the overall situation of national development. Upholding Party leadership, along with strengthening and improving Party leadership, are the fundamental guarantees for ensuring the success of China’s socialist revolution and construction, and for doing a good job of addressing the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. Rural grassroots organization is a fighting bastion for ensuring the proceeding of the Party’s cause in the countryside, and is a political basis for the Party’s governance. China should continue to improve the ability of primary-level Party organizations in rural areas to innovate, to unite, and to fight, and give full play to the role of leadership core of the primary-level Party organizations so as to further consolidate the ruling foundation of the Party in the countryside. During an investigation in Guizhou Province in June 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized that since the most solid force to support Party’s work is at the grassroots level, while the most prominent contradictions and problems in economic and social development, as well as people’s well-being also lie at the grassroots level, China must adopt a long-term policy and a base-solidating strategy by focusing on the primary levels and laying the foundation without relaxations. China should strengthen the construction of primary-level Party organizations to improve their power to unite and energy to fight all-round. Rural governance is an integral part of the governance of the country, which is related to the stability and prosperity of the countryside, the happiness and wellbeing of the farmers, and economic growth. Rural governance is an important part of Party’s work in the countryside and the mission of rural grassroots organizations of the Party. In the Central Rural Work Conference held in December 2013, President Xi Jinping set forth a new concept of rural governance, which indicated that “We should give priority to ensuring and improving living standards in rural areas, foster a vision of governance carried out by adopting a holistic, law-based, comprehensive, 41

Zhejiang Provincial Committee of CPC. “Uphold that Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains Are Invaluable Assets–Learning Xi Jinping’s Important Thought of “Two Mountains”. Qiushi. 2015(17).

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and source-governing approach so that the majority of rural people live and work in peace and contentment, and the rural community is stable and orderly.”42 The concept of “Four principles for governance” constitutes a new thinking for rural governance for a new era, which is an important innovation in the theory of rural governance. President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that China will strengthen basic services in rural communities and improve the rural governance model, which combines self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue. This has shown the way for rural governance for a new era.

42

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Centre of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Central Party Literature Press. 2014: 681.

Chapter 2

Stabilizing and Improving the Basic Rural Operation System Peng Yuan

The reform of China’s economic system started with the transformation of the rural traditional people’s commune system and gradually established a rural basic operation system based on the household contract responsibility system and a two-tier operation system that integrates unified and separate operations. China’s enormous achievements and experience in the past four decades of reform and opening up have shown that stabilizing and improving the basic rural operation system is of great significance to handling the “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” as well as upholding and perfecting the socialist basic economic system. The third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed that China should uphold the basic status of family operation in agriculture, adhere to rural collective land ownership, and safeguard the land contracted operation rights of farmers. President Xi Jinping further pointed out in the Party’s report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress that it is necessary to “consolidate and improve the basic rural operation system” and clearly stated the necessity of “deepening the reform of the rural land system and improving the ‘Three Rights Separation System of Contracted Land”, while putting an emphasis on “keeping the land contract relationship stable and long-lasting, and proposed that “the second round of land contract is extended for another 30 years upon its expiration” so as to stabilize the relationship between farmers and land.1 Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping has profoundly and systematically remarked on several important issues, such as stabilizing and improving the basic rural operation system and deepening the reform of the rural 1 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 32.

P. Yuan (B) Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_2

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collective land system, emphasizing that the rural basic operation system is the cornerstone of the Party’s rural policy. Adhering to the collective land ownership of farmers is the “soul” of adhering to the basic rural operation system; therefore, China should adhere to the basic status of family operation. To conform to the reality of rural labor transfer and the acceleration of land circulation in the process of rapid urbanization, President Xi Jinping proposed to continuously explore effective ways to realize rural land ownership and to promote the separation of contracting rights and operation rights on the premise of adhering to rural collective land ownership to form the pattern of separating ownership, contracting right and operation right with operation rights being transferable. President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on stabilizing and perfecting the basic rural operation system, especially separating ownership, contracting right and operation right of the rural land, has enriched the connotation of the rural two-tier operation system, which serves as the most significant part of Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.

1 Adhering to the Basic Rural Operation System 1.1 The Basic Rural Operation System Serves as the Cornerstone of the Party’s Rural Policy China’s development reform and opening up started in rural areas with the introduction of a household contract responsibility system, gradually establishing a two-tier operation system based on household contract operation and integrated unified and separate operations. Adhering to, consolidating, and improving the basic rural operation system is the foundation of the various rural policies of the Communist Party of China. It has strategic significance for China to build socialism with Chinese characteristics and effectively address the “Issues relating to Agriculture,Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers.” In December 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Rural Work Conference that the primary principle of adhering to the Party’s rural policy is to adhere to the basic rural operation system.2 On April 25, 2016, at the Rural Reform Forum of Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province, he once again stressed that the two-tier operation system based on the household contract responsibility system while integrating unified and separate operations, presents a vital cornerstone of the Party’s rural policy. Addressing various contradictions and problems in the development of agriculture and rural areas depends on deepening reforms. Under the new situation, the main emphasis of deepening rural reform is to handle the relationship between farmers and land. The greatest policy is to improve the basic rural operation system, persevering in 2

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee. Central Party Literature Press. 2014, p. 668.

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rural collective land ownership, in the basic status of household operation of production, and in the stable land contract relationship.3 In the Party’s report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping once again emphasized the necessity of “consolidating and improving the basic rural operation system”.4 Since the reform, China has continuously adjusted and improved the relationship between farmers and land, finally establishing the household contract responsibility system. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Accelerating Agricultural Development (Draft) adopted by the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 changed the production mode of farmers under the people’s commune system, which featured collectively working and sharing everything together, and proposed that agricultural production can be carried out according to the responsibility system of allocating work to groups and calculating labor rewards with yields, arousing the enthusiasm of farmers. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Accelerating Agricultural Development adopted by the fourth plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1979 further relaxed the form of the agricultural production responsibility system and opened the door for fixing the farm output quotas for each household. In 1982, No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee and Central Government Summary of the National Rural Conference confirmed for the first time the socialist nature of the fixing of farm output quotas for each household, finally ending a 30-year dispute over the practice of fixing the farm output quotas for each household in rural areas since the mid-1950s. By the end of 1983, farm output quotas were fixed for each household; in other words, the household contract system was the main form of the national agricultural production responsibility system, accounting for 97.8% of the total production team.5 In 1984, No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee and Central Government: Notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Rural Work in 1984 proposed to continue stabilizing and improving the contract responsibility system, encouraging farmers to increase investment, cultivate land resources, implement intensive operations, extend the land contract period to longer than fifteen years. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening Agricultural and Rural Work adopted by the eighth plenary session of the 13th CPC Central Committee in 1991 further highlighted that “the household contract responsibility system and the two-tier operation system that integrates unified and separate operations as a basic system of rural collective economic organizations in China should be stabilized, while continuing to enrich and improve the system.” This approach clearly determined that the two-tier operation system is “the great creation of Chinese 3

“Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily. 2016-4-29(1). 4 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House. 2017, p. 32. 5 Guan, Ruijie. 20 Years of Rural Reform in China, Hebei Science and Technology Press, 1998, p. 44.

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farmers under the leadership of the Party and the self-improvement and development of the collective economy.”6 Current Policies and Measures of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Developing Agriculture and Rural Economy issued in November 1993 pointed out that to stabilize the land contract relationship, it will be extended for another 30 years upon the expiration of the original farmland contract period. Since then, the basic policy framework for adhering to and stabilizing the household contract operation system has been initially formed. In the 1990s, China’s rural basic operation system began to embark on the rule of law. The first paragraph of Article 8 of the Constitution (revised in 1993) introduced the “responsibility system for household contracts in rural areas.” The Constitution (revised in 1999) was further improved to implement “household contract operation and a two-tier operation system that integrates unified and separate operations for rural collective economic organizations.” In 2002, the Rural Land Contract Law was promulgated; it clarified that the purpose of legislation is to stabilize and improve the two-tier operation system that is based on household contract operation and that integrates unified operations and separate operations to give farmers long-term and guaranteed land use rights. It has been written into the law that cultivated land shall be contracted for 30 years. Promulgated and implemented in 2007, the Property Law further determined the usufructuary nature of land contract operation rights. Hence, the rural land contract policies that have been tested and proven for many years were transformed into legal norms, and the basic legal framework of China’s rural basic operation system was initially formed. Therefore, the basic rural operation system is a Marxist ideological line that abides by the principle that “practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.” On the basis of summarizing the failed experience and lessons of long-term agricultural development and the low speed of agricultural collectivization in China for more than two decades, the operation system starts from China’s basic national conditions and the exploration and practice of the socialist market economy and international experience, as well as from the unique characteristics of the agricultural industry. It respects the wishes of farmers and recreates the results of the reform of the rural microorganization system. As a basic institutional arrangement of the socialist market economic system with Chinese characteristics, the rural basic operation system is related to the smooth progress of agricultural and rural modernization, the improvement of farmers’ welfare and the stability of rural society amid the social transition to urban–rural integration, as the Chinese economy enters a “new normal” and deeply participates in international agricultural trade. Because of this, on December 23, 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Rural Work Conference that adhering to the basic rural operation system is not an empty slogan but a tangible policy requirement, that is, upholding rural land collectives, the basic status of household operation, and the stable land contract relationship. The existing rural land contract relationship should remain stable and unchanged. More than 30 years of reform experience shows that only the Party’s policies in rural areas adapt to the places 6

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening Agricultural and Rural Work, Bulletin of the State Council of the PRC, No. 42 of 1991.

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and form a coordinated and efficient rural economic system, can it help to promote the consolidation and improvement of the rural basic operation system and then adapt to the realization of agricultural modernization and the fundamental requirements of a moderately prosperous society in all respects in rural areas. Therefore, upholding the basic rural operation system is an institutional guarantee for realizing agricultural modernization and a moderately prosperous society in all aspects of rural areas and is also an inherent requirement for upholding the basic economic system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the Party’s report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping also emphasized that “the land contract relationship will be stable and will remain unchanged for a long time. After the second round of land contract expires, it will be extended for another 30 years,”7 and the farmers will be continually given stable contract operation expectations to guarantee farmers’ land rights and interests so as to achieve the continuous stability of China’s land system.

1.2 Adhering to the Collective Ownership of Rural Land of Farmers Is the “Soul” of Adhering to the Basic Rural Operation System President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Rural Reform Forum of Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province in April 2016 that adhering to farmers’ collective ownership of rural land is the “soul” of adhering to the basic rural operation system. He emphasized that the rights and interests of farmers as the main part of land ownership must be fully acknowledged and guaranteed. The bottom line of land reform cannot be broken. Regardless of how reforms are made, the collective ownership of rural land cannot be changed, and cultivated land cannot be reduced, food production capacity cannot be weakened, and the interests of farmers cannot be harmed.8 At the beginning of the founding of the PRC in 1949, China eliminated the feudal land ownership system and established farmer ownership, expressed as “the tiller has his fields”. Later, in the 1950s, the CPC led farmers to carry out the agricultural cooperative movement and finally established collective land ownership. Since the reform and opening up, China has implemented a land-based household contract system in rural areas and has formed a rural farmland system in which the land is collectively owned and used by farmers. In the rural reform, the central documents and policies have always adhered to and emphasized collective land ownership, and the relevant laws and regulations have continuously improved the definition of 7

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House. 2017, p. 32. 8 “Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily. 2016-4-29(1).

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collective land ownership. As early as the beginning of the contract responsibility system in rural areas in the 1980s, fixing farm output quotas for each household was considered the privatization of land in rural areas. In 1982, No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee and Central Government clearly stated that “work contracted to households is that ‘the land is returned to the household’, the collective property is divided equally, and the farmland is distributed to individual households. All this is a misunderstanding.” It emphasized that the contract responsibility system is based on the public ownership of land, with the farmers and the collective maintaining the contractual relationship. Article 10 of the 1982 Constitution stipulated that land in rural and urban suburbs is collectively owned except for those sections owned by the state, as stipulated by law; homesteads, self-retained land and self-retained mountains are also collectively owned. Article 8 of the Land Operation Law promulgated in 1986 stipulated that collectively owned land belongs to village farmers collectively in accordance with the law and is operated and managed by agricultural collective economic organizations such as village agricultural production cooperatives or village committees. Article 74 of the General Principles of the Civil Law implemented in 1988 also clearly stipulated that collectively owned land belongs to the collective ownership of village farmers according to the law, plus a series of related laws such as the Rural Land Contract Law of 2002 and the Property Law of 2007. With the promulgation and continuous improvement of the above related laws, it was clarified that collective land ownership is embodied by the farmer collective ownership of the farmer members. The farmer owner’s individual ownership of the collectively owned land is implemented through the 30-year land contract operation rights. Collective ownership is no longer the traditional collective ownership under the traditional planned economic system and under the control of the state’s administrative power that denies the owner’s rights and interests of the collective members, that is, the so-called “everyone owns but everyone does not have ownership” and “individuals do not have ownership”. The implementation of collective land ownership in rural China is the inherent requirement of socialist public ownership, and it is also the result of a combination of factors such as China’s basic national conditions, historical heritage, and stage of development. Adhering to and improving collective land ownership not only conforms to the reality of the primary stage of socialism with Chinese characteristics, but also meets the essential requirements of pursuing the concept of fairness and common prosperity of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. It is also the rational choice for obtaining the greatest common denominator of all relevant interest groups in reform. Transforming the nature of collective land ownership is not in accord with the realities of Chinese society and may trigger social turmoil. Practice has shown that current collective land ownership promotes rural social stability and does not affect the pace of rural labor migration, nor does it make the operators short-sighted so as to exploit the land excessively. Moreover, current collective land ownership promotes urbanization while advancing the continuous growth of China’s agriculture. All this avoids the intensification of social contradictions and the high cost of institutional changes due to such great changes as private land ownership

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or nationalization, and provides flexible institutional arrangements for the construction of a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics and the smooth advancement of China’s modernization process.

1.3 Adhering to the Basic Status of Household Operation of Production and the Collective Land Contract Rights Belonging to Farmers Is the Fundamental Requirement for Stabilizing and Perfecting the Basic Rural Operation System Adhering to and stabilizing the basic rural operation system, household operation of production is the foundation. At the Central Rural Work Conference on December 23, 2013, President Xi Jinping provided a special and comprehensive explanation of the household operation of production. He stressed the necessity of adhering to the basic status of household operation of production. The household operation of production plays a fundamental role in agricultural production, which is reflected in the fact that farmers’ families are the legal subjects of collective land contract operation. Rural collective land should be contracted by farmers’ families who are members of collective economic organizations, and no other entity can replace the land contract status of farmers’ families. The land contracted by the farmers’ family can be managed by them or by other business entities through the circulation of rural land contracted operation rights. Regardless of how the rural land contracted operation right is circulated, the collective land contract rights belong to the farmers’ family. This is the foundation of farmers’ land contracted operation rights and the foundation of the basic rural operation system. Throughout the history of world agricultural development, whether in the traditional agricultural period or in the stage of modern agricultural development, whether in developed or developing countries, the basic business units of agricultural production are mainly based on household operation. Household operation refers to agricultural operations with family as a foundation and family members as the main labor source. Different from other industries, the basic business organization of agriculture is mainly determined by the basic attributes of the natural reproduction of the agricultural industry and economic reproduction. Modern technology is already well developed, but the production of bulk agricultural products such as grain is still highly dependent on natural conditions such as climate; thus, the risks are high, with many uncertainties. The seasonality, periodicity of crop growth and orderliness of the production process make the measurement and supervision cost of agricultural labor input high, making it difficult to implement standardized operation. Therefore, managing on a family basis can effectively solve the labor incentive problem. Moreover, family farming can accommodate multiple levels of productivity, from

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a fully market-oriented corporatized family farm in developed countries to a smallscale farmer who combines self-consumption and self-production in underdeveloped areas. The operation mode of family farming is quite flexible. China’s largest national condition is that there are more people but fewer land resources. In the process of urbanization in China, land as a special production factor shoulders multiple functions. The first one is the function of production. Land provides the basic livelihood of farmers and plays an irreplaceable role in safeguarding the basic self-sufficiency of the national food supply. The second one is that land serves as property. With the advancement of urbanization, the property function of land has become increasingly prominent, and it has become a significant and even a major source of income growth for farmers in rapidly urbanizing areas. The third one is to keep social security. In China, the social security system of urban and rural unification has not yet been fully established. The land is still the most basic level of security for providing farmers with social security and undertakes the minimum security line for providing farmers with social security when they are unemployed or need pension, especially in the stage of economic cyclical fluctuations. Land serves as a survival guarantee for migrant farmers who return home. It is also an important source of stability for the disadvantaged groups including the old, the sick, the weak and the disabled who lose the capability to work as well as the poverty-stricken families in the rural areas. The fourth one is to provide the socialpsychological security. Due to the long history of development, the acceleration of urban–rural integration has made the non-agricultural income of the secondary and tertiary industries become the main source of income for farmers’ families. It will be irreversible that the function of the land as a source of economic security will be gradually weakening, but as a traditional agricultural country, the social psychological security brought by the land to farmers will exist for a long time for it is far behind the changes of land functions. The fifth one is the social and political function. Land rights have always been closely linked with the political and social rights of citizens. China can smoothly implement the system of self-governance for villagers at the grassroots level in rural areas. This is inseparable from the implementation of collective land ownership in rural China and the equal rights of land contract operation.9 Therefore, adhering to the basic status of household operation and the land contract rights of farmers are the basis for adhering to the basic rural operation system. The way to achieve this goal is to maintain the status of land contract operation and to confirm it via registration and certification.

9

Ely, Richard Theodore & Morehouse, Edward W. Elements of Land Economics, translated by Teng Weizao, Commercial Press, 1982, p.28.

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2 The Implementation of Separating Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right of Rural Land 2.1 Separating Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right is an Effective Form of Collective Land Ownership Deepening the reform of the rural land system is a crucial part of improving socialist public ownership and a necessary condition for building a socialist market economic system with Chinese characteristics. As the urbanization and transfer of rural labor speeds up, collective land ownership is realized in new forms. In terms of leasing, circulation, shareholding, and trusting, collective contracted farmers and new business entities share the right to use land. In response to innovative practices in rural reform, President Xi Jinping proposed to study separating ownership, contracting right and operation right of rural land. In July 2013, he pointed out in the investigation of Hubei that to deepen rural reform and improve the basic rural operation system, China should study the relationship among rural land ownership, contract rights and operation rights. Land transfer should respect farmers’ wishes, protect basic farmland and food security, and be beneficial to increasing farmers’ income.10 At the Central Rural Work Conference at the end of the same year, he once again emphasized that the improvement of the basic rural operation system should follow farmers’ willingness to retain land contract rights and land transfer operation rights and divide farmers’ land contract operation rights into contract rights and operation rights, enabling the two rights to run parallel to each other. It is necessary to loosen the control of land operation rights and promote the orderly transfer of land operation rights. This is another major institutional innovation in rural reform. Looking back at history, as early as the mid-1980s, the contradiction between population and land was prominent in a few places where the economy was relatively developed, the resources of cultivated land were scarce and the population was huge, so a large percentage of the rural labor force went out to make a living and their land was transferred to relatives and friends for farming. Some local governments gave policy approval for this phenomenon, but lacked relevant legal provisions. In response to this situation, Mr. Du Runsheng once pointed out that “We lack of a legal framework for how to clarify ownership, stabilize contract rights, and invigorate the right to use under market economy conditions”.11 The promulgation of the Rural Land Contract Law in 2002 promoted the Chinese land system to enter the stage of rule by law. Article 1 of the Law clarifies that the basic objective of the legislation is to “stabilize and improve the two-tier operation system that is based on household contract operation and that integrates the unified with separate operation, and grants farmers long-term and guaranteed land use rights.” Article 3 clarifies that “the state implements the 10

“Deepen Reform and Opening Up in an All-round Way and Push Forward Economic and Social Development”. People’s Daily. 2013-7-24(1). 11 Du, Runsheng. Documentary of Major Decisions on Institutional Changes in China’s Countryside—An Account of Du Runsheng. People’s Publishing House, 2005, p.154.

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rural land contract operation system,” thereby fixing the contract rights with a long term via law; at the same time, Article 10 clarifies that “the state protects contractors’ rights to transfer the rural land contractual operation right in accordance with law on a voluntary and fee-paying basis,” and Article 32 specifically stipulates that “the rural land contractual operation right obtained through household contracting may be subcontracted, leased, exchanged, assigned or otherwise transferred subject to law.” At the same time, it also stipulates the principle that shall be followed to transfer land, thus legalizing the basic framework of the land system in which the ownership of the land is collectively owned and the farmers have the contractual operation right that can be transferred. However, the law has obvious defects. It does not stipulate the nature of the contractual operation right so that it is not clear that which the contractual operation right should be: the owner’s property right or the obligatory rights between the two parties of the contract? There is no specific stipulation about what constitutes subcontracting, leasing, swapping, or transferring. In addition, there is no provision for how to mortgage the farmers’ land contractual operation rights. Article 37 of the Guarantee Law, promulgated later, stipulates that collectively owned land use rights such as cultivated land and reserved land cannot be mortgaged in principle. The Property Law, promulgated and implemented in 2007, further stabilized the relationship between people and the land and completed the property rights of rural land rights. Article 59 of the Law stipulates that “real estate and personal property collectively owned by farmers belongs to the ownership of the collective members.” The biggest difference from other relevant laws that have been enacted is that the Property Law introduces the concept of membership rights to clarify the subject of collective ownership, and provides corresponding provisions for the participation of collective members in decision-making, right to know and rights of protection. The “collective ownership of the working people” in the General Principles of the Civil Law and the “collective ownership of the farmers” in the Land Management Law have been pushed forward a big step. Since the collective ownership includes the ownership of both farmers and the collective which are with special attribute of being interdependent to each other, so the farmer’s contract operation rights feature the nature of property rights. In recent years, with the deepening of agricultural modernization, the contradiction between intensive, specialized, organized and socialized production and operation required by ultrasmall-scale decentralized operation, and agricultural modernization, has become increasingly prominent. Under the guidance of the principle of the new agricultural operation system proposed at the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the rural land transfer has been accelerated to jump out the transactions between the members of the original collective economic organization and the farmers among whom the land circulation is done by subcontracting and exchanging, so the land transferees have turned to be non-members of specialized households, family farms, and even agricultural enterprises, industrial and commercial capital. As of 2015, the nation’s transfer area of household contracted farmland operation rights reached 443 million mu (29.7 million hectares), accounting for

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33.3% of the country’s household contracted farmland.12 Among them, the area of household contracted farmland transferred to cooperatives is 97.37 million mu (6.52 million hectares), accounting for 21.8% of the total area of circulation.13 According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, as of June 2016, the number of farmers who transferred land in the country’s 230 million rural households had reached 70 million, with a proportion of more than 30%. The proportion of farmers in the eastern coastal areas exceeded 50%. Many farmers had already transferred the contracted land to over 2.7 million new types of agricultural operation entities, such as family farms, farmer cooperatives and agricultural enterprises.14 Article 39 of the Rural Land Contract Law stipulates that “the contractor may subcontract or lease part or all of the land contractual operation rights to a third party within a certain period of time, and the contractual relationship between the transferees and the transferers shall remain unchanged”. This means that if the contracted farmers rent the land to a third party, what is leased of the land should not be the contractual operation right, but only the operation right if the relationship with the collective contractor is unchanged. Therefore, the Rural Land Contract Law needs to be improved. To better protect the contractual rights of farmers, the land system should be further innovated. For the new changes in practice, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Rural Work Conference in December 2013 that the main body of land contractual operation rights is separated from the main body of operation rights. This is a new trend in the change of agricultural production relations in China. There are new requirements for improving the rural basic operation system. China should continue to explore the effective realization of rural collective ownership.15 On October 31, 2016, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council published the Opinions on Guideline for Improving Division of Rural Land Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right, and the system of land policy in which ownership, contracting right and operation right are separated took effect. The document once again clearly determined that land contract rights are a kind of usufructuary right. It is necessary to promote the income of the farmers who have transferred land operation rights, while at the same time protecting the land operation rights and corresponding income of the new agricultural business entities, and promoting the moderate scale operation of agriculture. The Party’s report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress pointed out that it is necessary to “improve the system of separating ownership, contracting right and 12

Zhang, Hongyu. “Four Issues on Deepening Rural Reform”. Issues of Agricultural Economy, No. 7, 2016. 13 Research Group of Rural Cooperative Economic Operation and Management Station of the Ministry of Agriculture: “Report on Promoting Healthy Development of Farmers Cooperatives Under the New Normal (I)”, China Farmers Cooperatives. 2016(11). 14 “Uphold Ownership, Stabilize Contracting Right and Liberalize Management Right to Lay a System Foundation for Modern Agriculture——Han Changbin Answering Reporters’ Questions on “Guideline for Improving Separation of Rural Land Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right” at a Press Conference Held by the Information Office of the State Council”. Rural Work Newsletter. 2016(22). 15 “Central Rural Work Conference Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily. 2013-12-25(1).

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operation right of contracted land.” This system is another major institutional innovation in rural reform after the household contract responsibility system. It enriches the connotation of the rural two-tier operation system that integrates unified with separate operation, and provides a new development model under the premise of collective ownership, land rights and interests of contracting farmers, which is the development path of modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics. The implementation of separating ownership, contracting right and operation right reveals the flexible scope and lasting energy of China’s rural basic operation system and enriches the theory of land system reform and innovation in rural China.

2.2 Stabilizing the Contractual Operation Rights of Farmers Is the Key to Protecting the Interests of Farmers The final introduction of separating ownership, contracting right and operation right of rural land has adapted to the new stage of economic development, and new changes and trends of land transfer. It has strong practical significance and policy implications for adhering to the collective ownership of land and stabilizing the basic status of household operation. It clarifies the institutional implication of “long-term unchanged” that the core of “long-term unchanged” land contractual operation rights is the contracting right of farmers, which means it is the long-term unchanged land contracting relationship that keeps unchanged rather than the long-term relationship of land operation. As land transferees have tended to be non-contracted farmers, clarifying and strengthening the contracting rights can effectively protect the interests of disadvantaged farmers to keep numerous farmers from the potential risk of losing their contracting rights and their own minimum social protection network. Meanwhile, in the process of transferring the operation right, the separation of the contracting right from the operation right promotes loosening the control of the operation right, equally protects the operating entity to obtain the operation right, and maximizes the profits of the operators. This is suitable for operators with largescale operations, stable lease contract periods, and long investment return periods. Because of the government’s invigorating of land operation rights, operators can finance land operation rights. As such, the shortage of loan collateral for farmers and other land operators to banks can be alleviated, and a guarantee is available to protect the land contractual relationship from being affected by the land operation rights due to the loan collateral. Therefore, the separation of land contract rights and operation rights is not only an inherent requirement for adhering to collective land ownership but also an institutional arrangement to achieve a win–win situation for the interests of contracted farmers and operators. In the long run, the realization of the transfer of land operation rights depends on the stability of land contract rights. Therefore, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Rural Reform Forum of Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province in April 2016 that it is necessary to speed up the implementation of the registration system for land contract operation rights

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and to convince farmers of such.16 The latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture showed that in 2016, 2545 counties (cities, districts), 29,000 villages and towns, and 492,000 villages carried out legal confirmation of land rights. The confirmed area has been 750 million mu (50.2 million hectares), close to 60% of the area of household contracted cultivated land.17

2.3 Enlivening Land Operation Rights Is the Key to Guiding the Orderly Circulation of Land Enlivening land operation rights serves as a significant policy measure in line with the general trend of modern agricultural development. On the basis of fully protecting the contractual rights and interests of farmers, the operation rights of farmers are separated, and the land operation rights are enlivened. With the contractual relationship, the long-term and stable land operation rights of the new business entities are guaranteed. This benefits the long-term investment made by new business entities on the land and helps improve the land output rate, labor productivity, and resource utilization. However, after the land operation rights were enlivened, the question of how to avoid possible non-grain and non-agricultural problems became apparent. At the Xiaogang Village Rural Reform Symposium in April 2016, President Xi Jinping proposed the need for “three adaptations”, stressing that the control to land operation rights shall be loosened, land operation rights shall be transferred in an orderly way, and the policy shall be strengthened. It is necessary to handle circulation, concentration and scale operation well, adapt it with the urbanization process, the scale of rural labor transfer, agricultural science and technology progress and production, and adapt it with the improvement of the level of agricultural socialization services.18 At the fifth meeting of the Central Comprehensive Deepening Reform Leading Group on September 29, 2014, President Xi Jinping emphasized that under the premise of insisting on collective rural land ownership, contract rights and operation rights should be separated, featuring separating ownership, contracting right and operation right and the circulation of operation rights.19 However a minority of industrial and commercial capital obtain cultivated land operation rights not to conduct agricultural production but to try to enjoy the potentially huge value-added space of the changing nature of farmland caused by the enclosure of the countryside and urbanization. In

16

“Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily. 2016-4-29(1). 17 “‘Separation of Rural Land Ownership, Contracting Right and Operation Right’—A Great Innovation of Rural Land Property Right System”. People’s Daily. 2016-11-4(6). 18 “Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily. 2016-4-29(1). 19 “Maintain Strict Quality Supervision to Ensure Visible Progression of the Reform Schemes”. People’s Daily. 2014-9-30(1).

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response to this, President Xi Jinping issued crucial instructions on land circulation in May 2015. He emphasized in particular that issues such as non-agricultural construction affect farmland protection and food production after some industrial and commercial capital has been transferred to rural areas and become involved in land transfer. It is necessary to pay attention to improving land contract laws and regulations, implementing policies to support grain production, perfecting supervision and risk prevention mechanisms, strengthening the construction of township rural operation systems, and promoting the standard and orderly implementation of land transfer to truly stimulate farmers’ enthusiasm for agricultural production, and grain production in particular.20

3 Improving Unified Operation and Developing Appropriate Scale Operation in Various Forms 3.1 Improving Unified Operation The book Up and Out of Poverty21 written by President Xi Jinping at work in Fujian has thoroughly studied the dialectical relationship between “collective unity” and “household operation”, “unified” and “separate”, and proposed after “the integration of unification and separate”, how to “unify” this core issue. He proposed that China should make full use of the advantages of the collective, combine the superiority of the collective with the enthusiasm of the individual, correct the errors caused by neglecting the unified operation in the all-round contract, and improve the household contract responsibility system. At the same time, he also pointed out that it is necessary to actively explore the specific forms and ways of developing the rural collective economy. President Xi Jinping further systematically studied the various realization forms of rural collective economic organizations in his doctoral thesis A Tentative Study on China’s Rural Marketization,22 and clearly defined the path of organized rural marketization and discussed in depth how to strengthen the construction of various types of rural collective economic organizations, strengthen service functions, and provide sound socialized services for farmers to smoothly enter the market and expand the market. During his work in Zhejiang, Xi Jinping systematically proposed the grand concept of developing the “three-in-one” of farmers’ professional cooperation, supply and marketing cooperation, and credit cooperation

20

“Balance Arable Land Occupation and Compensation in Accordance with Laws and Regulations and Promote Rural Land Transfer in an Orderly Way”. People’s Daily. 2015-5-27(1). 21 Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, pp. 144–146. 22 Xi, Jinping. A Tentative Study on China’s Rural Marketization, Doctoral Dissertation, Tsinghua University, 2001.

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at the 2006 rural work conference in the province.23 This is a major improvement and innovation of the two-tier operation system that integrates unified operation with separate operation. In 2008, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Promoting Rural Reform and Development adopted by the third plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee first proposed that “household operation should turn to adopting advanced technology and production methods, and increase its investment in production factors such as technology and capital, make efforts to improve the level of intensification; unified operation must develop and cooperate with farmers to form a diversified, multi-level, multi-form business service system….”24 The connotation of unified operation is enriched, and its implementation is improved and innovative. In 2013, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform adopted by the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee further proposed that “the construction of a new type of agricultural operation system should be accelerated. It is necessary to adhere to the fundamental status of household operation in agriculture and promote innovation in agricultural operation methods with joint developments such as household operation, collective operation, cooperative operation, and enterprise operation. In addition, China should stick to the collective ownership of rural land, safeguard the land contract operation rights of farmers, and develop and strengthen the collective economy”.25 Hence, innovation in a variety of business methods is highlighted. In December 2013, the Central Rural Work Conference guided by President Xi Jinping’s important speech on promoting the direction and strategic issues of rural reform and proposed to quicken the construction of a three-dimensional modern agricultural operation system combined with household operation as a foundation, cooperation and association as links, and socialized services as a support.26

23

“Exploration of A New Farmer Cooperative System Integrating Professional Cooperatives, Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, and Credit Cooperatives—A Breakthrough in Zhejiang’s Rural Reform”. Economic Daily. 2017-7-14(1). 24 “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Promoting Rural Reform and Development”. People’s Daily. 2008-10-20(1). 25 Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform, edited by the Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I), Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 523. 26 “Central Rural Work Conference Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily. 2013-12-25(1).

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3.2 Developing Various Forms of Operation with Appropriate Scale China is in the historical development stage of social transition and the acceleration of agricultural modernization. The imbalance of development in the eastern, central and western regions has intensified. While household operation in the eastern coastal areas and the suburban areas of large cities is run as enterprises and involves specialized operation, household operation in the west is still dominated by farmers who have to do different jobs concurrently, There are many traditional farmers who have to manage to live in underdeveloped and poverty-stricken areas where household operation appears to have the operation modes with multiple types and layers. However, urbanization brings about the problem of population ageing in rural areas, so who does the farm work and how to do it, has become outstanding. Small, weak and scattered household business of farmers directly affect the market competitiveness of China’s modern agricultural construction and agricultural products. Guided by the important speech of President Xi Jinping, the Central Rural Work Conference in 2013 pointed out that it is necessary to improve the level of intensive operation, scale operation and socialized services, increase farmers’ income from farming, encourage the development of, and vigorously support the development of new types of entities such as family farms, specialized households and farmers cooperatives, and industrialized leading enterprises.27 Currently, China’s rural areas have initially formed various business entities, such as household operation entities of scale represented by family farms and specialized households, cooperative operation entities represented by cooperatives, and enterprise operation entities of scale represented by leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization. According to preliminary statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, by the end of 2016, China had 37.62 million farmer households with over 50 mu (3.35 hectares) of cultivated land, 444,885 family farms recognized by the agricultural sector, 95.71 million mu (6.5 million hectares) of family farms, and 102,736 land share cooperatives, 29.16 million mu (1.99 million hectares) of land area with shares.28 In 2015, the number of leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization reached 129,000, and the sales revenue reached 9.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 29.7% and 82.9%, respectively, from the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan period. Over 230,000 farmers’ cooperative organizations cooperated with leading enterprises, and they served as the principal part of agricultural production and agricultural product market supply.29 In 2016, China’s contracted farmland transfer area reached 4.8 billion mu (322 million hectares), an increase of 7.3% over the previous year. It 27

“Central Rural Work Conference Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily. 2013-12-25(1). Department of Rural Economic System and Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Rural Cooperative Operation and Management Station of the Ministry of Agriculture: Annual Report on China’s Rural Operation and Management (2016). China Agriculture Press, 2017, pp. 4, 31, 42. 29 Department of Rural Economic System and Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Rural Cooperative Operation and Management Station of the Ministry of Agriculture: Annual Report on China’s Rural Operation and Management (2015). China Agriculture Press, 2016, p. 23. 28

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accounted for 35.1% of the contracted land. For this indicator, five provinces and cities accounted for more than 50%, Shanghai (74.8%), Jiangsu (60.2%), Beijing (60.0%), Zhejiang (53.8%), and Heilongjiang (50.4%).30 Meanwhile, many new service entities characterized by scale service have emerged in recent years. They provide various specialized production and operation services for farmers and new agricultural operation entities, enriching the connotation of appropriate scale operation in rural areas. For the time being, multiform and large-scale service entities have formed, such as professional service cooperatives represented by farm machinery and crop protection cooperatives, production service enterprises providing one-stop service, and various agricultural technology service organizations. The new agricultural operation entity and the new agricultural service entity together are becoming the main force in building modern agriculture in China.

3.3 Sticking to Appropriate Scales, Respecting Farmers’ Wishes and Protecting Their Rights and Interests in Conducting Appropriate Scale Operation To promote the appropriate scale operation of agriculture, President Xi Jinping particularly emphasized the need to respect farmers’ wishes and protect their rights and interests, along with having sufficient patience and taking a long-term view. At the symposium on rural reform in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province in April 2016, he pointed out that it is necessary to respect farmers’ wishes, to protect their rights and interests and to let farmers make choices. While the Party can set examples and give guidance for farmers, it cannot be a substitute for farmers to make their own choices. No forced orders should be made and no one-size-fits-all approaches should be taken.31 He also emphasized the appropriate scale operation of grain and the major participation of farmers. On September 29, 2014, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the fifth meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform that it is necessary to keep an appropriate scale and focus on supporting the development of large-scale grain production. Farmers should become active participants and real beneficiaries of the appropriate scale operation of land. Based on local conditions, a reasonable cultivated land scale can be determined and developed. China should not just pursue fast speed and large scale, nor should China ignore the basic agricultural condition that ordinary farmers managing their own contracted cultivated land still account for the majority. For the contracted land leased by industrial and commercial enterprises, strict thresholds should be set, a qualification review project verification and risk guarantee system should be established, 30

Department of Rural Economic System and Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Rural Cooperative Operation and Management Station of the Ministry of Agriculture: Annual Report on China’s Rural Operation and Management (2016). China Agriculture Press, 2017, pp. 14, 131. 31 “Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily. 2016-4-29(1).

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and the access and supervision system should be clearly defined.32 These important expositions of President Xi Jinping systematically elaborated the basic guiding ideology, principles, and work priorities for developing appropriate scale operation; and how the government strengthens the regulatory mechanism and avoids administrative interventions to guarantee market-oriented advancement of appropriate scale operation, improve the land utilization rate, and let farmers share the benefits.

32

“Strictly Control Quality and Supervision to Ensure Visible Progression of the Reform Schemes”. People’s Daily. 2014-9-30(1).

Chapter 3

Deepening Rural Reform Bingchuan Hu

At present, the rural economy and society are undergoing profound changes. The interest relationships of rural reform are more complicated for the objectives are more diversified, the influencing factors are more diverse and the task is more difficult than before. Faced with such a complicated situation, Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, put forward “pursuing a rural vitalization strategy” (a rural revitalization strategy) at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. “We will consolidate and improve the basic rural operation system, advance reform of the rural land system, and improve the system for separating the ownership rights, contract rights, and operation rights for contracted rural land. Rural land contracting practices will remain stable and unchanged on a long-term basis; the current round of contracts will be extended for another 30 years upon expiration. We will press ahead with reform of the rural collective property rights system, safeguard the property rights and interests of rural people, and strengthen the collective economy.”1 This conclusion points out the right direction for deepening rural reform. It also provides a theoretical basis for deepening rural reform practice in all regions. As an important high-level design, the reform of the rural collective property rights system is one of the basic tasks of rural reform and a major institutional innovation. As an important part of the supply and marketing, cooperatives play an important role in serving farmers and need time to demonstrate their effectiveness by further reforms. The agricultural support and protection system is an institutional guarantee to stabilize the supply of major agricultural products, promote farmers’ income and realize sustainable agricultural development. Further development is 1 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Daily Press, 2017(32).

B. Hu (B) Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_3

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needed to eliminate superfluous details and improve the agricultural support and protection system.

1 Main Content of Comprehensive Reform in Rural Areas This comprehensive rural reform includes a rural collective property rights system, agricultural operation system, agricultural support and protection system, urban and rural development system and rural social governance system.

1.1 The Reform of the Rural Collective Property Rights System Deepening the reform of the rural collective property rights system, protecting farmers’ property rights and interests, and expanding the collective economy are important measures to be taken in implementing the rural revitalization strategy. President Xi Jinping stressed at the rural reform symposium held in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province that the fundamental way to solve the various contradictions and problems faced by agricultural and rural development is to deepen reforms. At the same time, he stressed that no matter what changes, the collective ownership of rural land cannot be changed in such ways that could cause collapse, cultivated land cannot be reduced, grain production capacity cannot be weakened, and the interests of farmers cannot be harmed. To deepen the reform of the rural land system, China must stick to the “three bottom lines” of not changing the public nature of land, not breaking through the red line of cultivated land and not damaging the interests of farmers. China will consolidate and improve the basic rural operation system, advance reform of the rural land system, and improve the system for separating the ownership rights, contract rights, and operation rights for contracted rural land to prevent repeated mistakes. Rural land contracting practices will remain stable and unchanged over the long-term, and upon expiration, the current round of contracts will be extended for another thirty years. The reform of the rural land system can stabilize the income expectation of agricultural producers, stimulate the enthusiasm of agricultural producers to engage in agricultural production and operation, avoid predatory operation of land, promote the transfer of rural land, cultivate new agricultural operation entities, develop appropriate scale operation of agriculture, and protect the rights and interests of farmers’ land property.

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1.2 The Construction of a New Agricultural Operation System President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that “We will establish industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture, and improve the systems for supporting and protecting agriculture. We will develop appropriately scaled agricultural operations of various forms, cultivate new types of agribusiness, improve specialized agricultural services, and encourage small household farmers to become involved in modern agriculture.”2 This remark becomes constantly enriched and improved in practice. President Xi Jinping pointed out in the deliberation of the Jilin delegation during the “Internet Conference” in 2015 that to promote agricultural modernization, it is necessary to pay special attention to the three priorities of accelerating the construction of the modern agricultural industry system, modern agricultural production system and modern agricultural operation system. He further stressed at the symposium on rural reform in Xiaogang Village in Anhui Province that the construction of a modern agricultural industry system, production system and operation system should be taken as the starting point to accelerate agricultural modernization.3 President Xi Jinping stressed that the modern agricultural operation system is one of the important drivers of agricultural modernization and plays an irreplaceable role. To build a new agricultural operation system, China must focus on training and strengthening large professional families. Family farms, farmers’ cooperatives, agricultural enterprises and other new operation entities will promote the common development of family operation, collective operation, cooperative operation and enterprise operation. It is necessary to build a three-dimensional system that conforms to national conditions and the developmental stages, the household operation of farmers, cooperation and alliance, and support by social services. This compounded view replaces the agricultural operation system and improves the level of intensification, scale, organization, socialization and industrialization of agricultural operation to make the alliance between small farmers and the development of modern agriculture happen.

