How to do a good job of this big article on sending resources to the countryside
To mobilize urban resources to flow to the countryside, we must strive to form a unified factor market between urban and rural areas, and in particular revitalize such resources as farmers' land contract rights, homestead land, and collective operational construction land
In the upsurge of “new urbanization”, some places emphasize farmers moving into cities more and guide urban resources to the countryside less. This will inevitably continue to widen the urban-rural gap and run counter to the goal of integrated urban-rural development. In fact, only by actively guiding high-quality resources such as capital, talent, technology and culture to the countryside and promoting the upgrading of agricultural and rural development can we better achieve integrated and coordinated urban-rural development.
Slighting the flow of resources to the countryside is a continuation of the traditional thinking of “valuing the city over the countryside” and “separate governance of urban and rural areas”. If we one-sidedly emphasize farmers moving into cities, the result will be to further concentrate the countryside's limited resources in the cities, leading to the hollowing out of rural areas, leaving modern agricultural development short of capital and talent, leaving the protection of traditional culture such as ancient villages without support, and leaving the diversification of rural industries, especially the integrated development of agriculture, leisure tourism and ecology, without a foundation. From the perspective of our country's national conditions, villages, like communities, will remain the basic cells of society for a considerable time to come. If the countryside declines, the cities cannot develop sustainably either.
An important focus of advancing new urbanization is the integration of towns and villages. As the bridge and bond between cities and the countryside, designated towns are the breakthrough point of new urbanization. Only when cities, towns and villages integrate and interact at all three levels can urbanization truly have a foundation and be elevated. According to the goal proposed in the national new urbanization plan of an urbanization rate of about 60% by 2020 and projected population growth, there will still be 580 million farmers living in the vast rural countryside, and in particular about 20% of them will be the rural elderly population, who currently have neither the resources nor the ability to support them in receiving elderly care in the urban model. Therefore, it is especially important and especially urgent to make great efforts to urbanize in place and nearby, promote the coordinated advancement of urbanization and new socialist countryside construction, and achieve integrated town-village development.
The timing and conditions for promoting town-village integration and accelerating the flow of urban resources to the countryside are already mature. From the urban side, because people yearn for the fresh air and quiet environment of the countryside, urban populations and resources have begun to flow toward towns and villages, showing a phenomenon of “counter-urbanization”. From the rural side, in recent years the infrastructure of towns and villages has become increasingly complete, giving the flow of resources to the countryside a relatively good foundation. At the same time, the current development of sightseeing agriculture, leisure agriculture, facility agriculture, specialty agriculture, as well as family farms and the improvement and upgrading of infrastructure, requires large amounts of investment. This two-way need between towns and villages and urban resources has found new development opportunities for urban resources.
To make the flow of resources to the countryside sustainable and truly achieve “the right place and effective results”, rather than becoming a “stampede” or “slogans to the countryside and campaigns to the countryside”, we must give full play to the role of the market and the government as the “two hands”. Large-scale flows of resources to the countryside first require government guidance, encouragement, support and regulation. Governments at all levels must cast off the constraints of the traditional “urban-rural divide” mindset, coordinate village planning well, and list an “encouraged” list according to the plan, so that urban resources flowing to the countryside have clear destinations and directions; they must formulate good rules and act as good referees, prevent the flow of resources to the countryside from becoming a new “enclosure movement”, handle well the relationships among farmers gaining real benefits, industry and commerce developing, and the ecological environment being protected, and ensure that the resources flowing to the countryside do not infringe on farmers' interests; they must formulate more preferential policies to clear away obstacles and improve safeguards for the flow of resources to the countryside in areas such as taxation, financing, property rights protection, project approval, and community-based rural management.
More importantly, we must act in accordance with market laws and achieve the optimal allocation of resources. To mobilize urban resources to flow to the countryside, we must strive to form a unified factor market between urban and rural areas, and in particular revitalize such resources as farmers' land contract rights, homestead land, and collective operational construction land. Once the rights to mortgage, guarantee and transfer land are activated, the circulation of other factors such as capital, technology and equity will be readily solved. In line with the principle of “voluntary entry and exit and freedom of operation”, open up market entities and allow urban residents to take shares in building modern agricultural parks, family farms, agricultural product wholesale markets and so on, so that the labor productivity of “new agriculture” keeps rising, and being a “new farmer” will gradually become a new fashion.
The future of new urbanization lies in the fair allocation of urban and rural resources and equal treatment of the rights of urban and rural residents. Let farmers be able both to enter the city and to return to the countryside. Let urban residents be able both to create modern civilization and to enjoy rural civilization and pastoral scenery. Let everyone dwell poetically and freely on the beautiful land of city and countryside.