No need to be overly nervous about the counter-urbanization phenomenon

The phenomena of "farmers unwilling to settle in cities and obtain urban household registration" and "buying homes in the city while keeping household registration in the village" are becoming fairly common in the reform practices of some places to raise the household registration urbanization rate. In response to these problems, in terms of attitude, we should comply with farmers' wishes and create good conditions for farmers to voluntarily give up their "rural registration." In terms of measures, what should be done is not to force farmers to settle in cities and towns, but to better safeguard farmers' interests. As for the "counter-urbanization" phenomenon of urban residents settling in rural areas, this itself is a normal accompanying phenomenon in advancing urbanization

According to surveys by some institutions and media, the phenomena of "farmers unwilling to settle in cities and obtain urban household registration" and "buying homes in the city while keeping household registration in the village" are becoming fairly common in the reform practices of some places to raise the household registration urbanization rate. This phenomenon has attracted attention, and some views hold that it is a "counter-urbanization" phenomenon with great hidden concerns, requiring measures to curb it so as not to delay the ongoing urbanization process.

So how should this "counter-urbanization" phenomenon and these views be understood? If measures are to be taken, from which aspects should they begin?

Judging from the current so-called "counter-urbanization" phenomenon, it is mainly concentrated in two aspects. First, people have entered cities and towns, or have bought homes in cities and towns, but their household registration is still in the countryside; some have even moved both themselves and their household registration into cities and towns, but still have not given up the "three rights" in the village, namely land contracting rights, homestead use rights, and collective share income rights. Second, people whose household registration was originally in cities and towns "reverse" settle in rural areas, or go to villages to "buy land and buy homes," hoping to live a pastoral life of roosters crowing at dawn and sorting out rural nostalgia at dusk.

With a little analysis, one can see that these two situations cannot both be attributed to "counter-urbanization." As for the phenomenon of buying homes in cities while keeping household registration in the village, this itself is the result of urbanization. Farmers buying homes in cities and towns shows that they have already taken one leg onto the road of urbanization, because the "housing barrier" is the first "iron threshold" for farmers entering cities. Once past this barrier, the next step is the issue of full citizenization. As for household registration still being in the village, or even having moved into the city while still retaining the village's "three rights," this is likewise the result of the active advancement of urbanization with Chinese characteristics, and it is progress in urbanization. This phenomenon can be defined as "semi-urbanization," or incomplete urbanization, and is fundamentally different from "counter-urbanization."

As for urban people reversing course to settle and reside in rural areas, from the practice of urbanization this can be regarded as a "counter-urbanization" phenomenon. However, restricted by our country's laws and policies, at present urban people still cannot buy homes and land in rural areas, and under the general trend of new urbanization, all places have adopted strict and tight policies on urban people settling in rural areas. Therefore, people with such willingness and ability currently still find it very difficult to truly become "villagers," and most can only lodge in villages by "renting homes and renting land," and in practice this group is still very small.

Once these two phenomena are clearly recognized, one will have a clear understanding of the so-called "counter-urbanization," and the measures taken can be well-targeted. The "semi-urbanization" phenomenon is, in the final analysis, a matter of interests. Why are farmers unwilling to move their household registration into cities and towns? It is simply that they cannot afford to move in, because the various costs of living in cities and towns are too high; they cannot get in, because employment and income in cities and towns are unstable; and it is not worthwhile, because the benefits cities and towns can provide are not as good as those in the countryside, while the village's "three rights" are both the farmers' last barrier and safeguard and the emotional support of generations.

Therefore, regarding "semi-urbanization," there is no need to be anxious in attitude. We should comply with farmers' wishes and create good conditions for farmers to voluntarily give up their "rural registration," and should not regard this as "counter-urbanization" and try to stop it. In terms of measures, what should be done is not to force farmers to settle in cities and towns, but to better safeguard farmers' interests. Isn't the main problem now that farmers are reluctant to give up the "three rights"? The "three rights" are rights granted to farmers by law and policy, and whether to withdraw from them depends on farmers' wishes. In some places, settling in cities and towns requires giving up land and housing, or makes farmers' abandonment of the "three rights" a condition for entering the city. This both violates the spirit of central government policy and produces the opposite effect, making farmers even less daring and less willing to enter the city.

In fact, regarding how to handle the "three rights" after farmers settle in cities and towns, current rural reform experiments are actively conducting pilots, with diverse methods and forms, but their basic direction is to safeguard farmers' interests, respect voluntariness, and implement paid withdrawal. When farmers settle in cities and towns, the cost is much higher than rural life, and this requires capital. Where does the capital come from? The "three rights" account for part of it. Implementing paid withdrawal from the "three rights," or retaining the rights while entering the city, both provides a certain safeguard for farmers entering the city and effectively resolves a major difficulty on the road to urbanization.

As for the "counter-urbanization" phenomenon of urban people settling in rural areas, this itself is a normal accompanying phenomenon in advancing urbanization. Under the current circumstances where conditions do not exist for this group to "reverse" settle in rural areas, it is exactly possible to attract some people with "strong rural nostalgia" through building a beautiful new countryside, developing rural tourism, and folk-style accommodation, so that "counter-urbanization" becomes positive energy for advancing urbanization. Therefore, the "counter-urbanization" phenomenon is not frightening, nor does it require excessive worry. What we need to do is identify the causes and resolve them in a positive direction.