Lessons from China’s blueprint for rural development in 2023

On February 13, China unveiled its “No. 1 central document” for 2023, outlining nine tasks in comprehensively promoting rural vitalisation this year. As the first policy statement released by China’s central authorities each year, the document is seen as an indicator of policy priorities. Work on agriculture and rural areas has been high on the agenda for 20 consecutive years since 2004.

The document called for enhanced efforts to stabilise production and ensure supply of grain and important agricultural products, to boost the construction of agricultural infrastructure, to strengthen support for agricultural science, technology and equipment, to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation, and to promote the high-quality development of rural industries.

It further highlighted tasks needed to broaden the channels for farmers to increase their incomes and promote their ability to secure wealth, to solidly promote the building of a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in, to improve the rural governance system led by Party organisations, and to strengthen policy guarantees, and structural and institutional innovation.

The document noted that the most arduous and heavy task of building a modern socialist country in all respects still lies in the countryside. With the accelerated evolution of global changes, China’s development has entered a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities, risks and challenges, with increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors. It is extremely important to maintain the bedrock of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” in a solid and healthy manner, as there is no room for error.

The leadership of the Communist Party of China believes that it is necessary to unremittingly consider solving the “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” problems as the top priority of the government’s work, comprehensively promote rural vitalisation and accelerate modernisation of agriculture and rural areas.

In its white paper titled, “China’s Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity”, China spelt out the country’s achievements in rural infrastructure that has made the country grow not only into a major economy, but also eradicate absolute poverty among its 1.4 billion population.

High-quality rural roads that are properly built, managed and maintained, with well-operated passenger and freight services have made a solid contribution to eliminating poverty and creating moderate prosperity in rural areas.

By 2020, all the villages, towns and townships where conditions permit were accessible by surfaced roads and served by buses. Today more than 62.6 percent of rural households are supplied with purified tap water, 46.2 percent of rural households use gas or liquid gas for cooking, and 68 percent of rural households are equipped with sanitary toilets. More than 90 percent of administrative villages have access to domestic waste collection and disposal facilities. More than a quarter of rural households have their domestic sewage effectively treated. Some 80 percent of administrative villages have agriculture-related information service stations.

A new urban-rural relationship is taking shape. Urban development has boosted rural development, and vice versa. The flow and transfer of factors of production between urban and rural areas, including labour, capital, technology and data, has become smoother.

Cities have gradually lifted restrictions on household registration, while policies to promote the flow of talent, capital and technology from urban to rural areas have been formulated or improved. The development potential of rural areas and agriculture is being unleashed. Reform is under way to establish a uniform urban-rural household registration system.

It is becoming easier for people moving from rural to urban areas to gain permanent urban residency. From 2016 to 2020, about 100 million people were granted permanent urban residency. A residence permit system has been implemented, under which permanent urban residents are increasingly covered by basic public services such as compulsory education, medical and health services, skills training, and social security.

Public cultural services in poor areas have also been improved. By the end of 2020, 99.48% of villages in 22 provinces and equivalent administrative units in central and western China had seen their own cultural centers completed. The campaign of bringing culture to the countryside has enriched the cultural life of the rural poor,

The impoverished have a deep desire to rid themselves of the shackles of poverty and achieve prosperity. The poverty relief efforts have not only widened channels for the impoverished to improve their material welfare but rekindled their desire to seek a better life as well. Impoverished people have been inspired to seek prosperity through hard work, self-reliance, frugality and entrepreneurship, and strive for excellence. They are highly motivated and have more confidence about getting rid of poverty. As the Chinese people always say, “Good days come after hard work”.