The interests of the rural population should be fully respected during the construction of a new socialist countryside, says a commentary in People's Daily. An excerpt follows:

Constructing a new socialist countryside is an important historic task in China's modernization drive. It will take a long time to accomplish this arduous task. The central government requires that the construction be a practical program done according to local capability.

Recent reports show that some municipal governments are to set up trial areas of new countryside construction in areas near cities or those already well-developed villages. They are to give full support to these trial areas to build up "models" of socialist new countryside construction. But is it possible for China's vast rural areas to follow these "models," which possess innate advantages or have received much special assistance?

We have to face actual conditions squarely when building the socialist new countryside. The current gap between rural and urban areas is still hard to bridge. Besides economic differences, rural areas fall far behind in infrastructure facilities and public products like education, medical care and culture. To build a socialist new countryside is to narrow the urban-rural gap and enable farmers to enjoy the fruits of social economic development like their urban counterparts. The most urgent issue is to develop rural education and public health systems, not establish model counties or villages.

We have to emphasize practical results, but not merely observe the form of building the socialist new countryside. There are various aspects we have to improve, but we should start with practical problems, which farmers want to solve the most.

Some regions propose to build up new rural communities and combine villages, which will certainly bring up issues like farmers moving out of their current homes and building new ones. Even if all farmers have the money to build new houses and even if they will not suffer economic losses, we should not impose uniformity in all cases.

Farmers are the main body of rural reconstruction. Their will should be fully respected. The reconstruction should be based on reality but not just copy urban construction. Only when farmers' opinions are fully valued can rural reconstruction be successful.

(China Daily March 10, 2006)