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Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Major issues on China's rural vitalization
ANBOUND

In China, there is the so-called "San Nong", or "Three Rural Issues", which refers to three issues relating to rural development in Mainland China; these three issues are agriculture, rural areas and farmers. The Central Rural Work Conference focusing on these "Three Rural Issues" will be held in the near future. For the strategy of rural economic development in 2019, the Central Economic Work Conference has set-up its plans and the rural revitalization strategy will be solidly promoted, with four specific key tasks being clarified. Industry experts believe that the focus of the "Three Rural Issues" in 2019 will still concern the rural revitalization strategy. From the perspective of rural revitalization planning, poverty alleviation is a phased task; therefore, it is expected that there will be two key points in the Central Rural Work Conference, the first is to aid the poor and the other is to revitalize the rural areas. The first key point mentioned above is a short-term task and the latter is a medium and long-term goal.

Observing the actual actions in recent years, poverty alleviation is a political task, and it is expected that the goal of poverty alleviation in rural areas will be achieved by 2020. The Rural Revitalization Strategic Plan (2018-2022) has been formulated for the purpose of rural revitalization, in which it proposes that by 2020, the institutional framework and policy system for rural revitalization will basically take shape, and the ideas for rural revitalization in various regions and departments will be established. The goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way will be realized as expected, but there is a lack of a particularly effective implementation strategy. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the implementation strategy of the rural revitalization strategic plan to form an effective basic policy system.

Anbound is of the opinion that the effective implementation of the rural revitalization strategy lies in the combination and flow of elements between urban and rural areas. Rural revitalization is not just about engaging in "agriculture, rural areas and farmers"; it is necessary to consider the effective combination of rural resources with the development of urbanization. Rural revitalization needs to consider the urban areas as well and truly integrate urban and rural planning; this is a major idea to promote resources and the flow of capital and population. On the one hand, the agricultural population, labor and natural resources, and the land resources have been accumulating in the urban areas, forming the economies of scale, which continue to push for the development of urbanization; on the other hand, the spread of urban population, capital and some industries to the rural areas has resulted in the formation of the effective configuration of market-to-resource. Therefore, the implementation of rural revitalization needs to break the urban-rural duality structure and form a unified urban-rural market. Combining various aspects of rural development with urban development at various levels, such as regional development, central cities, and small towns; this should be the primary issue to be considered in the rural revitalization strategy. In terms of policies, it is necessary to promote the integration of urban and rural areas, not only to form urban-rural and market integration, but also to include rural infrastructure construction, public services, and social security to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas. This is also an important goal implementation of rural revitalization strategy.

The effective implementation of rural revitalization also requires breakthroughs in rural land system reform. As urbanization leads to the continuous loss of rural population, there is still no effective method to attract population, resources and elements to the rural areas. Anbound had proposed that China should carry out a series of rural institutional reforms with the reform of the land system as the core, and provide more long-term institutional guarantees for more "new farmers", as well as industrial and commercial capital to the rural areas. Attracting capital, technology, labor and other factors to the rural areas requires capitalization and assetization of land resources. It not only revitalizes rural resources, optimizes market resource allocation, but also benefits the farmers. Concerning the three pilot experiences of rural land system reform, the consolidation of the reform results, and the continuous deepening of the reform of rural land system concluded by the Central Economic Work Conference, Anbound's researchers have made some policy recommendations. China can continuously find the space for rural land reform under the condition that the rural collective land system is unchanged; the basic idea is to legally make "urban and rural land equal rights", that is giving rural land the same legal rights as urban land, so that there will be long-term right of transactions to attract urban industrial and commercial capital into the rural market.

The realization of rural revitalization is inseparable from the effective industrial choice to develop the county economy. In this respect, because of the diversity of the rural areas and the different stages of development, it is more necessary to adapt to local conditions. If an area is more suitable to be developed agriculturally, agriculture should be given the priority; the same is true for industry and tourism. However, the future industrial development in rural areas cannot be limited to the development of traditional agricultural industries. Instead, it needs to start from the reform of agricultural supply side, pay attention to improving the quality and grade of agriculture, extending the agricultural industrial chain, and increasing the added value of agricultural products. In this regard, China can learn from the advanced experience of agricultural development both in other places in China and abroad to develop modern agriculture with diversity. To develop industry in the rural revitalization, China should combine the resource endowments of the village, and attach great importance to environmental protection, without repeating the industrial pollution in the past. In particular, China should pay attention to the development of local industries, the combination of agriculture and industry, and the absorption and cultivation of rural labor. Concerning the development of tourism in rural areas, it is necessary to focus on industrial superposition, diversity in businesses, innovation, talent attraction, and retaining resources, while combining tourism with agriculture, cultural industries, aged care, health and other industries to form a tourism-based multi-industrial integration.

Final analysis conclusion:

Rural revitalization is a major challenge for China and it can only be achieved through a series of rural institutional reforms and industrial development.

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