1.3 Improvement of the Agricultural Support and Protection System To implement the strategy of revitalizing the countryside, China must prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas. President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 2

XI Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Daily Press, 2017(32). 3 Han, Changfu. “Building Three Major Systems to Promote Agricultural Industrialization-Learning from Xi Jinping’s Important Speech at Xiaogang Village in Anhui”. People’s Daily, 2016-5-18(15).

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Central Rural Work Conference held in December 2013 that “To increase the investment in agriculture, we must give priority to ensuring agricultural expenditure even in financial difficulties. Whatever moves we need to take to reduce expenditure, our investment in agriculture, rural areas and farmers should not be reduced.”4 So to provide necessary support and protection for agriculture is an objective requirement to develop modern agriculture. The success or failure of agricultural modernization decides the overall situation of socialist modernization. At present, China’s agricultural development is still facing many difficulties and challenges, which urgently requires the government to take reasonable and effective protective measures to vigorously support the development of agriculture.

1.4 The Innovation of the Institutional Mechanism for the Integration of Urban and Rural Development President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report of the Party’s 19th Congress: “We shall establish and improve the system, mechanism and policy system for the development of urban–rural integration to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.”5 China will promote the modernization of the economic system, democratic politics, cultural vitality, social governance and interconnection of ecological civilization in urban and rural areas. Judging from the context of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, in the face of the current reality where cities are getting bigger and bigger and villages are becoming empty, President Xi Jinping emphasized the need for accelerating the integration of urban and rural development in the 22nd session of collective learning on improving the system and mechanism of integration of urban and rural development on April 30, 2015. This is a strategic task proposed by the 18th national congress of the Party and an inevitable requirement for implementing the “four comprehensive” strategic layout. To build a prosperous society in a well-rounded way, the most arduous and time-consuming tasks lies in rural areas, especially in poor rural areas. China must pay close attention to the work, increase investment in people, and strive to make major breakthroughs in coordinating urban–rural relations. In particular, China must make major breakthroughs in breaking the dual structure between urban and rural areas, promoting the equal exchange of urban and rural factors and the allocation of public resources to encourage new momentum in rural development, and enable the large population of farmers to participate in the reform and development process on

4

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014(679). 5 Xi Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Daily Press, 2017(32).

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an equal footing so as to enjoy the fruits of reform and development together.6 The integration of urban and rural development is the fundamental way to address China’s issues relating to agriculture; rural areas and wellbeings of farmers and provides the key method and measure with which to solve the difficult problem of dual economic development between urban and rural areas.

1.5 The Innovation of the Rural Social Governance System President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that “We should strengthen the basic work in rural areas and improve the rural governance system that combines autonomy, rule of law and rule of virtue.”7 In the process of “harmonized development of four modernizations in China,” rural social governance faces new challenges. President Xi Jinping proposed a series of innovative new ideas, viewpoints and requirements for the construction of a beautiful countryside and the strengthening of social civilization in rural areas. He stressed that if China wants to be strong, agriculture must be strong. If China wants to be beautiful, the countryside must be beautiful. If China wants to be prosperous, farmers must be prosperous. China should continue to push forward the construction of a new socialist countryside and build a happy hometown for farmers. According to the general requirements of prosperous industry, an ecological environment, a civilized rural environment, effective governance and a rich life for all, China should establish and improve the system and mechanism of urban–rural integration development and accelerate the modernization of agricultural villages. China must follow the path of construction suitable to the rural areas, paying attention to the local speciality, reflecting the characteristics of the rural areas, remembering the homesickness for the familiar and keeping the green water and mountains accessible. The governance of rural social organizations must strengthen the construction of rural grassroots party organizations, improve the rural grassroots democratic operation system, strengthen the construction of rural social civilization, innovate rural poverty alleviation and development system and mechanism, and deepen the reform of the rural administrative law enforcement system. In addition, at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, innovations in the governance of rural society include: (1) giving priority to the development of education and paying great attention to compulsory education in rural areas; (2) improving the quality of employment and people’s income level, and promoting multi-pronged employment and entrepreneurship of migrant workers; (3) strengthening the construction of the social security system, and improving the 6

“Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fuirts of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily, 2015-5-2(1). 7 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Daily Press, 2017(32).

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care and service system for rural left-behind children, women and the elderly; (4) determinedly winning the war against poverty to ensure that the rural poor will be lifted out of poverty by 2020 under the current standards of the country; (5) implementing the Healthy China Strategy by strengthening the basic medical and health service system and the construction of a large and highly skilled team of general practitioners; (6) building a social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance and co-sharing, and improving the socialization, legalization, intelligence and specialization of social governance; (7) effectively safeguarding national security, strictly preventing and resolutely cracking down on all kinds of infiltration, subversion, sabotage, violence, terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. These all need new requirements for the innovation of rural social governance.

2 Deepening the Reform of Rural Collective Property Rights System As the reform involves a wide range of issues and is complicated, the impact could be great. If interests are intertwined, slight negligence may lead to more serious consequences and even threaten social stability. On April 29, 2016, President Xi Jinping pointed out at a symposium on rural reform in Xiaogang Village that deepening rural reform requires mobilizing all factors, and efforts should be made to promote the reform of rural collective asset ownership to households and a joint-stock cooperative system. Collective ownership in rural areas based on collectively owning is an important manifestation of socialist public ownership and a full manifestation of the superiority of the socialist system. After more than 30 years of development and changes, the current rural property rights system has been difficult to adapt to the requirements of the new era and has come to the time for reform. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee stressed that “We must adhere to the collective ownership of rural land, safeguard farmers’ land contractual operation rights in accordance with the law, and develop and expand the collective economy”.8 No. 1 Document of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2015 also proposed “The reform of the rural collective property right system should be promoted.9 We should explore effective ways to realize rural collective ownership and innovate the operation mechanism of the rural collective economy.” President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that, “We will consolidate and improve the basic rural operation system, advance

8

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014(523). 9 “The CPC Central Committee and the State Council issue ‘Opinions on Intensifying Reform and Innovation to Accelerate Agricultural Modernization’”. People’s Daily, 2015-2-2(1).

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reform of the rural land system, and improve the system for separating the ownership rights, contract rights, and operation rights for contracted rural land. Rural land contracting practices will remain stable and unchanged on a long-term basis; the current round of contracts will be extended for another 30 years upon expiration. We will press ahead with reform of the rural collective property rights system, safeguard the property rights and interests of rural people, and strengthen the collective economy.”

2.1 Promoting the Reform of the Land Stock Cooperation China will focus mainly on the core production factor of farmers contracting land. At present, farmland transfer mainly includes subcontract, lease, exchange, transfer and joint stock partnership. In the first four ways, land is mainly transferred between different business entities. The transfer obtains one-time income, which has little to do with the development of the collective economy, and farmers have difficulty sharing the value-added benefits of land scale operation. In recent years, joint landstock cooperation has begun to emerge and has gradually increased in some areas. Land joint-stock cooperation uses major professional households, family farms, etc. as its main operation body and takes land as its basis while the farmers join the cooperation with their lands for shared operation. It not only realizes the scale and standardization of agriculture and promotes the development of modern agriculture, but also avoids the possible negative effects of industrial and commercial capital entering agriculture and leasing farmers’ land on a large scale. In addition, it can also enable the old, weak and migrant farmers to benefit from the development of cooperatives. While developing and strengthening the collective economy, it solves the problems of “what kind of land to plant”, “who will plant the land” and “how to plant the land”. In the economically developed eastern region, the focus is to promote the reform of the joint-stock cooperative system of operating assets, learn from the modern enterprise system, and introduce a joint-stock system on the basis of a cooperative system to transform the original collective economy. In the central and western regions especially with relatively backward economies, efforts should be mainly made on land.

2.2 Exploring the Development of a Rural Mixed Ownership Economy Collective economic organizations can take their own land or other resource assets as well as housing and equipment as capital contributions to attract farmers to invest in land operation rights and economic entities outside the community to invest in

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capital and technology to jointly develop the rural mixed ownership economy and leads farmers towards cooperation and alliance.

2.3 Exploring the New Mechanisms for Collective Accumulation China will establish a new mechanism for collective accumulation that is different from the “three proposals and five systems” before the rural tax and fee reform. China will change the past “self-get and others-use” to “self-get and self-use”. China will improve the system for drawing collective public welfare funds and explore various forms of collective operation other than household contract operation. For nonoperating assets, the focus is on exploring an effective management mechanism for collective unified operation so as to provide better public welfare services to members of collective economic organizations and community residents.

3 Improving the Agricultural Support and Protection System At present, China’s competitive advantage in the price of agricultural products is gradually disappearing, resulting in weak international competitiveness of agriculture, strong demand for agricultural products, weak demand for domestic agricultural products, increased general consumption and wasted domestic farm products. Since the reform and opening up, the market price of agricultural products has been unstable and the system of the market does not play a stable role in resource allocation. For an effective and stable farm product price system, the market should play a deciding role in resource allocation so as to give a full play to the government. For a period of time, the government has adopted necessary support and protection policies in the process of agricultural product market price formation. For example, it has implemented a more than 10-year-old purchasing policy (structural purchasing and storage), which is actually a means of price support. Specifically, grain storage enterprises that meet the conditions for purchasing and storage purchased the grain of farmers at the lowest purchasing price (or retail purchasing and storage price) determined by the state. The market-supporting acquisition policy has achieved outstanding results today, but it also has many drawbacks. The policy of purchasing and supporting the market has guaranteed farmers’ income from grain production and prevented farmers from suffering from low prices. However, as purchasing policy has raised the price of agricultural products domestically, similar agricultural products have no competitive advantage over foreign ones, and the problem of overstock with domestic grain stocks is becoming worse. The production cost of domestic agriculture is higher than that of the international market. Domestic agriculture has

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to face “two ceilings” and “two hoops”.10 It is of great significance to speed up the improvement of the price formation mechanism of agricultural products.

3.1 Adhering to the Direction of Market-Oriented Reform President Xi Jinping stressed at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that China should adhere to the new development concept so that the market will play a decisive role in the allocation of resources while the government plays its role well. In this context, the overall direction of agricultural reform will be reducing administrative intervention and adhering to market-oriented reform. First, China must establish a unified and open market system with fair competition. Upgrading an fair market system for agricultural products is the basis of the price formation mechanism. In recent years, the construction of China’s agricultural product market system has achieved remarkable results, but the problems are still relatively prominent. High circulation costs, low efficiency and other problems still affect the income of agricultural producers, which requires a safe, efficient and fair competitive agricultural product market system. It is of great significance to establish a healthy and organized agricultural product market system, which can not only ensure the effective supply of agricultural products but also promote farmers’ income and guide consumption. It can also promote the structural adjustment of the entire rural economy so that the rural economy can maintain and enjoy sustained and stable growth. President Xi Jinping pointed out that under the new situation, the major agricultural concerns have changed from insufficient total amount to structural problems. Promoting structural reforms on the supply side of agriculture and improving the comprehensive benefits and competitiveness of agriculture are the main directions for the reform and improvement of China’s agricultural policies at present and in the coming period. In fact, learning from the advanced agricultural product target price formation policies of developed agricultural countries in Europe and the United States, a market-oriented agricultural product target price formation mechanism should be gradually developed in accordance with the principle of “market guidance and policy follow-up”. President Xi Jinping stressed in the 10th session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that only by adhering to the direction of market-oriented reform can market vitality be fully stimulated.11 As an important part of the agricultural product price support policy, the minimum purchase price policy has made important contributions in arousing farmers’ enthusiasm for production, promoting farmers’ income increase and achieving stable grain growth. Existing research shows that the minimum purchase price policy can effectively stimulate agricultural production, increase

10

Li, Keqiang. “Accelerate Agricultural Modernization with Reform and Innovation Being a Powerful Driver”. Qiushi, 2015(4). 11 “Market Orientation Brings the People Efficiency and Fairness”. People’s Daily, 2013-11-10(1).

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production and ensure supply with the advantages of direct effect and simple operation. Its disadvantages are serious disturbance in and distortion of the agricultural product market. As a result, Chinese people have seen low efficiency and increased financial burden. President Xi Jinping stressed that to promote structural reform on the agricultural supply side, China should innovate the financial support system and mechanism, better play the guiding role of financial funds, and improve the quality and efficiency of agricultural product supply. According to the practice in recent years, after the target price reform of soybean and cotton and the reform of corn producer subsidy, it is necessary to deeply study and promote top-level design, not be confined to the special measures of high inventory of single grain varieties, but to fundamentally eliminate the distorted influence of grain price support policies on the market from the point of view of thinking, which includes the following two aspects: Firstly, the target of grain price subsidy is to “solve the difficulties of farmers in selling grain”. President Xi Jinping stressed at the Central Rural Work Conference held in 2013 that “the two initiatives should be mobilized and protected”. “We should make it profitable for farmers to grow grain and encourage major grain-producing areas to seize grain,” and “We should explore the mechanism of linking agricultural subsidies with grain production, so that those who produce more grain can receive more subsidies, and the limited funds can really be used to the best of their abilities.”12 Second, China should be ensuring national food security. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that Chinese people’s rice bowls must be firmly held in their hands at all times. Chinese people’s rice bowls should mainly contain Chinese grain and adhere to the bottom line of basic grain self-sufficiency and absolute food security. China should rely on scientific and technological progress and policy support to ensure stable growth of comprehensive grain production capacity.

3.2 Perfecting the Agricultural Subsidy System Giving full attention to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, giving more attention to the role of the government and dealing with the relationship between the government and the market are necessary measures to speed up the improvement of the socialist market economic system and the construction of an innovative country. President Xi Jinping pointed out that to increase investment in agriculture, China must prioritize ensuring agricultural expenditure even in times of financial difficulty. Any further reduction in expenditure cannot make the investment in agriculture, rural areas and farmers reduced. China must improve the accuracy and direction of agricultural subsidies. Therefore, in the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, from the perspective of improving the accuracy and 12

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014(664).

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direction of agricultural subsidies, it is necessary to further improve the agricultural subsidy system. In essence, agricultural subsidies are the government’s transfer of government financial revenue to specific agricultural production operators through legal standards and methods to achieve agricultural development, rural stability and farmers’ income increase. Agricultural subsidies have two meanings. One is Broad Subsidy, also known as “Green Box Subsidy,” which mainly refers to all government investment or support in agriculture, especially in science and technology, water conservancy, roads and bridges, etc. The green box does not directly interfere with the price of agricultural products. The other is a protective subsidy, i.e., “yellow box subsidy”. This is the government’s direct price intervention and subsidies for agricultural products. These include subsidies for agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation, subsidies for marketing loans for agricultural products, and subsidies for fallow. Subsidizing agricultural farmers is common worldwide. At present, China’s agricultural development is facing increasingly prominent contradictions, which can be seen in quantity and quality of the input and output of production cost-effectiveness, production ecology, etc. Given these concerns becoming increasingly tight in the short term and the long-term tightening of the relationship between food supply and demand, it is necessary to ensure that food production remains within an effective range, the quality and efficiency of agricultural supply is improved to reach a higher level, while at the same time allowing natural resources and the environment to take a rest. Rather than agricultural subsidies being reduced, they should be further strengthened. Under the background of comprehensively promoting structural reform on the agricultural supply side, the key to improving agricultural subsidy policies is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of subsidies and to improve the level of agricultural productivity. At the end of 2016, President Xi Jinping clearly pointed out at the meeting of the Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that it is necessary to adhere to the “new development concept,” promote structural reform on the agricultural supply side as the main area of agricultural and rural work, cultivate new momentum for agricultural and rural development, and improve the comprehensive benefits and competitiveness of agriculture. Agricultural support and protection subsidies that started in 2016 are an effective method worth trying. The “three subsidies” for agriculture will be merged into subsidies for agricultural support and protection, and the policy objective will be adjusted to support the protection of cultivated land productivity and the moderate-scale operation of grain. The core contents of agricultural support and protection subsidies include: (1) direct subsidies to all grain farmers and subsidies for improved varieties of crops—in addition, 80% of comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials will be used for the protection of cultivated land productivity; (2) 20% of the stock funds for comprehensive agricultural subsidies, together with the incremental funds for the “three subsidies” for agriculture, will be used to support the moderate-scale operation of grain. In this sense, China can see that the core of the “three subsidies” reform in agriculture lies in the protection of cultivated land productivity. Subsidy funds are linked

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to the area of cultivated land. No subsidies will be given to cultivated land, forestland, or plots of land used for growing grain that have been used as livestock farms, converted to facility agricultural land and cultivated land whose quality cannot meet the cultivation standards. Subsidies for the protection of cultivated land productivity are targeted toward all farmers who have the right to contract cultivated land. Subsidy funds are directly subsidized for farmers. Second, the moderate-scale operation of grain primarily supports the main body of land adaptive scale operation formed through land circulation, land share cooperation and other entities through land trust, pre-ordered agriculture to provide large-scale socialized services for agricultural production to realize the main body of scale operation. China should support the protection of cultivated land productivity. In principle, the beneficiary of subsidies are farmers who have the right to contract cultivated land. China will support a moderate scale of grain operations, with the focus on new types of business entities such as large grain producers, family farms, farmers’ cooperatives and agricultural social service organizations, reflecting that “whoever produces more grain will be supported first.” At present, the focus of agricultural subsidies is to systematically combine scale operation, building new business entities and protecting the grain production capacity of farmers. Farmers would be given part of the land according to the contracted land area if they promised that the cultivated land would not be abandoned and the soil fertility would not decline. Moreover, farmers would be encouraged to increase their production as quickly as possible when the country needs grains. Planting subsidies for large-scale farmers are separately distributed according to the planting scale and the identity of a new type of entities. The reform of the “three subsidies” will not be the end of the adjustment of the agricultural support and protection system. The bottom line of the food security strategy of “ensuring basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute safety of grain rations” to maintain the momentum of increasing farmers’ income. The reform of the agricultural subsidy system is ongoing. On November 1, 2016, the 29th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensive Deepening Reform deliberated and adopted the “Reform Plan for Establishing a Green Ecology-Oriented Agricultural Subsidy System.” The new agricultural subsidy mechanism highlights the green ecology orientation, accelerates the implementation of relevant agricultural subsidy policy reforms, strengthens the subsidy policies for major ecosystems such as arable lands, grasslands, forests and wetlands, explores effective supportive policies to control the pollution from heavy metal contaminated arable land and agricultural nonpoint source pollution as well as to efficiently conserve water in agriculture, and shifts the policy objective from quantity growth to both quantity and quality ecology.

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4 Promoting the Comprehensive Reform of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives Since the reform and opening up, China has implemented a two-tier operation system that is a “combination of centralization and decentralization”. However, there is more than enough to divide but less than enough to unify. During the “two sessions"in March 2013, when President Xi Jinping held a discussion with the Jiangsu delegation, he said that the family contract responsibility system, which combines unification and division, fully reflects the enthusiasm of “division”. However, the problem of how to adapt “unification” to the market economy and economies of scale has not been solved. Xi Jinping pointed out in his doctoral dissertation “A Tentative Study on China’s Rural Marketization” that decentralized farmers have a low degree of organization and no equal bargaining position in the market and that the “price taker” is not the “pricing person”. Decentralized small farmers are too small to face the large market alone. The paper gives a solution: Rely on organization and move towards a new alliance. Let all farmers form a community of “sharing risks and interests” and form a strong joint force to exploit and occupy the market through organization. In 2006, No. 1 Document of the Party Central Committee just proposed “the construction of a new socialist countryside”. At the provincial rural work conference held on January 8 of that year, Xi Jinping, then the governor of Zhejiang Province, put forward the idea of a “trinity” of (a) farmers’ professional cooperation, (b) supply and marketing cooperation and (c) credit cooperation. Later, it was further stated at the meeting on December 19 to promote a pilot project in the whole province that this “trinity” is the integration of three types of cooperative organizations and functions. As a trinity of three types of cooperative organizations—farmers’ professional cooperation, supply and marketing cooperation, and credit cooperation, it is necessary to promote their development, standards and reform in order to strengthen cooperation, association and integration. “Trinity” also refers to the trinity of the triple functions of finance, circulation, and science and technology. It can also be extended to the trinity of the three-level cooperation system of grassroots, regional (industry) and even the whole country, or the trinity of economic cooperation organizations, mass autonomous organizations and administrative auxiliary organizations. A “trinity” of farmer cooperation is the core of constructing a new agricultural operation system, a strategic choice to perfect the basic rural operation system and finally realize the combination of unification and division, and the strategic road to long-term stability and sustainable development in rural areas. In “trinity” farmer cooperation, supply and marketing cooperatives are the key unifying factors. As the largest cooperative economic organization in China, supply and marketing cooperatives are cooperative economic organizations for agriculture and are also important carriers for the Party and the Chinese government to do a good job in the “Issues relating to Agriculture,Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers”. For a long time, supply and marketing cooperatives were rooted in rural areas, as they are close to farmers and have a relatively complete organizational

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system. Additionally, their operation network is relatively sound, and their service function is relatively complete. Therefore, they are fully qualified to become the reliable backbone for the Party and the government to take in serving the agriculture. However, due to historical reasons and the system not being completely rationalized, there have been some problems in the operation. For example, supply and marketing cooperatives are in close cooperation with farmers, comprehensive service strength is not strong, hierarchical links are loose, and endogenous power and development vitality are insufficient. Under the new situation, how can supply and marketing cooperatives be built into a cooperative economic organization system with closer ties to farmers, more functions for agriculture, and more efficient market operation? The supply and marketing cooperatives serve as a new force and comprehensive platform for serving farmers’ production and life as well as a link between the Party and the government and farmers. The building of supply and marketing cooperatives has become a very urgent strategic task. President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that “We should improve the socialized service system of agriculture and make an alliance between small farmers and the development of modern agriculture.”13 To promote the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives, it is necessary to give top priority to services for agricultural development and to provide convenient, affordable, safe and high-quality services to farmers in key cities and links such as agricultural supplies, circulation of agricultural products and rural services. No. 1 Document of the Party Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2017 pointed out that the upgrading of the backwards is an important part of structural reform, especially on the agricultural supply side. President Xi Jinping pointed out that under the new historical conditions of reform, supply and marketing cooperatives should continue to be run well and play unique advantageous and important roles.14 Supply and marketing cooperatives are rooted in the countryside, close to farmers, and have a sound organizational system and operation network. They have unique advantages in developing modern agriculture, promoting farmers to become prosperous and to benefit urban and rural economies. The comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives is not a simple reform in the circulation field, nor is it merely an institutional reform of supply and marketing cooperatives themselves. This reform is an important component of the economic system, especially in rural areas, involving cities and rural areas, industry and agriculture and production and circulation. One of the main objectives of the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives is to improve the capacity of socialized agricultural services. The comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives should focus on expanding the supply and marketing cooperatives to serve rural areas, specifically 13

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Daily Press, 2017(32). 14 “Give Full Play to the Unique Advantages and Important Functions of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives and Write a New Chapter of Prosperity for All”. People’s Daily, 2014-7-25(1).

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including the following four aspects. First, China should strengthen the socialized service of agriculture. China needs to establish a new type of supply and marketing cooperative for modern agriculture, supporting supply and marketing cooperatives to organize the implementation of agricultural social services to benefit farmers. China needs to establish and improve service organizations for agriculture to extensively unite new agricultural operators and service providers and promote supply and marketing cooperatives to extend from circulation services to full-scale agricultural socialization services. Second, China should improve the service level of agricultural product circulation. China needs to strengthen the construction of the agricultural product circulation network of supply and marketing cooperatives and innovate circulation methods to promote various connecting forms of production and marketing. The agricultural product market of supply and marketing cooperatives will be taken into the national agricultural product market development plan. Large-scale agricultural product wholesale markets and modern logistics centers will be built in collection and distribution areas, agricultural product collection markets and storage facilities will be built in producing areas, and retail outlets such as fresh supermarkets will be built in urban communities so as to eventually develop agricultural product market networks with reasonable layout and connect producing areas to consumers. Third, China should build a comprehensive service platform for urban and rural communities to meet the requirements of new urbanization and new rural construction. China needs to speed up the construction of rural comprehensive service agencies and urban and rural community service centers to provide diversified services for urban and rural residents, such as daily consumer goods, sports and entertainment, supporting the aged, preschool education for the kids, employment training, etc. China needs to integrate resources of urban and rural supply and marketing cooperatives, develop urban business centers and business service complexes, and improve the ability of the urban supply and marketing cooperatives to connect urban and rural areas to serve agriculture, the countryside, and farmers. Fourth, China should steadily develop rural cooperative financial services. Developing rural cooperative finance is an important way to solve the problem of farmers’ financing difficulties, and it is also a realistic need for cooperative economic organizations to enhance their service functions and their service strength. Well-positioned supply and marketing cooperatives should, in accordance with the principle of membership and closeness, develop mutual assistance and cooperation in rural funds on the premise of not paying fixed returns on loans to foreign banks. Well-positioned supply and marketing cooperatives may set up rural mutual aid cooperative insurance organizations to carry out mutual aid insurance businesses.

Chapter 4

Ensuring National Food Security Wei Peng

China, with a large population, stresses national food security as a major strategic plan of national security. All successive leaders of the Party have made food security an extremely important priority. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has promoted a series of strategic ideas and scientific theories on national food security, proposing a new strategy for the new era. Xi Jinping pointed out that, “Protecting national food security is a continuous mission. China should keep alert all the time.”; “The food we have should be mostly from ourselves.”; and that, “It is unreliable to buy food or beg for food.”1 The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized ensuring “national food security by holding the Chinese people’s rice bowl in their own hands”.2 From the strategic perspective of securing the country, President Xi made an in-depth statement of the importance of guarding national food security since it is a long-term and arduous mission, which reflects a strategic thinking of being prepared to danger in times of safety.

1

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House: 2014(660–662). 2 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House: 2017(32). W. Peng (B) Office of Academic Research, Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_4

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1 Background of Forming China’s New Food Security Strategy and Its Significance 1.1 The Issue of World Food Security Is Increasingly Prominent In general, global food production growth is gradually slowing down, while demand is continuously growing. According to statistics, the average annual growth rate of global food production in recent years is only 0.4%, while that of consumption is approximately 1%. In the context of financial globalization, food, a part of the international commodity market, has become a new financial “battlefield” for global investors. Food prices are more affected by financial speculation, which deviates from the principle of food price adjustment based on the relationship between food supply and demand. Food commercialization and politicization bring about imbalances in global agricultural production and trade systems through markets and strategies. European and American agricultural powers dominate the field of agricultural biotechnology. The four major grain producers of global agricultural multinationals, who have controlled 80% of the world’s food trade and 70% of the oilseed trade, strengthen their entire industrial chains, including global grain resources, logistics, transaction, processing and sales. As world oil prices rise, some grain rations are converted into raw materials for bioenergy production. In the meantime, agricultural production costs increase and are finally passed on to food prices. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned that the world is facing a serious situation of increasing food prices. The domestic market will be hit by the unstable and rising food prices of the international market.

1.2 The Total Supply and Demand of China’s Agricultural Products Is Basically Balanced but Structurally Scarce Since the reform and opening up (1978), China’s grain supply and demand have experienced four stages of shortage, balance, shortage and continuous increase. In the first stage (1978–1984), the problem of food supply was basically solved. In the second stage (1985–1998), the shortage period of agricultural products ended. The food supply and demand were generally balanced, and there was even a surplus in abundant years. In the third stage (1999–2003), the grain output could not meet the yearly consumption rate, and the inventory declined in a row. In the fourth stage (2004–2015), grain output increased for the twelfth consecutive year. Although grain production has increased year after year, the supply and demand for agricultural products is still basically balanced but structurally scarce. At the same time, various resources, such as arable land and water, are insufficient, leading to limited space

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to expand farming areas for food. The pressure for steady growth in production is mounting. Even if the Chinese people’s self-sufficiency in grain production is achieved, as food production is increasing year after year, the nation is still facing various constraints and challenges over food security. The domestic population’s growth has led to an increase in grain demand. In addition, the demand for meat, eggs and milk has resulted in a rapid growth in grain consumption by animals. Higher urban populations and a growing food processing industry also accelerate the demand for food. According to the National Medium- and Long-Term Plans of National Food Security 2008–2020, China’s total grain demand will reach 572.5 billion kilograms by 2020. Since the social benefits of grain production are much higher than the economic benefits, industrialization and urbanization are growing so fast that they affect grain production. In addition, shrinking cultivated land, increased pressure on resources and the environment and rising costs of labor all impact food production and supply.

1.3 Food Security Is the Top Priority of Ensuring National Security In the book Up and Out of Poverty, President Xi wrote: “In the past, China used to ‘take grain as the key link’, and now China takes food as the basic foundation. Literally, they all seem to emphasize the importance of grain production. Foods mentioned in the past only referred to grain crops such as rice, wheat, and corn, but the food Chinese people are talking about now is more general, as a large-scale food concept replaces the old concept of taking grain as the key link”.3 Considering China’s resources and the current situation of food supply and demand, especially taking the need to meet household food consumption into consideration, President Xi put forward a new concept of food, in which food resources should be developed in a holistic and multidirectional way. With stable food production as the baseline, the production of grains, cotton, oil, sugar, fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, eggs and milk will be improved to stabilize food production development. President Xi stressed that agriculture is the basic industry on which the human relies for survival and development, and China should make it the top priority to develop agriculture, benefit rural areas, make farmers prosper, and provide enough food to feed 1.3 billion population in the governance and security of the country.4 Agriculture is the foundation of a country’s national economic development, as well as a strategic industry that ensures China’s stability and maintains public confidence. Therefore, safeguarding food security is the central task of agricultural modernization as well as national development and political stability at large. It is also 3

Xi Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House: 2014(178). “Raise China-US Agricultural Cooperation to a New Level”. People’s Daily (Overseas Edition), 2012-2-18(1). 4

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the foundational principle of a country with more than 1.3 billion people. During a conference held at Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in November 2013, Xi Jinping said that “…protecting national food security is a continuous mission. We should keep alert all the time.”5 Historical experience tells Chinese people that once there is a great famine, money is useless. To provide food for 1.3 billion people, China must depend on herself.

2 China’s New Food Security Strategy China’s New Food Security Strategy has established a bottom line to “ensure the basic self-sufficiency of grain and absolute safety of rations”. The strategy includes the following five aspects: first, to ensure the basic self-sufficiency of grain and absolute safety of rations; second, to mainly rely on demostic food supply with moderate imports; third, to mobilize two initiatives; fourth, to establish a crop production strategy based on farmland operation and technological application; and fifth, to protect the safety of people’s every bite of food.

2.1 The Bottom Line of the Food Security Strategy Is to Ensure the Basic Self-Sufficiency of Grain and Absolute Safety of Grain Rations Xi Jinping pointed out that the food issue had a more important and special significance for eastern Fujian Province when he was in charge of Ningde City in Fujian Province. A basic problem in eliminating poverty and becoming more prosperous is to ensure a stable food supply. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping has stressed that ensuring food security is the top priority in governing the country, and it is a continuous mission to strive for. The Chinese people’s rice bowls must be firmly held in their own hands at all times, and the bowls must be mainly filled with Chinese food. This reflects the foresight of being prepared for danger in times of safety. China’s grain output has exceeded 500 billion kilograms for eight consecutive years and has exceeded 600 billion kilograms for two consecutive years. As a result, per capita food possession has increased significantly, which guarantees national food security. However, the prominent challenge in China’s grain industry is not the shortage of food but excessive pressure on grain inventory. A large amount of

5

“Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. People’s Daily, 2013.11.29(1).

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grain purchased by the state at both the minimum purchase price and the temporary purchase and stockpiling price is overstocked, making it difficult to sell it at a reasonable price. This has imposed a heavy burden on the state’s finances.6 To feed 1.4 billion people, China must adhere to achieving basic self-sufficiency in grain production. Considering the supply and demand situation and resource conditions of China’s agricultural products for a period of time, China should determine the target positioning and the priority sequence of developing major agricultural products. Moreover, China should ensure that the self-sufficiency rate of three major grains—rice, wheat and corn—remains above 95%, among which rice and wheat remain 100% self-sufficient.7 Obviously, this strategic bottom-line positioning is a typical example of the specific application of Marxist theory in China and a scientific judgment made by President Xi Jinping based on the current situation of China’s grain production and the political and economic situation at home and abroad. This has broadened Chinese vision and expanded Chinese thinking about ensuring national food security under the new situation. The most distinct strategy is that the definition of “grain selfsufficiency” has been narrowed. According to the traditional food statistic specification, China’s food self-sufficiency rate dropped to 88.7% in 2013, which was mainly caused by the rapid growth of soybean imports. It is not in line with international practice or the actual situation of China’s food security work to continue to measure China’s self-sufficiency rate with low entry, including cereals, beans and yams. From the general requirement of basic self-sufficiency in grain to “basic self-sufficiency in cereals and absolute security in grain rations”, it is conducive to gathering resources to protect key areas,8 which also sets priorities for national food security. Considering the supply and demand situation and resources of China’s agricultural products for a period of time, ensuring the basic self-sufficiency of grain and absolute safety of rations is by no means reducing the responsibility for ensuring national food security or slowing domestic food production. On the other hand, it is important to allocate resources properly to concentrate on the most basic and important tasks first, guarding the bottom line of China’s food security strategy. This is a scientific strategy made by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as its core. It provides a more tolerant policy environment and resource space for transforming the mode of agricultural development and accelerating the adjustment of the agricultural industrial structure.

6

“Follow the Chinese Path of New Agricultural Modernization”. Qiushi Interview, 2015(34). “Issues Relating to Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas Are What Underlies Chinese Dream”. Guang Ming Daily, 2013-9-13(10). 8 “Follow the Chinese Path of New Agricultural Modernization”. Qiushi Interview, 2015(34). 7

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2.2 The Primary Principle of the Food Security Strategy Is to Rely on Domestic Food with Moderate Imports Only when a country is basically self-sufficient in grain production can it take the control of food security and economic and social development at large. According to the Global Report on Food Crises 2018 released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and other organizations, approximately 124 million people in 51 countries were affected by unexpected food insecurity in 2017, 11 million more than the previous year. This shows that, with over one billion people, China cannot rely on buying or searching for food over international markets; otherwise, China will be in danger because food cannot be bought with money if the food is in shortage. Of course, not all grain and agricultural products need to be completely self-sufficient in China. China needs to make full use of our two types of resources and markets to appropriately increase the import of agricultural products. During this time, it is necessary to keep the scale and speed of production to a reasonable degree, preventing the potential impact on domestic production that may impose pressure on farmers’ employment and income as well as the international market. At the same time, China should attach great importance to the conservation of food, making it a common practice in society as a whole. To do so, China should start with cultivating children to save food from the table. Taking “appropriate imports” as an important part of the food security strategy is to actively participate in international trade and expand food import channels while making domestic production capacity more reliable and the market more stable. In recent years, some people have advocated that the international market should be more open, and the contradiction between the shortage of cultivated land resources and the improvement of people’s living standards on the growth of food consumption should be solved through imports. This idea can go nowhere because it is absolutely impossible to meet China’s grain consumption need of over 500 million tons per year, while the international market can only provide more than 200 million tons of grain every year. At the very least, if the international market can meet her food needs now, China will depend too much on other countries for food. There are more than 1.3 billion people in China, and eating is more important than anything else. As long as her food supply is stable, China will be stable. President Xi Jinping thinks in a foresighted way and points out that protecting national food security is a continuous mission. China should keep alert of the danger all the time.9

9 “ Follow

Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. People’s Daily, 2013-11-29(1).

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2.3 The Endogenous Driving Force of the Food Security Strategy Is to Ensure Farmers to Profit from Growing Grains and to Keep the Continued Enthusiasm of Major Grain-Producing Areas Ensuring food supply is the country’s fundamental objective, but food security is not what farmers want. Farmers are the basic and direct suppliers of food, and local governments provide the main grain supply operation at the grassroots level. If their production enthusiasm and operation initiatives are not fully mobilized, achieving food security will become an illusion. In fact, what concerns farmers most is the way to improve their income. In other words, no matter how persuasive the objective is, farmers will not voluntarily grow grains as their income decreases. To some degree, whether farmers are farming at home or working in the city, growing grains or other crops mainly depends on the benefits of agriculture compared with other industries. For local governments, ensuring food production is more of a political task than a motivated action to obtain economic benefits. Large grain-producing counties are often weak in industry and poor in finance. As grain prices decline and tax contribution stands out, grain production needs much investment but contributes little to GDP and tax revenue, of which the return is far behind industrial and investment projects. This forms a strange situation in which the more efforts the country puts into agricultural production, the fewer benefits are returned. In addition, the current performance appraisal system seriously dampens the enthusiasm of local governments to improve grain production. To solve the problem of food supply, China needs to balance the interests of the central government, local governments and farmers. At the Central Rural Work Conference held in 2013, President Xi put forward the idea that China needs to mobilize and protect “the two initiatives” to ensure farmers profit from growing grains and maintain the continued enthusiasm of major grain-producing areas. China needs to explore ways to link agricultural subsidies to grain production and put limited funds to good use, so farmers with higher grain production receive more subsidies. China should put more efforts into regulating grain reserves and encouraging market players to purchase and store grain to fully use nongovernmental warehousing facilities for grain storage. The central and local governments should take responsibility jointly, and the former should bear primary responsibility. Local governments at all levels should sense the overall situation to increase investment in food production and consciously maintain national food security. At the same time, President Xi Jinping attaches great importance to protecting the rights and interests of farmers and fostering modern farmers. He pointed out that “the economic and social development in rural areas lies in people. To make agriculture a profitable and prosperous industry and farming a decent job, we have to increase farmers’ income, educate new-type farmers and support them.”10 This is a practice of supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, stimulating the enthusiasm of farmers to grow grain. 10 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, cited in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House 2014(678).

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2.4 The Key Component of Ensuring a Food Security Strategy Is to Improve Crop Production Based on Farmland Operation and Technological Application Farmland is the foundation of food production, so China should strive to keep arable land above the lowest limit in both quantity and quality. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the lowest limit of 1.8 billion mu (120.6 million hectares) of arable land must not be changed, and the current amount of farmland should be basically stable. Xi expanded on the definition of the minimum arable land and clearly answered the question of whether to adhere to this red line. China should protect farmland, guarding it like cultural relics and other natural resources, such as pandas. China should work to designate permanently protected areas of farmland and keep the area of arable land stable to protect our fundamental need for food. When developing industrial and urban areas, China should attempt to leave lands undeveloped, for use only as farmlands, create rich farmlands, and restore damaged land in order to constantly improve the quality of cultivated land. In the process of rural land system reform, strictly protecting the lowest limit of 1.8 billion mu (120.6 million hectares) of arable land is the bottom line that must not be ignored. China should always protect and improve the rights and interests of rural residents as her starting point and goal. China should ensure that the nature of public ownership of land remains unchanged, that the minimum arable land base remains stable, and that farmers’ interests are not harmed by poor land quality. China should proceed in an orderly manner that is based on pilot projects. Land acquisition and making collectively owned construction land commercially available are related to reforming the homestead system, which can be used for unified deployment and requirements. However, it should be implemented according to different classifications in the pilot work. China will explore ways to experiment with crop rotation and land fallow systems to promote the sustainable development of cultivated land and agriculture. For the past few years, China’s grain production has increased yearly, making great contributions to economic and social development. However, China’s model of agricultural development is still rudimentary, as the problems caused by overexploitation of agricultural resources, excessive use of agricultural inputs and groundwater, and pollution from both internal and external sources have become increasingly prominent. The sustainable development of agriculture is facing major challenges, so China must accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model to become more sustainable. Compared with developed countries, China is still relying on chemical inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and a large amount of irrigation water to increase grain production. In 2015, based on China’s total sown area, the intensity of fertilizer application in China was 362 kg per hectare, which is much higher than the internationally recognized upper limit of fertilizer application (225 kg per hectare).The long-term overuse of chemicals causes pollution to the soil and groundwater resources, which in turn affects the quality and safety of agricultural products and damages the ecosystem. As a result, the degraded arable land in China is

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over 40% of the total cultivated area. The ever-thinning farmland in northeast China and the North China Plain, as well as the soil acidification in south China, seriously affects the output capacity of cultivated land. In the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC National Congress, China proposed implementing arable land rotation and fallow systems in some areas, as food supplies are abundant in domestic and foreign markets. This will help to promote the sustainable development of cultivated land and agriculture, and it will also balance the contradiction between food supply and demand, secure farmers’ income and reduce financial pressure. The Report on the Work of Chinese Government of 2016 and No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee set clear requirements for implementing crop rotation and land fallow systems. President Xi pointed out that China must lead modern agricultural development more intensively to improve the comprehensive benefits and competitiveness of agriculture, realizing a crop production strategy based on farmland operation and technological application.11 “We will implement the system in some pilot areas, especially in funnel-shaped groundwater surface area, heavy metal pollution area, ecologically degraded areas”, Xi stressed in the Explanations on the Recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, “We will put some cultivated land into the land fallow system in certain areas, and provide subsidies with food or cash for farmers who have fallow farmland.”12 Science and technology provide important support for agricultural modernization. To meet the Chinese people’s increasing need for food and ensure the steady growth of grain production, China must promote innovation in technology to increase grain yield without reducing the area of cultivated land. Science and technology are also the keys to breaking through the constraints of resources and the environment and achieving sustainable development. Xi Jinping indicated that agricultural development is bound to be modernized, and the key to realizing this is scientific and technological progress. Therefore, China must pay more attention to science and technology advances in order to progress in agriculture13 . To speed up the development of agricultural science and technology, China should build a technical system that meets the requirements of high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, environmentally sustainable, and secure agriculture.14 On March 8, 2016, while attending the deliberations of the Hunan delegation at the fourth session of the 12th National People’s Congress, Xi stressed boosting the supply-side structural reform of agriculture and improving the comprehensive benefits and competitiveness of agriculture. 11

Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, and Zhang Gaoli Join Deliberation with Deputations of the National People’s Congress. People’s Daily, 20183-9(1). 12 Xi, Jinping. “Explanations on the ‘Recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development’”. People’s Daily, 2015-11-4(2). 13 Han, Changfu. “Stabilize Agricultural Foundation and Ensure Food Security—Study and Follow President Xi Jinping’s Important Statements on Agricultural Issues”. People’s Daily, 2013-12-29(5). 14 Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee. Selection of Xi Jinping’s Statements on scientific and technological innovation. Central Literature Publishing House: 2016(93).

