Putting aside farm work, 65-year-old Yan Junchang at Xiaogang
Village of Fengyang County, east China's Anhui Province, squatted
on his home's threshold and listened to Premier Wen's government
work report attentively through live TV broadcasting on Sunday.
"In the report, all the contents about rural issues were
substantial and down-to-earth. Like "gifts" from the Premier, those
contents impressed us deeply," Yan said.
"Since several hundreds of billions yuan of budget expenditure
will go to rural areas, we see great hope in building a new
countryside."
One of the 18 initiators of China's land contract system, which
was later seen as the commencement of the nation's rural reform,
Yan, together with most of his fellow villagers, is working for a
new "reform" to pool their farmland again so as to create a more
efficient economy.
Having farmed for decades, Yan will voluntarily lease his land
to a Shanghai-based animal and poultry breeding company.
He said, "The land contract system has helped many villages,
like our Xiaogang, where people manage to make ends meet but fail
to get wealthy."
"Now the Government pays great attention to us farmers, as rural
issues are mentioned frequently in the government work report and
the development program for the 2006-2010 period."
"We should bring our initiative for the land contract system
into full play and try our best to increase income," Yan said.
One night in Nov. 1978, 18 villagers at Xiaogang risked their
lives to sign a secret agreement which divided the then People's
Commune-owned farmland into pieces for each family to
cultivate.
The practice was supported by Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of
China's reform and opening to the outside world, and recognized by
the Chinese government. Xiaogang has since been seen as the
pace-setter of the nation's rural reform.
Allocating farmland to each household fired local farmers'
enthusiasm for agriculture production, which had been contained in
the outmoded planned economy. The ensuing 1980s became a primary
period for development in China's rural areas, which once
outperformed their urban peers.
However, since 1990, rural areas have gradually lost their
luster, along with flows of large amounts of resources, including
labor force, land and funds, to the cities.
Currently, farmers are dwarfed significantly by urbanites in
terms of income, which are among the top concerns of the Chinese
government.
Cai Liruo, Party secretary of Xida village in Longnan County of
Ganzhou City, east China's Jiangxi Province, also watched the live
TV broadcasting of Premier Wen's delivery of government work
report. The next day, he pasted on his desk a newspaper that
carried a story on implementing the new-countryside scheme.
"The scheme is the Premier's commitment, to which we pin our
hope," Cai said.
An outlying mountain village, Xida is bestowed with only small
lots of farmland for a total population of 4,413.
As early as in 2004, the village was designated as a pilot area
for new-countryside scheme. It has since had its roads and water
supply improved, doing away with unorderly rural landscape with
trashes littered everywhere.
Cai said, "Now we suffer most from insufficiency of capital for
infrastructure construction.
The Premier said his government would set aside 339.7 billion
yuan (US$42 billion) to address rural problems. We are looking
forward to the money being put in place to help change the
countryside thoroughly."
It is reported that in the 2006-2010 period, Jiangxi, a province
based on agricultural production, will have 10,000 kilometers of
roads covered by pitch, cement or bricks.
This year the provincial government will allocated 600 million
yuan (US$75 million) in improving infrastructure of 6,000
villages.
Zhang Chaosheng, a veteran farmer in Zizhong County, southwest
China's Sichuan Province, was pleased with the following statements
in the government work report -- "Over the next two years, we will
completely eliminate tuition and miscellaneous fees for all rural
students receiving compulsory education." and "The state will spend
more than 20 billion yuan over the next five years on renovating
hospital buildings in towns and townships and in some counties and
upgrading their equipment."
Zhang also said that "education has been a heavy burden for
farmers. The fee elimination will be a great relief for us."
"Moreover, my kids have gone to work in cities, then what will
happen to us if we fall ill. The Government will pay for improved
medical service in rural areas. This, too, will dispel our
worries," Zhang added.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2006)