This June, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the establishment of the Chengdu Urban-rural Development Zone. Chengdu has effectively bridged urban-rural gaps over the past a few years, a progress which will be strengthened by this zone.

In February 2004, the Chengdu government formulated a plan titled, Recommendations for Balancing Urban-rural Development, followed by 50 supporting documents concerning residence registration, township government reform, industrial layout, public finance, social security, education and health care. A new urban-rural administrative system is taking shape, with the goal of equalizing conditions.

A better life for farmers

Shuxing Garden is a special residential area in Shuangliu County that houses almost 700 farmers. Each apartment here is no less than 88 square meters, and there are supermarkets and a kindergarten nearby, together with a complete set of supporting facilities.

Chengdu has built about 600 similar communities in the surrounding counties. Altogether 270,000 farmers now live in this new type of rural residential area, enjoying a much better life than before.

Xie Ruiwu, the Communist Party Chief of Shuangliu County, talked about farmers’ lives after relocation. In the old days, the farmers were free to choose where they wanted new houses to be. However, lack of unified arrangement, such houses were often apt to being relocated again, resulting much waste. So, the government now designates specific areas for relocation, in the hope of developing more stable residential communities.

Chengdu, like many big cities in China, is facing an urban-rural gap. Li Chuncheng, the Party chief of Chengdu, said that the key to addressing these problems is to balance urban-rural development, and allow rural residents to share the benefits of reform and growth.

For balanced development, Chengdu is moving factories into standardized industrial zones to better handle environmental pollution, speeding up urbanization to narrow the urban-rural income gap, and encouraging intensive agricultural production.

The relocated farmers are provided with good living conditions and social security. In order to expand the farmers’ income sources, Chengdu also launched a job-training program in 2005, and by the end of last year, 719,000 farmers had been trained.

Nearly 1.7 million surplus laborers in rural areas are now employed in non-agricultural sectors, with a combined income totaling 10 billion yuan. After leaving agriculture, farmers are working in the secondary industry, service industry, land lease, and land transfer.

Intensive agricultural production

Two priorities in urban-rural development are fostering competitive agriculture and promoting intensive production.

Hongsha village, 7 kilometers away from Chengdu, was once poverty-stricken but is now a popular tourist resort. The village was prohibited from starting large-scale construction because it’s upwind of the city. However, the government realized its potential as a sightseeing area.

In order to be more attractive to tourists, villagers began to renovate their residential houses into the West Sichuan Style and plant more flowers. With improved household facilities, they were also able to provide dining and accommodation services to the tourists. In less than three years, Hongsha has made its way into one of the most favored tourist destinations in the province.

Lin Derong, a 31-year-old villager, explained that he used to grow roses, earning no more than 1,500 yuan a year. But now, he can make 4,500 yuan each year through land transfer, and about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan from providing accommodation. In 2006, the per capita income of Hongsha village averaged 7,850 yuan.

The intensive agricultural production has brought about many competitive enterprises as well as farmer associations. At the end of 2006, the land transfer in Chengdu reached some 102,520 hectares. There are 580 large-scale enterprises and 1,563 farmer associations. It is roughly estimated that the agricultural output value has reached 1,000 yuan per mu (15 mu = 1 hectare), an increase of 600 yuan. The farmers are diversifying their income sources through land leases, house leases, and social security.

Extended public service

Ge Honglin, mayor of Chengdu, said that the most important link needed to bridge the urban-rural gap is giving the rural residents equal access to public services.

In 2006, the total investment of Chengdu concerning rural issues was 6.924 billion yuan, making up 24 percent of city’s financial revenue, an increase of 780 percent on 2002. In 2004, 1 billion yuan was injected to improve the basic education in rural areas, benefiting 600,000 students in 410 rural primary schools.

To ensure farmers’ access to medical care, 200 million yuan was invested in 2005 to rebuild 224 health stations in towns and 300 in villages. By the end of 2006, thanks to a government subsidy of 190 million yuan, 93 percent of the rural residents had been covered by a new medical plan.

The social insurance is also improving, including a new medical plan in rural areas, a comprehensive social insurance for the relocated farmers, the old age pension, and the basic living security. Up until now, 202,000 farmers have joined in the insurance, and 71,000 are getting their monthly old age pension on time.

Farmers are enjoying a much better life now. In 2006, the rural per capita net income in Chengdu averaged 4,905 yuan, an increase of 45.2 percent on 2002; the income gap between rural and city residents was narrowed from 2.66:1 in 2002 to 2.61:1 in 2006.

Li Chuncheng explained that to balance urban-rural development, it is imperative to establish a uniform administrative system, public service system, and autonomous governance at the grassroots level.

(China.org.cn by Lu Lu, August 28, 2007)