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Science and technology should be used to build more intensive modern agriculture, realizing a crop production strategy based on farmland operation and technological application.15

2.5 The Ultimate Goal of the Food Security Strategy Is to Protect the Safety of Every Bite of Food Food and safety come first, so safeguarding people’s health is the basic target of agricultural development. With the development of the social economy, China has changed its focus from quantity to quality of food consumption. At the 2013 Central Rural Work Conference, President Xi Jinping emphasized that ensuring people’s food security is a critical test to evaluate governance capability. To ensure food safety, China must go to the root of agriculture and its outputs. China will make the quality and safety of agricultural products a key link in transforming the development and construction of modern agriculture. Utilizing the four most serious and high-level standards, supervision, punishment and accountability (the Four Strictest Rules), China can ensure the safety of every bite of food. When Xi paid an inspection visit to Shandong in November 2013, he stressed that China should develop high-quality and safe agricultural products to meet the requirements of eating safely and well. Since this concerns everyone’s health, it is necessary to establish a technical problemsolving system for food safety, so that people can obtain reliable consumption, which complies with the principle of protecting the safety of every bite of food. In January 2016, President Xi Jinping provided important instruction on food safety work, pointing out that ensuring food safety is the responsibility of party committees and governments at all levels. In response, great achievements have been made through hard work in recent years. However, China is still facing a serious situation in its food safety, so further progress needs to be made for people to be able to eat more safely and healthily. The year 2016 was the first year of China’s “13th FiveYear Plan”. Making people’s well-being the central point, parties and governments at all levels should work together to address all causes of food security problems, strengthen overall planning and coordination, accelerate the improvement of regulatory systems and put “the Four Strictest Rules” into practice, ensuring people’s safety in every bite of food.16 This fully embodies General Xi Jinping’s determination towards the quality and safety of agricultural products. Chinese people should work hard to make progress in both production and operation, forming a supervision system covering the industry from the field to the table.

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“Community Representatives Tell President Xi’s Concerns for People”. People’s Daily, 2016-39(4). 16 “Follow People-centered Development Concept and Four Strict Rules on Food Safety”. People’s Daily, 2016-1-29(1).

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3 Effective Ways to Ensure National Food Security At present, China’s agriculture is faced with many contradictions and problems. First, the amount of production, imports and inventory are all increasing; second, the low sale price and high production cost of food seriously impact grain production; and third, the allocation of agricultural resources at home and abroad is seriously unbalanced. The three aspects together give no international competitive advantages to China but gives rise to more losses when food production increases. In recent years, the overproduction and oversupply of some grain varieties in China have led to a fall in grain prices, making it hard for farmers to benefit. The problem is mainly reflected in the structural imbalance on the supply side when some agricultural products are overstocked, while others are in short supply and rely heavily on imports. In addition, high-quality products are in short supply, but general products and cheap goods are in excessive supply. The overall characteristics are shown in three aspects. First, the effective supply cannot adapt to changes in demand. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, obvious changes have emerged in the structure of grain production. For example, as soybean production continues to decrease, the demand conversely grows fast, leading to an increasing gap between supply and demand. Second, the cost of production is higher than international prices, which leaves no advantage to market competition. Third, the supply of corn, wheat and other agricultural products piles up, which results in heavy pressure on reducing inventories. China has witnessed great achievements in grain production in recent years, as the grain output has increased from 430.7 billion kilograms in 2003 to 616.3 billion kilograms in 2016. However, the periodic surplus of corn and rice appears, the supply of high-quality wheat is insufficient, and the gap between soybean supply and demand is huge. Structural problems have become increasingly prominent since the problem of food production has changed from an overall shortage to a structural contradiction. In particular, this shows both oversupply and insufficient supply of food production during a period of time, and the main contradiction is on the supply side. As the cost of food production continues to rise, the price of primary agricultural products becomes higher than that of the international market. Large inventory, import and costs lead to lower-level quality and inefficiency of agricultural development. In 2017, Document No. 1 of the Central Committee focused on supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, viewing it as the main focus of agricultural and rural work. It proposed 33 policies and measures in six areas, including optimizing the product industry structure, promoting green production methods, expanding new industries and new business forms, strengthening science and technology innovation, complementing the short board in agriculture and rural areas, and increasing rural reform.

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3.1 Accelerating the Promotion of Effective Food Supply Supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector focuses on optimizing the agricultural industrial structure, improving the quality and efficiency of the agricultural supply system, and increasing the comprehensive benefits and competitiveness of agriculture to achieve an effective supply of agricultural products with a fine structure and strong guarantees. To achieve that, President Xi Jinping stressed strengthening the basic position of agriculture, expanding support for agriculture, improving the policy of strengthening agriculture, benefiting and enriching farmers and accelerating the development of modern agriculture.17 Through this reform, China will integrate the primary industry with secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, optimize the agricultural production structure, reduce production costs, increase the added value of agricultural products so as to improve the competitiveness of grain and major agricultural products and ensure the effective supply of major agricultural products. On March 8, 2016, Xi Jinping pointed out that China should push forward supplyside structural reform in the agricultural sector to improve the comprehensive benefits and competitiveness of agriculture during the deliberations of the Hunan delegation at the fourth session of the 12th National People’s Congress.18 China should adjust the agricultural structure to supply products according to market demands, guiding farmers to grow crops more effectively and beneficially. In the end, China can solve the problems in China’s agricultural development. Changing the agricultural development model to promote it to a new stage was also put forward by Xi Jinping. In China new competitiveness should take shape without affecting current food production and more emphasis should be placed on sustainability and policy accuracy. Ensuring food security needs to be in line with political, economic and environmental situations, which means that China cannot sacrifice one for another. China should build China’s food security system by scientific operation, flexible production capacity, balanced market supply and demand and reasonable economic benefits. China should speed up the research and calculation of allocating major agricultural products to concentrate domestic resources on key areas. Moreover, China should also make full use of both domestic and international markets and resources to improve China’s food security. The starting point of the supply-side structural reform in agriculture is to destock, promote transformation and accelerate the digestion of surplus grain stocks. At present, there is a huge amount of grain in our treasury, including both new and old grain, which has brought about the historic peak of grain storage. According to the report on the implementation of the Agriculture Law promulgated at the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress on November 2, 2015, the backlog of policy-related grain inventories is critical, with approximately 10% of stocks reaching or exceeding the normal storage period. Excessive food stocks 17

Xi, Jinping. Economic Growth Must Be Genuine and Not Inflated, cited in The Governance of China. Foreign Languages Press: 2014(112). 18 “Grassroots Representatives Tell President Xi’s Concerns for People”. People’s Daily, 2016-39(4).

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not only increase the financial pressure of the state but also cause cost pressure for the grain industry chain. Farmers at the upstream of industry chain find it more difficult to raise their income, and enterprises at the downstream of industry chian are confronted with high processing costs, while the storage capacity of warehouses in the middle section is insufficient. Moreover, the old grain stored in depots suffers considerable wastage. In 2016, No. 1 Document of the Central Committee proposed improving the price formation mechanism and purchasing and storage policies of important agricultural products such as grain to promote supply-side structural reform in agriculture. In addition, China needs to speed up the development of the agricultural product processing industry, adjust and improve agricultural subsidy as well as grain purchase and storage policies in order to destock. It is necessary to promote the transformation and upgrading of agricultural product processing industries through planning and policy guidance while continuing to implement and improve the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat.

3.2 Accelerating the Optimization of Grain Industry Structure Aiming at implementing supply-side structural reform, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized “optimizing the allocation of existing resources, expanding high-quality supply, and achieving a dynamic balance between supply and demand.”19 Improving the quality and efficiency of grain production through adjustment of structure and transformation is the way to supply-side structural reform in agriculture. The core of this reform is structural adjustment, the basic point of which is to promote the integration and interaction of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries and improve the quality and efficiency of agricultural development. Structural adjustment can promote the linkage between domestic and international markets, reduce the pressure on domestic natural resources such as farmland and water, and ease the contradiction between economic development and environmental capacity. In agricultural production, China will attach importance to both quantity and quality and pay more attention to efficiency and market orientation to better meet consumer demand. Starting from the new concepts of innovative development and green development, No. 1 Document of the Central Committee of 2016 proposed optimizing the structure and regional layout of agricultural production and reducing corn planting in nondominant areas, especially in regard to the problem of excessive corn planting areas and national inventory levels. Supply-side structural reform in agriculture aims to improve quality, transform mode, and increase efficiency to motivate farmers to be involved in grain production. It is necessary to 19

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House: 2017(31).

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improve rural infrastructure, cultivate new business entities, accelerate scientific and technological innovation and popularization, push forward the reform of the land system, and improve socialized agricultural services. These measures can further stimulate the enthusiasm of farmers to engage in agricultural production, develop moderate agricultural operation, and reduce the cost of agricultural production. In the report of the 19th National Congress of CPC, special emphasis was placed on “developing moderate-scale operation with various forms, cultivating new types of agricultural operators, improving the agricultural socialized service system and making an alliance between small farmers and the development of modern agriculture”.20

3.3 Accelerating the Improvement of Food Quality The central target of supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector is to solve the supply problem of high-quality agricultural products. Only if Chinese citizens become more prosperous can they achieve new and higher-level consumption. Under the new situation, efforts should be made to comprehensively improve the quality of agricultural products from seven aspects. First, in the production process, China should grow more improved varieties, reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides and promote and popularize green, safe and high-quality agricultural products. Second, regarding processing technology, standard awareness should be built to divide products into smaller segments to form intensive and high-level processing. Third, in the marketing process, China should apply the new sales mode, such as e-commerce, to satisfy customers’ emerging needs. Fourth, concerning transportation and storage, China should establish an entire cold chain of logistics to ensure product freshness. Fifth, regarding brand cultivation, China should further enhance brand awareness, implement brand strategy, foster well-known brands and ultimately improve the market share of famous brands. Sixth, in terms of production differentiation, China should establish a grading system of agricultural products, achieving a higher price with better quality and preventing the phenomenon of “bad money drives out good.” Seventh, in terms of food security, China should improve the system of food quality and safety standards, strengthen monitoring and early warning, and strictly control pesticide residues, heavy metals, and fungal toxins from exceeding the standard.

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Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House: 2017(32).

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3.4 Accelerating the Promotion of Food Industry Integration and Technological Innovation Efforts will be made to change the mode of grain production. In detail, this directive intends to change the focus of grain production from quantity to a combination of quantity, quality and efficiency and promote its competitiveness from natural and social resources to technological innovation and the quality of workers. China should speed up constructing a technology innovation system in the modern food industry that embodies regional characteristics and the concept of “five in one”. China will establish a food industrial cluster driven by a number of leading enterprises; set up a group of food industry science and technology innovation alliances led by academicians or leading figures; integrate a group of grain research institutions to create a platform for food research and development; make new grounds for critical technologies to integrate major programs with public welfare projects; and build technology or quality standards for well-known brands of food. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stressed the importance of “integrating the development of primary industry with secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, putting more supports to encourage farmers to find jobs or start businesses, broadening new channels for them to benefit”.21 To achieve vertical and horizontal integration of the grain industry, China should vigorously promote the integration of agriculture with industry, commerce and tourism. China should integrate grain production with processing, distribution and tourism to establish a comprehensive industrial chain from production to selling. China will give full play to the multiple functions of grain farming, including leisure tourism, cultural inheritance and ecological protection, so that farmers can share more of the value-added benefits of the second and tertiary industries. China should accelerate the development of the grain processing industry to improve the conversion rate of grain processing. China should help expand the agricultural industrialized grain leading enterprises, gathering production factors to superior enterprises. China will support grain enterprises in using and popularizing advanced technologies and equipment to upgrade their technologies. China should put more efforts into promoting the publicity of well-known grain brands. To do that, China will encourage enterprises to actively participate in the “Internet plus” model to integrate online and offline development and enhance its marketing capacity and competitiveness. Furthermore, China should benefit from policies and project funds to support leading grain and oil processing enterprises in building the whole industrial chain, building a large-scale and standardized production line, and increasing the supply of high-end, environmentally-sustainable, and sustainably grown food.

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Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House: 2017(32).

Chapter 5

Realizing Agricultural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics Liangliang Gao

Agriculture is closely connected to natural resources, such as lands and waterways. Countries with widely divergent natural resources took various developmental paths in agriculture.1 Which modernization path China will take is a major theoretical and practical issue that needs to be explored. In 2007, Xi Jinping pointed out that the current conditions, including a large agricultural population, limited arable land resources, shortage of water resources and low-level industrialization and urbanization, determined that China cannot adopt the large-scale operating and large machinery farming model of the United States and Canada, nor China can adopt the way of Japan and South Korea to maintain high incomes of small-scale farmers and the high prices of agricultural products through high subsidies. China must explore an agricultural modernization path with Chinese characteristics.2 President Xi Jinping combined basic principles of Marxism with Chinese practices, in considering China’s agricultural development, put forward the discussion of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and pointed out the direction for promoting the modernization of agriculture with Chinese characteristics. The discussion is a part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, as well as the modernization outcomes of Marxist theory.

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“Take the Road of New Agricultural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics”. Qiushi Interview(exclusive), 2015(34). 2 Xi, Jinping. “Take an Efficient Ecological Agriculturalization Road”. China Daily, 2007-3-21(9). L. Gao (B) Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_5

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1 Significance of Realizing Agricultural Modernization Agriculture lays a solid foundation for the national economy. Rural areas are the spiritual homes that bear the nostalgia of the Chinese nation. Farmers accounted for the largest population group in China. Therefore, issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people are fundamental issues in the process of China’s modernization, as well as major issues in the governance of the Communist Party of China. Agriculture is the foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing modernization, as well as this strategic industry safeguarding people’s well-being and China’s overall development. Realizing agricultural modernization is a significant goal for agricultural development in China and the basic task for rural revitalization.

1.1 Agricultural Modernization Lays the Foundation for Socialist Modernization Agricultural modernization lays the foundation for fulfilling socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and it is an urgent need to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. In 2014, President Xi Jinping inspected Jiangsu Province and stressed that, without agricultural modernization, rural areas cannot achieve prosperity, farmers cannot be well off, and the national modernization is incomplete, imbalanced and insecure. In building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the priority is revolving around issues relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people, and the key and the performance lie in issues relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people. Tackling these issues will explore a new path for the development of modern agriculture and step forward to build beautiful countrysides and increase farmers’ income, thus securing agricultural foundations, building more harmonious and stable countrysides and ensuring that farmers live and work in peace and contentment. Fulfilling agricultural modernization is an inherent requirement in realizing industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, national defense modernization, and scientific and technological modernization at the same time. As one of the basic ideas of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, to “adhere to the vision of innovative development” explicitly stated that development is the foundation and the key to addressing all issues in China, so that China must promote new industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization at the same time. Agricultural modernization is a component of agricultural and rural modernization and provides important support for rural revitalization strategies. The integrated development of urban and rural areas put forward higher requirements for agricultural modernization. Under current circumstances, China’s process of agricultural modernization apparently lacked effective urbanization and informatization, making agricultural modernization a weakness in pursuing

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the balanced development of industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, national defense modernization, and scientific and technological modernization. President Xi Jinping said that industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization should achieve balanced development and mutual reinforcement and that China should not let agricultural modernization and the construction of a new countryside fall behind. Some countries neglected the coordination of industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, national defense modernization, scientific and technological modernization, resulting in agricultural shrinkage, rural devastation, and farmers’ poverty, which has led to social instability, economic stagnation, and the obstruction of modernization. China must learn lessons from these examples. Therefore, to primarily safeguard China’s long-term economic and social stability, issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people must be made a priority to clearly fasten the important foundation and requirements of the balanced development of agricultural modernization among industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, national defense modernization, scientific and technological modernization, and China should spare no efforts to strengthen the weak sections of agriculture.3 Fulfilling agricultural modernization is a fundamental measure to safeguard national food security. President Xi Jinping pointed out that ensuring adequate food for 1.3 billion Chinese people is always a top priority and a top task in governing the country with a large population and limited land. Despite consecutive rises in grain output, China’s self-sufficiency rate of grain has decreased for years due to increasingly limited resources such as arable land and rising production costs. The supply and demand relationship will be in tight balance over a long term, and safeguarding food security is a long-term issue that China should never ignore. Fulfilling agricultural modernization supports economic development under the new normal. President Xi Jinping noted that China must primarily hold the idea of “large-scale agriculture” to advance agriculture. The thought of emphasizing business ignoring agriculture would no longer be the mainstream. Many people believe that developing agriculture makes few economic profits, but the actual profits lie in whether Chinese people know how to explore the options or not. Some people engage in pollution-free agriculture, agricultural tourism and deep processing of agricultural products which have yielded good economic benefits. It is proven that agriculture can drive the advancement of other additional industries.4 Theoretically, it is necessary to continue letting consumption play the fundamental role under the new normal, including further tapping the consumption potential in rural areas so as to maintain national consumption growth at a medium–high rate. Promoting agricultural modernization can stimulate the consumption potential of rural people, which will make the consumption expenditure growth rate of national residents remain at a relatively high level. In addition, it is necessary to continue letting investment play the key 3

Xu, Shousheng. “Seek New Breakthroughs in Agricultural Modernization–Study Guiding Principles Embodied in President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches on Developing Modern Agriculture”. Qiushi, 2014(14). 4 Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: (132,136–140).

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role under the new normal. By developing modern agriculture, China can promote the upgrading of rural infrastructures, including irrigation and water conservancy, agricultural product storage facilities and public facilities, such as roads, water, and environmental protection facilities. Additionally, China can increase investment in the housing and living environment of rural areas. With all these measures, China can release the investment potential in rural areas and maintain national investment growth at a medium–high rate.5

1.2 Enormous Challenges Faced by Agricultural Modernization During the implementation of the “13th Five Year Plan” (2016–2020), the internal and external environments faced by agricultural modernization were increasingly complicated. As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved as the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. With China’s social and economic development, the consumption structure of urban and rural residents is continuously improved. The unbalanced and inadequate development of agriculture is increasingly prominent as people’s ever-growing needs for nutritious, hygienic, quality, specialized and diverse agricultural products emerge. The advancement of quality, diverse, customized and specialized agricultural products is relatively lagging, resulting in greater difficulties in supply and demand structural balance. Currently, the soybean supply gap further expands; the growth rate of corn yields is faster than the growth rate of needs, and the storage of some agricultural products is superfluous. Under the backdrop of limited resources and more constraints of environment, an extensive way of seeking agricultural growth is outdated. Agricultural pollution is worsening, and risks to agricultural product safety are increasing as pollutants such as industrial wastes and urban living wastes are spreading to rural areas. The total area of arable land is decreasing, and its quality is declining. Groundwater is excessively exploited, and chemicals are overused. All these factors call for green agricultural development and sustainable utilization of natural resources. In the deeply integrated domestic and international agricultural products markets, agricultural competitiveness is weak due to the qualities of agricultural products and rising costs. Labor and land costs are rising. The importing prices of major agricultural products are lower than exporting prices, resulting in increased exports of some agricultural products and greater difficulties in exporting agricultural products with traditional advantages. In general, China’s total volume of agriculture is large, but its competitiveness is weak, and agricultural products are of lower quality without specialities. It is a difficult task to narrow the income gap of urban and rural residents and build a moderately prosperous rural society in all respects because of limited room to raise the prices of agricultural products, narrowed space to increase 5

“Follow the Chinese Path of New Agricultural Modernization”. Qiushi Interview, 2015(34).

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rural people’s income, by relying on surplus labor force, migrated employment and the slowing down of income growth from household business operation and income from wages and salaries.6 Currently, the prices of agricultural products are up to the peak value, the costs of agricultural production are rising, agricultural production subsidies and price subsidies are close to the ceiling and natural resources and the environment have almost reached their limit. The only solution is accelerating the improvement of agricultural developmental models. Therefore, China should ensure the balanced development of national grain security and improve agricultural development models by putting equal emphasis on quality and quantity and focusing on agricultural technological innovation and sustainable and intensive development.7

1.3 Supports for Agricultural Modernization After years of striving, China’s agricultural modernization has made significant achievements. In 2015, the contribution of agricultural technology advancements to economic growth reached 56%, major crop varieties fully covered rural areas, the overall farming mechanization level accounted for 63% and the rate of effective irrigated land up to 52%, which suggests remarkable enhancements of agricultural equipment and technologies. During the implementation of the “12th Five Year Plan” (2012–2016), China’s agriculture reached two goals of sufficient grain supply and increased income for farmers. The total grain output has increased for the past 12 years in a row, the growth of farmers’ income has exceeded the growth of GDP (gross domestic product) and the income growth of urban residents for the past six years. The prospect of agriculture is promising and vigorously supports overall social and economic development.8 There are many advantages accumulated to promote agricultural modernization during the implementation of the “13th Five Year Plan” (2016–2020). Firstly, firm developmental consensus. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council uphold the importance of solving issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people as the top priority. Sparing no efforts to strengthen the weak parts of agriculture becomes the consensus of the Communist Party of China and the whole society, which has formed powerful driving forces to embark on a new stage in economic and social development. Secondly, stronger external momentum is needed. With the rapid advancement of new industrialization, informatization, and urbanization, the integration of urban and rural areas is strengthening, providing stronger external momentum for industrial modernization, agricultural modernization, national defense modernization, and scientific and technological modernization. 6 National Agricultural Modernization Plan (2016–2020), issued by the State Council. 2016 (NO.58). 7 Jiang, Chaoliang. “Take the Road of China’s Agricultural Modernization: Study and Implement President Xi Jinping’s Important Discussion on Accelerating the Construction of Modern Agriculture”. Qiushi, 2015(08). 8 Han, Changfu. “Build Three Major Systems Promote Agricultural Modernization—Learn President Xi Jinping’s Important Speech on Anhui Xiaogang Village”. China Daily, 2015-5-18(15).

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President Xi Jinping made remarks while presiding over the 22nd collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC in 2015. He said that economic strength and comprehensive national strength have been significantly enhanced, providing material and technological support for the integration of urban and rural areas. China should continue to encourage industry to support agriculture in return for agriculture’s earlier contribution to its development, and encourage cities to support rural areas. Thirdly, a more solid foundation for upgrading is needed. The increase in the development of agricultural infrastructure improvement, the sufficient supply of agricultural products and the heightened motivation of farmers to develop scale operations are the driving forces for agricultural modernization. Fourth, wider agricultural products markets are needed. With the rising population, the need for customized, diverse and high-quality agricultural products and multifunctioning agriculture is ever growing, which brings tremendous impetus to the expanding development of rural areas and the agricultural products market. Fifth, stronger innovative drivers are needed. Rural reforms continue to advance, and a new round of scientific and technological revolutions and industrial revolutions are gaining momentum. New subjects, new technologies, new products, and new formats are emerging, which have been a strong driving force for agricultural transformation and improvement.

2 Goals, Positioning and Fundamental Way of Agricultural Modernization 2.1 Goals of Agricultural Modernization Goals are the guidelines of actions. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important speeches on work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers. These speeches are far-sighted, profound and highly instructive. President Xi Jinping stressed that China must rely on technologies to promote further development of agriculture. Led by principles of increasing production and efficiency at the same time, matching good varieties of crops with good farming methods, combining farming machines and farming techniques, and coordinating agricultural production and ecological environmental protection, China can promote the integration of agricultural technologies, mechanization of farming processes, information technology in agricultural production and operation, legalization of agricultural products safety and environmental protection, and accelerate the construction of a technical system that meets the requirements for high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, ecological and safe agricultural development.9 Therefore, China shall accelerate the improvement of the agricultural 9

“Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. China Daily, 2013-11-29(1).

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developmental model and take the road of modern agricultural development with efficient production, safe agricultural products, resource conservation, and an ecofriendly environment. These are strategic requirements put forward by the central government based on laws of agricultural modernization, trends of the new normal in economic and social development and profound influences of agricultural external environments. These are guidelines of the work related to agriculture, rural areas and rural people, and the goals to promote agricultural modernization. Back in 2007, on the basis of comprehensive analysis of natural resource endowments, economic and social development and the new situation of agricultural development of Zhejiang Province, Xi Jinping made a strategic decision to develop efficient ecological agriculture, making efficient ecological agriculture development the target model and practice to develop agriculture in Zhejiang Province. In conclusion, China should develop efficient ecological agriculture guided by a scientific outlook on development, taking the road of new agricultural development with high profits and efficiency, safe agricultural products, energy conservation, friendly environment, intensive technologies, and obvious advantages of human resources.10

2.2 Positioning of Agricultural Modernization: Developing Scale Agriculture In 1990, Xi Jinping clearly stated taking the road of developing “scale agriculture,” which has become the fundamental positioning for the promotion of China’s agricultural development. Xi Jinping’s thoughts on scale agriculture were theories based on practical explorations of the eastern part of Fujian Province at that time, providing instructions for the development of modern agriculture. Dimensional and compound modern agriculture operation system stated in No. 1 Document of the Party Central Committee in 2014 is part of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on scale agriculture. President Xi Jinping stressed that scale agriculture is moving forward to multifunctional, open, and comprehensive stereoscopic agricultural development. It differs from traditional small-scale agriculture, which concentrated on arable land operation with a single function and limited profits. Traditional small-scale agriculture is a natural self-sufficient economy, while scale agriculture is a market economy in accordance with particular laws and regulations. President Xi Jinping’s thoughts on scale agriculture employ scientific elements. First, scale agriculture emphasizes the large-scale agricultural outlook. Traditional small-scale agricultural models focus on varieties of grains, which mainly include rice, wheat, corn and other grain crops. In comparison, the scale agricultural model views grains as a basic foundation of agriculture and focuses on the safety of grains and foods. The scale agricultural outlook holds that agricultural issues are strategic issues of national economic development, as agricultural production drives the supply of all agricultural-related industries. 10

Xi, Jinping. “Take Efficient Ecological Agriculturalization Road”. China Daily, 2007-3-21(9).

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Second, scale agriculture emphasizes the comprehensive and integrated development of agriculture, forestry, stock-rising, and fishery industries. In the past, the comprehensive development of agriculture, forestry, stock-rising, and fishery industries meant the pursuit of economic profits of a single industry, neglecting the mutual connection and mutual promotion between these industries. Third, scale agriculture attaches equal importance to ecological, economic and social benefits. Traditional small-scale agricultural outlooks only seek economic benefits and often lead to negative impacts on the whole ecological system. However, scale agriculture takes agriculture as a systematic project to exert overall benefits and attaches equal importance to ecological, economic and social benefits.11 Fourth, scale agriculture values the importance of the market. Traditional small-scale agriculture is focused on selfsufficiency and community sustenance, while scale agriculture is market-oriented and pursues a commodity rate. The concept of agricultural commodification complements the concept of self-sufficiency of the small-scale economy. Fifth, scale agriculture focuses on actively understanding the “collective” and “individual” characteristics of the household contract responsibility system. The relationship between “collective” and “individual” needs to be balanced. “Individual” is a household-based production and operation unit that gives full play to the productivity of individual farmers in agricultural production. “Collective” relies on grassroots rural organizations to help farmers solve problems that cannot be solved by an individual household. In essence, the relationship between “collective” and “individual” is mutually connected rather than mutually exclusive. When speaking about the “individual”, it does not exclude any form of “collective”; when speaking of the “collective”, it does not indiscriminately deny any form of “individual”. The combination of “collective” and “individual” consists of the basic model of the socialism operating system with Chinese characteristics in rural areas. In brief, regardless of whether it is “collective” or “individual”, it is neither to restrain productivity, but to further release productivity in rural areas, nor is it to limit the autonomous rights of farmers, but to help farmers exercise the autonomous rights more effectively. Sixth, scale agriculture values the comprehensive development of agriculture, emphasizing the multilevel and in-depth advancement of agriculture. The comprehensive development of agriculture seeks broad prospects of scale agriculture, which is the in-depth advancement of agriculture; the comprehensive development of agriculture also seeks the economic benefits of scale agriculture, which is to develop multilevel advancement of agriculture. The multilevel advancement of agriculture allows China to have a long-term vision and broadens her thinking. That is, some new resources conducive to agriculture, forestry and fishery industries should be developed and utilized to meet the needs of population growth and social and economic development”.12 The in-depth advancement of agriculture is “to ensure stable and high-yield agriculture by transforming existing low-yield and medium-yield fields, increasing land production capacity and agricultural output and improving the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities;

11 12

Xi Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 132. Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 136.

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to compensate for non-agricultural occupation of arable land by developing wasteland resources; and to increase land productivity by strengthening soil and water conservation capacity for arable land”.13 The ultimate goals of the comprehensive development of agriculture are to achieve three transformations: “the first one is the gradual transformation from production mainly driven by natural resources to production driven by technological development and products research, the second one is the transformation from the quantity-oriented production to quality-oriented, export-oriented and foreign exchange-oriented production and the third one is the transformation from small-scale production and circulation to large-scale production and circulation.”14

2.3 The Fundamental Method: Accelerating the Transformation of Agricultural Developmental Models Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era clearly stated that the general layout of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the “FiveSphere Integrated Plan,” a plan to promote coordinated economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological advancement. It also requires a new development vision and emphasizes the need to pursue the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, and open development. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era values the harmonious coexistence between man and nature and advocates that building an ecological civilization is a millennium plan for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. It is necessary to hold and practice the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets on the basis of which to form a green development model and lifestyles. As part of China’s modernization, agricultural modernization needs to follow the basic ideas and requirements outlined above and to promote the transformation of the agricultural development model from the perspective of ecological civilization-building. In recent years, China’s grain output and farmers’ income have continuously increased. At the same time, agricultural modernization has made solid progress, and the contribution of agricultural technology advancements to economic growth has reached 56%. China’s agricultural production is achieving a gradual transformation from mainly being driven by natural resources to being driven by technological development. In general, China’s agriculture is forging ahead with the goals of modernization. Agricultural development has made remarkable progress, laying a solid foundation for the sustainable and sound development of the economy and society. However, China cannot neglect the fact that many long-term contradictions restrict China’s agricultural development and that a stream of risks and challenges 13 14

Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 136. Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 137.

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overlap.15 In response to the practical issues mentioned above, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 2015 Central Economic Work Conference that China’s economic development has entered a new normal, which is an inevitable stage of economic development with Chinese characteristics and is independent of human’s will. The new normal in the agricultural sector includes the speed change, structural optimization and the driving force transformation of agricultural development. Ultimately, it is necessary to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model. In 2013, President Xi Jinping inspected Shandong Province and put forward an important discussion on the “three guidelines” of agricultural modernization, including “the guideline of solving the problem of how to plant in order to accelerate the building of a new operation system, the guideline of solving the resource and environmental constraints like limited land and the shortage of water in order to promote the transformation of agricultural development model, and the guideline of safeguarding food security in order to develop high-quality and safe agricultural products”.16 Currently, the prices of agricultural products are up to the price ceiling, the thresholds of agricultural production costs are rising, agricultural production subsidies and price subsidies are close to the limited line, and the resources and environment have almost reached the limit. The only solution is committing to accelerating the upgrade of agricultural developmental models for which China will ensure the balanced development of national grain security and the transformation of the agricultural development model by putting equal emphasis on quality and quantity and focusing on agricultural technological innovation as well as sustainable and intensive development.17 It is easy to understand that the idea to “accelerate the transformation of agricultural developmental models” put forward by President Xi Jinping is a fundamental way to speed up agricultural modernization currently and in the future. First, there is an urgent need to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model because of weaker agricultural product competitiveness in the international market caused by rising agricultural production costs. In recent years, agricultural production costs have been on the rise, such as costs of labor and agricultural machinery and prices of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. In other words, the minimum costs of agricultural production are inevitably rising. For example, the purchasing prices of wheat and rice are always the lowest among grains. The lowest purchasing prices of wheat, early-season indica rice, mid-late season indica rice and japonica rice in 2007 were 1.38–1.44 yuan, 1.40 yuan, 1.44 yuan and 1.50 yuan per kilogram, respectively, and in 2014, they were 2.36 yuan, 2.70 yuan, 2.76 yuan and 3.10 yuan per

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Han, Changfu. “Accelerate the Transformation of Agricultural Development Model—Study and Follow President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches Delivered on the Central Economic Work Conference”. China Daily, 2013-11-29(1). 16 “Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. China Daily, 2013-11-29(1). 17 Jiang, Chaoliang. “Take the Road of China’s Agricultural Modernization: Study and Implement President Xi Jinping’s Important Discussion on Accelerating the Construction of Modern Agriculture”. Qiushi, 2015(08).

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kilogram, respectively. The increase rates in the lowest purchasing prices were 64%71%, 92.9%, and 106.7%, respectively, within 7 years.18 With rising agricultural production costs, farmers would be in a deficit, finding it difficult to continue to engage in agricultural production if the purchasing prices are not increased accordingly. However, if the purchasing price of domestic agricultural products continuously reached a certain critical line, the price of agricultural products in the domestic market would be higher than that of the international market, resulting in weaker agricultural product competitiveness in the international market. The solution to this dilemma requires a practical transformation of the agricultural development model. In the meantime, the FOB (Free On Board) prices of bulk agricultural products from the international market have been lower than that of the domestic market to varying degrees. China’s subsidies for major agricultural products such as wheat and corn have been close to the limit of commitment when joining the World Trade Organization, and protective subsidies (yellow box subsidies) have reached the limit. With the limits of subsidies and the price of agricultural products and the rise of agricultural production costs, agricultural competitiveness has been severely weakened, and the comparative benefits of agriculture have been dramatically damaged. The questions of “who plant arable land” and “how to plant arable land” have become increasingly prominent. The solution is to transform the agricultural development model, promote agricultural quality and efficiency, and reduce costs and resource consumption. On February 10, 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized at the ninth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group that to ensure food security, it is necessary to speed up the transformation of the agricultural development model and promote agricultural modernization to achieve immediate food production stability and to form new competitiveness. In addition, there is an urgent need to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model to achieve sustainable agricultural development. In recent years, China’s agricultural development has made remarkable achievements, but it has also paid a heavy price. Achievements could be made due to the extensive growth of resources and investment over the long term, which caused the overexploitation of agricultural resources and problems of the ecological environment. For example, the total amount of China’s plastic film used for farming is approximately 2.5 million tons annually, but the recycling amount is less than 1.5 million tons. The total amount of pesticides is more than 1.8 million tons annually, but less than one-third comes into effect, leading to water, soil and air pollution. If China does not accelerate the transformation of the agricultural development model, it is difficult to achieve the goal of sustainable agricultural modernization.19

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Chen, Xiwen. “Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development and Accelerate the Transformation of Agricultural Development Model—Study and Follow Guiding Principles Embodied in President Xi Jinping’s Important Speech delivered on Central Economic Work Conference”. Qiushi, 2015(06). 19 Chen, Xiwen. “Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development and Accelerate the Transformation of Agricultural Development Model—Study and Follow Guiding Principles Embodied in President Xi Jinping’s Important Speech delivered on Central Economic Work Conference”.Qiushi, 2015(06).

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The Central Rural Work Conference held on December 24th and 25th, 2015, proposed agricultural supply-side structural reform and provided a solution to the contradictions and challenges in China’s agricultural development. The conference stressed that efforts should be made to strengthen the agricultural supply-side structural reform, improve the quality and efficiency of the agricultural supply system, ensure that the sufficient supply of agricultural products and the variety and quality meet the needs of consumers, and truly form an effective supply system of agricultural products with reasonable structure and strong support. Currently, China is highly attached to destocking, reducing costs and strengthening areas of weakness. In particular, China should accelerate the destocking of excessive agricultural products and the transformation of grain processing, reduce production cost, improve agricultural efficiency and competitiveness by developing moderate-scale operations, reducing the ineffective utilization of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and developing social services, and sparing no efforts to strengthen agricultural infrastructure and other areas of weakness of agriculture and increase the output of agricultural products that are in scarce need in the market. By holding the scale agriculture outlook and scale grain outlook, China can promote balanced development among grain crops, cash crops and forage crops, the combination of agriculture, stocking and fishery industries, the integration of planting, breeding and agricultural product processing and the promotion of primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry.20

2.4 The Motivation and Stance of Agricultural Modernization Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era specifically emphasizes the people-centered philosophy of development, clearly puts forward the thought of concretely ensuring and improving people’s well-being in the course of pursuing development and enhances people’s sense of fulfillment in joint efforts and shared development to constantly promote the all-round development of people and the common prosperity of people. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era embodies that the motivation and stance of agricultural modernization are people and a moderately prosperous society respectively. Agricultural modernization is a process in which farmers jointly participate and share achievements. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee noted that there is an urgent need to improve the agricultural mechanisms and systems to form a new type of rural–urban relationship that encourages industry to support agriculture in return for agriculture’s earlier contribution to its development and encourages cities to support rural areas and to ensure farmers to jointly participate in and share achievements of agricultural modernization. On April 30, 2015, President Xi Jinping said in a session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that the most difficult and arduous 20

“Central Rural Work Conference Holds in Beijing”. China Daily, 2015-12-16(1).

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task in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects lies in the countryside, especially in rural poverty areas. Efforts must be made and strengthened to reach major breakthroughs in coordinating urban and rural relationships, especially in balancing the urban–rural dual relationship and promoting the equal exchange of urban and rural productive elements and the equal allocation of public resources in urban and rural areas. By doing so, China can add momentum to rural development and ensure that farmers equally participate in the course of reform and share achievements of reform. Farmers’ benefits and well-being should also be taken as the motivation and stance of agricultural modernization. No. 1 Document of the Part Central Committee in 2014 remarked that ensuring the principal status of the people and the well-being of farmers is the motivation and stance of all rural-related work. By adopting a new vision for development, China can tackle new problems related to agriculture, rural areas and rural people, strengthen advantages of agricultural development, drive more by innovation, promote supply-side structural reform of agriculture, speed up the transformation of the agricultural development model, ensure the sustainable development of agriculture and the continuous increase of farmers’ income, take the road of modern agricultural development of efficient production, safe agricultural products, resources conservation and friendly environment, promote the mutual development of new urbanization and the construction of a new countryside, and ensure that farmers equally participate in and share the achievements of modernization.

3 Key Tasks of Agricultural Modernization The 19th CPC National Congress put forward the strategy of pursuing rural revitalization. China must prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas. To build rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, China needs to formulate and complete sound systems, mechanisms, and policies to promote integrated urban–rural development and speed up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. China will establish industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture. All these are key tasks of agricultural modernization. During the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 2015, when attending the deliberation conference of Jilin provincial delegation, President Xi Jinping noted that to promote agricultural modernization, China must speed up the establishment of industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture. On April 25, 2016, at the symposium on rural reform in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province, President Xi Jinping further stressed that China must build industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture to accelerate the modernization of rural areas. President Xi Jinping’s important speech on the building of industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture defines the direction for China’s agricultural modernization in a new era.

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Each of the industrial, production and business operation systems for modern agriculture has its own focus, and they reinforce each other. The industrial system for modern agriculture focuses on the improvement of agricultural productivity, while the business operation system of modern agriculture focuses on the coordination of agricultural productive relations. The industrial system and the business operation system of modern agriculture mutually support the production system of modern agriculture, which reflects the interaction and integration of productivity and productive relations.21

3.1 Establishing the Industrial System for Modern Agriculture The industrial system for modern agriculture is the integration of horizontal expansion and vertical extension of the industry, focusing on solving the problem of the equal allocation of public resources in urban and rural areas and improving the efficiency of agricultural product supply. It is a prominent symbol of the overall quality and competitiveness of modern agriculture. To establish an industrial system for modern agriculture, China must optimize the agricultural structure and give full attention to the comparative advantages of resources in urban and rural areas to boost the balanced development of grain, cash and forage crops; the combination of agriculture, stocking and fishery industries; the integration of planting, breeding and agricultural product processing; and the promotion of primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry. To establish an industrial system for modern agriculture, China must expand the industrial chain and improve the value of the industrial chain to enhance economic, social and ecological benefits and to accelerate the transformation of agriculture. a. Making the leading industries of agriculture bigger and better In 2007, Xi Jinping stressed that highly profitable and ecology-efficient agriculture is to develop larger and better leading industries of agriculture with comparative advantages by promoting intensive agricultural operation, exploring multiple functions of agriculture, expanding the industrial chain of agriculture and improving the added value of agricultural products. In doing so, highly profitable and efficient agriculture can bring farmers income. He pointed out that to develop larger and better leading agriculture industries with comparative advantages, China should precisely select several competitive products in accordance with resource availability, industrial bases, and market demands. Based on the characteristics of the massive agricultural economy and the integration of commerce, industry, and agriculture, China needs to vigorously promote the development of standardized industrial bases and featured agricultural product 21

Han, Changfu. “Construct Three Major Systems Promote Agricultural Modernization—Learn the Important Speech of President Xi Jinping on Anhui Xiaogang Village”. China Daily, 2016-5-18(15).

