On 25th February 2021, Chinese President Xi Jiniping announced “complete victory” in the Country’s fight against extreme poverty. As the world louded China’s great success, President Xi observed; while his country had succeeded in eliminating absolute poverty, “the most challenging and arduous tasks we face in building a modern socialist China in all aspects remain in rural areas” and announced China’s strategy to ensuring rural development calling it a “major task in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
If critically analysed, rural revitalisation can largely be achieved by ensuring comprehensive strategies that target revitalization of rural areas which oils wheels of modernization especially in the sector of agriculture – the common characteristic of rural area.
Five years since China announced its success against extreme poverty, this opinion highlights some strategies Chinese government, enterprises and people – largely farmers can take – shoulder to shoulder in efforts to realise rural revitalisation as the country marches towards its second centenary goal of “building China into a great modern socialist country in all aspects.”
First, ensure enough and steady power supply. Energy is a major driver of socio economic transformation of any society. It makes innovation and both small and large scale industrialization take place. Such small and large small scale industries come with among others important multiplier effects like employment opportunities which is key in the fight against poverty. The development of the solar industry Jinzhai county in Anhui is credited for transforming the province’s 218 villages once registered as poverty stricken, helping lift out of poverty 89,700 people that were registered as poor. The World Bank argues that China’s remarkable economic growth is partly possible due to the country’s capacity to produce and supply energy to meet the country’s growth of energy consumption, thanks to the Chinese government and enterprises that continue to focus on energy development, especially clean energy.
Supporting and encouraging start-ups in rural areas is another strategy that can easily spark rural revitalization. Through start-up programs in rural areas, people can be empowered to gain entrepreneurial skills which is key in starting and running successful businesses. In Nanhai, Foshan, Guangdong province for example, local government with Chinese enterprises introduced “double nurturing” and nurturing industries, started entrepreneurial training targeting rural people helping them with start-up projects which registered significant progress in the development of small scale industries and individual business. Consequently, over 526 entrepreneurial leaders were trained with skills helping them to start their businesses. As a result, the county’s efforts of empowering rural poor was realised with over 5,087 people registered as poor being lifted from poverty.
Supporting local amenities and tourism is another strategy China can embrace to achieve Beijing’s goal of rural revitalization. China is blessed with countless natural resources such as lakes, rivers and mountains almost across the country. Save using such rivers and other water sources for agriculture and, natural resources such as water sources and mountains, if improved, can be used to attract both local and international tourists. As President Xi Jinping noted in 2005, “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.” Tourism sector can be magic. For example, other than paying to access tourist areas, there are other multiplier effects that come with tourism development. Improved security, infrastructure especially roads, hospitality sector like hotels which all contribute to employment opportunities and source of income are associated with the sector! In Shibadong village in Xiangxi, Hunan Province, after adopting the strategy of using local tourism as a way of fighting poverty, the village registered success that it was deregistered from the poverty register as locals income grew from 1,668RMB to 12,128 RMB.
Relatedly, China can use its huge size, big population and many ethnicities, to fast track its rural revitalization programs by encouraging ethnic integration and supporting them to use their local resources to bring about meaningful social economic development. Such strategies can help in revitalization of rural areas with minority ethnics where people proactively engage in production work than mindsets of “waiting, depending, and asking for help.” This strategy worked for example in Towankh Magget village (village 7), in Xinjiang Uygur, where government embarked on empowering locals through project of “one brand in one village” which saw the use of local resources to develop black fungus production, and a walnut deep-processing plant which all have contributed to social economic development of the area while leaving locals lives improved.
The other very important strategy that can help China in realising rural revitalization is putting people at the centre of everything. When people learn that whatever is being done is for their good and development, they all embrace and support such efforts. Development becomes easy as people are involved and willing to do anything possible to support what they know is theirs. As President Xi observed while opening 20th National Congress of the CPC; “this country is its people. The people are the country…bringing benefits to the people is the fundamental principle of governance.” Put differently, it’s clear to Chinese leadership that to achieve great rejuvenation of Chinese nation, the most difficult tasks are still in the country side. Considering discussed strategies and more relevant ones, we can safely argue that China is on the march as the country eyes realising her centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.
Editor’s Note: This article was first Published by China Global Television Network – CGTN.