Interpretation of Ten No. 1 Central Documents: A Summary of Key Policy Points on Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers
This year marks the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up. As we stand on the new Long March of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and look back, we see that the No. 1 Central Document once again focuses on “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, with the content centered on strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers and striving to strengthen agricultural infrastructure. This is the 5th No. 1 Central Document since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to focus on the “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” issue, and the 10th No. 1 Central Document since reform and opening up.
Guided by this series of No. 1 Central Documents, rural reform over the past 30 years has surged forward in wave after wave. Against the backdrop of different eras, the ten No. 1 Central Documents each had different emphases, accurately grasping the main line of reform: protecting farmers' material interests, respecting farmers' democratic rights, and continuously liberating and developing the social productive forces. They accelerated the historical process of coordinated urban-rural development, jointly sounded the majestic main melody of prospering the rural economy, promoting farmers' income growth, and advancing rural social development, and became the strongest voice of the era as China's urban and rural society moved toward harmonious development and common prosperity.
1982—1986: Composing Five Glorious Chapters in China's Reform Process
China's magnificent reform cause began in the countryside. To study China's economic system reform, one cannot but study rural reform, and one cannot fail to know a special term——“five No. 1 Documents”.
The first “five No. 1 Documents” refers to the five documents on rural work formulated and promulgated by the Party Central Committee from 1982 to 1986. These five No. 1 Documents recorded a series of major decisions by the Communist Party of China that respected the people's pioneering spirit, came from the masses and went to the masses, and guided China's rural reform. They played a tremendous role in promoting the breakthrough of rural reform first, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the broad masses of farmers, and liberating rural productive forces, and were deeply imprinted in the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers.
On January 1, 1982, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the first No. 1 Document on the “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” issue, summarizing the epoch-making rural reform, further relaxing rural policies, and affirming the “double contract” system (fixing output quotas to households and full responsibility to households).
In January 1983, the second No. 1 Central Document, “Several Issues Concerning Current Rural Economic Policy”, was officially promulgated. The document theoretically affirmed that the household contract responsibility system “is a great creation of the Chinese peasants under the leadership of the Party and a new development of Marxist agricultural cooperation theory in China's practice”. The document required the full implementation of the household contract responsibility system.
On January 1, 1984, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the “Notice on Rural Work in 1984”, namely the third No. 1 Document, emphasizing the need to continue to stabilize and improve the household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output and extend the land contract period. It stipulated that the land contract period should generally be more than 15 years. The document gave farmers a “long-acting reassurance pill”.
In January 1985, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the “Ten Policies on Further Invigorating the Rural Economy”, namely the fourth No. 1 Document, whose central content was to adjust the rural industrial structure, abolish the 30-year-old system of unified purchase and assigned purchase of agricultural and sideline products, and adopt a new policy of state-planned contract purchase for a small number of important products such as grain and cotton. The state also changed the agricultural tax from a tax in kind to a cash tax.
On January 1, 1986, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the “Deployment for Rural Work in 1986”, namely the fifth No. 1 Document. The document further put agriculture in its proper place in the national economy, and while affirming the previous reliance first on policy and second on science, emphasized increasing investment and further deepening rural reform.
Through affirming the household contract responsibility system, the first “five No. 1 Documents” gradually liberated hundreds of millions of farmers from the production model of “facing the yellow earth with their backs to the sky” that had lasted for thousands of years. Through non-agricultural operations and other means, while liberating the productive forces, they also achieved the further liberation of the labor force itself and began to participate in the great historical process of China's industrialization and urbanization, providing a solid material foundation and inexhaustible spiritual motivation for China's urban economic system reform.
The first “five No. 1 Documents” on the monument of reform stimulated the production enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of farmers and opened up a new situation for China's rural reform and development. From then on, farmers' income grew steadily and rapidly, with a growth rate faster than that of the cities. The income gap between urban and rural residents gradually narrowed, and Chinese farmers, who for thousands of years had not been assured of food and clothing, crossed beyond poverty and moved from merely having enough food and clothing toward a relatively comfortable life.
According to statistics, from 1978 to 1984, the per capita net income of farmers increased from 133.57 yuan to 355.33 yuan, with an average annual increase of 17.71%, among which the annual growth rate in 1982 was 19.9%, the highest in history. From 1978 to 1988, total grain output increased from 400 billion jin to 800 billion jin, creating the miracle of feeding 22% of the world's population with 7% of the world's cultivated land. Township and village enterprises sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. By the early 1990s, township and village enterprises had become the most active part of China's economy, accounting for “one third of the world” in national industrial output value.
2004—2008: Five New Monuments in the Process of Coordinating Urban and Rural Development
As the wheel of history rolled into the 21st century, China's economy continued to grow rapidly without losing momentum, and “letting some people get rich first” had become a reality.
However, rural reform and development continued to face new difficulties. In particular, starting in 1997, the growth rate of farmers' income declined for 4 consecutive years. From 1997 to 2003, farmers' income grew by less than 4% for 7 consecutive years, less than one fifth of the increase in urban residents' income. Income in major grain-producing areas and among most farming households stagnated or even declined, and rural social undertakings also entered a period of low growth. “Having food to eat but lacking money to spend”, “having enough to eat but unable to afford medical care or education”, severe imbalance in urban-rural development, increasingly prominent rural social contradictions, and the income of urban and rural residents further widened after having once narrowed.