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processing zones and actively cultivate leading industries with distinct comparative advantages. To implement the development plan of highly profitable and ecologically-efficient agriculture, efforts must be put into boosting a few strong counties with characteristic agriculture that have well-known regional agricultural product brands, considerable popularity and market share, a large proportion of the local agricultural industry, and a large area of agricultural bases in townships and countrysides. To implement the development plan of highly profitable and ecology-efficient agriculture, China needs to actively explore multiple functions of agriculture and strive to develop sound fish breeding and poultry raising industry, agritainment and agritourism, and the intensive processing industry of agricultural products.22 As a prerequisite to ensuring stable agricultural production and increasing grain output, China needs to set up the concept of the modern market, create a number of agricultural product brands that are well known across the country and gain a good reputation all over the world, continuously improve the added value and competitiveness of agricultural products to make farmers rich as soon as possible. In addition, China needs to precisely select several competitive products and focus on them for a long time. China shall not be distracted by other agricultural products or even lose concentration and patience but shall stay true to the mission wholeheartedly.23 b. Innovating the development of featured agricultural industries When inspecting ecologically vulnerable zones, President Xi Jinping specifically stressed developing featured agricultural industries. Poverty and backwardness are the principal challenges of underdeveloped areas, so the fundamental task for underdeveloped areas is to increase overall development. In ecologically vulnerable zones, China should focus on the development of featured and highquality agricultural products and stock farming products. For example, featured agriculture mainly consists of high-quality fruits, dried fruits and food grains other than wheat and rice, stock farming products mainly consist of high-quality cows, sheep and small animals, and folk medicines of ethnic minorities represented by Tibetan medicines, Mongolian medicines, Miao medicines, and tropical medicines. In ecologically vulnerable zones, China should also focus on the development of scenic and folklore tourism with less damage and pollution to the local environment. China needs to center on the development of the processing industry of featured agricultural products and stock farming products and industries based on the utilization of ecological resources and to transfer industries from the eastern part to the western part of China. China needs to attach importance to featured industry areas, promote industries to concentrate on the area, promote rural people to migrate to cities and towns, improve the degree of scale operation and speed up the popularity of protective agriculture technologies 22

Xi, Jinping. “Take Efficient and Ecology-friendly Agriculturalization Road”. China Daily, 20073-21(09). 23 Qiang, Wei. “Deepen Rural Reform Promote Agricultural Modernization—Learn the Important Speech of President Xi Jinping on Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Rural people”. China Daily,2014-7-15(4).

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such as water conservation.24 China needs to value high-quality grain production and develop high-quality rice, functional rice, seed grain, high-oil rapeseed, and other agriculture with specialities. c. Quickening the development of modern urban agriculture The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council always highly value the development of modern urban agriculture. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core has attached greater importance to the development of modern urban agriculture, and the “13th Five Year Plan” laid out the strategy to quicken the development of modern urban agriculture. From 2002 to 2007, when Xi Jinping was the Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial CPC Committee, a passage he wrote stated that Zhejiang Province had entered a new stage of promoting agriculture by industry and supporting rural development by urban development, so Zhejiang Province has more advantages and necessity to encourage industry to support agriculture in return for agriculture’s earlier contribution to its development and to encourage cities to support rural areas. When inspecting Tianjin, Xi Jinping said that large cities must give full attention to their unique advantages and quicken the development of modern urban agriculture. He also noted that modern urban agriculture boosts the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industry, and modern urban agriculture is the driving force to achieve balanced development of urban and rural areas, enhance the quality of urbanization, expand domestic demand and improve people’s livelihood.25 To quicken the development of modern urban agriculture is an urgent need to promote agricultural supply-side structural reform and improve the quality and efficiency of the supply system. The key to promoting agricultural supply-side structural reform is to enable agriculture to adapt to changes in market demand. The total demand for urban agricultural products is huge, the variety is numerous, the growth is rapid, the quality and safety requirements are high, which is leading the changes of the market demand for agricultural products. Modern urban agriculture is marketoriented, so the structural transformation of modern urban agriculture plays a leading role in promoting the development of agriculture-related industries. Modern urban agriculture generally has better conditions for water and soil resources, complete production facilities, and outstanding advantages of modern production elements. It is important for the development of modern agriculture in China, and it has the advantages and responsibility to advance the transformation and improvement of agriculture and play an important role in agricultural supply-side structural reform. To quicken the development of modern urban agriculture is the requirement for implementing the people-centered philosophy of development and improving new urbanization. President Xi Jinping stressed at the Central Urban Work Conference 24 Zhang, Zhenghe. “New Discussions on China Agricultural Modernization”. People’s Tribune, 2015–10(2). 25 Zhang, Zhenghe. “New Discussions on China Agricultural Modernization”. People’s Tribune, 2015-10(2).

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that urban work should take creating an excellent living environment as priority, coordinate the interconnection of production environment, living environment and ecological environment, build an intensive and efficient production environment, pleasant living environment and beautiful ecological environment so as to form a complete ecological network of water systems and greenbelts inside cities and rivers, lakes, forests, arable land outside cities. Hastening the development of modern urban agriculture can meet the growing demand for agricultural products of urban and rural residents, as well as optimize the three major layouts of production, living, and ecology to improve the livability of cities and build the back garden of modern cities. In boosting production, China can develop larger and better-featured agricultural industries, exert the advantages of good varieties, high quality, and well-known brands, and foster more low-carbon industries for urban economic development. In improving people’s livelihood, China can provide services such as agritourism, agritainment, and agricultural experience tours and provide more places for urban residents to interact with nature, relax and experience traditional culture. In enhancing the ecological environment, China can reduce air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution by expanding ecological resources such as agricultural green land and wetlands to create a beautiful and harmonious ecological environment. To hasten the development of modern urban agriculture is an inevitable choice with which to pursue the integrated development of urban and rural areas and to promote rural development. Due to its close geographical location, urban agriculture is easily driven by the development of urban areas and brings resources such as rural land and the labor force to serve the development of urban areas at the same time. Thus, urban agriculture has advantages for promoting the free flow of productive elements between urban and rural areas and equal resource allocation. To hasten the development of modern urban agriculture is not only conducive to driving urban capitals, technologies, talent flow into rural areas and benefiting farmers but is also conducive to facilitating the transfer of surplus rural labor, promoting agricultural industry upgrades, exploring multiple functions of agriculture, and improving production efficiency. Endowed with the most productive elements and the strongest innovative vitality, urban agriculture is the fertile land for the integration and development of rural industries and is the incubator for promoting rural widespread entrepreneurship and innovation. Most new forms and models of business, such as rural e-commerce, customized agricultural products, and agritourism, are expanded to rural areas after exploring the feasible operation modes in suburbs in large and medium-sized cities. To hasten the development of modern urban agriculture is beneficial in promoting the transition and transformation of new technologies, new models of business with agriculture, and boosting more new forms of business and agricultural industries to improve farmers’ income.26

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“Accelerate Modern Agricultural Development in Cities”. Farmers’ Daily, 2016-5-12(1).

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3.2 Establishing the Production System for Modern Agriculture The production system for modern agriculture is the combination of productive methods, productive technologies and a remarkable symbol of the development of modern agricultural productivity, focusing on promoting the development momentum and production efficiency of agriculture. Establishing a production system for modern agriculture involves arming agriculture with modern materials and equipment, serving agriculture with modern science and technologies and upgrading agriculture in modern productive ways. Efforts must be put to upgrade the input methods of agricultural productivity elements, promoting agricultural development shifting from mainly relying on resources and consumption to mainly relying on technological innovation and improved labor competences. It is necessary to improve the utilization rate of agricultural resources, land yield rate, and labor productivity, enhance the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and anti-risk ability, and fundamentally change the situation in which agriculture relies on manpower, livestock, and weather. a. Speeding up the construction of infrastructure Agricultural infrastructure construction is a substantial foundation to reach the goal of agricultural modernization. The backward agricultural infrastructure and weak anti-risk ability are disadvantages to stable and increasing grain output. As early as 2007, Xi Jinping proposed strengthening high-standard agricultural infrastructure construction and ecological environment building, hastening the construction of high-standard farmland water conservation infrastructure adapting to the development of leading industries, and promoting the construction of standard farmland.27 On April 30, 2015, President Xi Jinping pointed out in the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that efforts must be put to complete the rural infrastructure construction mechanism, promote the interconnection of infrastructure construction in urban and rural areas, promote urban and rural residents jointly to participate in infrastructure construction and share achievements, innovate decision-making, investment, construction, operation and operation mechanisms of rural infrastructure and public service facilities and actively guide social capitals into rural public welfare infrastructure construction.28 No. 1 Document of the Party Central Committee in 2016 stated that infrastructure construction supported by national funds should take rural areas as a priority, rural infrastructure should be well established, well managed, well protected and well operated, and the gap between urban and rural areas should be significantly narrowed. The National Agricultural Modernization Plan (2016–2020) issued in October 2016 clearly put 27

Xi, Jinping. “Take Efficient Ecological Agriculturalization Road”. China Daily, 2007-3-21(9). “Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. China Daily, 2015-5-2(1).

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forward reaching the goal of designating permanent basic cropland in all respects and promoting the construction of high-standard farmland on a large scale to enhance the security and supply ability of important agricultural products. b. Enhancing the management and protection of arable land Arable land is vital to agricultural production, so China must strictly safeguard the “red line” of the arable land area, including its quality and quality. That is to say, to ensure the high quality of the arable land area and keep it above 1.8 billion mu (120.6 million hectares), China must implement a strict farmland protection system, especially for the protection of high-yield arable land, and attach importance to improving land yield and speeding up the transformation of lowand medium-yield arable land.29 With the advancement of industrialization and urbanization, the task of arable land protection is increasingly formidable. To safeguard two red lines of arable land area and design permanent basic cropland, it is necessary to implement strict farmland protection and conservation systems so as to prevent arbitrary adjustments and occupation of arable land. In addition, efforts must be made to improve the quality of arable land and the construction of high-yield farmland.30 In May 2015, President Xi Jinping provided important instructions on the protection of arable land and noted that arable land is the most valuable resource of China. Large populations and limited land are basic realities of China, and China must carefully protect arable land to ensure adequate food for 1.3 billion Chinese people without making any mistakes. To implement a strict farmland protection system, China should balance the occupation and compensation of arable land in accordance with laws and regulations to advance the transfer of rural land in an orderly manner. China should take measures to protect arable land, similar to protecting pandas. President Xi Jinping stressed that the policy of balancing the occupation and compensation of arable land is a remedial measure for the expanded occupation of arable land in the process of industrialization and urbanization. The policy of balancing the occupation and compensation of arable land conforms with national laws and regulations, but implementing the policy must be done with a strong awareness of protecting arable land and strictly in accordance with laws and regulations. More powerful measures must be taken to strengthen the supervision of the balance of arable land occupation and compensation, prevent problems from occurring in balancing the occupation and compensation of arable land such as insufficient compensation, compensating less land while occupying more land, compensating low-quality land while occupying high-quality land and compensating dry fields while occupying wet fields. In the pilots of rural land reform, China cannot tolerate some

29

Zhang, Zhenghe. “New Discussions on China Agricultural Modernization”. People’s Tribune, 2015-10(02). 30 Jiang, Chaoliang. “Take the Road of China’s Agricultural Modernization: Study and Implement President Xi Jinping’s Important Discussion on Accelerating the Construction of Modern Agriculture”. Qiushi, 2015(08).

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people who occupy arable land in the name of reform. In response to new problems and new situations that occurred in balancing the occupation and compensation of arable land, China must put more efforts into conducting investigations and research and develop effective measures to address such issues.31 President Xi Jinping stressed that land transfer and a diverse range of large-scale agricultural operations are inevitable ways to develop modern agriculture and the basic direction in rural reform. In the practice of land transfer, all regions in China must conform with regulations and policies issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The government needs to provide policy support and encourage innovative agricultural operation systems and mechanisms while considering local conditions and acting gradually. China should not adopt an aggressive approach such as the Great Forward Leap, which enforced orders and impractical administrative orders. In particular, China must prevent some industrial and commercial capital from intervening in rural areas to engage in non-agricultural construction, affecting the protection of arable land and food production.

3.3 Establishing the Operation System for Modern Agriculture The operation system for modern agriculture is the combination of operation entities, organizational methods and service models of modern agriculture as well as the significant symbol of the degree of scale operation, stressing the problem of “who plant arable land” and improving operational profits. To establish the operation system for modern agriculture, greater efforts must be put to innovate agricultural operation systems and mechanisms, foster large-scale operation entities and service entities, quicken the process of cultivating professional farmers, form a number of high-quality operation entities and service entities and encourage cooperation between operation entities and service entities. China needs to develop multiple forms of moderate-scale operations, promote the stable transition from individual household operations to the scale operation of modern agriculture and improve the degree of intensification, organization, scale, socialization, and industrialization of agricultural operations. a. The development of moderate scale operations The past decade has witnessed new changes and issues in agricultural production. In terms of land operation models, scale land operation has emerged in the process of rural land transfer, and new operation entities such as family farms have sprouted up. In terms of utilization methods of arable land, the quality of arable land has decreased due to long-term extensive land operation and the abuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides; thus, China has encountered 31

“Balance the Arable Land Occupation and Compensation and Promote Rural Reform in Accordance with Laws and Regulations”. China Daily, 2015-5-27(1).

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greater difficulties in increasing grain output. For labor resources, the structure of rural labor resources has changed dramatically. The labor force engaged in the primary industry is decreasing and aging year by year. Engaging in agriculture is becoming a part-time job, the rural population is hollowing out the countryside, and the problem of “who plant arable land” is prominent. In tackling tasks in rural reform, solving problems such as how to innovate agricultural operation systems, who plant arable land and how to develop moderate-scale operation have become common concerns of society.32 To hasten the establishment of the operation system for modern agriculture is to give play to the leading role of multiple forms of agricultural moderatescale operation and to form operational mechanisms and systems conducive to the innovation and application of modern agricultural production elements. Whatever Chinese people do, the application of advanced scientific and technological achievements, the provision of financial services, the improvement of high-quality agricultural products, the promotion of production efficiency, or the improvement of market competitiveness must be based on scale operation.33 On September 29, 2014, at the fifth conference of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Continuing Reform, President Xi Jinping pointed out that to deepen rural land reform at the present stage, China must take the advancement of China’s agricultural modernization into more consideration. China needs to choose a way of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics of advancing agriculture and benefiting farmers. The development of scaled agricultural operations must keep pace with the process of urbanization, the scale of rural labor force migration and the improvement of agricultural socialization service. Works must be done to strengthen guidance, not to harm the interests of farmers, not to transform arable land into non-agricultural land, and not to undermine the comprehensive production capacity of agriculture. China must respect farmers’ wills and stick to the compensated, voluntary transfer of land contracts and operation rights in accordance with the law. China mustn’t adopt an aggressive approach of forced and impractical administrative orders. China needs to adhere to moderate-scale operation, emphasize the development of scale agricultural production and help farmers actively participate in scale agricultural production so that they benefit from this. Based on the developmental conditions of different regions, China must designate a reasonable scale operation of arable land and provide guidance. China cannot pursue large scale and fast speed without achieving balanced development or even neglecting the basic conditions that ordinary farmers who operate contract household arable land are still the majority. For industrial and commercial enterprises that want to lease household 32

Chen, Xiwen. “Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development and Accelerate the Transformation of Agricultural Development Model—Study and Follow Guiding Principles Embodied in President Xi Jinping’s Important Speech delivered on Central Economic Work Conference”. Qiushi, 2015(6). 33 “Build Three Major Systems Lead Modern Agricultural Development”. Anhui Daily, 2016-49(1).

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contracted land, there must be strict thresholds, such as unambiguous regulations on qualification reviews, project reviews, risk securities systems, market access systems and market supervising systems. As the driving force of rural development, rural land reform will speed up innovations in agricultural operation systems since reform has been an inexhaustible driving force for China’s agricultural development. b. The two-tier operation system The two-tier operation system that integrates the unified and separate operation on the basis of household contract operation was a declared rural policy of the central government and has been written as Article 8 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. President Xi Jinping said that household contract operation is the cornerstone of CPC’s rural policy and a basic economic system in the countryside. And China must unwaveringly adhere to the policy. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has continued to emphasize the fundamental status of household contract operation in agriculture and put forward the separation of the three rights; that is, collective rights, household contracting rights, and land operation rights that are separated from each other. The separation of collective rights, household contracting rights, and land operation rights is an answer responding to the structure of property rights for household contract operation, an important summary from experiences, and the theoretical integration and innovation for rural policies. Theoretically, the industrial characteristics of agriculture determine the fundamental role of household contract operation. On the one hand, agricultural production is distributed in different regions and areas, and it must respond to small changes in the natural environment in a timely manner, thus resulting in high management costs of agricultural production. On the other hand, only when all family members in an agricultural household agree with each other on the interests, the agricultural production will be conducted smoothly with very few complicated labor calculation and management, thus minimizing the management cost of agricultural production. As the basic unit in agricultural production, an agricultural household can hold that all family members are responsible for the whole process of agricultural production and ensure that agricultural production is responding to various new changes.34 In addressing limitations in the scale and organization of household contract operation and improving the two-tier operation system, President Xi Jinping stated in his book Up and Out of Poverty that China will balance the relationship of “collective” and “individual” contract operation in rural areas and stabilize, complete and advance the two-tier operation system of cooperative economic organization in rural areas. In his doctoral thesis, President Xi Jinping noted that many people focused on the development of the rural market while neglecting the organization of farmers, while others focused on the organization of farmers in rural areas while doubting or even resisting the development of the rural market. 34

Han, Jun. “Rural Reform Shall Be Based on the Household Operation of Production”. Economic Daily, 2014.8.7(14).

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To fight against such discrimination, President Xi Jinping clearly put forward an approach to develop the rural market and organization of farmers at the same time.35 Due to limited access to market information, farmers are often at disadvantages when trading in the market. Meanwhile, farmers often lack effective organization. If China focuses on the development of the rural market while neglecting the organization of farmers, not only will farmers’ interests be damaged, but the whole structure of the rural market will deviate from the track of fair competition, which in turn leads to a market monopoly. Only by organizing farmers and taking the path of the organized rural market can China improve the status of farmers when negotiating in the market so that they are no longer at disadvantages as “price acceptors.“ Only by organizing farmers and taking the path of the organized rural market can China enable farmers to enter the domestic and foreign markets safely and smoothly as soon as possible, effectively reduce the costs of entering the market, improve the market competitiveness of agricultural products and expand market share. If China cannot organize the majority of farmers in the twenty-first century and help them safely and smoothly enter the domestic and international markets, it would be impossible to speed up the development of the rural market and realize agricultural modernization. When Xi Jinping was the secretary of Zhejiang Province, he formulated local regulations called Regulations on Farmers’ Professional Cooperatives. It was the first to regulate farmers’ professional cooperatives and significantly influenced and quickened the adoption of Law on Farmers’ Professional Cooperatives of the People’s Republic of China issued in 2006. In 2006, Xi Jinping continued to carry out the “Three-sphere Integrated Plan”, which is a plan to promote the integration of farmers’ professional cooperatives, supply and marketing cooperatives, and credit cooperatives. He conducted a pilot experiment in Ruian, Zhejiang Province and held the provincial meeting to summarize and popularize the theory. Later, the theory of the “three-sphere integrated plan” was restated as “the integration of the three cooperative functions, the integration of the three types of cooperative organizations, and the integration of three levels of cooperative systems”. This is a “large-scale rural cooperative,”, more specifically, a large-scale comprehensive multilevel rural cooperative organization. To date, the theory of the “three-sphere integrated plan” has been basically established and plays a guiding role in practice.36 c. Restructuring the collective economic organizations President Xi Jinping has always valued the advantages of collective economic organizations. He pointed out that the aim of strengthening collective economic productivity is to exert the functions of “collectiveness” of the collective economic organization as follows: the first is to conduct an integrated plan on basic infrastructure construction of arable land and strengthen the utilization 35

Chen, Lin. “The Thread of Xi Jinping Thought on Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People”. People’s Tribune, 2015.10(2). 36 Chen, Lin. “The Thread of Xi Jinping Thought on Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People”. People’s Tribune, 2015.10(2).

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and operation of agricultural machinery, water conservancy, and other technical equipment and facilities. The second is to plan the production layout reasonably and plant crops in accordance with the national plan and local conditions. The third is to create social service systems that serve before, during and after agricultural production, including the supply of productive, technological and substantial materials and the marketing of agricultural products. The fourth is to promote rural reform and rural development to secure rural economic and social stability and coordinated development.37

4 Taking Technological Advancements as the Key for Agricultural Modernization Technological advancements are the fundamental support for modern agriculture, as well as the key for agricultural modernization. President Xi Jinping noted that China’s agricultural development must adhere to the basic policy of rejuvenating agriculture through science and technology, relying on scientific and technological progress, improving the yield per unit area in agriculture and stocking, and forming a high-yield, low-consumption, high-quality, high-efficiency agricultural production system. As President Xi Jinping recalled, “Towards the end of the 1960s when I was in my teens, I was sent from Beijing to work as a farmer in Liangjiahe Village near Yan’an of Shaanxi Province, where I spent seven years. In 1968, I helped villagers promote the application of biogas in Liangjiahe Village, and villagers greatly benefited from the application of scientific and technological progress.”38 When Xi Jinping was the Vice-Secretary of Fujian Province from 1995 to 2002, he discovered and popularized “the successful experience in Nanping, Fujian Province” to Zhejiang and other provinces. At that time, agricultural specialists were sent to rural areas in Nanping, Fujian Province to explore new ways of agricultural development and obtained good economic outcomes, so the way of sending agricultural specialists to rural areas to promote agricultural development was later named “…the successful experience in Nanping, Fujian Province”. President Xi Jinping said that China expects agriculture to develop well with science and technology. He stressed that China needs to promote the integration of agricultural technologies, the mechanization of farming processes, the informatization of agricultural production and operation, and the legalization of safety and environmental protection, and China needs to promote the development of high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, eco-friendly and safe agriculture in accordance with principles of increasing production and increasing efficiency at the same time, matching good varieties with good farming methods,

37 38

Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty[M]. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 136. Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty[M]. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 138–139.

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combining farming machines and farming techniques and coordinating agricultural production and ecological environment protection.39 Currently, the development of China’s agriculture has entered a new era that is driven more by science and technology to achieve sustained and stable development. That thought on “Food Crop Production Strategy Based on Farmland operation and Technological Application” was delivered during the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 2016 when Xi Jinping attended the deliberation conference of Hunan provincial delegation. Therefore, food crop production is not only based on farmland operation but also based on technological applications. China needs to take a connotative development path that relies on scientific and technological advancements to improve the yield per unit area. By researching and developing technologies conducive to food production, China can balance the supply and demand of grain output. Based on the balanced supply and demand in the grain market, China can apply necessary technologies in a timely manner, and scientific and technological advancements can always support agricultural production. Efforts must be made to conserve soil, popularize good varieties, adopt standardized, high-yield, highly effective, green technologies and developmental models. Only by implementing these measures can agriculture develop more effectively.40 In 1990, Xi Jinping delivered an informative discussion on the issue of rejuvenating agriculture through science and technologies when elaborating on the development of scale agriculture. He noted that China’s agricultural development must adhere to the basic policy of rejuvenating agriculture through science and technology, rely on scientific and technological progress, improve the yield per unit area in agriculture and stocking, and form a high-yield, low-consumption, high-quality, high-efficiency agricultural production system.41 President Xi Jinping stressed that by relying on scientific and technological progress, China can develop and utilize resources that could not be developed and utilized in the past, further expand the sales market of agricultural and sideline products, and improve the well-being of farmers. In addition, President Xi Jinping highly values the role of scientifically and technologically competent people in agricultural modernization. At the Central Rural Work Conference in 2013, President Xi Jinping stressed that China must improve the competencies of farmers, forester a new team of professional farmers and make the training of young farmers part of the national training plan for vocationally competent people to ensure that the younger generation is engaged in agricultural production. China needs to view the policy of hastening the development of new agricultural entities as a significant strategy, and China needs to center on encouraging the younger generation to be engaged in agricultural 39

“Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. China Daily, 2013-11-29(1). 40 Guo, Junkui. What New Concept Does Xi Jinping’s ‘Hide grain in the ground and Storing grain with technology’ Convey? People.com.cn, March 9, 2016. 41 Xi, Jinping, Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014: 138.

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production, fostering professional farmers and issuing targeted policies and regulations to foster a new team of professional farmers and lay a solid foundation of manpower for agricultural modernization and the sustainable, sound development of agriculture. At the beginning of November 2013, President Xi Jinping inspected Hunan, and he specifically noted giving full play to the advantages of leading talent in science and technology such as Yuan Longping, promoting scientific and technological innovation in agriculture, promoting agricultural standardization production, and enhancing agricultural comprehensive production capacity and overall competences.42 On November 27, 2013, at a conversazione held by the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, President Xi Jinping said that he hoped that agriculture can make a big leap in development. He noted that China needs to promote the integration of agricultural technologies, the mechanization of farming processes, the informatization of agricultural production and operation, and the legalization of safety and environmental protection, and China needs to promote the development of high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, eco-friendly and safe agriculture.43

42

Xu, Shousheng. “Seek New Breakthroughs in Agricultural Modernization—Study Guiding Principles Embodied in President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches on Developing Modern Agriculture”. Qiushi, 2014(14). 43 “Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. China Daily, 2013-11-29(1).

Chapter 6

Promoting the Development of Urban–Rural Integration Defu Ma

President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on the development of urban–rural integration is based on a scientific analysis of the problems faced by China’s urban–rural economic society in entering the new normal. The existing system is complete, rich in connotation, incisive and profound, and highly national and contemporary. It has raised the understanding of the social significance of the development of urban–rural integration with Chinese characteristics to a new level. It is an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

1 Significance of Promoting the Development of Urban–rural Integration Since the reform and opening up, China has taken the lead in pushing forward reform in the countryside, which has undergone tremendous changes. However, for a long time, the urban–rural dual structure and the widening gap between urban and rural development have not been fundamentally changed. In recent years, the CPC Central Committee has insisted on solving the “San Nong” issues as the top priority of the Party’s work. The basic position of agriculture has been significantly strengthened. Rural social undertakings have been significantly improved, and significant progress has been made in coordinating urban and rural development and adjusting the relationship between urban and rural areas. That said, due to excessive debts and weak foundations, the contradiction of inequality and uncoordinated development between urban and rural areas in China is still prominent. The significance and requirement of accelerating the integration of urban and rural development are more prominent and urgent. D. Ma (B) Institute of Sociology, Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_6

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For the first time, the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the general plan of “coordinating urban and rural economic and social development”. The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed establishing a long-term mechanism of industry promoting agriculture, urban areas supporting rural development and cities helping villages to form a new pattern of integration of urban and rural economic and social development. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further explicitly proposed that the integration of urban and rural development is the fundamental way to solve the “San Nong” problems. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed establishing and improving institutional mechanisms and policies of urban and rural areas of reform. President Xi Jinping pointed out that promoting the integration of urban and rural development is an inevitable requirement for industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization to reach a certain stage and is an important national symbol of modernization.1 However, it will be a long-term and arduous task and a great historical achievement to realize the coordinated development of urban and rural integration in a large country with a population of more than 1.3 billion. President Xi Jinping pointed out in the Illustration on Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issue Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform that “Unbalanced and uncoordinated development between urban and rural areas is a prominent contradiction in China’s economic and social development and a major problem that must be solved in order to build a well-off society in an all-round way and accelerate socialist modernization.”2 He stressed that at present, China’s economic strength and comprehensive national strength have increased significantly and are blessed with the material and technical conditions to support the integration of urban and rural development. It has reached a stage of development in which industry feeds back agriculture and cities support rural areas.

2 Strategic Path of Promoting the Development of Urban–Rural Integration President Xi Jinping pointed out that to promote the development of urban–rural integration, China must proceed from the nation’s conditions, from the reality of China’s unbalanced and uncoordinated urban–rural development and dual structure, and from China’s natural resources, historical and cultural traditions, and institutional system. China must follow the general rules of development but cannot be constrained by the rules. China must learn from the experiences of other countries, but rather than copying them, develop her own cultural models. 1

“Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily, 2015–5–2(1). 2 Xi, Jinping. “Explanations on the ‘Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform’”. People’s Daily, 2013.11.16(1).

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2.1 Improving the Integration of Urban and Rural Development Shall Be Based on Local Culture China has thousands of years of farming civilization from which Chinese culture developed and provided a foundation for China’s flourishing development, and local culture is the cultural and spiritual foundation that can promote the integration of urban and rural development. In December 2013, at the Central Urbanization Work Conference, President Xi Jinping proposed for the first time a new urbanization path that remembers homesickness. In fact, homesickness is a prominent feature of his long-term understanding of the relationship between urban and rural areas and of the integration and development of urban and rural areas, which broadened his knowledge of the integration and development of urban and rural areas from the perspectives of economic and social relations to the that of humanistic care. In 1969 Xi Jinping, came as a young man from Beijing to the rural area of the Liangjiahe Production Team of Wen’ anyi Commune, Yanchuan County, northern Shaanxi Province, to settle down with local farmers. He remembered that his homesickness began to be “sown” here. In his view, remembering the homesickness of the integration of urban and rural areas is to keep the vast rural areas and the grassroots in mind at all times. In June 2007, when investigating the construction of a new countryside in Jinshan District of Shanghai, he proposed cherishing the extremely valuable historical context of the countryside and strengthening the protection of its natural and cultural features.3 In July 2013, when he was investigating Dongshan Village, Changgang Town, Ezhou City, Hubei Province, he stressed that large-scale demolition and construction are not allowed, especially ancient villages that should be well protected to realize the integration of urban and rural areas and build beautiful countrysides. In his view, one of the requirements for the integration of urban and rural areas where homesickness can be remembered is to maintain and preserve natural areas. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “Rural civilization is the main body of the civilization history of the Chinese nation, villages are the carriers of this civilization and farming and reading civilization is our soft power. The integrated development of urban and rural areas can completely preserve the original features of the village if we do not cut down trees, do not fill the lake, demolish houses less, and improve the living conditions of residents in the original village form as much as possible.”4 He further stressed that the countryside is the birthplace of China’s traditional civilization and the root of local culture cannot be broken.5

3

“Creating a New Situation in Shanghai’s New Countryside Construction”. Jiefang Daily, 2007– 6–14(1). 4 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Urbanization Work Conference, contained in “Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I)” edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014(605-606). 5 “Embark on a New Journey to Rural Revitalization in Jiangxi”. Jiangxi Daily, 2017–12–4(B03).

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2.2 Promoting the Integration of Urban and Rural Development Shall Give the Top Priority to Planning Urban and rural planning is the basic means to promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas. Sound urban and rural planning is of great significance for the effective allocation of urban and rural public resources and the coordinated development of urban and rural economies and society. In the process of promoting the development of urban–rural integration, President Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to the leading role played by planning. In 1985, he personally led and drafted the “Overall Planning for Economic, Technological and Social Development in Zhengding County” and put forward the “three-step” development goal of the Zhengding economy and the development policy of “opening up to the outside world, invigorating the domestic economy, relying on the city, developing intelligence, developing the squeezed and prosperous people”. In 2004, he presided over the first provincial-level urban and rural development plan, namely, “The Outline of Coordinating Urban and Rural Development and Promoting Urban and Rural Integration in Zhejiang Province.” In 2007, when he paid an inspect visit to Songjiang District of Shanghai, he stressed that the overall planning of urban and rural development should pay attention to the leading role of planning and that China should promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas in terms of industry, infrastructure, population and social development.6 In December 2013, the Central Urbanization Work Conference proposed that urban construction should determine the city’s positioning, undertaking scientific planning and practical actions to avoid detours. In April 2015, he pointed out during the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that China should improve the planning system, comprehensively consider the compilation of urban and rural development planning, integrate design, and integrate multiple regulations to effectively solve the problem of urban–rural disjunction in planning and emphasizing cities over villages.7 In response, “Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization” put forward that county-level village planning should be improved, scientific and binding planning should be strengthened, the authority and seriousness of urban and rural planning should be maintained, and large-scale demolition and construction should be stopped.

6

“Intensify the Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Accelerate the Building of New Socialist Countryside”. Jiefang Daily, 2007–8–24(1). 7 “Improve Mechanisms and Institutions for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Enable Farmers to Share Fruits of Reform and Development”. People’s Daily, 2015–5–2(1).

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2.3 Promoting the Integration of Urban and Rural Development Shall Rely on the “Two-Wheel Drive” President Xi Jinping pointed out that urban construction and new rural construction are two equally important aspects to promote the integration of urban and rural development and cannot be neglected. In September 2011, when he inspected Tianjin Municipality, he stressed that it is necessary to improve urbanization strategy and related policies, optimize the layout and structure of cities and towns, enhance the urban agglomeration industry and population carrying capacity, and increase the ability to drive regional development to promote the interactive development between new urbanization and new rural construction. While inspecting Hubei Province in July 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out that even if urbanization reached 70%, there were still 450 million people in the countryside. The countryside must never become a deserted countryside and be left behind by modern world developments in this area. The countryside must never become the hometown in memory. In his speech President Xi pointed out that villages are always villages. Urbanization does not eliminate villages, and the integration of urban and rural areas does not mean the homogenization of villages and cities. Instead, the integration of urban and rural areas aims to realize the differentiation and coordinated development of cities and villages, industry and agriculture. In the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the construction of a new countryside should continue to be promoted so that it can develop in harmony with new urbanization, be mutually beneficial and form a two-wheel drive. Urbanization is the only way to modernize China and should be maintained. He stressed that attention should be paid to the protection of rural culture and ecology and the construction of a number of model villages with high standards that will last forever.8 President Xi Jinping pointed out at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that “the strategy of revitalizing the countryside” should be implemented. He stressed that priority should be given to the development of agriculture and rural areas. According to the general requirements of the prosperous industry, ecology, effective civilized governance of rural customs and rich life, a sound policy system for the development of urban–rural integration should be established to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.9

8

“Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Program—A Documentary Report of Zhejiang Province’s Implementation of the Scientific Outlook on Development and Overall Planning of Urban and Rural Development”. People’s Daily, 2004–8–10(6). 9 Xi, Jinping, “Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China”. People’s Daily Press, 2017(32).

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3 Developing New Type of Industry-agriculture and Urban–rural Relationship For a long time, the relationships between industry and agriculture as well as that between urban and rural areas have been the crux of a problem that restricts the coordinated and healthy development of China’s economy and society. Correctly understanding and handling the relationship between industry and agriculture and between urban and rural areas is important for the overall situation concerning the country’s reform, development and stability. It has always been a major issue of importance and strategic significance in China’s overall modernization process. In the process of promoting the formation of a new type of industry-agriculture and urban– rural relationship, President Xi Jinping is employing long-term practical exploration and theoretical thinking.

3.1 Product-Linked Integration of Urban and Rural Areas This kind of urban–rural integration mainly comes from the establishment of a commodity economic system with appropriate supply and demand between urban and rural areas by President Xi Jinping when he was working in Zhengding County, Hebei Province. President Xi Jinping began to think about and explore the relationship between industry and agriculture as well as urban and rural areas while he was working in Zhengding County. On November 1, 1983, he pointed out in his speech entitled “Vigorously Develop Commodity Economy” that since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the self-sufficient natural economy has been broken, so that developing commodity production has become an inevitable trend in the development of the rural economy. China must be liberated from the current concept of the “natural economy” as soon as possible to deeply understand and grasp the laws of commodity production to achieve further development. On December 22 of the same year, he further pointed out in his speech entitled “Correctly Handling the Six Relations in Developing Commodity Economy” that the guiding ideology of “No agriculture, no stability; No industry, no wealth; No commerce, no flexibility” must be set up, and the overall situation should be taken into account from perspective of developing a commodity economy. The comprehensive operation of agriculture, industry and commerce should be implemented to achieve comprehensive development and create a new situation in rural work. After shifting the focus of the county’s economic work to the development of the commodity economy, he quickly established the “semisuburban” economic development strategy of “relying on cities, serving cities, entering Shi Jiazhuang, squeezing into Beijing and Tianjin, keeping up with Jinmeng(Shanxi and Inner Mongolia) and going to the whole country”. On February 8, 1984, he pointed out in his speech “Zhengding County is Suitable for “Semi-suburban” Economic Development” that the so-called “semi-suburban”

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economy, as its name implies, is characterized by its “suburban” economy, which relies on cities where commodity production is relatively developed. It has relatively close ties between urban and rural areas and between workers and farmers. It also has some characteristics of the general rural economy. It is an intermediate economy combining the two types of economies. To this end, he also presided over the introduction of “The decision to quickly shift the focus of work to agriculture, industry and diversified economy” and put forward the policy of “putting its best into its needs, taking advantage of its advantages, making up for its shortcomings, and responding to its changes,” which emphasizes vigorously developing multiple industries and featured planting. Chinese farmers should plant whatever the city needs and process whatever the city needs. In this regard, he further stressed that rural industries should be vigorously developed, not only to pick up and fill in the gaps in large urban industries, but also to actively carry out the processing of supplied materials and services for urban life. At the same time, the secondary industry should be developed to process agricultural and sideline products to produce multiple value-added products. On June 17, 1984, the People’s Daily published “Zhengding Turn Over,” which affirmed Zhengding’s bold attempt to establish a new relationship between workers and farmers and between urban and rural areas. It praised Zhengding’s economy for achieving the goal of benefiting the city and the countryside, for serving the city and developing itself in serving others.

3.2 Comprehensive Practice and Reflection on “Industry Promotes Agriculture, Urban Areas Support Rural Development” Since 2002, marked by the convening of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s urban–rural relations have entered a new historical stage, gradually reversing the long-standing development orientation of emphasizing heavy industry over agriculture and emphasizing cities over villages. Overall, China was at the stage of planning for the overall development of urban and rural areas. After that, the Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2004 explicitly put forward for the first time the important judgment that “China has now reached the stage of promoting agriculture through industry and helping villages through cities”. This is the scientific judgment made in the new era to strengthen and promote the coordinated development of industry and agriculture, cities and villages. During his work in Zhejiang, Xi Jinping comprehensively explored and thought about “industry promotes agriculture, urban areas support rural development”. In December 2002, Xi Jinping pointed out that China should speed up the process of urbanization, give full attention to the city’s agglomeration and integration of production, deepen the reform of the urban–rural dual operation system, and actively promote the development of urban–rural integration. In January 2003, Xi Jinping pointed out that urban–rural coordination is the “golden key” to solving the “San Nong” problems in the new era.

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The “Green Rural Revival” was launched in June of the same year, emphasizing that it is an important practical action to coordinate urban and rural development and build a prosperous society in a well-rounded way. It is an important measure to promote coordinated development between regions, between urban and rural areas, between economy and society, and between humans and nature. In 2004, Xi Jinping implemented the country’s first provincial-level urban–rural integration development program, which clearly pointed out that the inner link between urban and rural industries should be further strengthened to promote agricultural industrialization with the concept of industrialization. He stressed that “We should coordinate the economic and social development of urban and rural areas, gradually break the dual structure of urban and rural areas, continuously improve the living standards and quality of urban and rural residents to form a pattern in which industry promotes agriculture, urban areas support rural development”.10 In 2005. Xi Jinping put forward the requirements of “five musts” to do a good job in the “San Nong” work in the new era. In his article “Vigorously Implement the Strategy of Balancing Urban and Rural Development and Accelerate Zhejiang’s Process of Building a Well-off Society in an All-round Way”, he summarized the “eight aspects” of Zhejiang Province’s work in coordinating urban and rural development and promoting the integration of urban and rural areas. In January 2006, he pointed out in his article “Three Modernizations Drive the Development of Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers to Make Urban and Rural Areas Prosper Together.” that “the relationships between workers farmers as well as that between urban and rural areas have always been a problem of global significance which must be handled well and is prone to deviation in the process of modernization”. In August, he stressed at the Zhejiang Provincial Urban Work Conference that the people in the Zhejiang province should be committed to following the new urbanization path of resource conservation, environmental friendliness, economic efficiency, social harmony, coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and towns, and mutual promotion of urban and rural areas.

3.3 Building a New Type of Industry-Agriculture and Urban–Rural Relationship After coming to work in the central government, President Xi Jinping began to think about promoting the formation of a new type of industry-agriculture and urban–rural relationship. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary for “industry to promote agriculture, urban areas support rural development, industry and agriculture reinforce each other, and urban

10

Xi, Jinping. “Guide New Practice with the Important Thought of ‘Three Represents’”. People’s Daily, 2003–8–25(9).

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development and rural development are integrated”.11 This has pointed out a clearer direction and goal for realizing the integration of urban and rural development. In March 2013, he pointed out during a discussion with the Jiangsu delegation at the first session of the 12th National People’s Congress that urbanization should not be carried out by individuals. Instead, it should be carried out in a coordinated manner to achieve a mutually beneficial interaction between industrialization and urbanization and the coordination between urbanization and agricultural modernization. In November 2013, the decision of the 18th CPC Central Committee on deepening the reform in a well-rounded manner clearly made the judgment that “the dual structure of urban and rural areas is the main obstacle to the integration of urban and rural development” and put forward that “We must improve the system and mechanism to form a new type of urban–rural relationship of workers and farmers in which industry promotes agriculture, city brings along villages, workers and farmers benefit mutually, and urban and rural areas integrates, so as to enable the broad masses of farmers to participate in the modernization process on an equal footing and share in the fruits of modernization”.12 On April 30, 2015 during the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC, President Xi Jinping stressed that industry and agriculture, cities and villages should be planned as a whole to promote mutual integration and common development of urban and rural areas in layout, allocation of factors, industrial development public protection and ecological protection. The focus is to gradually realize the equalization of basic rights and interests of urban and rural residents, the equalization of public services between urban and rural areas, the equalization of income for urban and rural residents, the rationalization of the allocation of urban and rural factors, and the integration of urban and rural industrial development through the establishment of an institutional mechanism for urban and rural integration. At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping put forward “two integrated developments,” namely, “establishing and perfecting the system and policy system of urban–rural integrated development” and “integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.” This is favorable to better promote urban talent, technology, capital and other development factors and to better make development of industry and agriculture mutuallly benefit.

