Rural reform pilots bear a glorious mission and heavy responsibility

At present, China's economic development has entered a new normal, and rural reform is at a critical stage of breaking through ice and tackling hard problems. The Rural Reform Pilot Area Work Exchange Meeting, held shortly after the approval of a new batch of rural reform pilot areas and pilot tasks, is both a deployment and launch meeting for the work of the new batch of rural reform pilot areas and a mobilization meeting for comprehensively deepening rural reform. It is of great significance for implementing the Central Committee's arrangements for rural reform and opening up a new situation in China's development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

Comrade Deng Xiaoping once pointed out that “reform is a great experiment” and that “reform must first be piloted, then promoted locally, solving one issue as it matures.” It can be said that every major institutional change since reform and opening up has, to varying degrees, come from pilot experiments, and this is even more true of rural reform. From the implementation of household contract management to stabilizing and improving the rural land contract relationship, from abolishing unified purchasing and marketing to opening up product and factor markets, from abolishing the people's communes to implementing villagers' self-governance, and from reforming the rural tax and fee system to promoting coordinated urban-rural development, behind all these major rural reforms, pilot experiments have played an irreplaceable and important role.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Central Committee has attached great importance to pilot experiments in rural reform. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that for reforms that are not yet deeply understood but must be advanced, we must boldly explore, carry out pilots first, identify patterns, build consensus, and continuously drive reform and opening up to greater depth. Document No. 1 of the Central Committee has also repeatedly required solid work in rural reform pilots. Vice Premier Wang Yang attended this Rural Reform Pilot Area Work Exchange Meeting and delivered an important speech, reflecting the Central Committee's high regard and ardent expectations for the work of the new round of rural reform pilot areas. All localities must fully understand the great significance of doing well in rural reform pilot experiments and effectively strengthen the sense of responsibility and urgency for rural reform and innovation.

Advancing reform is a process of exploring the unknown, and it is necessary to use pilot experiments to explore paths and accumulate experience for overall reform. Rural reform pilot areas are a comprehensive platform for the Central Committee to advance rural reform pilot experiments, with the aim of concentrating efforts to seek breakthroughs in key areas, crucial links, institutional mechanisms and system building, and to form replicable and promotable reform experience.

The 30 rural reform pilot areas approved at the end of the last century mainly explored areas such as the rural management system, the rural tax and fee system, and the grain purchasing and marketing system, and produced a number of results. Since the beginning of the new century, the 24 rural reform pilot areas arranged in 2011 mainly focused on pilots around the building of 6 major systems deployed by the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee, and many results were reflected in the Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee.

At present, rural reform has entered deep water and a period of tackling hard problems. In the new round of rural reform, many contents concern the fundamental, the long term and the overall situation, and the problems that need to be solved are all focal and difficult issues, with no ready-made answers available. The newly deployed reform pilot tasks in 5 areas and 19 items mainly focus on advancing market-oriented reform and improving the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development. They are all key reform areas that have rarely been touched in the past or have not yet been opened up, and they are also the “four beams and eight pillars” of rural reform. Rural reform and development concern the stability of the entire economy and society, and implementing and completing all reform pilot tasks well is the major responsibility and glorious mission of each pilot area.

After more than 30 years of continuous practice, rural reform pilot areas have accumulated rich experience and a good working foundation, and have formed a relatively complete work system from the central to the local level. All localities must seize the favorable opportunity of comprehensively deepening rural reform at present, solidly carry out the next steps of rural reform pilot experiments, strive to achieve pioneering reform pilot results, and make due contributions to the overall situation of reform and development.