Facing the severe situation of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, the Party Central Committee sized up the situation, proceeded from the overall situation of the national economy, and made major adjustments to urban-rural development strategy and policy orientation: the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that coordinating urban and rural economic and social development, building modern agriculture, developing the rural economy, and increasing farmers' income are major tasks in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. More attention to the countryside, more care for farmers, and more support for agriculture were repeatedly emphasized as the top priority of the whole Party's work.
Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have adhered to taking Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents” as guidance, thoroughly implemented the Scientific Outlook on Development, and advanced with the times in formulating major policies for strengthening “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” work. They successively issued 5 No. 1 Central Documents guiding agricultural and rural work, respectively themed on promoting farmers' income growth, improving comprehensive agricultural production capacity, advancing the building of a new socialist countryside, developing modern agriculture, and effectively strengthening agricultural infrastructure. Together they formed the basic thinking and policy system for strengthening “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” work in the new period, built an institutional framework of promoting agriculture through industry and leading the countryside through the cities, opened a historical chapter in building a new socialist countryside, and ushered in another spring for agricultural and rural development.
On February 8, 2004, the first No. 1 Central Document on “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” in the new century——“Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Several Policies for Promoting Farmers' Income Growth”——was published. This was the sixth No. 1 Document concerning agriculture since reform and opening up. From then on, the No. 1 Central Document once again locked onto the “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” issue.
On January 30, 2005, “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Strengthening Rural Work and Improving Comprehensive Agricultural Production Capacity” was published, requiring the stabilization, improvement and strengthening of all policies supporting agriculture, effectively strengthening the building of comprehensive agricultural production capacity, continuing to adjust the agricultural and rural economic structure, and further deepening rural reform.
On February 21, 2006, “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Advancing the Building of a New Socialist Countryside” was published, requiring the improvement and strengthening of policies supporting agriculture, strengthening infrastructure construction, strengthening rural democratic political construction and spiritual civilization construction, accelerating the development of social undertakings, advancing comprehensive rural reform, promoting sustained increases in farmers' income, and ensuring a good start for building a new socialist countryside.
On January 29, 2007, “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Actively Developing Modern Agriculture and Solidly Advancing the Building of a New Socialist Countryside” was published, proposing to equip agriculture with modern material conditions, transform agriculture with modern science and technology, upgrade agriculture with a modern industrial system, advance agriculture with modern forms of operation, guide agriculture with modern development concepts, and develop agriculture by cultivating new-type farmers.
On January 30, 2008, “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Effectively Strengthening Agricultural Infrastructure and Further Promoting Agricultural Development and Farmers' Income Growth” was published, proposing to take the road of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, establish a long-term mechanism of promoting agriculture through industry and leading the countryside through the cities, and form a new pattern of integrated urban and rural economic and social development.
Looking Ahead from 2008: A New Pattern of Urban-Rural Integration Is Bound to Emerge
If the five No. 1 Documents of the 1980s focused on removing obstacles in the rural system and promoting the great development of rural productive forces, thereby creating material and ideological momentum for urban economic system reform, then the core idea of the 5 No. 1 Central Documents on “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” in the new century is that cities support the countryside and industry gives back to agriculture. Through a series of policy measures to “give more, take less, and loosen control”, farmers can recuperate and regenerate, with key emphasis on increasing farmers' income, giving farmers equal rights, giving rural areas priority status, and giving agriculture more support in return.
On the basis of the direction of “integrated urban and rural economic and social development” established in the report of the 17th National Congress, this year's No. 1 Central Document determined that, in accordance with the requirements for forming a new pattern of integrated urban and rural economic and social development, it is necessary to highlight the strengthening of agricultural infrastructure, actively promote the stable development of agriculture and the sustained increase of farmers' income, strive to ensure the basic supply of major agricultural products, effectively solve rural livelihood problems, and solidly advance the building of a new socialist countryside. This is not only the general requirement for this year, but also for “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” work for a period to come.
Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, said that strengthening agriculture's foundational position, taking the road of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, establishing an effective mechanism of promoting agriculture through industry and leading the countryside through the cities, and forming a new pattern of integrated urban and rural economic and social development will be the direction we must always adhere to in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing modernization.
It is worth noting that this year's No. 1 Central Document clearly proposed that in the future China will gradually raise the level of basic public services in rural areas, including raising the level of rural compulsory education, enhancing rural basic medical service capacity, stabilizing the rural low fertility level, prospering rural public culture, and establishing and improving the rural social security system. From this, one can see the development of agricultural infrastructure construction toward comprehensive rural social infrastructure construction.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up, the No. 1 Central Document carries forward the past and opens up the future, consistently embodying the great dream of crossing the historical barriers of the dual society and pursuing harmonious urban-rural development and common prosperity. It can be expected that this will surely become a new driving force for “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” work to create new brilliance in the future and a new starting point for a new pattern of integrated urban and rural economic and social development in China.