11

Hu, Jintao. Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects–Report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2012(24). 12 Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, contained in “Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I)” edited by the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014(523).

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4 Perfecting the System and Mechanism for the Development of Urban–rural Integration Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has been strategically thinking about establishing and perfecting the system and mechanism of urban–rural integration and development. In March 2008, when he participated in the deliberations of the Shaanxi delegation to the First Session of the 10th National People’s Congress, he stressed that a long-term mechanism of promoting agriculture by industry and promoting rural development by cities should be established around the overall planning of urban and rural development by reform and innovation to form a pattern of integration of urban and rural development. In May 2008, when Xi Jinping inspected Shandong, he stressed that China should adhere to overall planning and promote coordinated development between the economy and society as well as various social undertakings. In August 2011, during his inspect in Sichuan, he stressed that efforts should be made to break down the institutional barriers of the dual structure of urban and rural areas, vigorously develop rural public utilities, gradually realize the equalization of public services between different groups in urban and rural areas, and further promote the mutual promotion and coordinated development of urban and rural areas. In October 2013, he pointed out at the national conference on improving the living environment in rural areas that all local governments should adhere to the principle of adjusting measures to local conditions, guiding by classification, planning first, and improving the living constructions in rural areas. On April 30, 2015, President Xi Jinping pointed out in the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that improving the system and mechanism of urban–rural development integration is a major task with a long-term and overall impacts. All local governments and departments should fully understand the importance and urgency of this task. China should strengthen top-level design, foster systematic planning, work on institutional and mechanism innovation, and adopt targeted policies and measures to continuously make progress and gradually realize high-level integration of urban and rural development. The ways of improving the system and mechanism of integration of urban and rural development have been put forward at the third plenary session of the 18th CPC central Committee, including speeding up the construction of a new agricultural operation system, granting more property rights to farmers, promoting the equal exchange of urban and rural production factors and the balanced allocation of public resources.

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4.1 Intensifying Rural Reform to Establish the Urban and Rural Integration Development System and Mechanism On April 25, 2016, President Xi Jinping stressed at the forum on rural reform that efforts should be stepped up to promote rural reform under the current situation and to promote a stable agricultural foundation for farmers to live and work in peace and contentment. Xiaogang Village is the main place of rural reform. The two-tier operation system, which is based on household contract operation and a combination of centralization and decentralization, was formed on the basis of agricultural production responsibility, such as Xiaogang Village’s lump sum contract, and is an important cornerstone of the CPC’s rural policy. The great practice of rural reform since opening up has brought about great changes in China’s agricultural production, farmers’ lives and rural landscape and has made great contributions to China’s reform and socialism modernization. These great changes have enabled all farmers to see the possibility of becoming prosperous and have increased their confidence in following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The successful practice and experience of rural reform should be adhered to as long as possible and continuously improved. To improve the basic operation system in rural areas, it is necessary to comply with the wishes of farmers to retain the right to contract land and transfer the right to operate land. The right to contract and operate land should be divided into the right to contract and the right to operate land which should be separated in parallel. President Xi Jinping pointed out that deepening rural reform requires mobilizing all kinds of factors. China should uphold and improve the basic operation system in rural areas. At the same time, China should push forward the reform of rural collective asset ownership and the joint-stock cooperative system. China must strive to build a new agricultural operation system. China needs to work to promote the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives. China must improve the agricultural support and protection system, promote the orderly urbanization of the agricultural transfer population, and improve the system and mechanism of urban and rural development integration.

4.2 Steadily Propelling Rural Reform to Empower Farmers with More Property Rights In the process of pushing forward rural reform, China should safeguard farmers’ rights to contracted operation of land, protect the rights of members of farmers’ collective economic organizations, protect the usufructuary rights of farmers’ homestead and prudently and steadily push forward the pilot projects of mortgage, guarantee and transfer of farmers’ housing property rights. For a long time, President Xi Jinping has been deeply concerned with the property rights of farmers. On July 22, 2013, President Xi Jinping stressed during an inspect to the Rural Comprehensive

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Property Rights Exchange in Wuhan that China should work hard on the relationship between the ownership of land in rural areas, the right to contract and the right to operate. Land circulation should respect the wishes of farmers to ensure basic farmland and food security and increase farmers’ income.13 In November 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out during an inspection visit to Shandong that China should push forward the rual reform develop rural reform and create conditions to grant farmers more property rights. On September 29, 2014, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the fifth meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Continuing Reform that farmers should become active participants and real beneficiaries of moderatescale land operation. The goal of the pilot reform to actively develop farmers’ jointstock cooperation and empower collective assets is to explore and empower farmers with more property rights, clarify the ownership of property rights, improve various capabilities, stimulate the potential of various factors of production in rural areas, and establish a new rural collective economic operation mechanism that meets the requirements of the market economy.”14

4.3 Deepening the Reform to Improve the Equal Exchange of Urban and Rural Factors and the Balanced Allocation of Public Resources China should be committed to deepening the reform and promoting the equal exchange of urban and rural factors and the balanced allocation of public resources. China needs to ensure that migrant workers receive equal pay for equal work and that farmers share the land value-added benefits fairly. China should improve the agricultural insurance system to encourage social capital to invest in rural construction and allow enterprises and social organizations to set up various undertakings in rural areas. China needs to coordinate the balanced allocation of compulsory education resources in urban and rural areas, integrate the basic old-age insurance system for urban and rural residents, the basic medical insurance system, promote the coordinated development of the urban and rural minimum living security system, steadily promote the full coverage of the resident population for basic public services in urban areas, and fully integrate the farmers settled in urban areas into the urban housing and social security system. On April 30, 2015, President Xi Jinping pointed out during the 22nd session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that Chinese people shall work hard, increase the investment and strive to achieve major breakthroughs in coordinating urban–rural relations. In particular, China must make major breakthroughs in breaking the dual

13

“Deepen Reform and Opening Up in an All-round Way and Push Forward Economic and Social Development”. People’s Daily, 2013–7–24(1). 14 “Strict Quality Supervision Ensures Visible Progression of the Reform Schemes.” People’s Daily, 2016–9–30(1).

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structure between urban and rural areas and promoting the equal exchange of urban– rural factors and the balanced allocation of public resources. The aim is to stimulate rural development, allow farmers to participate in the reform and development process equally and enjoy the fruits of reform and development together.

5 Enabling Farmers to Share the Fruits of Reform and Development Enabling all farmers to share the fruits and benefits of reform and development is a consistent way of promoting integrated urban and rural development.

5.1 Enabling Farmers to Share the Fruits and Benefits of Reform and Development is the Starting Point and Objective for Integrated Urban and Rural Development President Xi Jinping pointed out that the “integration” of urban and rural areas does not mean the unrestricted expansion from urban to rural areas, but based on the realities of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, it provides various and available public services to urban residents so that farmers can share the fruits of modernization. In March 2006, Xi Jinping then served as Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee. When introducing the new countryside construction of Zhejiang Province to the reporter of CCTV, he pointed out that the government should promote shift of public resources from city to rural area and intensify its support for development in rural areas. Infrastructure construction, social undertakings, food safety and social security should be mainly undertaken by public finance rather than increasing farmers’ burden.15 In August of the same year, at a symposium, he pointed out that the starting and objective for integrated urban and rural development are to benefit farmers and let them share the fruits of reform and development.16 In August 2011, when he inspected Nanxin Village, Sanxing Town, Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province, Xi Jinping, then Vice President of the State, stressed that efforts should be made to eliminate the systematic obstacles of the dual structure of urban and rural areas in accordance with the requirements of integrated urban and rural development, developing rural public utilities, and making equal public services avaliable in both urban and rural areas, thus promoting coordinated development between urban and rural areas. 15

Ru, Xin and Fu, Chonglan. “Annual Report on China’s Urban-Rural Integration (2013). Social Sciences Academic Press, 2013, p. 13. 16 Intensify the Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas and Accelerate the Building of New Socialist Countryside”. Jiefang Daily, 2007–8–24(1).

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In 2013, when he inspected Shandong Province, Xi Jinping pointed out that urbanization and new countryside construction should be emphasized at the same time. Even if 70% of the population lives in cities and towns, 30% of the people will still live in the countryside. To make the countryside a better home for farmers to live happily, China should promote equal basic public services, develop modern agriculture, and advance the construction of new rural areas. At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC, Xi Jinping pointed out for the first time that farmers should be given more abilities to share property rights, ensuring that farmers not only participate in, but also share the fruits of modernization. In the report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC, Xi Jinping further pointed out that the government should perform its redistribution and regulation functions well, accelerate basic public services equal and narrow the income distribution gap.17

5.2 Enabling Farmers to Share the Fruits of Reform and Development Must Be Based on Upholding the “People-Oriented” Value Orientation of Urban–Rural Integration In December 2013, President Xi Jinping emphasized at the Central Urbanization Work Conference that there is no precedent in the history of human development to realize urbanization in such a large developing country with a population of more than 1.3 billion. China cannot follow the old path featuring extensive expansion, the imbalance between population and land, living in debt, and environmental destruction any longer—there is no bright future if China follows this path. At this crucial juncture, China must embark on a new type of urbanization and stay in the right direction.18 At the same time, he pointed out that a new type of urbanization path must be based on a people-oriented principle. China must promote people-centered urbanization, improve the quality of urban populations and the quality of life of urban residents, and make it our top priority to promote the orderly citizenship of permanent residents who are capable of obtaining stable employment and living in urban areas.19 The idea of enabling people to share benefits of citizenship will be referred to as the “people-oriented” basic principle, that is, promoting people-centered urbanization has become the basic value orientation put forward by President Xi Jinping 17

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House: 2017, p. 47. 18 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Urbanization Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 590. 19 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Urbanization Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 592.

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to scientifically grasp the relationship between urban and rural areas and promote urban–rural integration. He has stressed this thought in many speeches. President Xi Jinping pointed out: “The ongoing new urbanization will create new space for hundreds of millions of Chinese people who migrate to urban cities and hope to live a better life.”20 However, the new type of urbanization does not mean the enclosure of agricultural lands for building cities; it is not land urbanization but population urbanization. The new type of urbanization not only means living in cities but also means happiness comes with population urbanization. Its essence is economic and social modernization, and the fundamental purpose is to enable more residents to settle down in cities and towns and enjoy modern civilization. “Happiness comes with population urbanization,” means that various conditions of living will be created and improved to meet the modern material and spiritual needs of urban residents, improve the quality of urban life, and promote the overall development of people. Therefore, top priority should be given to promote the transformation of the rural population into the urban population, accelerate reform of the household registration system, strive to build a supporting system for urban industries, strengthen vocational training for migrant workers, solve the problems of household registration, employment and affordability of rural–urban migrants, and synchronize the development between citizenship of rural migrants and urbanization so that they can truly enjoy modern development achievements in an equal way. China should ensure that basic public services in cities and towns will cover the permanent population, guarantee the basic public rights of rural–urban migrants and their children, and ensure that rural migrant workers are truly integrated into urban life. To promote the new type of people-centered urbanization in the new stage, China should implement the specific goals and tasks of the central government. On the 2014 Central Rural Work Conference, the Chinese government proposed focusing on solving the current problem of the three “One Hundred Million People”. To highlight people-oriented urbanization, the urbanization rate of the national “13th Five-Year Plan” is also shifted to calculate the urbanization rates of both the permanent population and registered population from only the urbanization rate of permanent residents in the past.

20

Xi, Jinping. Deepen Reform and Opening up and Create a Beautiful Asia and Pacific Area, in Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Foreign Languages Press, 2014, p. 345.

Chapter 7

Building a New Socialist Countryside Jinhua Wang

Agricultural prosperity can lead to a strong foundation, wealthy farmers can lead to the prosperity of the country, and stable rural areas can lead to a stable society. Whether rural areas are stable and prosperous directly concerns the stability and prosperity of the country and the success or failure of modernization. For a long time, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to the development and progress, harmony and stability of rural areas. At present, the building of the new socialist countryside is still the top priority of the Party’s work. The Party’s report to the 18th CPC National Congress pointed out that China should “insist on focusing on rural areas in the building of national infrastructure and social undertakings, and further promote the building of the new countryside.”1 The Party’s report to the 19th CPC National Congress has clearly pointed out that China should firmly “pursue a rural vitalization strategy” and “prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas”.2 President Xi Jinping has always been concerned about the countryside. On many occasions, he has proposed a series of important new concepts and ideas that “We should continue to promote the building of a new socialism countryside and build a happy home and a beautiful countryside for rural

1

Hu, Jintao. Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects–Report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2012. p. 23. 2 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017. p. 32. J. Wang (B) Rural Economic Research Institute, Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_7

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people”,3 “the building of the new countryside must take the path in line with the reality of the countryside”,4 “the stability of the countryside is the vital interests of farmers,”5 “to speed up rural development, we must firmly hold the three major tasks including developing modern agriculture, increasing farmers’ incomes and building a new socialist countryside”,6 “strong agriculture, beautiful countryside and rich farmers determine the success of a prosperous society in a well-rounded way and the quality of socialism modernization”7 These new concepts and new ideas profoundly clarify the important theoretical and practical problems of building and developing rural areas in the new era and play a fundamental guiding role in promoting the building of the new socialist countryside in the new era, exploring a Chinese path of socialist rural revitalization and development, realizing the harmony and stability of rural society, and making rural revitalization happen.

1 Taking the Road in Line with the Reality of Rural Areas As early as the 1950s, during the period of agricultural cooperation, the Party and the country put forward the call of “building the new socialism countryside” and performed some practical exploration. However, it is after the 16th National Congress of the CPC that the construction of the new socialist countryside was taken as a major decision of the Party. In October 2005, at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the building of the new socialism countryside (hereinafter referred to as the new countryside) was first proposed as a major historical task in the process of China’s modernization and implemented in a well-rounded way, marking that China’s rural construction has entered a new historical stage of development. In October 2017, President Xi Jinping clearly put forward the strategy of rural revitalization in the Party’s report to the 19th CPC National Congress. What kind of rural areas should China build to implement the strategy of rural revitalization? In a sense, it requires China to build a new countryside in the new era in accordance with new requirements, including “flourishing industry, livable ecology, civilized rural style, effective governance and well-off life”. At the end of the same year, the Central Rural Work Conference was held. It is the first time for China to take a her own path of socialist rural revitalization and development and to elaborate in depth the Chinese path of socialist 3 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 682, 2014. 4 “Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas”. People’s Daily, 2015–1-22(1). 5 “Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily, 2016–4-29(1). 6 “Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily, 2016–4-29(1). 7 “Write a Successful Story of Rural Revitalization”. Guangming Daily. 2018–3-9(1).

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rural revitalization and development—what it is and how to take it. In fact, it depicts the good blueprint of rural development over the following 30 years in China and reflects that the Party’s strategic thought on rural development has kept pace with the times. Since the great historical task of building the new countryside was put forward and implemented, the central and local governments at all levels have steadily strengthened their support to the countryside in terms of policies, funds and other aspects. Therefore, great achievements have been made in building a new countryside. Some places have succeeded in exploring experiences and practices that are in line with local realities and can satisfy the masses. However, some places have deviated from the objective reality in the process of building the new countryside, violated the inherent law of rural development and harmed the interests of the farmers. Some typical cases should be highlighted that the systematic building of the new countryside was simply understood as a single renovation of rural appearance. In the process of building, some people were eager to achieve quick successes and instant benefits, to compare with each other blindly and to run counter to public opinions. The building of the new countryside had been built into an image project, a performance project and even a debt-raising project, deviating from the mission and original intention of the building of the new countryside and resulting in some rural areas gradually losing their characteristics. This is contrary to the principle of seeking truth from facts and the requirements of the scientific outlook on development,8 as emphasized by the Central Committee of the CPC when the building of the new countryside is fully implemented throughout the country. At the same time, it also goes against the ideological line of seeking truth from facts that the CPC has always adhered to. Building the new countryside is a huge, complex system project and a heavy, long-term historical task. It is rich in content, involving economic, social, political, cultural, party-building and ecological aspects. Building the new countryside has intricate interests, which is consistent with the long-term process of the modernization of socialism. To construct the new countryside, China must follow the inherent law of rural development, adhere to seeking truth from facts, and practically follow the path conforming to the reality of the countryside. Only in this way can China build the new countryside well. Xi Jinping has always emphasized the basic working method of seeking truth from facts and proceeding from reality in handling all matters, whether in his local office or as the leader of the Party and the state. On January 20, 2015, President Xi Jinping stressed during his inspect to Yunnan Province that the building of the new countryside must follow the path conforming to the reality of the countryside, abide by the law of rural self-development, fully reflect the characteristics of the 8

After 2005, the CPC Central Committee has put forward a series of ideas on the building of new socialist countryside, emphasizing that: building a new socialist countryside is a long-term historical task; the leadership of the Party is the fundamental guarantee for the building of new socialist countryside; building a new socialist countryside requires the joint efforts of the whole Party and society; and in the building of new socialist countryside, China must adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts and implement the scientific outlook on development in an all-round way; and so on.

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countryside, pay attention to the local flavor, retain the rural style, and protect green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas.9 This not only points out the direction and provides ideological guidance for China to promote the building of the new countryside in theory, but also draws a concrete picture of building the new countryside in terms of culture and appearance.10

1.1 The Building of the New Countryside Should Fully Embody Rural Characteristics At present, there is a misunderstanding in promoting the building of the new countryside. Designing, planning and building the countryside according to the idea and method adopted for cities has led to a large number of villages being demolished and replaced by new rural communities marked by tall buildings. Although this method may have improved the living conditions of farmers, it destroyed the original characteristics and features of the countryside and even destroyed many material and cultural heritage areas with local characteristics and cultural relic value. At the same time, it also brought great inconvenience to farmers. Compared with cities, rural areas have different natural features, spatial forms, production modes, living habits and traditional cultures. To build the new countryside, China should not simply copy the urban style and blindly advocate large-scale and foreign practices to make the countryside look like a city. In contrast, China should highlight the characteristics of “protecting green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas,” maximize the characteristics of the countryside, retain the rural style, highlight the rural atmosphere, present the rural scenery, and make the countryside a beautiful home for farmers to live and work in peace and contentment.11 The building of the new countryside is to build a better and more developed countryside. Blindly using urban ideas and methods to build and transform rural areas and solve rural problems according to urban building methods will lead to more problems. In December 2013, Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Rural Work Conference: “In building a new countryside, attention should be paid to the protection of the ecological environment and the local flavor, and the rural characteristics should be embodied to preserve the rural style and features. China should not copy the practice of urban building, making the city unlike the city and the countryside unlike the countryside.”12 9

“Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas”. People’s Daily, 2015–1–22(1). 10 Han, Xiping. “The Building of New Countryside Shall Conform to Rural Reality”. Liaoning Daily, 2015–3–17(7). 11 “Beautiful Countryside Should Keep Original Rurality”. Chongqing Daily, 2015–4–14(1). 12 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I)edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014. p. 683.

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1.2 The Building of the New Countryside Should Conform to the Law of Rural Development At present, China is in a period of drastic social transformation. Great and profound changes have taken place in the internal and external environment and conditions of the countryside. The building of the new countryside should not only follow the general law of social development but also fully consider the actual situation of the countryside in China. More importantly, China should accurately understand and grasp the economic and social development of the countryside under the new normal in which new features of the modern era have emerged. In essence, to build the new countryside, on the one hand, China should fully recognize its long-term, complex nature. On the other hand, China should follow the inherent law of rural development, protect the ecological environment of the countryside, maintain rural ethics and inherit rural civilization. At the same time, China should make full use of the basic principles and methods of Marxism, from a comprehensive perspective of history and development and on the basis of a correct understanding of the value and function of rural existence, fully consider the realistic problems occurring in China’s economic and social transformation in terms of urban–rural population transfer, and rural population structural change. They should be combined with the law of rural development and urbanization evolution in the future to promote the balanced development of urban and rural areas as well as economy and environmental protection, the protection and development of ancient villages, and the integrated development of agriculture with secondary and tertiary industries. Through the building of the new countryside, China will make all-round progress in rural economy, society, politics, culture, ecological civilization and Party building, improve the conditions of production and living, optimize the ecological environment, enrich the cultural life in rural areas, and make farmers benefit from production, life and culture.

1.3 The Building of the New Countryside Should Respect Farmers’ Wishes and Protect Their Interests Farmers are not only the main force of building the new countryside but also the beneficiaries of building the new countryside. The building of the new countryside cannot be separated from the active participation of farmers. A new countryside without the participation of farmers cannot be called a new countryside in the true sense. Regarding what kind of new countryside to build, farmers have the most voices and choices. Therefore, to promote the building of the new countryside, China should adhere to people-oriented principles and formulate relevant policies on the basis of respecting farmers’ wishes, safeguarding farmers’ interests and improving farmers’ well-being. Only in this way can China truly protect farmers’ fundamental interests. Taking the mass line is the starting point of all rural work. In recent years, in the building of the new countryside, there have been some challenges. For example,

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officials are enthusiastic in carrying out some policies, but farmers do not participate, farmers are dissatisfied, and officials fail to implement policies well. One of the important reasons for such issues is that in the process of promoting the building of the new countryside, decision makers have not fully taken into account the actual situation of the countryside and the actual needs of farmers, neglecting or ignoring the farmers’ real ideas, wishes and autonomous decision-making power. Therefore, the building of the new countryside must respect the wishes of farmers, safeguard their rights and interests at all times, and give the right of choice to farmers. Only in this way can farmers play a main role, with full participation. Only in this way can the decision-making in building the new countryside be more realistic, more scientific and more effective. Only in this way can the building of the new countryside become a livelihood project that truly benefits the people.

1.4 Urban and Rural Areas Development Should Be Balanced From the historical, systematic and integrated development point of view, cities and rural areas have close geographical links and are an inseparable alliance. Since the reform and opening up, with the deepening of rural reforms, great changes have taken place in rural economic development and social outlooks, the level of agricultural production has improved significantly, and the quality of life of farmers has improved significantly. However, in the process of development, because China has long developed with a focus on economic construction and attached importance to cities rather than the countryside, the gap and disharmony between urban and rural development have always been prominent. There are still many difficulties for the masses in employment, education, medical treatment, residence and pension. In China, agriculture is still an area of growth in terms of realizing industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization - the countryside is still an area of growth building for a prosperous society in a balanced way. It is necessary to promote the building of the new countryside to identify and address areas of growth in rural areas. Through the building of the new countryside, China can improve the level of rural development, narrow the dual gap between urban and rural areas, and promote the balanced development of urban and rural areas. At present, China has entered a new stage in which industry nurtures agriculture and cities support the countryside. It is urgent to promote the building of the new countryside from the perspective of building a new type of urban–rural relationship to achieve balanced urban–rural development and common governance. The Party’s report delivered at the 18th CPC National Congress pointed out that a new type of relationship between workers and farmers and between urban and rural areas should be formed. In this relationship, industry promotes agriculture, urban areas

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support rural development, industry and agriculture reinforce each other, and urban development and rural development are integrated.13 In November 2013, the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee pointed out that China should adhere to the new urbanization path with Chinese characteristics and promote the coordinated advancement of urbanization and new rural building.14 In 2015, No. 1 Document of Part Central Committee clearly put forward that it is an important task to further promote the building of the new countryside with the integration of urban and rural development and emphasize that cities should make the countryside prosper, China must persevere in promoting the building of the new countryside. The Central Rural Work Conference held at the end of 2017 clearly pointed out that to take a Chinese path of socialism, rural revitalization and development, China must reshape the relationship between urban and rural areas, take the path of urban–rural integration development, and accelerate the formation of a new type of relationship between urban and rural areas, workers and rural people, in which industry and agriculture promote each other, and cities and countryside complement each other to achieve full integration and common prosperity.15 President Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that “The countryside cannot be left behind as the barren countryside and the home in memory only”.16 While developing urbanization, agricultural modernization and the building of the new countryside should also be developed, and the synchronous development will make them complement each other.17 “It is necessary to break down the dual structure of urban and rural areas, promote the integration of urban and rural development, and build the vast countryside into a beautiful home for farmers to live happily.”18 He also pointed out that the key to the development of a place lies in finding the right way and highlighting its characteristics. To promote development in underdeveloped areas, China should take into account resource endowment and industrial foundations, highlight characteristics, and realize diversified competition and dislocation development. To tackle poverty alleviation and promote development, China should firmly grasp the central task of increasing farmers’ income, improve the rural basic public service

13 Hu, Jintao. Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects–Report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2012. p. 24. 14 Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014. p. 524. 15 “Central Rural Work Conference Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily, 2017–12–30(1). 16 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p.682. 17 “Build a Broad Road to a Well-off Dream”. People’s Daily, 2014–4–29(1). 18 Selection of Xi Jinping’s Statements on Promoting the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy in a Balanced Way, edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2015. p. 32.

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system as the basic guarantee to raise the level of rural compulsory education, highlight the key points, coordinately implement comprehensive measures, and take the path of modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics,19 and not allow the modernization of agriculture and the building of the new countryside to fall behind. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain a prosperous society in a balanced way.20 President Xi Jinping’s expositions have deeply explained the dialectical relationship between properly understanding and treating urbanization, agricultural modernization and the building of the new countryside. It is necessary to promote a new type of urbanization and, at the same time, not to ignore rural development. China must simultaneously speed up the building of the new countryside. China shall build the new countryside in the framework of urban–rural integration to achieve the dual drive and sound interaction by and between urbanization and the building of the new countryside. At present, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. To build the new countryside, China must follow the internal law of the evolution of urban– rural economic relations, act on the concept of balanced development, and firmly implement the rural vitalization strategy pointed out in the Party’s report to the 19th CPC National Congress. The building of the new countryside and new urbanization should be taken into account as a whole, and agriculture and rural areas should be prioritized in development. To build rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, China should establish and improve the mechanism and policy system of integrating urban and rural development, effectively implement key tasks, and promote the balanced allocation of urban and rural public resources. China should improve the equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas and ultimately achieve common development and prosperity in urban and rural areas. From the point of view of basic public services provided by government public finance, to achieve balanced development between urban and rural areas, China should extend more infrastructure construction to rural areas, provide basic public services to the vast rural areas, help rural areas develop more cultural undertakings, and let farmers enjoy the benefits of reform.

2 Building a New Countryside in Light of Local Conditions With a vast territory, China has more than 2800 counties (cities and districts), nearly 40,000 townships, more than 580,000 administrative villages and more than 3 million unincorporated villages. In China, rural areas have unbalanced economic and social

19

“Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. People’s Daily, 2013–11–29(1). 20 “Carry Forward Jiao Yulu’s Spirit”. People’s Daily, 2014–3–19(4).

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development, natural conditions and resources with great differences in endowments, various national cultures, different types of villages, and different development processes and starting points. The level of building the new countryside in rural areas is different, and the main problems and tasks faced by those areas are different. As such, in the process of building the new countryside, rural areas must adhere to the principle of adapting measures to local conditions, avoid deliberately keeping the exact same pace as before and using a one-size-fits-all approach. At present, in the building of the new countryside, there are some abnormal phenomena, such as new houses without changes taking place in the whole rural areas, attractive decoration outside but poor living conditions inside, a rotten interior beneath a fine exterior and so on. Especially in some places, there is the same featureless look presented by many villages built by demolishing and rebuilding, or only cosmetic projects such as whitening and painting of exterior walls, which are far from the actual needs of farmers. The essence of such projects violates the principle of adapting measures to local conditions. This not only aggravates the financial burden of the government but also seriously dampens the enthusiasm of farmers to participate in the building of the new countryside. Obviously, building the new countryside in this way deviates from the right track. To promote the building of the new countryside, China should focus on the local natural endowment and reality. It is necessary to highlight regional, ethnic and historical and cultural characteristics, meet the requirements of modern residents’ lifestyle and satisfy rural farmers’ living habits and agricultural production requirements. President Xi Jinping has always insisted on adapting solutions to local conditions. He has repeatedly stressed that the building of the new countryside should embody the concept of scientific development, adhere to the principle of adapting measures to local conditions and carrying out classified implementation, and paying attention to the leading role of planning. To build a new socialist countryside, China must plan ahead, follow the law of rural development, make up for the shortcomings of the countryside, carry forward the advantages of the countryside, pay attention to the local flavor, retain the rural style, and protect local culture in rural areas. China should comprehensively improve living environments in rural areas in light of local conditions and create clean and tidy rural environments.21 In 2006, Xi Jinping put forward that “in order to build a new socialist countryside, we must insist on suiting measures to local conditions, give guidance in light of different cases, promote work in all areas by drawing upon the experience gained on key points, take typical examples as demonstration, carry out democratic decisionmaking and standardize operation”22 and “scientific planning is the basis of building a new socialist countryside…the concrete planning of building the new countryside should be based on the idea of balancing urban and rural development…regional and

21

“Intensify the Rural Reform Under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily, 2016–4–29(1). 22 Xi, Jinping. Building the new countryside Entails Targeted and Differentiated Measures, Zhijiang Xinyu, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 220.

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cultural characteristics of rural communities should be fully embodied, forming characteristics, focusing on taste and highlighting charm…works should be carried out focusing on characteristics. Blind comparing, going after what is big and foreign and complete copying should be prevented… and the same featureless look presented by many villages should be avoided… and we should take different paths with respective characteristics…Through such paths, rural areas will be renovated and strengthened, and rural residents will be rich.”23 In the process of building the new countryside and from a long-term perspective, China should make a systematic, scientific and comprehensive strategic plan for the development of villages from the perspective of development. China should change from focusing on the vanity project in the past to presenting different looks by different villages and respecting the nature of the countryside. Specifically, according to President Xi Jinping’s emphasis, China should adhere to the principle of adapting measures to local conditions, acting after calculating, carrying out planning first, and formulating development strategies by taking into account the resource endowment, geographical characteristics, farmers’ wishes and rural culture of villages. China should ensure that the building of the new countryside is carried out without ruining the original ecology, maintain rural styles and features, and protect green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas. To this end, the following three points should be considered.

2.1 Making Plans According to the Reality Planning is the most important issue in the building of the new countryside. The building of the new countryside is not only a systematic project involving the overall development of rural areas but also a long-term project that needs to be developed continuously, steadily and healthily across every village and township in the country. In recent years, rural areas have achieved rapid development but are also accompanied by some problems, such as demolishing the original houses or building another house and destroying the original style of the village. These problems are not conducive to the building of the new countryside and are mainly due to the lack of planning. Therefore, to promote the building of the new countryside, China must carry out scientific, rational and systematic planning. Only planning first can ensure the steady progress of the building of the new countryside. In July 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized again in his inspection visit to Jilin Province that planning should be the first step in the building of the new countryside.24 China should develop forward-looking plans, adopt high standards, combined with the full play of a series of functions such as rural production, rural life, rural ecology, rural society and rural culture, and fully 23

Xi, Jinping. Planning in a Chinese Way, Zhijiang Xinyu, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 221. 24 “Maintain Strategic Firmness, Enhance Development Confidence, and Persist in Seeking Innovation, Progress and Breakthroughs in Changes”. People’s Daily, 2015–7-19(1).

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consider the long-term development of the region, so as not to lag behind, meeting the needs of rural modernization to benefit farmers.

2.2 Basing on Realities and Carrying Out Classified Implementation Classified implementation is one of the main principles to promote the building of the new countryside. The vast rural areas in China can be roughly divided into plains, hills, basins, mountains and other types according to their natural landforms; according to geographical classification, they can be divided into eastern, central and western regions; according to the level of economic development, they can be divided into developed areas, moderately developed areas and backward areas; according to the type of villages, they can be divided into traditional areas, areas basically maintaining traditional patterns, areas where tradition and modern coexist and areas featuring modern community. In the process of promoting the building of the new countryside, different regions, areas with different levels of economic development and different types of villages should adhere to the principle of classified implementation, adopt different development modes, and combine their economic development level, topography, structure, nationality, culture and tradition to create a new countryside with distinct characteristics. However, in the process of building the new countryside, many places excessively adopt the “one-size-fits-all” approach and deliberately keep the exact same pace, resulting in the same featureless look presented by many villages, which is a serious issue. In October 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out that in building the new countryside, it is necessary to adapt measures to local conditions and classified implementation. China should plan ahead, improve the mechanism, highlight key points, coordinate as a whole, and comprehensively improve rural production and living conditions through long-term hard work.25

2.3 Adapting Measures to Local Conditions and Highlighting Key Points In the building of the new countryside, China should adapt measures to local conditions, guide measures in light of its general trend and highlight key points. China should focus on dealing with major issues related to the development of villages and strive to solve practical problems related to people’s livelihood. In terms of industrial development, on the basis of the natural conditions and industrial foundation of different villages, China should adjust the rural industrial structure according to local conditions and find the most suitable path for local development, preventing village 25 “ Comprehensively Improve Conditions for Rural Production and Living”. People’s Daily, overseas edition, 2013–10-10(1).

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households from falling into the same industrial development mode. To improve the living environment, China should carry out measures in all places. China should fully consider the natural conditions and traffic conditions and locations to preserve and maintain traditional buildings with certain historical and artistic values in villages. At the same time, China should do a good job in the ecological transformation of toilets, domestic waste and sewage treatment. In the process of advancing cultural progress, China should start from the cultural connotation, inherit national culture and preserve folk customs, enrich rural residents’ public entertainment and cultural life, and improve the cultural quality of rural residents. In Party building, China should focus on improving villagers’ democratic political rights and strengthening social operation. Generally, the building of the countryside should be adapted to local conditions and highlight key points.

3 Promoting the Building of Beautiful Countryside Since the reform and opening up, the Communist Party of China has always insisted on taking issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers as the “top priority” of the Party’s work. The Party has always focused on protecting and mobilizing the enthusiasm of farmers and has always insisted that reform and innovation are the fundamental driving force. Substantive steps have been taken in promoting agricultural development, breakthroughs have been made in improving the well-being of farmers, and historic achievements have been made in changing the rural landscape. At the same time, China must clearly see that China’s economic development, including agricultural and rural economic development, is a growth mode relying on resources, investment, high consumption, high pollution and low efficiency, which has brought unprecedented ecological pressures and environmental constraints to agricultural and rural development. Meanwhile, in the process of national modernization, the countryside is following the trend of urbanization, and the traditional agricultural civilization is impacted by modern civilization. Rural China is experiencing unprecedented changes in thousands of years. With the rapid development of rural areas, villages have few people left and excellent traditional culture and rural civilization have disappeared. In 2013, No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee put forward the goal of building a beautiful countryside and made a specific strategic deployment. This marks the first time that the Communist Party of China, standing at a new historical starting point, started to think of coordinating urban and rural development, laying and lays out “what kind of beautiful countryside to build and how to build beautiful countryside,” which is a major issue concerning the development of more than 900 million rural people.26

26

In 2013, the urbanization rate of China’s permanent population was 53.7%, and the urbanization rate of household registration population was 36.0%. Based on this, it is estimated that the rural

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President Xi Jinping pointed out that, “if China wants to be beautiful, the countryside must be beautiful.”27 This conclusion clarifies the dialectical relationship between the beautiful countryside and Beautiful China, which not only shows that the central government attaches great importance to the building of the beautiful countryside but also affirms the position of the beautiful countryside in the building of Beautiful China. As an important part of the building of Beautiful China, the building of the beautiful countryside is the continuation and upgrading of the building of the new countryside, an important practice form of “Beautiful China” and “ecological civilization” in rural China, and a major innovation in the overall planning of urban and rural development. The building of the beautiful countryside pays more attention to the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas, the improvement of the index of happy life of rural residents, the inheritance, protection and prosperity of excellent local culture, and the balanced development and mutual benefits between urban and rural areas. The basic starting point and the foothold of building the beautiful countryside conform to the beautiful expectation of the broad masses of farmers for their ecological homes, living environments and spiritual life. President Xi Jinping pointed out that China should break down the dual structure of urban and rural areas, promote the integration of urban and rural development, and build vast rural areas into a beautiful home for farmers to live happily.28 In fact, this is the direction and goal of building a beautiful countryside. In the new historical period, China should enhance the ability to build the new countryside, continue to promote the integration of urban and rural areas, make agriculture a promising industry, and make the countryside a beautiful home and a vast field for farmers to make great achievements.

3.1 Building a Beautiful Countryside is the Deepening and Upgrading of Building the New Countryside On October 11, 2005, a proposal from the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 11th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development adopted by the fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the CPC clearly put forward the important historical tasks of building a new countryside and proposed the overall requirements to build rural areas with improved production, richer life, social etiquette and civility, clean village, and democratic management. This means that the central government has made a major shift in the development trend of rural permanent population in China was 630 million, and the household registration population was 871 million. 27 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 658. 28 “Deepen Reform and Opening Up in an All-round Way and Push Forward Economic and Social Development”. People’s Daily, 2013–7–24(1).

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areas and even in the path of promoting modernization. Different from the idea of simply letting rural problems be resolved naturally in the process of modernization, the building of the new countryside proposed by the central government is not just to regard the rural areas as problems and burdens to simply relocate farmers, but to build the new countryside, achieve common prosperity in urban and rural areas, and enable people living in rural areas to live a good life and share the benefits of modernization in China. In 2013, No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee further proposed that “The building of the new socialism countryside should be deeply promoted” and proposed “striving to build beautiful countryside” in the building of an ecological civilization in rural areas. This is the first time the central document proposed the goal of building the “beautiful countryside”. From the proposal of building the new countryside to the implementation of building the beautiful countryside, it shows that the central government has paid more attention to building a higher level of the new countryside under the guidance of the concept of ecological civilization in solving the problems of rural development in China, thus moving the building of the new countryside to a new height and level. In essence, the building of the beautiful countryside is a comprehensive rural reform guided by the concept of ecological civilization. It is an upgraded version of building the new countryside. The building of the beautiful countryside contains more profound and rich implications than the building of the new countryside. It not only upholds and develops the tenet of building rural areas with improved production, richer life, social etiquette and civility, clean outlooks, and democratic management in the building of the new countryside, but also conforms to and deepens the understanding of—and follows the objective laws of—nature, market economy and social development. The building of the beautiful countryside attaches great importance to and pursues harmonious development among the “three lives” (production, life and ecology). In a sense, the beautiful countryside contains new expectations, new perspectives and strategies for this new starting point for the development of the whole Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers. It implements the five development concepts of innovation, harmonization, green concept in development, openness and sharing and building a prosperous society in the countryside in a well-rounded way. Furthermore, the building of the beautiful countryside pays more attention to the transformation of agricultural development mode, the diversification of agricultural functions, the protection and utilization of ecological environment, the inheritance and development of traditional agricultural civilization, the harmonious coexistence of human beings, nature and society, and the comprehensive sustainable development of rural areas, so as to integrate into the process of the modernization in China.

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3.2 Building a Beautiful Countryside is the Inheritance and Development of Traditional Chinese Ecological Culture In Guan Zi: Ruling People, the collection of Guan Zhong’s (approximately 723–645) ideas and speeches recorded and compiled by his students, Guan Zhong said that “If people have enough food supply stored in granaries, they will pay attention to etiquettes. If people are not short of food and clothes, they will lay stress on the sense of honor and shame”. Measuring the development level of a modern country depends not only on material civilization but also on spiritual civilization and ecological civilization. Since ancient times, China has had ecological thoughts such as Tao following nature and the unity of human beings and the universe. The construction of an ecological civilization is a millennium plan for the continued development of the Chinese nation. One of the important reasons why Chinese civilization can have a continuous, profound history is that Chinese culture has the cultural tradition of working with nature and advocating for the thought and wisdom of harmony between human beings and nature, for the unity of the physical and the spiritual. These wise thoughts still shine, enlightening the development of social civilization. The Party’s report to the 19th CPC National Congress has fully confirmed that China has made notable progress in building an ecological civilization and pointed out that China has a long way to go in protecting the environment. But how can China protect the environment? The Party’s report delivered to the 19th CPC National Congress and the Central Rural Work Conference clearly pointed out that China should ensure harmony between humans and nature. Toward a new era of building an ecological civilization, under the goal of building Beautiful China, the primary goal of building the beautiful countryside is to protect the ecological environment. In the process of realizing the goal, China must insist on harmony between humans and nature, realize that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and act on this understanding”, and “cherish the environment as we cherish our own lives”.29 Generally, guided by the values of ecological civilization, the socialist rural material civilization, cultural and ethical civilization, political civilization and social construction in rural areas should undergo an ecological turn in line with the inherent requirements of the building of ecological civilization, which requires the beauty of natural scenery, a liveable environment and culture and quality. Only in this way can China form a green way of development and a green lifestyle so that rural areas can truly embark on the development road with improved production, rich life and good ecology. An important task of building a beautiful countryside is to integrate more factors of ecological culture and local culture into modern factors. Through the inheritance and development of traditional ecological culture, China should strive to create a happy 29

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 23–24, 2017.

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home with harmony between humans and nature, mutual promotion of materialist prosperity and culture, production and life, and integration of traditional and modern exchanges. Specifically, it includes the following aspects: a. In the building of the beautiful countryside, China must pursue green development, vigorously promoting green agriculture, circular agriculture and ecological agriculture. President Xi Jinping pointed out that agricultural development should not only eliminate the new harm to the ecological environment but also gradually restore the environment and prevent and control rural nonpoint source pollution.30 Faced with the new development situation of a constantly changing environment, China must clearly recognize the constraints of resources and the environment and promote the sustainable development of agricultural green ecology. The most important thing is to firmly prevent and control rural nonpoint source pollution around the goal of “one control, two reductions and three basics”.31 On November 27, 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection visit to Shandong Province that at present, the focus should be on how to solve the problem, how to speed up the building of a new agricultural operation system, and how to break the resource and environment constraints of water shortages to further promote the transformation of the agricultural development mode.32 It has been shown that in the process of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, China should base the process on the restriction of resources and the environment, take the path of developing resource-saving agriculture, and realize the “green” development mode. In 2018, No. 1 Document of Party Central Committee specifically proposed that green rural development should be promoted and that a new pattern of harmony between humans and nature should be created. b. In the building of the beautiful countryside, China must attach great importance to the improvement of the rural living environment and strengthen the comprehensive improvement of the rural living environment. In December 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Rural Work Conference that China should promote the improvement of rural living environment, continue to promote the construction of a new socialist countryside, and build happy 30

Chen, Xiwen. “Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development and Accelerate the Transformation of Agricultural Development Model—— Study and Follow Guiding Principles Embodied in President Xi Jinping’s Important Speech Delivered on Central Economic Work Conference”. Qiushi, 2015(6). 31 The goal means that we should control the total amount of water for agriculture by drawing “red lines” in terms of total volume and capacity utilization rate, and reduce the overuse of farm chemicals and excessive fertilization. Concerning solutions for the potential effects of disposal of livestock and poultry on environmental pollution, and to address the recycling of plastic mulches on farmlands and straw burning: we should try to solve these problems by making a reasonable use of resources. 32 “Follow Guiding Principles Set Out at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Gather Positive Energy for Comprehensively Deepening Reform”. People’s Daily, 2013–11–29(1).

