Uplifting the farmers' livelihood is expected to remain a central
topic for national legislators and political advisers as they
gather this week in Beijing, officials and analysts said yesterday.
Since last November's 16th
National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward
the objective of building a "well-off society in an all-round way,"
farmers' incomes and rural issues have been a top priority.
The modern usage of the term "well-off" society - in Chinese
xiaokang - was pioneered by China's architect of reform, Deng
Xiaoping, in 1979 to describe the realization of a Chinese-style
modernization.
It
was later translated into 16 indices including per capita income,
protein intake, life span, Engel Coefficient and
telecommunications, according to Dr Lu Shuzheng, an expert in
Beijing.
It
is hoped that China will achieve a xiaokang society by 2020, one of
the goals is to ensure that the nation's per capita gross domestic
product will reach US$3,000. In other words, the average economic
level throughout the country at that time will reach today's
standard in Beijing, economists said.
While many urban residents have prospered in the economic boom
brought about by the reform and opening-up of the past two decades,
farmers are still struggling to earn a decent income.
Growth of farmers' incomes has remained static for years, and the
income gap between rural and urban residents has been widening, Li
said.
"A
large number of deputies are from rural areas. I think they and
others will ensure a lot of attention is given to farmers, the
countryside and agriculture," Li said.
Economic disadvantage aside, the rural regions have also been left
behind in sectors including infrastructure, education, culture and
social welfare. This has become a major obstacle preventing them
from enjoying the benefits of growing national prosperity, said
government think tank official Chen Xiwen.
Chen, vice-director of the State Council Research and Development
Centre, said he expected the NPC deputies and political advisers to
come up with substantial ways to make life better for farmers and
to eliminate restrictions and prejudice against migrant rural
workers.
Ultimately, the pace should be quickened to help rural areas join
the country's economic miracle, he said.
Both Li and Chen said the current gatherings of national lawmakers
and political advisers will have to address the unemployment
problem, which is posing mounting challenges to China both in
economic and social terms.
Jobs need to be found for 22 to 23 million urban residents in each
year of the 10th Five Year Plan period (2001-05).
But Li Luyang, director of the Economic Office with the Financial
and Economic Committee of the Ninth NPC, warned that there remained
150 million redundant farmers in rural areas.
Liu Quanlin, 26, a laid-off worker turned taxi driver in Beijing's
Chaoyang District, said he looked forward to hearing "good news"
from the meetings of the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee.
He
said that the period following the annual meetings would herald
substantive changes - steps forward - in the life of ordinary
residents, he said.
A
record number of Chinese and foreign reporters - more than 3,000 -
are covering this year's NPC and CPPCC sessions, official figures
revealed yesterday.
(China Daily March 4, 2003)