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homes and beautiful countryside for farmers.33 In 2013, President Xi Jinping emphasized in his inspection visit to Hebei Province that China should pay more attention to the transformation of rural toilets and solve the problem of the connection between the latrine and the pigsty. In 2014, President Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection visit to Jiangsu Province that it is of symbolic significance to solve the problem of toilets in the building of the new countryside.34 In November 2017, when he gave important instructions on the achievements of the “toilet revolution” in the tourism system, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the toilet problem is not a trivial matter but an important aspect of construction of urban and rural development, not only in scenic spots and cities but also in rural areas. He pointed out that this work should be taken as one of the rural vitalization strategies. China should work hard to address challenges that drag people’s quality of life down.35 In other words, China should improve the quality of life of farmers through the “toilet reform” in rural areas.

3.3 Building a Beautiful Countryside Should Realize the Protection and Continuation of Excellent Local Culture Rural areas are the birthplace of traditional Chinese civilization. The root of local culture cannot be broken. Rural areas cannot become barren countryside, left-behind countryside and only a memory of home. At present, China is in an era of great change, development, and integration. With the acceleration of urban modernization, modern urban civilization continues to extend to the countryside, and the characteristics of excellent local culture of rural areas are increasingly weakened. The most important goal of building a beautiful countryside is to protect the root of cultural tradition and find a sense of belonging, requiring China to do a good job in protecting the local culture and remembering the local culture in the process of building a beautiful countryside. The Central Rural Work Conference held at the end of 2017 clearly pointed out that China must inherit, develop and upgrade agricultural civilization and take the path of making rural culture prosperous.36 Local culture is the crystallization of thousands of years of farming civilization in China. It has played an important role in inheriting traditional culture, enriching farmers’ spiritual lives and leading sound rural social customs. At present, in promoting the building of the beautiful countryside, efforts must be made to protect 33

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014.p.682. 34 “Seize and Adapt to the New Normal of Economic Development, Push Reform and Opening-up and Modernization drive into a New Stage”. People’s Daily, 2014–12–15(1). 35 “Promote the “Toilet Reform” and Work Hard to Address Shortfalls Dragging People’s Living Quality Down”. People’s Daily, 2017–11–28(1). 36 “ Central Rural Work Conference Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily, 2017–12–30(1).

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and promote the excellent local culture, to strengthen the renovation and protection of ancient villages, buildings, cultural relics and other rural material culture, to put an end to all acts that may destroy historical cultural relics, and to explore folk performing arts, traditional dramas, traditional handicraft, traditional medicine, ethnic costumes, folk activities, agricultural culture, oral language and other intangible rural culture. China should protect and last the “cultural roots” of villages such as good folk customs and integrate the essence of traditional culture with modern civilization elements so that the beautiful countryside can be built without losing local culture, while the sense of belonging will be sustained and the village culture will shine with new vitality. On July 22, 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection visit to Ezhou City, Hubei Province, that to achieve urban–rural integration and build a beautiful countryside, it is necessary to benefit the villagers, prevent money from being spent on unnecessary things, and avoid large-scale demolition and reconstruction, especially protecting ancient villages.37 In fact, it requires the protection of traditional culture. In December 2013, Xi Jinping emphasized at the Central Urbanization Work Conference that China should embody the concept of respecting nature, conforming to nature and harmony between humans and nature. China should, with the unique scenery of the existing landscape, integrate the cities with nature so that China can protect green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas.38 In the process of promoting the integration of urban and rural areas, the meeting requested that attention be paid to preserving the original features of villages. China should avoid cutting down trees, avoid filling lakes, carry out less house demolition, and improve the living conditions of residents in the original village form as much as possible. In January 2015, President Xi Jinping emphasized during his inspection visit to Yunnan Province that “the building of the new countryside must follow the path in line with the actual situation in the countryside… to protect green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas”.39 This shows that one of the orientations and priorities of the building of the beautiful countryside is to better consolidate the cultural background of rural China so that the beautiful countryside can nourish more civilization. In April 2016, President Xi Jinping stressed at the Symposium on rural reform in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province, that the building of the new countryside should be planned ahead, follow the self-development law of rural areas, make up for disadvantages in rural areas, promote strengths in rural areas, pay attention to local flavor, retain rural style and protect local culture in rural areas. China should 37

“Xi Jinping Pointed out on His Inspect to Hubei that Building Beautiful Countryside Is not Beautifying Superficially only and Urbanization Shall not Leave Rural Areas Behind”. Urban Planning News Report, 2013(5). 38 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Urbanization Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 603. 39 “Xi Jinping’s New Views, Statements and Requirements on Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Rural People”. People’s Tribune, 2015(1).

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comprehensively improve the rural living environment and create clean and tidy rural living environments according to local conditions.40 President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the importance of “paying attention to local flavor,”41 “protecting the local culture of rural areas”42 and “preserving ancient villages”.43 These ideas require the cherishing and pursuit of traditional Chinese virtues and culture. This will not only allow people to remember their deep feelings about their homes in the countryside, but also arouse people’s consciousness and identity of excellent traditional local culture.

4 Improving the Quality of Farmers in All-Round Way The building of the new countryside is an important historical task in the process of China’s modernization. It is an arduous and complex project that requires the joint efforts of all sectors of society. Farmers are the main force and beneficiary of the building of the new countryside, so their qualities directly determines the effectiveness of the building of the new countryside. Improving farmers’ qualities in an all-round way is not only the most urgent requirement of the building of the new countryside, but also one of the most essential and core contents in building new countryside. In the process of building the new countryside, China should take improving the abilities of farmers and realizing the overall development of people as the basic starting point and constantly strengthen the self-development ability of farmers. In December 2013, Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Rural Work Conference that in essence, the key to rural economic and social development is people. Without people and the labor force, food security, modern agriculture and the building of the new countryside will not come true, and the absence will also affect the protection and inheritance of traditional farming culture.44 “The question of ‘who will plant the land” is, essentially, whether or not they will, who will and how they will plant the land. The core is to solve the problem of people, through enriching farmers, educating farmers, supporting farmers, making agricultural operation effective, making agriculture a promising industry, giving farmers a decent career, and making the countryside 40

“Intensify the Rural Reform under the New Situation to Stabilize the Foundation of Agriculture and Improve Farmers’ Livelihood”. People’s Daily, 2016–4–29(1). 41 “Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas”. People’s Daily, 2015–1–22(1). 42 “Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas”. People’s Daily, 2015–1-22(1). 43 “Xi Jinping Pointed out on His Inspect to Hubei that Building Beautiful Countryside Is not Beautifying Superficially only and Urbanization Shall not Leave Rural Areas Behind”. Urban Planning News Report, 2013(5). 44 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 678.

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a beautiful home for living and working in peace and contentment.“45 To this end, the Central Rural Work Conference in 2014 clearly proposed that China should actively and steadily promote the building of the new countryside, accelerate the improvement of living environment, improve the quality of farmers, and promote a parallel development of “new countryside of material prosperity” and “new countryside of human progress”.46

4.1 To Train and Bring Up a New Type of Farmers The key to building a new countryside lies in “countryside” and “farmers”. The key is to train and bring up a new type of professional farmers with new ideas, new consciousness, high quality, literacy, technology and management ability. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the cultivation of a new type of professional farmer. As early as 2006, Xi Jinping pointed out that only when China builds the countryside, develops agriculture, cultivates and equips farmers with modern civilization and advanced thoughts and strives to make them a new type of professional farmers with new ideas, new thoughts, new knowledge, new culture, new spirit, new skills, new qualities and new abilities, can China build a new countryside with more far-reaching significance and longer vitality.47 In November 2013, when he paid an inspection visit to the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science, Xi Jinping pointed out that China should adjust the route of agricultural technological advancement in time, strengthen the building of agricultural scientific and technological personnel, and train new professional farmers.48 In December 2013, Xi Jinping emphasized at the Central Rural Work Conference: “Training new farmers who are literate, skilled and able to operate has been put forward at the fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the CPC in 2005, and the training should be continued to achieve results. Relevant departments should conduct in-depth studies, formulate specific plans and practical policies, intensify agricultural vocational education and technical training, and incorporate the training

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Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 678. 46 “Promote a Parallel Development of ‘New Countryside of Material Prosperity’ and ‘New Countryside of Human Progress’". People’s Daily, overseas edition, 2014–12–24(1). 47 Xi, Jinping. On Invigorating Rural Areas Through Civilization, Zhijiang Xinyu, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 198. 48 Jiang, Xiexin. “Think in a Scientific Way and Better Work on ‘Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers’–Study President Xi Jinping’s Important Statements on “Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers” Since the 18th National Congress”. Farmers’ Daily, 2014–6–7(3).

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of young farmers into the national practical personnel training plan to ensure that agriculture can be continued and well developed.”49 “Agriculture should become an important field of employment and entrepreneurship for college graduates. We should formulate policies and measures to encourage, attract and support graduates of colleges and universities, especially agricultural colleges, to engage in the building of modern agriculture in rural areas.”50 “We should take speeding up the cultivation of new agricultural operating entities as a major strategy, focus on attracting young people to work in agriculture and cultivating professional farmers, establish a special policy mechanism, build professional farmer personnel, cultivate high-quality agricultural producers and operators, and provide the building of agricultural modernization and the sustainable and healthy development of agriculture with enough labor power and solid guarantee.”51

Looking at the process of agricultural modernization in developed countries, no matter what differences exist in social systems, resource endowments and development paths, they all attach importance to cultivating professional farmers as the core force to promote the development of modern agriculture. By establishing a standardized national system, they can cultivate stable professional farmer personnel and assume the main responsibility of agricultural production and operation.52 President Xi Jinping’s exposition pointed out the direction for the cultivation of new professional farmers. At present, the building of a new type of professional farmer is in urgent need of strengthening. The Central Rural Work Conference held at the end of 2017 specifically proposed that an integrated system for the development of professional farmers should be established.53

4.2 To Run Rural Compulsory Education Well Education is the cornerstone of national rejuvenation and the key to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. To achieve the goals of the 18th and 19th National Congresses of the CPC, to build a well-off society in an all-round way, to realize the modernization of the country, and to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the foundation is education and the focus is the countryside. In a sense, rural education is the foundation of rejuvenating the country and the key to benefiting the people, 49

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 679. 50 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 680. 51 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, contained in Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 680. 52 Department of Science, Technology and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. “Accelerate the Establishment of Policy Support System for New Professional Farmers”. Farmers’ Daily, 2014–10–18(3). 53 “ Central Rural Work Conference Held in Beijing”. People’s Daily, 2017–12–30(1).

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relating to the overall situation of economic and social development and social equity and justice. At present, China has popularized nine-year compulsory education in an all-round way, but the gap between urban and rural areas is still large, and the gap between urban and poverty-stricken, remote or ethnic areas is greater. In the next stage of modernization, balanced compulsory education will be available in more urban and rural areas so that for the next generation in rural areas, especially in poverty-stricken areas, education is not only available but also available with good quality. Only by providing fair and quality compulsory education for hundreds of millions of rural children can China narrow the gap in income, wealth, education, and opportunity between urban and rural areas and achieve social equity; only by providing talent support for the synchronous development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization can China provide fundamental support for the building of the new countryside. President Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection visit to Fuping County, Hebei Province that “the next generation must be literate first if they want to live a good life”, “Compulsory education must be well done so that children will receive good education.”54 In November 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out in his inspection visit to the western part of Hunan Province that rural compulsory education should be effectively carried out so that the next generation in rural areas can master more knowledge and skills.55 This requires governments at all levels to devote more energy and financial resources to rural compulsory education with a high sense of responsibility and mission, with preferential policies given to remote, poverty-stricken areas and ethnic areas, and truly compensate for the disadvantages of rural education development. China should effectively run rural primary schools and teaching branches, promote the building of standardized schools according to local conditions, improve the quality of compulsory education in rural areas, and implement the plan to improve the nutrition of students in rural areas.

4.3 To Strengthen Rural Vocational Education Vocational education is conducive to the modernization of farmers and agriculture. The development of vocational education in rural areas in China is relatively slow; there is no long-term mechanism for farmers’ vocational skills education and training, and the promotion and support for extending the agricultural industry chain is not enough. To a certain extent, this has affected the process of agricultural industrialization and affected the employment and income of rural labor in the non-agricultural 54

Xi, Jinping. Speeches on Investigating Work of Poverty Alleviation in Fuping County, Hebei Province, contained in Be a County-level Party Secretary like Jiao Yulu, Central Party Literature Press, 2015, p. 24. 55 “Deepen Reform and Opening-up and Promote Innovation-driven Development Strategy to Achieve the Year-round Economic and Social Development Goals”. People’s Daily, 2013–11–6(1).

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field. Taking science and technology promotion as an example, at present, agricultural science and technology promotion mainly relies on the government’s agricultural technology promotion department. Because the labor force in rural areas is aging, their scientific, technological and cultural qualities and market awareness are relatively low, exerting a certain impact on the acceptance and application of new technologies. Advanced agricultural technology and new agricultural products are difficult to promote in rural areas and are not conducive to the improvement of agricultural production levels.56 As for accelerating the development of vocational education, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China should establish a correct concept on talents, cultivate and practice socialist core values, strive to improve the quality of personnel training, advocate the great trend of the times that laboring is glorious of, skills are precious, innovation is great so as to create a sound environment in which everyone can become talents and can use their talents to the full. China should make efforts to train hundreds of millions of high-quality workers and skilled personnel. China should increase support for vocational education in rural areas, ethnic minority areas and poor areas and strive to make every person have a chance to succeed in life. President Xi Jinping urged Party committees and governments at all levels to put accelerating development of modern vocational education in a more prominent position, better support and help the development of vocational education, and train talents for realizing two centenary goals and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.57 How can vocational education be strengthened in rural areas? First, China should increase investment in vocational education in rural areas, improve the level and quality of vocational education in rural areas in an all-round way, and make vocational education in rural areas a cradle for training new farmers and social talent. Second, China should innovate the concept and mode of personnel training, encourage social forces to participate in the training, and improve the quality of rural population from “ideological concept” and “comprehensive quality”.

4.4 To Strengthen the Ideological Education of the Farmer Masses With the deepening of rural reform and development, it is still an important issue to strengthen ideological education for farmers. To realize the overall development and progress of rural society in building the new countryside, in addition to improving farmers’ cultural quality, scientific and technological quality and employment ability through compulsory education, vocational education and skill training, China must also cultivate new trends in rural civilization and advocate a healthy and civilized 56

Luo, Jianhua and Wang, Yan. “Analysis of Difficulties and Strategies for Improving Farmers’ Quality in the Building of New Countryside”. Rural Economy, 2011(1). 57 “Better Support and Help Development of Vocational Education to Train Talents for Realizing Two Centenary Goals.” People’s Daily, 2014–6–24(1).

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new life in the countryside, which depends on the improvement of farmers’ thoughts and moral quality. China should correctly handle the relationship between making farmers rich and making farmers literate; the latter basically lies in strengthening the ideological education of farmers. Because there may be various value orientations or social problems in the process of rural social transformation, it is necessary to internalize the building of the new countryside into the specific behavior of farmers, integrate into their production and life, and let farmers “sculpt” the new countryside. Essentially, no social organization, including the government, can replace farmer masses as the main force to promote the building of the new countryside. Only by truly mobilizing them and giving them full respect in their role as major force can the building of the new countryside be effectively connected with the new requirements to build rural areas featuring thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, which was put forward in the rural revitalization strategy, so that the countryside can be revitalized to become vigorous and prosperous.

Chapter 8

Implementing Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy Yaping Song

China’s poverty alleviation has experienced a hard and long journey. The development history of China and Chinese communists is a history in which Chinese people were led to strive for eliminating poverty and being better off. Since reform and opening up, China has scored remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation that lifted 700 million people out of poverty. The poverty rate dropped from 73.5% in 1990 to less than 4%, which represents 70% of the total world figure.1 While fully recognizing her achievements, China must be very clear: poverty alleviation and reduction strategy, formed and sustained from reform and opening up to the 18th National Congress of the CPC, fails to meet the development needs of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Against this backdrop, President Xi Jinping put forward a targeted poverty alleviation and development strategy, prioritized poverty reduction in the 13th Five-Year Plan, and held the bottom line of people’s livelihood to win the battle against poverty. This is the important reflection of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the important part of great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and the basic strategy of practice. President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on poverty alleviation is achieved by embodying China’s decades of poverty alleviation and development theory and practice, which is dialectical sublation and rational transformation after deep understanding and reflection on poverty reduction efforts. This reflects his growth story from rural areas of northern Shaanxi to county(city) of Hebei, then to Fujian, Zhejiang and Shanghai, from the most impoverished and backward western countrysides to open and developed eastern cities; from a village Party secretary who lived and 1

Zhang, Tie. “Sharing the ‘China Experience’ to Get Rid of Poverty”, People’s Daily, 2015-1125(1). Y. Song (B) Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_8

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worked in a production team to a state leader running the country. The thought, action, concern, care and struggle in China’s poverty alleviation in the past 40 years have formed President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on poverty alleviation and development, which is of profound implication.

1 Significance of Poverty Alleviation The Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core stayed true to its original mission, carried forward the past and forged ahead, kept pace with the times, attached great importance to and devoted great efforts to poverty alleviation, thus finally coming up with a new and better method for poverty reduction. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping has put forward a series of important expositions on poverty alleviation and development. The strategy of poverty reduction has been developed and further enriched and improved, especially the proposition and effective implementation of targeted poverty reduction and alleviation measures, as well as practice paths and strategies, achieving major breakthroughs and innovations in our thoughts, theories and practices, and providing scientific guidance for China’s poverty alleviation.

1.1 The Essential Requirements of Socialism President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on poverty alleviation and development is an important reflection of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and represents the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. Additionally, the exposition is the vivid explanations of the essential characteristics of socialism, of the focus of the Party’s work, of the historical mission of the CPC, of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, and of strengthening areas of weaknesses in China’s economic new normal. The essence of socialism is to liberate and develop productive forces, eradicate exploitation, end polarization, and ultimately realize common prosperity. This contains the theoretical essence of eliminating poverty and promoting development. The stage of development China is facing determines that China must attach great importance to poverty alleviation, which is the inherent attribute and essential meaning of socialism. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Party led the people to overthrow the local despots and distribute land, aiming to liberate the broad masses of farmers. Currently, our Party led the masses to get rid of poverty

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and become better off, aiming to make the masses live a good life.”2 In his report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping stressed that “seeing that poor people and poor areas enter the moderately prosperous society together with the rest of the country is a solemn promise made by the Party”.3 Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Party and state leaders have attached great importance to poverty reduction. The development history of socialism since 1949 is essentially the creative history of eliminating poverty, improving people’s livelihoods and realizing common prosperity. Both the exploration of the road towards poverty reduction before 1978 and the poverty alleviation strategy implemented since the mid-1980s fully demonstrated that poverty alleviation has always been regarded as an important historical mission of the Party and the country. From the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, when a host of problems remained to be addressed, to the time when the reform and opening-up needed to be deepened, China made remarkable achievements in poverty reduction, becoming the world’s first country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations and reduced its poor population by half. Currently, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. To achieve the general task of socialism, modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China must speed up poverty reduction. President Xi Jinping, in a series of important speeches since the 18th National Congress of the CPC and report at the 19th National Congress of the CPC, has long been advocating implementing the strategy of targeted poverty reduction and alleviation and winning the battle against poverty.

1.2 The Top Priority of the Party’s Work and the Historical Mission of the Communist Party of China China should attach great importance to poverty alleviation, as it is the top priority of the whole Party’s work. Important Conferences of the Party and the State and the important documents of the CPC Central Committee over the years witnessed issues relating to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers were put top on the work agenda of the Party, while poverty alleviation was regarded as the top priority of the three rural works, especially since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers is a top priority. Only prioritizing poverty reduction in the old revolutionary base areas, areas ethnic minorities inhabit, border areas and poor areas can better address 2

An Extract of Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects Oy the Literature Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: Central Party Literature Press, 2016, p. 155. 3 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 47.

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Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers.”4 To this end, China must raise the awareness of the importance of poverty alleviation and enhance the sense of responsibility and mission for poverty alleviation. Inevitably, it is a great challenge for the Party to achieve poverty alleviation of the existing population by 2020. However, it is a solemn promise made by the Party to people, determining whether China can build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, achieve the first centenary goal, and build on this achievement to embark on a new journey toward the second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialism country. Thus, President Xi Jinping pointed out that “China has entered the crucial stage of poverty reduction-this will prove a hard nut to crack,” “Poverty alleviation is so pressing that it waits for nobody.”5 Poverty alleviation is the historical mission of the CPC. For Party members, it is not only a great challenge but also a test in improving the ability of governing the country. Additionally, poverty alleviation embodies the CPC’s political proposition of benefiting people and the political wisdom of governing the country. As a Marxist political Party, China attaches importance to poverty alleviation. To lift all people out of poverty and towards a prosperous society is a profound interpretation of the clearest proposition of Marxism—the realization of the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people mainly represented by workers. Since its founding, the CPC has shouldered the historical mission of leading the people to shake off poverty. Major changes have taken place in China since the reform and opening up, but this historical mission remains. In particular, since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping has clearly summarized the responsibility of the new central collective leadership as “the responsibility to the nation, the people and the Party”, which takes the fundamental interests of the people as the starting point and intensifies poverty alleviation so that poor, remote areas and ethnic minority areas can enter a moderately prosperous society together with the rest of the country and narrow their development gap with other regions. China should see that people who do not yet have enough food and clothing can share the fruits of reform and development by shaking off poverty. China should see that all Chinese people have a greater sense of fulfillment, well-rounded human development that achieves common prosperity for everyone.

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The Documentation Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: An Extract of Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Coordinating and Promoting the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, Central Party Literature Press, 2015, pp. 47–48. 5 The Documentation Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: An Extract of Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Coordinating and Promoting the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, Central Party Literature Press, 2015, pp. 47–48.

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1.3 The Inevitable Requirements for Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Realizing the Chinese Dream of Great Rejuvenation Poverty alleviation is an inevitable requirement for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Whether China can achieve the aims of poverty alleviation decides whether a moderately prosperous society in all respects could be achieved. The realization of a prosperous society for all people means the implementation of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. President Xi Jinping stressed that, at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and the 19th CPC National Congress, China must ensure that by 2020, all rural residents living below the current poverty line have been lifted out of poverty, and that poverty is eliminated in all poor counties and regions. Poverty alleviation should reach those who truly need it and deliver genuine outcomes. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, poverty reduction was renamed as poverty alleviation. It is decided that by 2020 China must have made the promise of poverty alleviation come true.6 Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that “Without moderate prosperity in the countryside, especially without moderate prosperity in the poor areas, there will be no a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”7 He also said that “To achieve the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, overall poverty alleviation of the rural poor is a landmark indicator. For this issue, I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve been stressing it, just because I still have some doubts. Therefore, to achieve initial prosperity in the country, it is crucial to raise the rural living standard.”8 At present, the challenges of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects lie in Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers, of which poverty and backwardness are the main causes. If China wants to find the reasons, all the followings such as natural endowment, population situation, restriction of the old system and mechanism, historic debts, and gaps and inequalities in infrastructure, education, medical care, and health caused by the long-term dual system between urban and rural economic structure shall be counted. “If you want to make a country strong, you should make it rich first; if you want to make a country rich, you should make its people rich first”,9 as President

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Xi, Jinping. “Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party (Excerpt)”. Qiushi. 2016(1). 7 Xi, Jinping. Speech on Inspecting Poverty Alleviation and Development in Fuping County, Hebei Province, contained in Being a Secretary of the County Party Committee as Jiao Yulu, Central Party Literature Press, 2015, p. 16. 8 An Extract of Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects edited by the Documentation Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Party Literature Press, 2016, p. 154. 9 Zheng, Guanying (Qing dynasty): Letter to Liang Lunqing, contained in Zheng Guanying Collection (Volume 2), Inner Mongolia Peoples Publishing House, 1996, p. 35.

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Xi Jinping said, deepening reform with greater political courage and wisdom10 must first solve poverty. Only by getting rid of poverty in an all-round way can people be better encouraged to engage in the socialism modernization drive and can the reform be ensured to be deepened, sustained and effective. Thus, to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the first step is to strengthen areas of weaknesses, that is, to intensify poverty alleviation. Focusing on poverty alleviation of the nation, more preferential policies and investment in terms of policies, funds and counterpart support will be given to poor areas, remote mountainous areas and old revolutionary base areas. The gap between urban and rural areas will be gradually narrowed, gaps in infrastructure, education, medical care and health will be filled, and equal public services between urban and rural areas will be achieved, thus realizing economic and social development in a coordinated and balanced manner. Poverty alleviation is of great importance for achieving socialism modernization and the Chinese Dream of great rejuvenation. The 19th National Congress of the CPC identifies the general aims of great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, of which building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is an important goal, while eliminating absolute poverty is an important step of the goal. Thus, President Xi Jinping called on the whole Party, the whole country, and all the people to intensify poverty alleviation, ensuring that all poor areas and poor people enter the moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.11 Achieving the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is to achieve people’s happiness. A moderately prosperous society in all respects and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation are related to each other and form the largest denominator of society as a whole, a top priority should be given to the common sharing of the Chinese people, as President Xi Jinping said, “No one should fall behind.”12

2 Adhering to the Road of Poverty Alleviation with Chinese Characteristics China is the largest developing country in the world and has a long task of poverty alleviation. The period from now to 2020 will be decisive in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects; the period between the 19th and the 20th National Congress is the period in which the timeframes of the two centenary goals converge. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “We must intensify poverty alleviation in a timely manner, adhere to targeted poverty alleviation, reverse the 10

“Deepen Reform with Greater Political Courage and Wisdom Towards Reform and Opening Direction Guided by the18th National Congress.” People’s Daily, 2013-1-2(1). 11 “A Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects means an Important Step to Achieve Chinese Dream.” People’s Daily, 2015-2-26(1). 12 “Xi Jinping Attended the 2015 Poverty Reduction and Development Forum and Delivered a Keynote Speech.” People’s Daily, 2015-10-17(1).

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schedule of work, calculate the balance of accounts, and ensure no ethnic minority or no region should fall behind.”13 “China should focus on speeding up the development of the old revolutionary areas, the areas of the former China Soviet Republic in particular. No one in old revolutionary areas should fall behind in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We should have a firm resolution to fight against poverty so that people in old revolutionary areas, together with the rest of the country, can share the fruits of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. All these are the Party’s responsibility.”14 President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving the first centenary goal has defined the strategic task of poverty alleviation; that is, firmly winning the battle against poverty and seeing that all poor areas and poor people shake off poverty and become better off by 2020. Despite the remarkable achievements made in poverty alleviation and development, China still has challenges in terms of strategic aims, new situations and problems with poverty alleviation. There are many areas and people that need to be lifted out of poverty. Moreover, most areas and populations that have not yet been lifted out of poverty are among the most difficult and arduous parts of poverty alleviation and development. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “China’s poverty alleviation work still face arduous tasks and has entered a period of key time for sprinting.”15 China needs to develop new ideas in this special period. In poverty alleviation and development, China should explore an independent path that conforms to China’s actual situations. Therefore, in the current critical period of poverty alleviation, relying on the strategy of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics and taking the road of poverty alleviation with Chinese characteristics is the inevitable choice to take the initiative in the sprinting period and effectively solve sticky problems of poverty alleviation and development. The road originated from the experience and wisdom of the Chinese people, who have summarized and explored different strategies in the 40 years of reform and opening up in poverty alleviation. The road was based on China’s national conditions and formed in the reality of China’s reform and development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping has inherited and developed new ways to poverty alleviation paths with Chinese characteristics, especially the proposal of a targeted poverty alleviation strategy, which has added new meaning and injected new impetus to the poverty alleviation path with Chinese characteristics.

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Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy Learning Readings compiled by Review Department of People’s Daily, People’s Publishing House, 2015, p. 59. 14 Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy Learning Readings compiled by Review Department of People’s Daily, People’s Publishing House, 2015, pp, 58–59. 15 Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Poverty Alleviation-An Excerpt of Important Exposition Since the 18th National Congress, Party Building, No. 12, 2015.

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2.1 Adhering to the Philosophy of Emancipating the Mind in Poverty Alleviation To vigorously implement poverty alleviation and development, China must first emancipate its mindset from obsolete thinking. President Xi Jinping strongly advocates emancipating minds and emphasizes the importance of advanced philosophy and rich thought. “Despite a place being poor, its philosophy should not be obsolete. It is imperative for the Party members, our officials, and our people to emancipate mind and update concept.”16 “The first step for poverty alleviation is to enrich mind, diluting the awareness of poverty.”17 “Only we first get rid of mindset poverty can we shake off poverty in our living areas and make our country strong and prosperous.”18 It is imperative to emancipate the mind, renew the concept, remove ideological restrictions, enrich our mindsets and eliminate the traditional thinking for the effective implementation and advancement of poverty alleviation. Since reform and opening up, China has been implementing poverty alleviation and development for decades of and scored remarkable achievements, but it is hard to meet the requirements of the national modernization drive and a moderately prosperous society in all respects. In particular, the extensive poverty alleviation and development practices finished before the 18th National Congress of the CPC made thinking ossified, and formed a stereotyped path of poverty alleviation and development. It is undeniable that at present, in the critical period of poverty alleviation and development, some Party members and officials in some places are still stuck in the struggle for projects, funds and plans. Poverty alleviation and development is only stressed in documents and speeches by some leaders who abused limited funds, resources and attention to cater the inspection by higher leadership, built the main roads, and created bonsai for leaders to have a brief visit. Such approaches are doomed to a failure in poverty alleviation. During his tenure as the Party secretary of the CPC Ningde Prefectural Committee of Fujian Province, Xi Jinping put forward a series of creative strategic expositions and practical views on the situations. He pointed out that, “Practice is superior to knowledge in that practice is action. In this sense, we are not worried about what we said is wrong, but about psychological poverty-no more bold new ideas of reform and opening up; we are not worried about what we did is wrong, but about lack of ideas, and no more vigorous measures of reform and opening up.”19 President Xi Jinping’s scientific judgments precisely explain poverty alleviation in China. From his thoughts on the reality of poverty in the Ningde to practical verification in the past 40 years of reform and opening up, this scientific judgment has withstood the test of practice, and its practical and theoretical significance is more relevant than ever before. At present, the whole Party and the country are seriously fighting against 16

Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty, Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 1. Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty, Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 6. 18 Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty, Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 160. 19 Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty, Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 160. 17

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poverty. They regard mindset emancipation as the key to poverty eradication and take it as a top priority, because it provides important guidance, foresight and pertinence. Highlighting the key position and role of emancipating the mind requires all Party members and officials to realize a self-reform of thought on poverty alleviation. Chinese people have to eliminate the mindset of “wait, depend and need others to reduce poverty”, break mindset restrictions, free the mind, and develop new ways and methods. To highlight the key position and role of emancipating the mind, all the Party members and officials are required to lead the poor people to work together to eliminate poverty. China should give top priority to help poor people shake off mindset poverty and establish the ideas that only enriching the mind can make China become rich.

2.2 Following a Pragmatic Approach to Poverty Alleviation The historical experience and practical needs all show that seeking truth from facts is not only the essence of President Xi Jinping’s important expositions on poverty alleviation but also the essence of the practical path of implementing President Xi Jinping’s important expositions on poverty alleviation. President Xi Jinping attaches great importance to seeking truth from facts, an important ideological line of the Party. In May 2012, at the opening ceremony of the second batch of students enrolled in the spring semester of the Party School of CPC Central Committee, President Xi Jinping pointed out that “Seek truth from facts… has always been the essence and soul of the theoretical achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context… has always been the fundamental requirement for Chinese communists to understand and transform the world. It is the Party’s basic thinking methods, working methods and leadership methods. It is an important magic weapon for the Party to lead people to achieve success in the Chinese revolution, construction and reform.”20 In November 2013, President Xi Jinping inspected the western regions in Hunan Province and pointed out that poverty alleviation alleviation must be put in to practice indeed, rather than slogans shouted or aims made too high.21 After that, he delivered several important speeches on poverty alleviation, all of which explained the importance of seeking truth from facts. The crux of some problems existing in poverty alleviation is divorced from reality and goes against the principle of seeking truth from facts. Some poverty alleviation and development projects mainly promoted by the government are divorced from reality and cannot get a positive response from farmers after “entering villages and households” but rather strong opposition. Some policies for poverty alleviation have been introduced by the Party, but they have been unrealistic and failed to achieve the 20

Xi, Jinping. “Adhere to the Ideological Line of Seeking Truth from Facts.” Study Times, 2012-528(1). 21 “Win the Battle Against Poverty and Blow the Trumpet of Victory.” People’s Daily (Overseas edition), 2016-3-10(1).

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expected results. As some loans earmarked for the development of poverty alleviation industries are not correspondingly spent on the industries due to lack of the right approaches, some farmers use money for car purchases, mortgage payments for children or old debt payments. Reflecting these problems, China has neglected the inherent low quality of farmers and the government’s wishful thinking and overdoing everything, but it comes down to one point: it is divorced from reality and violates the principle of seeking truth from facts. Seeking truth from facts makes poor people base on their own reality to give full play to their strengths and poverty alleviation can be achieved better. Seeking truth from facts, China must objectively view the existing problems in poverty alleviation. As poverty alleviation has entered a crucial and decisive stage, it is the basic premise of poverty alleviation and development that finds, identifies and solves problems. President Xi Jinping pointed out that the targeted poverty alleviation system and mechanism are not perfect. With the increasing value of targeted poverty alleviation policies, poor farmers who have not been registered into the relevant archives of poor households cannot access the corresponding policies. Additionally, their actual living standard is lower than that of other poor households. In the past, neighborhoods lived in harmony, but gaps, contradictions, and even petitions have been triggered because of registered archives of poor households. The responsibility for poverty alleviation has not yet been fully implemented; there are quite different opinions about poverty alleviation among different departments in different regions; there are common phenomena that emphasize town construction over rural development, emphasizing regional development over poverty alleviation of the poor, emphasizing image project over practical fruits; and the investment of poverty alleviation funds fail to meet the needs. Although the funds invested by the central government in poverty alleviation have been increasing, it is still insufficient to meet the needs of poverty reduction. The initiative of poor areas and poor people has yet to be improved. Some places did not manage to arouse the poor people’s enthusiasm, the initiative and the innovation but led them to have the mindset of “waiting, depending on and needing others to reduce poverty”. Targeted guidance to poverty issues based on local conditions should be strengthened. There are many phenomena in poor areas: some poverty alleviation programs are ineffective, some facilities are idle after construction, and some projects are image projects after delivery.22 Seeking truth from facts, China must dare to face and solve the problems. President Xi Jinping pointed out that targeted poverty alleviation shall focus on solving the problem of “supporting who”. It should be avoided to simply take all the measures of poverty alleviation to every poor household without considering specific circumstances. To solve the problem of “who supports”, China will form a working mechanism whereby the central government makes overall plans, provincial governments

22

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development. Selected and Edited Important Documents since the 18th National Congress, compiled by the Party History and Documentation Research Institute of the CPC Central Committee. Central Party Literature Press, 2018, pp. 35–38.

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take the overall responsibility and county governments are responsible for the implementation to ensure that poverty reduction staff go down to the villages. China will strengthen the system for making heads of party committees and governments at each level assume the overall responsibility for poverty alleviation. This means achieving a clear division of labor, defined responsibilities, a certain person in charge, and effective assessment. Each of them will have their own responsibilities and can coordinate and work with one another. To solve the problem of “how to support,” China will insist on a great pattern of poverty alleviation, increase confidence in their own ability to lift themselves out of poverty and see that they can access the education they need to take. China will implement a five-channel project23 according to the actual conditions of poor areas and poor people. China must seek truth from facts and develop new ways in assessment of officials in poverty-stricken areas, assessment systems and mechanism, coordinated systems and mechanism on poverty alleviation for government, market and society, coupling mechanisms of endogenous and exogenous driving forces. Seeking truth from facts, China must pay attention to consumption and comprehensive benefits. Poverty alleviation is a major national development strategy that brings far greater social benefits than economic benefits. However, poverty alleviation is also a kind of social and economic activity with input and output. China must be realistic in terms of input and output efficiency to maximize the social, economic and ecological benefits of poverty alleviation and development. For China, which is still developing, although national financial resources are constantly increasing, they are still very limited compared with the national realities featuring a large population and a weak economic foundation. The effective implementation of poverty alleviation requires adequate government investment, which brings great pressure to the central and local governments. If only emphasizing investment without considering benefits, poverty alleviation and development strategy is difficult to sustain. At present, the phenomena of “equal poverty alleviation without distinction between rich and poor”, “supporting the rich rather than the poor”, “the rich becoming richer”, and “image project” in some places undoubtedly violate the principle of seeking truth from facts. This kind of “pseudo-poverty alleviation and supporting pseudo-poverty” behavior wastes limited national resources, reduces poverty alleviation efficiency, and has a very negative impact on the implementation of poverty alleviation and development strategies. President Xi Jinping pointed out that development is the main way to eliminate poverty. Poor areas should proceed from reality, adjust measures to local conditions, understand what to grow, what to raise and how to increase income, and help villagers find a good way to eliminate poverty and become prosperous.24 This is an exposition of the input and output of poverty alleviation.

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“The Whole Party and Country Work Hard to Fight against Poverty.” People’s Daily, 2015-1129(1). 24 “Deepen Reform and Opening-up and Promote Innovation-driven Development to the Realization of the Economic and Social Development Goals.” People’s Daily, 2013-11-6(1).

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2.3 Giving Full Play to Endogenous Development Power and External Input Power on Poverty Alleviation The power of poverty alleviation comes from endogenous development power and auxiliary power of external input. Endogenous development power is fundamental, external input power is auxiliary, endogenous power is the basis, and external input power is complementary. To follow the path of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics, China must cohesively and fully utilize these two powers. China should not only give full attention to the fundamental and prioritized role of endogenous development power but also make full use of the auxiliary role of external input power. China’s goal is to realize the effective connection of fundamental and auxiliary power, the combination of basic and complementary power, and finally realize the combination of endogenous development power and external input power. First, China should stimulate endogenous development power. In poverty alleviation, allocating related funds is important, but improving the productive capacity of poor households is more important. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “The development of poverty-stricken areas depends on endogenous development power. If a village is relieved through changing its appearance, while its internal vitality is weak, the labor force will not return, and there is no sustained economic source, the next step of development in the village is still problematic.”25 President Xi Jinping emphasized that, in the report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC, “We will pay particular attention to helping people increase confidence in their own ability to lift themselves out of poverty and see that they can access the education they need to do so.” President Xi Jinping not only emphasized the importance of endogenous development power but also pointed out that in the process of poverty alleviation, efforts should be made to seek sustained and good strategies for effectively shaking off poverty in terms of endogenous development power. Development must rely on its own endogenous driving force, which is the practical experience of China’s reform and opening up over the past 40 years and is also applicable to current poverty alleviation and development. To get rid of poverty and become rich depends on the hard work of the poor people, who need to be organized to participate in the decisionmaking, implementation and supervision of poverty alleviation projects, improve the ability of self-organization and self-development, improve the productive capacity and enhance endogenous power and development vitality. Poverty-stricken areas should stimulate their aspirations and endogenous power to eliminate poverty to build up a more energetic spiritual state, a more solid work style, self-reliance and struggle and to gather a strong force to win the battle against poverty. The principal role of the poverty-stricken households should be respected and all kinds of poverty alleviation projects and activities should be carried out to closely meet the needs 25

Xi, Jinping. Speech on Inspection of Poverty Alleviation and Development in Fuping County, contained in Hebei Province. Being a Secretary of the County Committee as Jiao Yulu. Central Party Literature Press, 2015, pp. 17–18.

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of the poor people, the poor people are encouraged to explore innovative ways and means of poverty alleviation. Second, China should make full use of external input power and effectively promote the combination of endogenous power and external input power. President Xi Jinping emphasized that getting rid of poverty and becoming rich is not only concerning poor areas but also the whole country. It is necessary to mobilize and rally various forces in a broad and effective way. In the report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to implement cooperation in poverty alleviation between the eastern and western regions of China. To strengthen cooperation and support for poverty alleviation between the eastern and western regions, the eastern region should not only provide funds and materials but also promote cooperation at the industrial level and promote the flow of the talent, funds and technology to poor areas to achieve positive results. China should strive to promote precise docking among counties and explore paired assistance between townships and administrative villages. On the basis of economic development, cooperation should be expanded in education, culture, health, science and technology. China should intensify industry-led poverty alleviation efforts and focus on improving the self-development of poor areas. To promote the orderly transfer of eastern industries to the west, China should take industrial cooperation and complementary advantages between eastern and western industries as a new way to deepen supply-side structural reform and boldly explore new ways of cooperation between these regions. President Xi Jinping stressed that poverty alleviation cooperation and targeted support between the east and the west are the major strategies to promote balanced, coordinated and common development of the regions, the main layouts to strengthen regional cooperation, optimize industrial layout, expand new space for opening up to the outside world, and are the main measures to achieve the goal that the people who have grown rich in advance help others to achieve common prosperity.26 At the same time, China should strengthen exchanges and cooperation with developing countries and international institutions on poverty alleviation. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “The establishment of a new type of international cooperation for poverty reduction centered on win–win cooperation is an important guarantee to eradicate poverty.”27 “Our country tightened its belt to assist developing countries in hard times. Facts have proven that our efforts at that time have accumulated valuable benefits today. We should not fuss over this thing rather playing an active role in international poverty reduction and establishing a responsible large country image, which is the most important thing. We should guide officials and people to correctly understand and treat poverty alleviation.”28 26

“Focusing on Precise and Deepening assistance to ensure effective coordination of poverty alleviation between the East and the West in the new situation.” People’s Daily, 2016-7-22(1). 27 Xi, Jinping. Work Together to Eradicate Poverty and Promote Common Development, contained in Selected and Edited Important Documents since the 18th National Congress (Volume 2), Central Documents Publishing House, 2016, p. 722. 28 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development, contained in Selected and Edited Important Documents since the 18th National Congress (Volume 3), compiled

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3 Implementing Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Reduction Strategy Theory originates from practice, and the ultimate value of theory lies in returning to practice. Targeted poverty alleviation has transformed poverty alleviation from ideology to reality and from theory to practice. Additionally, targeted poverty alleviation has improved President Xi Jinping’s exposition on poverty alleviation from ideological and theoretical systems to strategic practice systems. It is the top priority in the current comprehensive implementation of President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on poverty alleviation to understand the deep meaning of Xi Jinping’s important exposition on poverty alleviation and development, clarify its definition and reason, and determine how to fully rely on and effectively implement targeted poverty alleviation strategy.

3.1 Targeted Poverty Alleviation is the Essence of President Xi Jinping’s Important Exposition on Poverty Alleviation Both the change and transformation and the significant deepening of targeted poverty alleviation were formed by President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on poverty alleviation. In December 2012, during his inspection of poverty alleviation work in an old revolutionary area of Fuping, Hebei Province, President Xi Jinping pointed out that “We should look at real situation, find real poverty, know about real situation in poverty-stricken areas through typical examples, just as recognizing a whole leopard through its spot. This is conducive to correct decision-making.”29 To help poor villagers get rid of poverty and become rich, China needs to take targeted measures that are corresponding to each household’s condition .“30 The essence of President Xi Jinping’s metaphor of not using “hand grenades to bomb fleas” aims to implement targeted poverty alleviation. On June 18, 2015, President Xi Jinping gave a comprehensive, deep and systematic exposition of “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” at a seminar of leading members of some provincial and municipal Party committees in Guizhou, pointing out that “Precision is the key to poverty alleviation, and precision decides success or failure”. On October 16, President Xi Jinping, in his keynote speech at 2015 Poverty Reduction and Development Forum, reiterated the “Six Precisions and Five-channel Project” of poverty alleviation strategy and by the Party History and Documentation Research Institute of the CPC Central Committee. Central Party Literature Press, 2018, p. 51. 29 Xi, Jinping. Speech on Inspection of Poverty Alleviation and Development in Fuping County, Hebei Province, contained in Being a Secretary of the County Committee as Jiao Yulu. Central Party Literature Press, 2015, p. 13. 30 Xi, Jinping. Speech on Inspection of Poverty Alleviation and Development in Fuping County, Hebei Province, contained in Being a Secretary of the County Committee as Jiao Yulu. Central Party Literature Press, 2015, p. 21.

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made it clear to the international community: “The important measures China has taken in the poverty alleviation is to implement targeted poverty alleviation strategy, find causes of poverty, suit methods to the situation, and carry out targeted solutions.”31 On November 27, 2015, President Xi Jinping expounded the significance, guiding ideology, objectives, tasks and major measures of poverty alleviation at the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development, and put forward clear requirements to promote poverty alleviation in the following five years. To date, President Xi Jinping’s important exposition on targeted poverty alleviation has formed a system. Targeted poverty alleviation has become a core practice, path and strategy of poverty alleviation strategy that decides the political direction, fundamental system and development path of the Party and the country and concerns the “five-sphere integrated plan”, the “four-pronged comprehensive strategy” and the accomplishment of socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

3.2 Following a Practical Path of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Specific practical strategies for targeted poverty alleviation include “one principal line, three roles ne integration, four practices and dimensions, five-channel project and six precisions”. Effective promotion of poverty alleviation strategies must follow the practical path of and implement the practical strategy of targeted poverty alleviation. “One Principal Line”—the target of targeted poverty alleviation practice strategy, that is, to follow the practical path and strategy of targeted poverty alleviation, take targeted poverty alleviation strategy as the command, mobilize the whole Party, country and social forces to focus on poverty, and ensure that by 2020 all poor areas and population will enter a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The targeted poverty alleviation practice strategy must center on this main line, and the whole country should work together and ensure that it does not deviate from the goal. Otherwise, it will fundamentally affect the implementation of poverty alleviation practices, as well as the advancement of targeted poverty alleviation practice strategies. “Three Roles in One Integration” is the core participant of targeted poverty alleviation practice with serious attention to the role of government, market and society, and adhering to the pattern of great poverty alleviation, which combines special poverty reduction actions with industrial and social efforts, and takes various measures. Poverty alleviation is the common responsibility of the whole party and society as a whole. China should mobilize and rally all social forces to participate, give full play to the role of government guidance and market mechanisms, improve relevant policies through investigation, establish a social poverty alleviation service platform, 31

Xi, Jinping. Work Together to Eradicate Poverty and Promote Common Development, contained in Selected and Edited Important Documents since the 18th National Congress (II), Central Documents Publishing House, 2016, p. 720.

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and encourage and guide all kinds of enterprises, social organizations and individuals to actively participate in poverty alleviation and development. While investing more in poverty alleviation and development, the government should streamline administration and delegate power, transform functions, in top-level design of poverty alleviation, create a good environment for market entities, attract all kinds of resource elements and allocate them to poverty-stricken areas, and various market entities to invest in poverty-stricken areas. The government, market and society are the three main bodies of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The effective implementation of poverty alleviation must require the joint efforts of three main bodies. The government is the core performer of poverty alleviation, and poverty alleviation needs the government to play a central role, while the market and social entities are the important participants in poverty alleviation and the main complementary force. “Three Roles in One Integration” of government, market and society requires that the government not only plays a decisive role in the practice of poverty alleviation but also provides a convenient internal and external environment and adequate guarantees for the effective participation of the market and society in poverty alleviation to guide and encourage the active participation of the market and society. “Four Practices and Dimensions”—basic principles and precise guidance of targeted poverty alleviation practice strategy. “Four Practices” means to carry out leadership responsibility conscientiously with adhering to the leadership of the Party and giving full play to the advantages of the socialist system that can concentrate on major tasks; to achieve targeted poverty alleviation-poverty alleviation and development with focuses on precision, which is the key to success; to strengthen social joint efforts—poverty alleviation which is the common responsibility of the whole Party and society, and it is necessary to mobilize and allay the whole society to participate; to strengthen community organizations in which doing a good job in poverty alleviation, community is the foundation. Ultimately, it is necessary to achieve targeted “four dimensions”, namely, the precision of targeted poverty alleviation targeting, the precision of policy implementation, the precision of the implementation results and the precision of external force. Targeted poverty alleviation practice needs principle guidance but more precise guidance. Adhering to the “Four Practices and Dimensions” will be conducive to the accuracy and efficiency of targeted poverty alleviation practice and will also ensure the accuracy and convenience of the targeted poverty alleviation practice. The “Five-channel Project” is the effective action of targeted poverty alleviation practice strategy and refers to poverty alleviation through supporting production and employment to improve productive forces of poor people: poverty alleviation through relocating and resettling–helping poor people move out of the poor areas; poverty alleviation through ecological protection–ecological compensation nurturing poor areas; poverty alleviation through education, that is, developing vocational education and technical training to enhance employment skills; poverty alleviation through the guarantee of social security–ensuring that no one is left behind. The key to the “Five-channel Project” lies in the idea of classified policy implementation based on people, places, poverty causes and poverty types. This is an innovation in the thinking on poverty alleviation of socialism with Chinese characteristics in

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the new era and the fundamental path for solving problems in poverty alleviation. The “Five-channel Project” is both the action and the core content of the targeted poverty alleviation practice strategy. The establishment of the “Five-channel Project” defined the effective actions for poverty alleviation practice, facilitated the effective implementation of the practice, provided an important reference for practice at the grassroot level, and objectively regulated poverty alleviation practice at the grassroot level, thus effectively avoiding unreasonable performance. “Six Precisions” refers to the specific methods and guidance of targeted poverty alleviation practice strategy, precise support to the poor, precise project arrangement, precise use of funds, precise measures to the household, precise dispatch of people to the village, and precise effect of poverty alleviation. President Xi Jinping pointed out that to complete the work of establishing relevant archives of poor households and distributing poverty cards in the whole country, China should know about the family conditions of poor households; China should differentiate different situations and take appropriate measures to reduce poverty.32 The proposal of “six precisions” further clarifies the specific methods and strategies of targeted poverty alleviation practice and makes targeted poverty alleviation theory more practical, more operable, more specific and more understandable. Generally, all aspects of the targeted poverty alleviation practice approaches interact and depend on each other, forming an integrity that is inseparable, and must be effectively connected. Whether the approaches of the targeted of poverty alleviation practice is effective or not depends on whether China can achieve unity in diversity and whether China can adhere to unity in diversity.

4 Innovating the System and Mechanism of Poverty Alleviation Effective implementation of poverty alleviation strategy, especially following the practice path of implementing targeted poverty alleviation, should not only eliminate the existing institutional barriers, but also strive to seek innovation in the system and mechanism, so as to establish and improve a more effective system and mechanism that is more in line with the reality of socialist poverty alleviation with Chinese characteristics in the new era, thus removing institutional obstacles to poverty alleviation and development.

32

“Enable the Chinese People to Enter a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects—A Record of the Party Central Committee’s Concern for Poverty Alleviation, with Xi Jinping as Its General Secretary.” People’s Daily, 2015-11-27(3).

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4.1 Breakthroughs and Innovations of the Local Assessment System and Mechanism For a long time, the local assessment system and mechanism, which is economic development--oriented, has overemphasized the importance of economic growth, putting economic indicators first as crucial in the assessment system and mechanism. This has led local governments and officials to give the top priority to economic development. As the proportion of poverty alleviation in local assessments is small, it is difficult to attract the attention of local governments. At the same time, the proportion of economic indicators in the assessment is too large, which leads to a serious lack of enthusiasm for local governments to devote to poverty alleviation and development. To innovate the system and mechanism of poverty alleviation, China must first make breakthroughs and innovations in the assessment system and mechanism of poverty-stricken areas. President Xi Jinping pointed out that to reform and innovate the system and mechanism of poverty alleviation, especially the assessment mechanism, the improvement of poor people’s living standards in poverty-striken areas should be taken as the main assessment indicator to evaluate officials’ performance in their official roles.33 China must highlight the role of poverty alleviation and development in the assessment of regional political achievements, appropriately weaken the existing economic assessment indicators, correspondingly strengthen the indicators of poverty alleviation and support the poor to get out of poverty and become prosperous. On the one hand, if the governments of poor areas are liberated from heavy assessment of economic indicators, they will devote more to poverty alleviation; on the other hand, through increasing the proportion of poverty alleviation indicators, the governments of poor areas will focus on and invest more in poverty alleviation.

4.2 Breakthroughs and Innovations of the System and Mechanism of Assistance and Support for Officials Settled in Villages The system and mechanism of assistance and support for officials living in villages is an important part of the working mechanism of poverty alleviation and development, and it is also the guarantee of giving full attention to the external input power. Before the 18th National Congress of the CPC, there were also different mechanisms of assistance and support for officials living in villages, which are nominal and formal support without practical effects. At present, the implementation of targeted poverty

33

“Win the Battle Against Poverty to Build a Moderately Prosperous Society in All RespectsDeeply Studying and Implementing Xi Jinping’s Important Speech Spirit on Poverty Alleviation and Development.” People’s Daily, 2014-4-9(7).

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alleviation and reduction strategies calls for improvements in the old system of officials’ assistance in villages. President Xi Jinping, in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Party, pointed out that “Adhere to a working mechanism that the central government makes overall plans, provincial governments take the overall responsibility and county governments are responsible for the implementation to ensure that poverty reduction staff settle down to the villages, strengthen a responsibility system that is established for top leaders of local Party committees and governments in the poverty reduction work, and insist on the pattern of great poverty alleviation.”34 To innovate the working mechanism of assistance and support for officials living in villages, China must stress their roles at the provincial, municipal, county and township levels, in accordance with the requirements of “poverty alleviation to each household and certain people assume responsibility.” On the basis of supporting measures such as establishing relevant archives of poor households and distributing poverty registering cards, planning and formulation, introducing resources, raising funds, implementing projects, supervising and managing, team building and so on, China should attach importance to sustainable assistance, establish a mechanism of assistance and support for officials living in villages and further highlight the role of industrial assistance. At the same time, China should ensure the measure implementation of guranteeing the officials to settle in villages, establish and improve the matching incentive and punishing systems, and make the assessment long-term and institutionalized.

4.3 Breakthroughs and Innovations of the Poverty Alleviation Investment System and Mechanism Poverty alleviation and development must seek breakthroughs and innovations in the investment system and mechanism and must build a diversified investment system and mechanism to form a joint force of poverty alleviation and development. President Xi Jinping pointed out that poverty alleviation are the common responsibility of the whole Party and society, and China should mobilize and rally all social forces to participate. China should adhere to the pattern of great poverty alleviation with “Three in One”, which systematically combines special poverty alleviation and special poverty reduction actions with industrial and social efforts, and support each other. Therefore, first, China should increase the central and provincial financial investment in poverty alleviation, properly increase the proportion of poverty alleviation and development in the allocation of financial funds by local governments, and adhere to the main and leading role of government financial investment in poverty alleviation and development. Second, on the basis of increasing the government’s financial investment in poverty alleviation step by step, China should establish and

34 “ Xi

Jinping Talks about Poverty Alleviation.” People’s Daily (Overseas edition), 2016–11–1(7).

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improve a mechanism that requires the market and society to invest in poverty alleviation and development. China should take various measures to expand the investment of financial and social capital in poverty alleviation. Through establishing and improving incentive mechanisms such as policy guidance, public opinion publicity and tax preferences, and through village-enterprise co-constructed activities with the theme of “thousands of enterprises help thousands of villages”, so as to mobilize and guide the market to actively participate in poverty alleviation and development, gradually form an effective coordination, collaboration and supervision mechanism that the whole society participates in poverty alleviation efforts, and encourage and guide the society to participate in poverty alleviation. By innovating the system and mechanisms, such as the information platform of social poverty alleviation and care, China can make an effective link between social support and the needs of poor households come ture.

4.4 Breakthroughs and Innovations in the System and Mechanism of Supervision and Assessment of Poverty Alleviation Funds Poverty alleviation requires further improving the supervision of poverty alleviation funds and investment, the dynamic monitoring of poverty and the evaluation mechanism of comprehensive performance. China should insist on first plan-making, selecting the best projects, standardizing project declaration, project establishment, approval and performance evaluation systems. China should strengthen the supervision of poverty alleviation funds, strictly implement the special financial account management system of poverty alleviation funds, the direct management system of centralized treasury payment projects, the reimbursement management system, and the mid-term evaluation and end-year performance assessment system of the funds operation of poverty alleviation projects. China will develop and establish an e-government platform for provincial poverty alleviation systems; strengthen the collection, collation, feedback and exchange of poverty alleviation information; and establish and improve the feedback mechanism and the early warning mechanism for poverty alleviation. China should establish and improve the assessment mechanism of poverty alleviation responsibility of departments and industries, reform the assessment methods, and implement the comprehensive performance evaluation method with “third party” assessment as the main and self-assessment as the supplement. China should perfect information on poverty alleviation by improving a unified and open information management system covering poverty-stricken areas and contiguous poor areas and opening up poverty alleviation. Real-time and dynamic management will be achieved on information about poor households, poor populations, poverty alleviation projects, poverty alleviation funds and officials settled in

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villages. To realize the information management of poverty alleviation and development business, China should rely on information system to achieve real-time monitoring and warning of all aspects of poverty alleviation.

Chapter 9

Accelerating Ecological Civilization Construction in Rural Areas Fawen Yu

President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (NCCPC) that China needs to “speed up the reform of the system for developing an ecological civilization to build a beautiful China”.1 The 19th NCCPC has clarified the goal of developing China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by 2050, and the goal has been incorporated into the Amendment to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China adopted by the Second Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China. This has further reflected the great practical significance and profound historical influence of building a beautiful China, deepened the Party’s understanding of the law of socialist development, offering fundamental rules and guarantees for building a beautiful China and achieving lasting and sustainable development of the Chinese nation. The report of the 18th NCCPC has also clearly pointed out that “We must give high priority to ecological civilization construction and incorporate it into all aspects and the whole process of advancing economic, political, cultural, and social progress, work hard to build a beautiful country, and achieve lasting and sustainable development of the Chinese nation”.2 From the strategic perspective of the five-sphere integrated plan, President Xi Jinping has put forward such a series of new thoughts, viewpoints and judgments 1

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 50. 2 Hu, Jintao. Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects—Report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2012, p. 39. F. Yu (B) Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_9

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for ecological civilization construction as that “the rise or fall of a civilization is closely tied to its relationship with nature” and that “the construction of ecological civilization is closely bound to the lasting and sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the realization of the Two Centenary Goals, protecting the ecological environment is protecting productivity and improving the ecological environment is increasing productivity”,3 which gives directions to rural ecological civilization construction. “Pursuing a rural revitalization strategy,” which has also been pointed out in the report to the 19th NCCPC, has provided historical opportunities for fully promoting the construction of ecological civilization in rural areas.

1 Strengthening Ecological and Environmental Protection in Rural Areas President Xi Jinping has pointed out that building an ecological civilization is a strategic priority for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is closely related to Chinese people’s well-being and Chinese nation’s future.4 In 2015, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee deliberated on and approved the Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress, stressing that the reform for promoting ecological progress needs to follow six principles, and one of them is to hold an integrated environmental governance system for rural and urban areas. The report of the 19th NCCPC has pointed out that China needs to “put in place sound systems, mechanisms, and policies for promoting integrated urban–rural development, and speed up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas”.5 All of these discussions, plans and policies are of great importance for accelerating the construction of ecological civilizations in rural areas.

1.1 Regarding Ecological and Environmental Quality as a Key for Measuring the Progress of Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects Since the policy of reform and opening up was adopted, China has witnessed great achievements in social and economic development in rural areas. However, severe 3

Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches. Xuexi Publishing House and People’s Publishing House, 2016, pp. 231, 233–234. 4 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Thirty Lectures of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xuexi Publishing House, 2018, p. 242. 5 Xi Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 32.

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ecological and environmental issues have emerged at the same time, becoming key problems that must be solved in rural ecological civilization construction. Therefore, China should, based on the reality of the rural ecological environment, according to the requirements of the Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress, strengthen rural ecological and environmental protection, improve the quality of both the ecological environment and environment of production and living for rural residents, and promote coordinated development of ecological civilization construction in rural and urban areas. The 18th National Congress of CPC has put forward the strategic goal of “Building a Beautiful China”. The “beautiful countryside” initiative, which has been implemented since 2013, doubtlessly has played a major role in achieving this goal. The initiative also serves as a key point to promote the construction of ecological civilization in rural areas and an important reflection of improving the social well-being of rural residents. As GDP continuously increases, residents’ consumption concept has changed greatly. Rather than material needs before, people are now paying more attention to ecological needs, such as increasing needs for clear water, fresh air, safe foods, sound environments, etc. The ecological environment is playing an increasingly important role in evaluating the life happiness index of the population, and environmental issues are becoming major issues concerning people’s livelihoods. As President Xi Jinping said when he paid an inspection visit to Hainan on April 8–10, 2013, “a sound ecological environment is the fairest public product and holds the most inclusive benefits to people’s well-being.”6 The report to the 19th National Congress of CPC pointed out that “As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved and what China now faces is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.”7 The needs for a better life is related to the ecological environment. Especially in the progress of promoting the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the ecological environment is a major part and an important indication for measuring its progress. For this, President Xi Jinping has summarized that “the ecological and environmental quality is a key index for measuring the progress of the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects”.8

6

“Sound Ecological Environment Offers Most Inclusive Benefits to People’s Well-being—On Ecological Civilization Construction.” Guangming Daily, 2014–11–7(1). 7 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 11. 8 “Environmental Issues Becomes the Bottleneck of Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects.” China Environmental Newspaper, 2015–3–12(1).

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1.2 Protecting the Ecological Environment to Benefit Generations to Come Attaching great importance to rural ecological and environmental protection, President Xin Jinping has discussed the importance and necessity of long-term ecological and environmental protection in rural areas. Xi has stressed that “man and nature form a community of life; we, as human beings, must respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it”.9 “Protecting the ecological environment will benefit generations to come. We must clearly recognize that ecological environmental protection and environmental pollution governance are urgent and arduous and that strengthening ecological civilization construction is important and necessary. With great responsibility for our coming generations, we need to put more effort into overcoming difficulties to fully promote ecological construction. All of these will provide our people with a sound ecological environment of production and living.”10 These remarks have scientifically explained the intergenerational equity of development from the perspective of sustainable development strategy. In January 2015, President Xi Jinping pointed out that when he paid an inspect to Yunnan Province, China would never promote economic growth at the expense of sacrificing the ecological environment. Protecting the ecological environment is a long-term task that needs tireless efforts. China needs to take ecological environmental protection seriously from a macro, long-term, integrated and comprehensive point of view and should never sacrifice the health of the environment in the pursuit of limited, short-term goals.11 In the progress of promoting new rural construction and beautiful countryside construction, some places are found to have introduced too many modern and city symbols, being divorced from reality and lacking local characteristics. On January 20, 2015, President Xi Jinping pointed out when he paid an inspect to Yunnan Province that the new rural construction should be promoted in accordance with the reality and development laws of rural areas so as to fully reflect rural features of which rural flavors are kept with lush mountains and lucid waters to make people sick for their hometowns. China needs to protect Erhai well, ensuring that the beautiful natural scenery of picturesque Erhai and Cangshan lasts forever.12 Xi also stressed that “protecting the environment with lush mountains and blue sky is improving people’s livelihood and letting them live with happiness in a beautiful home. We must protect this planet like our own eyes, and cherish nature the way we cherish

9

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Thirty Lectures of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xuexi Publishing House, 2018, p. 243. 10 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches. Xuexi Publishing House and People‘s Publishing House, 2016, p. 233. 11 “Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas.” People’s Daily, 2015–1–22(1). 12 “Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas.” People‘s Daily, 2015–1–22(1).

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life, making sure that we will never pursue economic development at the expense of damaging the ecological environment.”13 On May 25, 2015, President Xi Jinping said when he paid an inspection and investigation visit to tourist farmhouses in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province that the place, being a natural oxygen bar, promoted the development of a “beauty economy”, which proves that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.14

1.3 Green Mountains are Mountains of Gold To strengthen the concept of rural ecological and environmental protection, President Xi Jinping pointed out that “We want to have not only mountains of gold, but also mountains of green. If we must choose between the two, we would rather have the green than the gold. And in any case, green mountains are themselves gold mountains.”15 This vision has become a basic rule for China to build an ecological civilization and a beautiful China. On May 24, 2013, President Xi Jinping stressed in the sixth session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that “We need to handle well the relationship between economic growth and ecological and environmental protection, uphold the concept that protecting the ecological environment is protecting productivity and improving the ecological environment is increasing productivity, and be more conscious to promote green, circular and low-carbon development, never pursuing quick economic growth at the expense of sacrificing the ecological environment.”16 In the congratulatory letter to Eco Forum Global Annual Conference Guiyang 2013, Xi said that “embracing a new era of ecological civilization and building a beautiful China are major parts in the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation; guided by the principle of respecting nature, following its ways, and protecting it, China will carry out the fundamental national policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment, be more conscious to promote green, circular and lowcarbon development, and incorporate the construction of ecological civilization into all aspects and the whole process of advancing economic, political, cultural, and social progress to develop spatial layouts, industrial structures, and ways of work and life that help conserve resources and protect the environment, leaving an environment of production and living with blue sky, green earth and lucid water for the generations to come.”17 On May 27, 2015, in the symposium of chief responsible leaders of Party 13

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches. Xuexi Publishing House and People’s Publishing House, 2016, p. 233. 14 “Make Tireless and Pragmatic Efforts to Make New Progresses.” People’s Daily, 2015–5–28(1). 15 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches. Xuexi Publishing House and People’s Publishing House, 2016, p. 230. 16 Xi, Jinping. The Governance of China: Usher in a New Era of Ecological Progress. Foreign Languages Press, 2014, p. 209. 17 Xi, Jinping. The Governance of China: Leave to Our Future Generations Blue Skies, Green Fields and Clean Water. Foreign Languages Press, 2014, pp. 211–212.

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committees of seven provinces in East China held in Zhejiang Province, President Xi Jinping pointed out that coordinated and green development are both concepts and strategies which need corresponding policies and measures to be put in place. The spatial layouts of work, life and the ecological environment need to be rational and scientific, and ecological and environmental protection need to be promoted step by step, thus making a sound ecological environment a growth area in increasing people’s living quality and a driver of growth for improving China’s international image. This thinking provides direction to promote the development of the rural economy, strengthen the protection of the rural ecological environment and advance the construction of rural ecological civilizations. The pursuit of humans developing in harmony with nature and harmony between economic growth and social development is, generally speaking, pursuing “two mountains”—not only mountainous invaluable assets but also lucid waters and lush mountains. The “two mountains” are contradictory but dialectically united with each other. In the process of China’s social and economic development, the understanding of the relationship between the “two mountains” has experienced three phases. The first phase was that pursuing mountainous regions as invaluable resources at the expense of sacrificing “lucid waters” (water resources) and lush mountains (the surrounding environment). Driven by GDP, China rarely considered the carrying capacity of the environment, exploiting resources without limit, which resulted in severe damage to ecological resources and serious pollution of the environment. The second phase was not only pursuing mountainous invaluable assets but also protecting lucid waters and lush mountains. After the first phase, the conflict among economic growth, resource scarcity and environmental deterioration began to emerge, people began to recognize that the environment is the fundamental basis for survival and development, and that the saying, “where there are lush mountains, there is hope,” rings true. The third phase is realizing that lucid waters and lush mountains can endlessly generate invaluable assets. Actually, lucid waters and lush mountains are exactly invaluable assets. The sound environment with evergreen trees in China could become financial and economic advantages. China can turn the advantages of the ecological environment to that of economic growth and develop a harmonious and integrated relationship between environmental protection and economic growth. Compared with the first two phases, the third phase is of a higher spiritual realm. The relationship between invaluable assets and lucid waters and lush mountains provides guidance for China to correctly handle the relationship between economic growth and ecological and environmental protection, which is a requirement of sustainable development and a key priority to promoting green development and advance ecological civilization construction.18 President Xi Jinping’s “Two Mountains’ Discussion” highly summarized the relationship between lucid waters & lush mountains and mountainous invaluable assets, giving directions to China’s social and economic development and ecological and environmental protection practices. 18

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Thirty Lectures of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xuexi Publishing House, 2018, pp. 244–245.

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1.4 Taking Holistic Measures of Protecting the Environment to Ensure National Ecological Security In rural ecological and environmental protection, China needs to keep in mind the “red line” for ecological protection. A red line for ecological protection is the bottom line and lifeline for national ecological security that cannot be crossed; otherwise, national ecological security, people’s production and living and national sustainable development will be threatened. In the past forty years, since the reform and opening-up policy was adopted, China’s environment and ecology have been severely damaged. If the strictest ecological restoration measures were not taken, the foundation of sustainable development would face serious threats. Recent years have witnessed increasing ecological and environmental limits. President Xi Jinping stressed that “In ecological and environmental protection, red lines can never be crossed or there will be terrible consequences”.19 It is in geographical space that ecological progress can be advanced. Guided by the principle of maintaining balance among population, resources and the environment, and promoting integrated economic, social and ecological benefits, China should take holistic measures for population distribution, economic layout, land use and ecological and environmental protection and make rational plans for production, living and ecological environment space, leaving more room for nature to achieve self-renewal, more farmland for farmers, and a beautiful homeland for the future generations with green earth, lucid water and blue sky. In this way, Chinese people can produce and live in a sound ecological environment with lush mountains, lucid waters and fresh air. In protecting national ecological security, regions of great ecological importance need to be protected with more attention. On August 25, 2016, President Xi Jinping pointed out when he paid an inspect to Qingdao that China needs to work holistically to promote ecological projects, energy conservation and emissions reduction, environmental remediation and the building of a beautiful city and countryside, improve natural reserve development, implement the pilot national park at Sanjiangyuan, enhance the environmental protection in and around the Qinghai Lake, the prevention and control of desertification, the construction of alpine grassland, energy conservation and emissions reduction and the integrated management of the environment, and ensure that “lucid waters flow”. In the report to the 19th National Congress of CPC, President Xi Jinping mentioned that “We will carry out major projects to protect and restore key ecosystems, improve the system of shields for ecological security, and develop ecological corridors and biodiversity protection networks, so as to strengthen the quality and stability of our ecosystems”.20

19

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches. Xuexi Publishing House and People’s Publishing House, 2016, p. 237. 20 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, pp. 51–52.

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Ecological resources and environmental issues emerging in social and economic development mostly result from the overexploitation and extensive use of ecological resources by inappropriate ways of production. Therefore, China needs to take resource conservation and resource utilization efficiency improvement as fundamentals to promote the construction of ecological civilization. China needs to keep in mind the concept of low, intensive and recyclable utilization of resources and make major reforms in resource utilization. China needs to focus on the management of resource conservation in the whole process of utilization and control both the utilization amount and intensity of energy, water resources and land for construction, thus largely improving the comprehensive benefits of resource utilization.21 President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report of to the 19th NCCPC that “We should, acting on the principles of prioritizing resource conservation and environmental protection and letting nature restore itself, develop spatial layouts, industrial structures, and ways of work and life that help conserve resources and protect the environment; with this, China can restore the serenity, harmony, and beauty of nature”.22 On May 24, 2013, President Xi Jinping stressed making great efforts to advance ecological civilization construction in the sixth session of collective learning by the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC that China needs to launch major projects for restoring the ecosystem and increase our capacity for producing ecological products. A sound ecological environment is the fundamental basis for sustainable human and social development. Chinese people are paying great attention to environmental issues. China needs to focus on addressing those major issues that are harmful to people’s health, emphasize prevention of ill-health, implement integrated management, and improve pollution prevention and control of water, air and soil, etc., making great efforts to advance the control and prevention of air pollution in key industries and areas. All measures to enhance ecological and environmental protection in these key areas and fields can contribute greatly to the construction of ecological civilizations in rural areas.

2 Promoting Green Development of Agriculture 2.1 Paying Attention to Balancing the Speed, Quality and Efficiency of Green Development of Agriculture Since the rural reform has been carried out for 40 years, the development of agriculture has achieved great achievements, but the ecological environment has been 21

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches. Xuexi Publishing House and People’s Publishing House, 2016, p. 238. 22 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, pp. 50–51.

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severely damaged. With rapid industrialization and urbanization, pollution in the environment due to agricultural production becomes much more severe, further threatening the quality and security of agricultural products and the health of domestic consumers. Xi Jinping’s words have offered a higher standard for and given directions to the future development of agriculture in China: “We will never promote economic growth at the expense of sacrificing the ecological environment”23 ; “A sound ecological environment is the fundamental basis for survival and health… we need to implement the Food Safety Law, improve the food safety system and strengthen supervision of food safety to strictly control every step of the production progress from fields to tables.“24 ; “… we will use the tightest standards, the most stringent regulatory measures, the strictest punishment and the most serious accountability to ensure that our people’s ‘every bite of food is safe’.”25 All of these Xi Jinping’s important remarks have offered a higher standard for the future development of agriculture in China and its direction. Pursuing the green development of agriculture is a concrete strategy of sustainable development in agriculture. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “the ecological environment is the fundamental basis for economic growth and social development; development should be the comprehensive development of the whole economy and society which is coordinated and sustainable.”26 In addition, Xi has stressed that “…the economic growth and increasing GDP are not what we only seek for; we also need to pay close attention to promoting social progress and cultural development, especially development in humanity, resources and the environment; we need to not only put great efforts to today’s development, but also take the responsibility for tomorrow’s, providing a sound fundamental basis and sustainable resources and environment for the future development.”27 For agricultural production, sound ecological resources and the environment serve as important guarantees for the quality and safety of agricultural products. The green development of agriculture is a fundamental approach to achieving quality and safety of agricultural products. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “We have entered a new phase of development which seeks not only solving problems of food and clothing, but also accelerating the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically achieving modernization ahead of time; we cannot care only about the speed of the development, the quality and efficiency needs to be taken into consideration at the same time; we should never promote development without plans and goals, resulting in severe environmental pollution 23

“Strive to Win the Battle Against Poverty and Speed Up Social and Economic Development in Ethnic Minority Areas.” People’s Daily, 2015–1–22(1). 24 Xi, Jinping. The Governance of China II: Promote a Healthy China. Foreign Languages Press, 2017, p. 372. 25 Xi, Jinping. Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I): Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference. Central Party Literature Press, 2016, p. 673. 26 Xi, Jinping. “Ecological Wellbeing Benefits the Development of Civilization—Promote Ecological Construction for a Green Zhejiang.” Qiushi, 2003 (13). 27 “Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets—Selection of Xi Jinping’s Important Statements During His Visit in Zhejiang Province.” Zhejiang Daily, 2015–4–17(3).

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and leaving heavy burdens for our future generations, but should make an overall plan for humans developing in harmony with nature to maintain the balance among population, resources and the environment.”28 For agricultural production, output is no longer the only thing China pursues. The quality safety of agricultural products has become the primary goal of agricultural development, with both the safety of quality and quantity needed.

2.2 Paying Attention to Coordinating the Protection of Water and Soil Resources The protection of water and soil resources is the core of green development of agriculture. The nature is a system of interdependence and mutual impacts. President Xi Jinping pointed out that mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, farmland, and grassland form a community of life in which these natural and ecological elements such as human beings, land, water, mountains, soil and trees are all interdependent. If the governance of these elements is not coordinated with each other, there will be systematic damage in the whole ecological environment. China needs to keep in mind the inherent laws of the integrated ecosystem, take into consideration each natural and ecological element, including the ecology of land, mountains, soil, oceans, waters upstream and downstream, etc., promoting holistic measures for the overall protection, systematic restoration and integrated management of ecosystems.29 Particularly against the background of rapid industrialization and urbanization, increasing water quality and cultivated land resources need to be configured to non-agricultural fields, such as industrial production and urban construction. Water and soil resources are suffering increasing pollution in agricultural production. The Communique of China’s Environment 2016 pointed out that in 2016, China set up 2767 state-level control sections (points) covering the main streams of major rivers and level 1 and 2 tributaries, key lakes and reservoirs, and 1940 of them were state-level inspection sections. The results of surface water quality monitoring indicated that there were 47 category I water quality sections, accounting for 2.4% of the total; 728 category II sections, accounting for 37.5%; 541 category III sections, accounting for 27.9%; 325 category IV sections, accounting for 16.8%; 133 category V sections, accounting for 6.9%; and 166 category V water quality sections, accounting for 8.6%. The underground water quality monitoring results indicated that 45.4% of all monitoring points suffered worse water quality and 14.7% suffered the worst water quality. For cultivated land, the area of medium-quality cultivated land amounted for 45.1% and that of low-quality cultivated land was 27.8%. On March 7, 2016, President Xi Jinping pointed out that when he joined the deliberation with deputies from Heilongjiang 28

Xi, Jinping. We Want GDP but Green GDP. Zhijiang Xinyu, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 200, p. 37. 29 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Thirty Lectures of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xuexi Publishing House, 2018, p. 248.

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Province at the fourth session of the 12th National People’s Congress, China needs to strengthen ecological civilization construction to leave enough space for sustainable development and a beautiful homeland for the future generations with blue sky, green earth and lucid water.30 Xi also stressed that “…the environment treats humans the way humans treat it; when we are friendly to the environment, it will be friendly to us; but if we pollute it, it will be angry and revenge human beings someday; this is an objective law of nature and will never change because of individual will.”31 The report to the 19th National Congress of CPC has again pointed out that “Man and nature form a community of life; we, as human beings, must respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it; only by observing the laws of nature can mankind avoid costly blunders in its exploitation; any harm we inflict on nature will eventually return to haunt us; this is a reality we have to face.”32 The ecological restoration of water and soil resources provides new potential for the green development of agriculture. President Xi Jinping pointed out in the Illustration on the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Important Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform that “We must carry out the use regulation and ecological restoration under the guidance of natural laws… it is necessary that there should be a department to be responsible for applying regulation of the whole geographical space in our territory and to make great efforts into integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland and lakes.”33 Those words are full of dialectics and humanistic care. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has put forward that China needs to accelerate the establishment of the system of main functional areas and make it a basic system for developing and protecting the geographical space. Opportunities for China’s green development are growing. China needs to pursue green development and make the shift to resource-conserving and eco-friendly practices as the mainstream way of the work and life. China needs to strengthen ecological governance, focus on environmental quality improvement, implement the strictest environmental protection system, deepen measures for controlling and preventing air, water and soil pollution, and carry out a system in which the central environment watchdog directly oversees the activities of environmental protection sectors below the provincial level. The report to the 19th National Congress of CPC has pointed out that China needs to speed up the prevention and control of water pollution and take comprehensive measures to promote the governance of river basin environments and offshore areas. China needs to strengthen the control of soil pollution and the restoration of polluted 30

Central Party Literature Research Office. Selection of Xi Jinping’s Statements on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects. Central Party Literature Press, 2016, p. 68. 31 Xi, Jinping. Make Great Efforts to Build an Environmental-friendly Society. Zhijiang Xinyu, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 2007, p. 141. 32 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 50. 33 Xi, Jinping. “Description of the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Important Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform.” People’s Daily, 2013–11–16(1).

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soil, intensify the control and prevention of agricultural pollution from nonpoint sources, and take measures to improve rural living environments.

3 Accelerating Forestry Reform and Development Forestry development is an important part of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and a major measure for the construction of ecological civilization. President Xi Jinping pointed out that in the complex ecosystem, forestry serves as a basis for safeguarding national security and coordinating the integrated management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland and lakes. He has also stressed that forestry is essential to the sustainable development of the economy and society, and since forests stand at the top of ecosystems, so to save the earth starts from saving the forests.34 As a major part and important resource of terrestrial ecosystems, forests are ecological guarantees of great importance for human survival and development.

3.1 Forests Take at a Strategic Position in Ecological Civilization Construction From the perspective that forest ecosystems guarantee national ecological security, forests play a very important role. As early as 2014, President Xi Jinping said that “As a major part of terrestrial ecosystems, forests are the most fundamental resources for the survival of countries, nations and humans; forests concern the security of survival, fresh water, homeland, species and the climate and even a country’s diplomacy; we need to take this into consideration from the view of the Chinese nation’s development, leaving a beautiful homeland for our future generations as well as good reputation of our great contribution in the history.”35 From the perspective of natural resources, forest ecosystems have provided abundant resources. President Xi Jinping said that “As A a major part and important resources of terrestrial ecosystem, forests are ecological guarantees of great importance for humans’ survival and development; we cannot imagine that what the earth and human will be without forests.”36 Forests provide extensive ecological functions. President Xi Jinping said that “Forests can beautify the environment and facilitate water and soil conservation,

34

“Use Polices to Prevent Ecological Damage from Powers.” China Green Times, 2015–8–25(1). “For the Lasting and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Nation—Documentary of President Xi Jinping’s Concerns about Ecological Civilization Construction.” People’s Daily, 2015–3-10(1). 36 Xi, Jinping. The Governance of China: A Better Environment for a Beautiful China. Foreign Languages Press, 2014: 207. 35

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wind prevention, sand resistance, and climate regulation, thus achieving a virtuous cycle of the ecological environment”.37 Forestry development holds an important role in the function of forest ecosystems in relation to social and economic development, playing an important part of constructing a well-rounded, moderately prosperous society, as measure of ecological civilization. President Xi Jinping has pointed out in the Up and Out of Poverty that “Forests can serve as reservoirs, banks and granaries; we need to think about forestry’s ecological and social benefits from a view of beautifying and purifying our environment and providing our people a sound living environment.”38

3.2 Forest Resources Still Face Severe Challenges Compared with global forest resources, China’s forest resources face severe challenges, which indicates that there is great potential for China’s forestry to improve. On April 4, 2014, President Xi Jinping stressed that when he participated voluntary activities of tree planting in Beijing that “We have done a good job in artificial afforestation for a long time; now there are more trees and lush mountains and our people have much more awareness of afforestation; yet we must recognize that China’s natural resources are not in balance with its natural resource endowment, and both the quantity and the quality of China’s forests are far from enough in the perspective of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and people’s wish for a sound environment.”39 On April 3, 2015, President Xi Jinping stressed again when he participated in Beijing voluntary activities of tree planting that “In the perspective of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and people’s wish for a sound environment, the ecological environment still faces severe challenges and there’s a long way to go for us to solve the protection and construction problems; we need to take urgent and tremendous society to address the construction problem of lacking and vegetation.”40 Moreover, the urgent need for the construction of ecological civilization brings new opportunities for forestry development. Serious situations and problems of the ecological environment have led to more urgent improvements in the environment. On April 5, 2014, President Xi Jinping pointed out when he took participation in Beijing voluntary activities of tree planting that “From the 18th NCCPC to the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th NCCPC and in the 13th Five-Year Plan, it is always stressed that China needs to strengthen the ecological civilization construction, and now it has

37

Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 83. Xi, Jinping. Up and Out of Poverty. Fuzhou: Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 83. 39 “Xi Jinping’s First Discussion about the Relationship between Forestry and the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects.” Zhejiang Forestry, 2016 (4). 40 “Xi Jinping’s First Discussion about the Relationship between Forestry and the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects.” Zhejiang Forestry, 2016, (4). 38

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been kept deeply in our mind.”41 The urgent need for the construction of ecological civilization brings forestry development not only so many new opportunities, but also ever-difficult and complicated ecological construction tasks in the history. According to the Major Results of the Eighth National Forest Resource Survey (2009–2013), both the quantity of China’s forest resources and quality of its forests have continuously increased, but there are still so many problems. China’s forest coverage is only 21.63%, much lower than the average level of the rest of the world (31%), and China’s per capita forest area accounts for one quarter of the world’s, while its per capita stock of timber accounts for one seventh of the world’s, indicating stubborn issues of the shortage, unsatisfied quality and non-balanced distribution of the forest resources. At the same time, the destruction of forest resources can still be seen at the pace of economic and social development. China continues to face great pressure to hold the red lines for forestry protection. The balance between forests’ supply and increasing social demands still needs to be improved.

3.3 Forests are the Core of National Ecological Security One of the most important measures to build a beautiful China is to restore the ecological environment. As a major approach for increasing forest resources and ecological environment restoration, afforestation needs extensive participation by everyone and continuous efforts from every generation. On April 4, 2014, President Xi Jinping said when he participated in Beijing voluntary activities of tree planting that the people of all ethnic groups and all generations should consistently love, plant and protect trees and construct, protect and develop China’s forest resources well so as to make great contribution to the building of a beautiful China. Forestry development is a fundamental basis for the sustainable development of the economy and society. Every citizen should actively take participation in planting trees, and officials at all levels should set examples as volunteer tree planters. China needs to take advantage of the policy that everyone should contribute to reforestation as much as possible, make scientific plans to plant trees with full consideration of local environments, increase artificial reforestation and both the quantity and quality of forests, improve the environment’s capacity for harmonizing ecological relations, and to protect every piece of green.42 On April 3, 2015, President Xi Jinping stressed again when he participated in Beijing voluntary activities of tree planting that reforestation is an important approach in the pursuit of a sound ecological environment with blue sky, green earth and lucid water, and brings the most inclusive benefits to people’s well-being. China needs to keep motivating everyone to take participation in reforestation to make Chinese 41

“Xi Jinping’s First Discussion about the Relationship between Forestry and the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects.” Zhejiang Forestry, 2016, (4). 42 “All Generations to Come Should Take Consistent Efforts to Love, Plant and Protect Trees.”People’s Daily, 2014–4–5(1).

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people keep in mind that everyone should actively contribute to building a beautiful China.43 On April 5, 2016, President Xi Jinping further stressed when he participated in Beijing voluntary activities of tree planting that “The officials at all levels should set examples as volunteer tree planters to promote the new development concept for the whole society; China needs to remember the old Chinese saying that ‘one generation plants a tree; the next sits to take a rest in its shade.’ By planting trees for our future generations, increasing the quantity and quality of forests, and good management of forest resources, people will enjoy a more beautiful environment of living with green earth and mountains.”44 From a strategic perspective, China needs to carry out forestry development from the view of national ecological environment optimization rather than by isolated measures. On January 26, 2016, President Xi Jinping stressed at the 12th meeting of the central finance and economy leading group that forests concern national ecological security. So China needs to promote reforestation, uphold that everyone should voluntarily plant trees, strengthen the construction of key forestry projects and implement a new round of returning farmland to forest. Led by the principles of prioritizing resource conservation and letting nature restore itself, China needs to take equal care about the quantity and quality of forests, regarding quality as more important than quantity and improve it. In addition, China needs to keep closing hillsides to facilitate reforestation, and promote artificial reforestation at the same time. The plan for the protection of natural forests needs to be improved to give China directions to take appropriate measures for the improvement of the quality of forests according to different situations. China needs to carry out the building of “forest cities” to strengthen reforestation in urban areas to the largest extent possible. The periphery of urban areas also needs to be reforested by fully making use of land that is less suitable for cultivation. For city clusters, good reforestation can expand ecological space. China needs to make great efforts to build national parks, protect the authenticity and integrity of the natural ecosystem and leave our future generations with a natural heritage and legacy. The report of the 19th NCCPC has pointed out that “We will improve the system for protecting natural forests, and turn more marginal farmland into forests and grasslands”.45 “We will establish a system for developing and protecting territorial space, improve supporting policies on functional zones, and develop a nature reserves system composed mainly of national parks.”46

43

“Keep Motivating Everyone to Take Participation in Afforestation Encourage People to Actively Contribute to Building a Beautiful China.”People’s Daily, 2015–4–4(1). 44 “Advocate the Spirit That ‘One Generation Plants a Tree; the Next Sits in Its Shade’ and Plant More Quality Trees and Well Manage Forest Resources.”People’s Daily, 2016–4–6(1). 45 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 52. 46 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered

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3.4 Ecological Protection and Economic Development Shall Be Considered as Whole in the Development of Forestry China needs to promote forestry development steadily from a systemic view, according to the laws of the ecosystem. President Xi Jinping has particularly stressed that “Mountains, rivers, forests, farmland and lakes form a community of life”, which fully reflects the view of systematic theory and explicates the internal laws of the natural ecosystem. It is the fundamental basis for forestry development. China needs to implement forestry reform, which aims to protect and develop forest resources and achieve both forestry development and increase farmers’ income at the same time. As early as 2001, Xi Jinping, governor of Fujian Province then, regarded the Reform of Collective Forests Right System as a well-being project with great importance and thought highly of it. After paying an inspection and investigation visit to Wuping County, he made a historic decision that “We need to transfer the Reform of Collective Forests Right System from the foot of mountains to mountains, just like how we dealt with the implementation of Household Contract Responsibility System”. President Xi Jinping holds that the goal of forestry reform is “to improve both the ecological environment and people’s livelihood”. China needs to formulate a new system of state forestry areas and farms that facilitates the protection and development of forest resources, the improvement of both the ecological environment and people’s livelihood and the enhancement of vitality for forestry development. China needs to build new socialist forestry areas with stability and harmony, that feature increasing resources, forestry productivity and workers’ income in a sound ecological environment.47

4 Strengthening Water Resource Utilization and Protection Water resources are the origin of life and the foundation of environmental health, so to achieve water resources’ efficient utilization and effective protection is not only a major step to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society, but also a strategic move concerning the implementation of the ecological civilization construction strategy, the healthy survival and sustainable development of humanity and the advancement of human society. From the strategic view of the lasting and sustainable development of the Chinese nation, President Xi Jinping has analyzed the situation of water resources in China, discussing the extreme importance of sustainable water resource use, explaining the overall requirements for securing national water security, and specifically putting forward new approaches for water governance for the new at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 52. 47 “For the Lasting and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Nation—Documentary of President Xi Jinping’s Concerns about Ecological Civilization Construction.” People’s Daily, 2015–3–10(1).

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area, which provides directions to strengthen water governance and achieve water security in China.

4.1 Recognizing the Strategic Importance of Water Resources From the Perspective of Overall Development China is short of water resources, with the per capita water resources in China accounting for only one quarter of that in the world. The situation of water resources shortages results from both the ecological environment and the social economy. In this regard, President Xi Jinping has pointed out that “one major cause” for water resource shortages “is that the area of ecological space for water conservation largely reduces, which means ‘the basin’ for conserving water is shrinking, then the precipitation cannot be conserved and kept.”48 Particularly, in large rock desertification areas with high precipitation, due to the lack of effective water conservancy projects, rainwater cannot be conserved to be used effectively, which results in seasonal droughts. On February 26, 2014, President Xi Jinping pointed out when he was informed about works on the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, where water shortage has been a severe challenge in North China, felt that if China doesn’t attach enough importance to the protection of ecological space such as forests, lakes and wetlands for water conservation and continue to over exploit groundwater, nature will revenge China more severely.49 For agricultural production, since water resources serve as one of the most fundamental ecological elements, China must guarantee the quality of water resources for agricultural production. Therefore, China must strengthen water conservancy projects in farmland, especially the “last kilometer” project. In March, 2011, Xi Jinping, then vice president of China, stressed when he paid an inspection and investigation visit to Hunan Province, that water conservancy is the lifeline of agriculture; China needs to pragmatically strengthen the construction of farmland irrigation and water conservancy and promote the construction of major hydro junctions and water conservancy projects, thus continuously improving the capability to fight against natural disasters and allocate water resources.50 This is the key to securing China’s agricultural production and food safety. In the past, Chinese people didn’t think highly enough of water resources protection, lacking systematic water resources governance approaches and effective control measures. Although there were some measures taken, desired accomplishments didn’t come because of the lack of scientific governance approaches. Just as what 48

“For the Lasting and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Nation—Documentary of President Xi Jinping’s Concerns about Ecological Civilization Construction.” People’s Daily, 2015–3–10(1). 49 “For the Lasting and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Nation—Documentary of President Xi Jinping’s Concerns about Ecological Civilization Construction.” People’s Daily, 2015–3–10(1). 50 “Strengthen and Improve Party Building with More Energetic Spirit to Pursue a Good Start to the 12th Five-Year Plan.” People’s Daily, 2011–3–24(1).

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President Xi Jinping has pointed out that since China didn’t do enough systematic research on water resources governance, and “We need to, from now on, search new governance approaches from an overall perspective rather than with limited sights.”51 These words reflect systematic theory, which gives direction to carrying out scientific and effective water resources governance.

4.2 Following the Instructions for Water Governance by President Xi Jinping The Water Governance Policy of “giving priority to water conservation, paying attention to spatial balance, thinking highly of systematic governance, and making efforts from both the government and market” put forward by President Xi Jinping is not only a summary of the experience of China’s water resources governance practice but also a development of water resources utilization theories, which is of great and profound significance for the sustainable utilization and governance of water resources. Giving priority to water conservation is based on China’s reality of water resource shortages and the low efficiency of water resource utilization. China needs to improve water resource utilization efficiency by advocating that everyone to saves every drop of water to foster a consciousness of saving water in the whole society to achieve the goal of obtaining the most economic, social, and ecological benefits by consuming the least water resources. Paying attention to spatial balance is that China needs to persist in making plans and taking measures with enough consideration of local water resources situations, determine cities’ locations and production by water resources, inspect the relations among the population, economy and resources and environment from the perspective of ecological civilization construction, and strengthen laws and regulations for water resources and environment protection. Systematic governance requires that China coordinates various natural and ecological elements and organically integrate water resource governance with the governance of mountains, forests and farmland to address issues concerning water resources. China needs to make use of the coordinated efforts from both the government and the market, allowing the market to play a decisive role in water resource allocation and the government to play a better role in overall planning, policy guidance and protection for water security. Under the macro background of global climate change, China faces even more severe challenges to achieving water security and faces more difficulties with higher standards of water governance. Therefore, China needs to deeply study and understand President Xi Jinping’s major discussions about water governance, following the requirements of his Water Governance Policy, carry out research on theories of water governance, and put forward more specific plans, measures and strategies. In addition, China needs to pragmatically implement measures of water governance, thus providing a more substantial guarantee of water security for realizing the great 51

“For the Lasting and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Nation—Documentary of President Xi Jinping’s Concerns about Ecological Civilization Construction.” People’s Daily, 2015–3–10(1).

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rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and leaving the future generations with enough resources and space for survival and development.

4.3 Taking Scientific Planning as the Guidance for Water Governance China needs scientific planning to coordinate and guide the progress of water resource utilization and protection. Making a scientific and overall plan of water resource utilization and protection is fundamental work of importance to coordinate and guide water resource utilization and protection progress and a strategic principle to lead the protection of water security. On the basis of the overall plan, China needs to gradually make and improve various specific plans, including the water conservancy development plan, water resources plan, underground water exploration plan, rural drinking water security plan, water ecology protection and construction plan, and water and soil conservation plan. Both the overall plan and specific plans need to coordinate with the overall regional social development plan as well as specific plans in other fields, thus achieving coordination among all the plans and making the plans play their roles of guidance.

4.4 Taking the Improvement of Water Resource Utilization Efficiency as the Premise of Water Governance President Xi Jinping stressed that water governance includes multiple parts, such as development and use, governance and allocation, conservation and protection. At present, with water saving being the key part, China needs to prioritize her vision, viewpoint, measures taken and many other aspects. The real situation of China’s water resources also asks for the acceleration of fundamentally promoting the transition of water utilization methods from extensive to intensive methods. To improve the efficiency of water resource utilization, society as a whole needs to firmly uphold the vision that water resources are scarce resources, foster a sound atmosphere of loving, cherishing and saving water, and gradually turn the vision of giving priority to water conservation into pragmatic actions. Moreover, aiming at the characteristics of water utilization in different departments, such as agriculture, industry, urban and rural sectors, China needs to develop further specific implementation measures.

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4.5 Taking Water Ecological Construction and Protection as the Core of Water Governance Water ecological construction and protection are the essence of water governance. China needs to harness natural resources within the carrying capability of the environment, cut down the damage to the environment as much as possible, and take rational and appropriate efforts for ecological and environmental restoration. President Xi Jinping pointed out that there is a certain total amount of fresh water in the environment, but in a specific country or region, the amount of its usable water resources is not certain and is decided by not only precipitation but also the size of the “basin” for conserving water. Enlarging the “basin” is the key to achieving the sustainable utilization of water resources. Actually, the “basin” is the water ecology. China needs to systematically coordinate water governance with the governance of mountains, forests and farmland to emphasize the integrity of governance. China needs to foster a water ecology in which stored water, perched water and flowing water can be compatible with flood drainage, flood discharge and flood surge prevention, change methods for flood prevention and drought resistance from simply and separately draining and drawing water to coordinately storing, perching and discharging water at the same time. China needs to be aware that it is unwise to separate flood prevention and drought resistance; in other words artificial projects and natural restoration should not be isolated from each other. These discussions perfectly reflect systematic theory in the field of water resource utilization and governance as well as the new practice of water governance.

4.6 Taking the Management Mechanism and System Innovation as the Guarantee of Water Governance The water resource management mechanism and system need to be improved and innovated continuously to adapt to new circumstances and address new emerging problems. President Xi Jinping pointed out that to safeguard water resource security, China needs to let the market and government fully play their roles in the systematic restoration of the ecological environment, enlargement of the ecological space, water savings, water pollution control and many other aspects and determine what can be done by the market mechanism and what should be done by the government. As water resources serve as public products, the government needs to be clear about its position and function in water resource utilization and management and keep improving and innovating water resource management mechanisms and systems away from the business that should be done by the market. To let the government fully play its role in resource management is to implement the strictest water resources management system, keep the three red lines for water resources protection, formulate a scientific measure system for water use efficiency, enhance water use quota and plan governance, and establish a system for compensating water ecological damage

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of river basins; to let the government fully play its role in resource management is to build an evaluation system of the water quality in water environment function zones, advance the third party evaluation system of the water quality in water environment function zones, and strengthen the supervision on water environment function zones; to let the government fully play its role in resource management is to innovate the water resources management system, take great efforts to address the difficulties that “water resources governance, water pollution control and water resources supervision are done by respective and independent departments without cooperation and coordination”; to let the government fully play its role in resource management is to strictly enforce the law of water resources management, make enterprises which pollute water resources severely hold criminal responsibilities and Party’s local major leaders be accountable. It is advised to let the market play a decisive role in water resource allocation, innovate the investment mechanism of both water conservancy construction and business model, and strengthen the role of water prices with economic means in water resource utilization according to the specific conditions of water resource shortage.

Chapter 10

Strengthening Social Governance in Rural Areas Cheng Mao

An important part of the discourse of President Xi Jinping on agriculture, farmers, and rural areas (Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers) in China is to strengthen the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and rural governance. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Central Committee of Communist Party of China with Xi Jinping at the core has stressed that China must strengthen the leadership of the CPC on issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers and social governance in rural areas. The CPC has a tradition of strengthening the leadership of the work on the Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers, which serves as a basic guarantee for achieving and maintaining agricultural prosperity, rural stability, and a good life for farmers. President Xi Jinping emphasized that China cannot lose tradition.1 Better social governance in China’s rural areas and the implement of an innovative, transformative pattern and way of rural governance should and must be included for the implementation of the strategy of modernizing the national governance system and capacity. Moreover, it is also the only way for China to effectively address rural social issues, resolve rural social contradictions and modernize the rural governance. President Xi Jinping had a comprehensive analysis of the prominent problems facing social governance in rural areas, emphasized the importance of strengthening and innovating social governance in rural areas, and elaborated on the direction and ways of social governance in rural areas from systematic, comprehensive and lawbased administration at the Central Rural Work Conference in 2013. Strengthening social governance in rural areas is not only an inevitable requirement of the thorough 1 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the Central Rural Work Conference, from Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 685.

C. Mao (B) Rural Economic Research Institute, Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan, China e-mail: [email protected] © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1_10

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implementation of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, but also a crucial strategy and key path for an effective response and solution to the problems facing the work on Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers.

1 The Significance of Strengthening Social Governance in Rural Areas Since the reform and opening up, China has witnessed major changes taking place in rural areas, and the modernization process of rural society has seen rapid promotion. While seeing great changes, rural areas have also witnessed challenges arising from modernization. Social governance in rural areas has recorded a trend of spiral escalation not only from the period that traditionally counties governed themselves while defying imperial power to the period of the people’s commune in the rural areas that were integrated under the guidance of the state, but also from rural governance since the reform and opening up to the modernization of rural governance since the 18th National Congress of CPC. This is evidenced by the fact that the way of rural governance has changed from initial rule-control management to today’s governance in terms of the connotation and nature of governance as well as the way and strategy of governance. Currently, whether in China or in Western countries, theoretical research and governance practices have continued to develop, with metagovernance and modernization of governance becoming increasingly popular. In this process, it is inevitable for countries to reform their state powers and missions. As a result, the concept of service-oriented government has enjoyed widespread support. The actual requirements of reforming governance and the theory and practice of explorating modernized governance demand that China must achieve modernized reform of rural governance characterized by service-centered and diverse private participation. There are clear-cut requirements in the 19th National Congress of the CPC that China needs to refine the social governance system featured by the leadership of the CPC, with local, regional, and national governments assuming responsibilities, social cooperation, and public engagement as well as the guarantee of the laws.2 Thus, China can forge a pattern of social governance featuring joint participation and shared benefits. China must meet the needs of the times, conform to the direction and trend of the reform and developments, and strengthen the social governance in rural areas, which are not only the actual requirements of the development of the issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers but also satisfaction to the needs of the times.

2

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 49.

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2 People-Centered Development Orientation Shall Be Taken President Xi Jinping pointed out in the Party’s report to the 19th National Congress of CPC that China must hold principal position of the people in the country and commitment to serving the public good and exercising power in the interests of the people, practice the fundamental principle of serving the people wholeheartedly, and use the Party’s mass line in all the work of governance of China. In addition, China should also make the goal the people’s yearning for a better life and rely on people to create historical achievements.3 President Xi Jinping further showed in the first plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee that seeking happiness for the people is the original aspiration of the CPC members. Thus, China should keep it in her mind all the time and make the goal the people’s yearning for a better life. The 19th National Congress of CPC made an overall arrangement for improving people’s livelihood. China should adhere to the highest standard of realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of people, support them to create a better life, deliver more benefits of reform and opening up to all the people in a fairer way. All these measures are designed to enable people to feel happier, more secure and more satisfied, and have more guarantees and sustainability, thus keeping moving forward toward the goal of achieving prosperity for all.4 The people-oriented development orientation demands that officials at all levels give priority to satisfying farmers’ work and life needs, improving rural peoples’ livelihood and gradually narrowing the urban–rural gap, thus having equal access to basic public services in urban and rural areas. Looking back at history, Chinese people found that the core of reforming social governance in rural areas from rule-control management in the past to governance modernization lies in achieving fundamental changes from focusing on maintaining social stability in rural areas by controlling farmers in the past, to serving farmers and satisfying their growing needs for a better life to realizing the harmony and development of rural society. China must be fully prepared to focus on farmers’ service needs and safeguard their fundamental interests when strengthening social governance in rural areas. President Xi Jinping pointed out that although there is one word difference between governance and management in Chinese characters, China must aim at maintaining the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, try all means possible to add harmonious factors and social development vitality, and improve social governance to advance

3

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 21. 4 Xi, Jinping. “Speech at the First Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee.” Qiushi, 2018(1).

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the building of a safe China. Only in this way can China safeguard national security and ensure people a good life and social stability and order.5 He added further that stability in rural areas is closely linked to the immediate interests of all farmers. Social governance in rural areas needs to be strengthened and innovated. When doing so, China needs to improve people’s livelihood as the primary goal, thus forming the development synergy of social undertakings in rural areas. Only in this way can China ensure people’s access to education, medical services, elderly care, and housing.6 He stressed that when improving people’s livelihood, China must focus on the most direct, realistic problems related to people’s immediate interests that they are most concerned about and7 China must insist that everyone does her or his duties and enjoys the benefits accordingly. China also needs to meet basic needs, prioritize key areas, improve institutions, guide public expectations, improve the public service system and ensure the basic living standard of the people. Beyond that, China must keep meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and promoting social equality and justice, thus forming effective social governance and sound social order. Only in this way can China enable people to feel happier, securer, and more satisfied and ensure that these good business could be guaranteed and continued forever.8 China must promote the integrated development of urban and rural compulsory education and value rural compulsory education if China is to insist on the peoplecentered development orientation; China also needs to refine the basic aged-care insurance system in urban and rural areas, unify the basic medical insurance system for non-working urban and rural residents and the serious illness insurance system. China needs to coordinate the urban–rural social-assistance systems and improve the care and service system for children, women, and elderly left behind in rural areas. China must mobilize all the people in the country to stick to targeted poverty alleviation and reduction and win the battle against poverty. China needs to focus on the strategy of revitalizing rural areas in China, attach greater importance to problems from villages only with the senior left, resolve the problem of low agricultural comparative benefits and advance environmental treatment in rural areas. All these are designed to build a happy home and beautiful countryside for farmers.

5 Reader of President Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches edited by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. Xuexi Publishing House &People’s Publishing House, 2014, p. 116. 6 “Xi Jinping Chairs the Forum on Rural Reform.” People’s Daily (Overseas version), 2016–4-29(1). 7 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 45. 8 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 45.

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3 Attention Shall Be Paid to the Effective Connection Between the Systematic Governance and the Source Governance President Xi Jinping pointed out that better social governance in rural areas lies in systematic and law-based management from the source as well as comprehensive and effective administrative measures.9 The four kinds of management have inherent logic relationships, reinforcing and complementing each other. An effective connection is needed between systematic and source governance. First, China needs to achieve diverse reforms and synergistic cooperation of the social governance body in rural areas. President Xi Jinping stressed in the Party’s report to the 19th CPC National Congress that China needs to build a model of social governance featuring joint participation and shared governance and benefits.10 China stressed in the past that social governance in rural areas mainly depended on the single administrative authority of the local, regional, and national governments with partial emphasis and too much dependentce on governments. At present, improving social governance in rural areas, which changed from management to modernized governance, demands that while giving more attention to the role of the government, China must mobilize and guide active participation of the markets and social subjects in social governance in rural areas. Thus, China could build a diverse social governance system in rural areas, in which governments, markets, and society are included to achieve a synergistic cooperation. Thus, China needs to further improve the system and mechanisms of social governance in rural areas. In the Party’s report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China needs to strengthen the building of the social governance system, improve the social governance system with the Party committees as leadership, governments assuming responsibilities, the whole society cooperating, and public engaging so as to raise the governance level featuring socialized, legalized, intelligentized, and specialized.11 In order to improve the social governance system, China must give full play to the national government’s role in coordinating, supervising, and serving the social governance in rural areas, make channels smooth for farmers to express concerns and protect their interests, and perfect the mechanism of coordinating and protecting farmers’ interests. Beyond that, China also needs to help farmers with exercising their rights and expressing

9

“Let Farmers Have Options to Manage the Lands.” Xinhua Daily, 2016–4-29(1). Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2007, p. 49. 11 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2007, p. 49. 10

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their appeals in a rational way. China needs to move faster to reform the management system of social organizations and attract the active participation of market players and the people in social governance and the public service supply in rural areas through policy incentives and guidance, thus unleashing social vitality and strengthening the force of the social governance subject. As a result, China could compensate for the deficiency of governments in social governance in rural areas. At the same time, China also needs to strengthen the building of the basic system of social governance and make great breakthroughs in building a nationwide population information database, unifying the social credit code system and related real name registration system, and improving the social credit system. In addition, China needs to adhere to the governance from the source on the basis of systematic governance, making governance change form passive to active. “We need to stick to govern from the source, address both the symptoms and root causes of the problem with the focus on the root causes, and make grid management and social governance in the right direction. Beyond that, we also need to improve the governance platforms of comprehensive service at the grassroots level. By doing these things, we can address the various interest appeals of the masses in a timely manner.”12 All those mentioned above are pointed out in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform passed in the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. The past has witnessed heavy responsibility and passive response of governments and low efficiency of management due to overemphasis and overdependence on governments, as Chinese people relied only on governments. Beyond that, China took stopgap approaches and failed to address both symptoms and root causes of the problems. The emphasis on systematic governance and the insistence on governance from the source are good “prescriptions” for maladies appearing in rural social management in the past and new conditions, circumstance and changes facing rural areas in social governance at present. Only through governance from the source and focus on the root causes of the problem can China resolve social contradictions in rural areas and eliminate them from the source so as to improve the social governance in rural areas and achieve the modernization of the governance.

4 Attention Shall Be Paid to the Effective Combination of Law-Based Governance and Comprehensive Governance Law-based governance is not only the precondition, basis, and guarantee of improving social governance in rural areas but also the inherent requirement of 12

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, from Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 539.

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rule by law. To fully promote the rule by law is an essential requirement and an important guarantee of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The general objective of fully advancing the law-based governance is to build a legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and a socialist country under the rule of law. Those have been pinpointed as great goals at the 19th National Congress of the CPC.13 In the new area of the full advancement of law-based governance, rural areas are the basis, emphases, and difficulties of advancing law-based governance. Therefore, China must strengthen the social governance in rural areas, do more work on governance based on law, and achieve the outcomes in getting legalized the social governance in rural areas so as to have a better social governance there. First, China needs to refine laws and regulations to make social governance in rural areas have laws to abide by. The unsound and imperfect laws and regulations concerning social governance in rural areas are the greatest obstacle to law-based social governance in rural areas, since the precondition of law-based governance is sound laws and regulations are available. President Xi Jinping stressed in the Party’s report to the 19th CPC National Congress that China must move fast to establish laws in a sound, democratic, and legally compliant way in a bid to promote the development and safeguard good governance via these sound laws.14 China must make top design well for the law-based social governance in rural areas and form a law and regulation system for social governance in rural areas that can be used constantly and from top to bottom. Party committees at all levels need to establish and improve various laws and regulations well suited for the needs of regional development and ensure that social governance in all aspects has laws to abide by. This can be achieved by combining the conditions of social governance in rural areas at present and following the basic principles of adapting measures to local conditions. Second, China needs to keep improving the law-based governance capacity of Party organizations at all levels and all members of the CPC. Beyond that, China also needs to constantly promote the quality of Party organizations and all the CPC members for law-based governance, and lead them to establish the concept of the law that the constitution and law are paramount and everyone is equal before the law, thus having them take the lead in observing, learning, following, upholding, and using the law. To that end, party organizations at all levels and all CPC members must use the thought and mode of rule of law to do a good job in the work on issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers and effectively exercise various powers of social governance in rural areas to regulate various malpractices of social governance in rural areas. President Xi Jinping underscored on many occasions that officials at all levels need to improve their abilities to use the thought and mode 13

Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 19. 14 Xi, Jinping. Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 19.

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of the rule of law and make progress in all the work on the rule of law to build an enviable environment where people deal with affairs and defuse contradictions in line with laws.15 He also called for that Party organizations and the officials of the CPC members at all levels should set an example of enforcing the law, keep improving the capacity and level of the law-based exercise of the state power, and constantly advance the institutionalization and legalization of various activities concerning the governance of China.16 This is the frame of law-based governance that is a must for a modern country and the basic requirements of modernization of governance capacity and system. Therefore, Party organizations and all CPC members need to make more efforts to promote activities concerning publicity and education of the rule of law to raise the legal sense of farmers and improve their consciousness of following and abiding the law. This can be evidenced by the important discourses by President Xi Jinping on the advancement of the building of peaceful villages, towns, and rural areas, the launch of crackdown on security problems, and leading farmers to follow and use the law consciously.17 At the same time, while stressing law-based governance, China must attach importance to comprehensive governance. This means that China needs to regulate social behavior, adjust interest relationships, and coordinate social relationships with moral restraint and psychological counseling so as to solve social problems. Social governance in rural areas can achieve the desired effect and make governance more efficient and elaborate only through the combination of the rule of law and the rule of virtue, the two ways of rule that have supplemented each other from time immemorial. “We need to stick to comprehensive governance, strengthen moral restraint, regulate social behaviors, adjust interest relationships, and coordinate social relationships to resolve social problems.”18 This was pointed out in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform passed at the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. It is stressed that based on law-based governance, China also needs to give full play to comprehensive management with rule of virtue as a supplement to improve the governance mechanism. President Xi Jinping has a clear indication in the Party’s report tothe 19th CPC National Congress that China needs to strengthen ideological and moral education to enhance the role and effect of the 15

Xi, Jinping. Speech at the 30th Anniversary of the Implementation of the Existing Constitutions in Beijing Attended by People from All Walks of Life, from Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 92. 16 Xi, Jinping. Speech at the 30th Anniversary of the Implementation of the Existing Constitutions in Beijing Attended by People from All Walks of Life, from Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 92. 17 “Xi Jinping Chairs the Forum on Rural Reform.” People’s Daily(Overseas version), 2016–4– 29(1). 18 Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform, from Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Office of the Literature Research of the CPC Central Committee, the CPC Central Committee Literature Publishing House, 2014, p. 539.

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rule of virtue. He further pointed out that China needs to raise people’s ideological awareness, moral level, and civilization consciousness, thus improving the level of civilization of the whole society. China also needs to launch educational activities in ideas and beliefs, work hard to improve civil morality, and advance the building of social morality, professional ethics, and family virtues as well as personal morality. In addition, China also needs to strengthen and improve ideological and political work, organize more activities concerning spiritual civilization, boost the building of integrity and credibility, institutionalize volunteer services, and raise awareness of social responsibility, sense of rules, and dedication consciousness.19

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Xi, Jinping. Speech at the 30th Anniversary of the Implementation of the Existing Constitutions in Beijing Attended by People from All Walks of Life, from Selection of Important Literature Since the 18th National Congress (Volume I) edited by the Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, Central Party Literature Press, 2014, p. 92.

Postscript

The book Rural Revitalization in China is the final outcome of the study of Xi Jinping’s new thoughts of the governance of China on agriculture and rural areas, one of the subsidiary subject of the Study of Xi Jinping’s New Thought of the Governance of China(Grant No.16Z2D001), the special project of the study on the new concept, thought, and strategy of the governance of China by the Central Committee of the CPC since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party. The book is under the support of the National Social Science Foundation. The subsidiary subject, under the guidance of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group, was jointly completed by the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Science and Hubei Academy of Social Sciences. In terms of the personal structure of the subsidiary subject group, Chen Xiwen acts as the leader; the deputy heads are composed of Han Jun, Wei Houkai (executor), and Song Yaping; Ren Changqing is the cooperator; and Ma Cuiping is the academic secretary. The book is the outcome of joint efforts after many discussions. It is composed of ten chapters. The division of the labor can be listed as follows. The first chapter “Introduction” was written by Ren Changqing. The second chapter “Stabilizing and Improving the Basic Rural Operation System” was completed by Yuan Peng. The third chapter “Deepening Rural Reform” was written by Hu Bingchuan. The fourth chapter “Ensuring National Food Security” was written by Peng Wei. The fifth chapter “Realizing Agricultural Modernization with Chinese Characteristics” was completed by Gao Liangliang. The sixth chapter “Promoting the Development of Urban–Rural Integration” was written by Ma Defu. The seventh chapter “Building a New Socialist Countryside” was completed by Wang Jinhua. The eighth chapter “Implementing Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy” was written by Song Yaping. The ninth chapter” Accelerating Ecological Civilization Construction in Rural Areas “was completed by Yu Fawen. The tenth chapter “Strengthening Social Governance in Rural Areas” was written by Mao Cheng. The writing outline and basic framework, jointly decided by Chen Xiwen, Han Jun, and Wei Houkai, were completed after many revisions and improvements. In the process of writing, all the members of the subsidiary subject held many internal seminars, and a meeting of expert review in Beijing, at which Xu Xiaoqing, Du © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1

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Postscript

Zhixiong, Qin Fu, Lin Wanlong, and [43] Zhang Yuanhong gave their advice on the draft of this book. All the members of the research team submitted a final draft to the general group for approval in April 2017 after making four revisions to the draft based on group discussion and expert opinion. The research team revised and improved the draft according to the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the evaluation of experts and review opinions of higher authorities concerned. All drafts were finally determined by Chen Xiwen and Wei Houkai after four cross readings and modifications by Wei Houkai, Ren Changqing, and Yu Fawen. The staff from the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group Zhao Yang and Luo Dan participated in some of the preliminary work, and Wang Bin collected and sorted out related literature. The book is not only what we have learned from the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era but also the phased achievements from learning the important discourses of President Xi Jinping on Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers. It is a long-term task to learn Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and we need to keep learning and comprehending. We hope readers can offer their advice on the deficiency in this book due to our limitations. The Project Research Group. February, 2019.

References

Works of Chinese Leaders 1. H. Jintao, Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics And Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects--Report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. People’s Publishing House (2012) 2. X. Jinping, A Tentative Study on China’s Rural Marketization (Tsinghua University, 2001) 3. X. Jinping. Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Foreign Languages Press, 2014) 4. X. Jinping, Be a Party Secretary of County Committee of CPC Like Jiao Yulu (Central Compilation and Translation Press, 2015) 5. X. Jinping, Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Volume 2) (Foreign Languages Press, 2017) 6. X. Jinping, Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (People’s Publishing House, 2017) 7. J. Xi, New Words of Zhijiang (Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, Zhejiang, 2007) 8. J. Xi, Up and Out of Poverty (Fujian People’s Publishing House, Fujian, 2014)

Monographs and Anthologies 9. The Collection of Zheng Guanying. Inner Mongolian People’s Publishing House (1996) 10. R. Du, Documentary of Major Decisions on Institutional Changes in China’s Countryside—An Account of Du Runsheng (People’s Publishing House, 2005) 11. R. Guan, 20 Years of Rural Reform in China (Hebei Science and Technology Press, 2016) 12. P. Li, H. Wei, Annual Report on Poverty Reduction of China 2016 (Social Sciences Academic Press, 2016) 13. Department of Rural Economic System and Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Rural Cooperative Management of the Ministry of Agriculture Annual Report on China’s Rural Operation and Management (2015) (China Agriculture Press, 2016) 14. Department of Rural Economic System and Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Rural Cooperative Management of the Ministry of Agriculture. Annual Report on China’s Rural Operation and Management (2016) (China Agriculture Press, 2017)

© China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1

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Index

A A five-channel project (poverty alleviation through the following five channels develop poor people’s own productivity, help them migrate to richer places, provide them with ecocompensation, improve their education, and provide them with social security), 13, 158, 160 Agricultural competitiveness, 82, 89 Agricultural modernization, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 19, 20, 22, 24, 33, 38, 44, 49, 50, 65, 71, 79–85, 87–91, 96, 99, 101–104, 106, 113, 126–128, 136, 141, 142, 199 Agricultural non-point source pollution, 58, 136 Agricultural subsidies, 17, 56–58, 69, 75 Agricultural support and protection system, 47–49, 54, 58, 115 A moderately prosperous society, 1–4, 6, 8–10, 12, 17, 21, 24, 29, 31, 33, 80, 90, 91, 146, 148–150, 152, 159, 168, 169, 175, 178, 179, 182 Appropriately scaled agricultural operations, 20, 49 Assistance and Support for Officials Living in Villages, 162 As the two wheels driving, 109 A Tentative Study on China’s Rural Marketization, 14, 42, 59

B Beautiful China, 133, 135, 167, 169, 171, 178, 180, 181 © China Social Sciences Press 2023 X. Chen et al. (eds.), Rural Revitalization in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9028-1

Beautiful countryside, 23, 51, 80, 107, 121, 122, 124, 132–139, 169, 170, 192

C Central Rural Work Conference, 4, 5, 8, 16, 20, 26, 27, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39, 43, 44, 50, 56, 69, 72, 90, 103, 119, 122, 124, 127, 133, 135–137, 139–141, 175, 189 Collective economy, 16, 32, 42, 43, 47, 48, 52, 53 Collective economy organization members, 32, 34, 35, 38, 54 Collective ownership, 18, 33, 34, 38, 40, 43, 48, 52 Collective property rights, 47, 48, 52, 53 Complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, 21, 113, 121, 127, 167 Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Deepening Rural Reform, 157 Comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials, 57

D Developing agriculture through science and technology, 102, 103 Development concept of innovation, harmonization, green, openness and sharing, 134 Domestic and international markets as well as resources, 74, 75, 101 207

208 E Ecological civilization, 5, 25, 50, 87, 108, 125, 134, 135, 167–172, 174, 177–180, 182, 184, 199 Ecological protection in rural areas, 113 Equitable access to basic public services, 21

F Family farm, 18, 35, 38, 39, 44, 49, 53, 58, 98 Farmer cooperatives, 39, 43 Farmer Specialized Cooperatives Regulations, 15 Farmers settled in urban areas, 116 Farmland capital construction, 9 Five-sphere integrated plan, 25, 87, 159, 167 Food crop production strategy based on farmland Operation and technological application, 103 Four-pronged comprehensive strategy, 7, 127, 147, 148, 150, 159

G Grain output has increased for the twelfth consecutive year, 64 Great poverty alleviation patterns that combine special poverty alleviation special poverty reduction actions with industrial and social efforts, 159, 163 Great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, 80, 141, 147, 159, 168, 185 Green mountains, clear waters, and local culture in rural areas will be protected, 22

H Harmonized development of four modernizations in China, 20, 51 Household contract responsibility system, 29–31, 40, 42, 86, 182 Household operation of production, 8, 18, 31, 35, 100

I Integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, 74, 77

Index Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas, 6, 7, 9, 13, 21, 22, 51, 80, 95, 96, 106–108, 117 Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress, 168, 169 Integrate multiple regulations, 108 Issues relating to agriculture,rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers, 1, 2, 4, 7, 13–16, 19, 26, 30, 59, 132, 134, 140, 147, 149, 190, 189, 190, 195, 200

L Large family farming businesses, 18 Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, 19, 26, 87, 135, 171, 175

M Marxism, 1, 79, 125, 146, 148, 153 Marxist Party, 148 Modernization of agriculture and rural areas, 8, 19, 50, 91, 109, 168 Modern urban agriculture, 94, 95

N National food security, 3, 4, 13, 16, 17, 56, 63, 65–69, 73, 81, 199 New agricultural business entities, 39 New forms of business, 19, 95 New normal of economic development, 6, 19, 23, 89, 99, 136, 137 New professional farmers, 24, 140, 141 New types of agribusiness, 20, 49 No.1 Central Document, 134

P Poverty alleviation, 4, 10, 12, 20, 23–25, 51, 127, 142, 145–164, 192 Poverty incidence, 12 Poverty-stricken areas, 7–10, 24, 44, 142, 154, 156, 158, 159, 161, 164 Poverty-stricken county, 162 Poverty-stricken population, 7, 10, 13, 36, 142, 154, 156, 158, 161, 164 President Xi Jinping’s important words about the Issues relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Wellbeing of Farmers(relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people), 2–6, 13–16, 19, 33, 189

Index Price formation mechanism, 55, 75 Primary-level Party organizations, 26 Prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas, 19, 49, 91, 121 Protect lush mountains and lucid waters well to remind people of their hometown, 172, 173 R Red line for arable lands, 17, 48, 70, 97, 173, 180, 186 Right of land contracting, 40–42 Rural basic operation system, 17, 18, 20, 29, 30, 32, 33, 39, 40 Rural collective economy organization, 16 Rural collective land ownership, 29–31 Rural governance, 20, 26, 51, 189, 190 Rural governance model that combines self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue, 27 Rural infrastructure, 8, 11, 76, 82, 96 Rural land transfer, 38, 42, 98 Rural reform, 3, 16, 30, 33, 37, 40, 41, 43, 45, 47–49, 52, 73, 84, 91, 98, 99, 102, 115, 116, 126, 134, 138, 143, 174, 199 Rural revitalization strategy, 121 Rural vitalization strategy, 1, 19, 21, 47, 128, 137 S Scale economy, 86 Separating Ownership, Contracting right and Operation right"of Contracted Land, 40 Separation of land ownership, right of land contracting and right of land operation, 40

209 Services provided by various sectors of society for agriculture, 20, 43, 44, 49, 58, 60, 61, 76, 102, 119 Socialist new rural construction, 5, 22 Socialized service system, 60, 76 Specialized households, 38, 44 Supply and marketing cooperatives, 15, 43, 59–61, 101, 115 Supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, 19, 20, 69, 73, 74, 76 Sustainable development of agriculture, 70, 91, 133 Sychronic development of four modernizations in China, 4

T Take comprehensive measures, 177 Targeted poverty alleviation and reduction, 24, 157 Transfer of the right to contracted operation, 8

U Up and Out of Poverty, 14, 15, 42, 65, 100, 179 Urban-rural dual structure, 21, 22, 105 Urban-rural integration development, 21, 51, 112, 115, 127

X Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, 2, 50, 79, 80, 87, 90, 105, 145, 146, 190, 200 科技兴农, 84, 102, 104