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A long row to hoe for farmers to share in common prosperity
By Li Huizi |
September 14, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
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FARMER Tong Fengkui visited the local bureau of letters more than 200 times to file complaints over the last decade as he saw many problems that could not be solved in his village.
These problems - such as misappropriation of lands by the government and embezzlement of public funds - arose as life in his village in northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province turned better in recent years.
Tong's zeal in filing complaints with the government shows that as farmers become wealthy, they are paying more attention to their own interests and they are active in preventing their share of the fruit of economic development from being swallowed by a powerful few.
President Hu Jintao last Wednesday told members of the Party Central Committee Political Bureau that efforts should be made to "earnestly solve problems concerning people's immediate interests" and "always maintain people's fundamental interests."
Hu, also general secretary of the Party Central Committee, said: "Development is for the people, depends on the people and the fruit of development must be shared by the people."
He made the remarks when presiding over the 16th group study for the Party Central Committee Political Bureau, whose theme was understanding and practicing modernization since the founding of New China. He said the Party aimed to let all the people "march toward common prosperity."
Chen Donglin, a research fellow with the Beijing-based Institute of Contemporary China Studies, said China's perception of "affluence" has changed with the country's economic development. The Chinese character for "affluence," or fuyu, is formed by components meaning "having a full stomach" and "having foods and clothes."
Affluence was only the right of a privileged few before the founding of the People's Republlic of China in 1949.
Chen said, "Chinese people cannot realize a common prosperity without the establishment of the socialist system, which is proved by thousands of years of history (of the feudal and slavery systems) before 1949."
China had experienced three stages on the road to common prosperity, he said.From 1949 to 1965, farmers were encouraged to "become better off through one's own labor" and the government promoted "collective prosperity".
From 1966 to 1976 when the country was ravaged by the "cultural revolution," personal affluence, or building up one's own family fortunes, was strictly forbidden.
After China's reform and opening-up in 1978, the chief architect of the country's reform Deng Xiaoping called for "allowing and encouraging some people and areas to get rich first," which was leading to common prosperity and would ultimately realize a moderately prosperous society.
As a result, the rapid development of private businesses had greatly boosted the local economy.
They have also served as major contributors to China's GDP. The country has more than 6.8 million private businesses, according to the State Administration For Industry and Commerce.
President Hu said in a report to the Party's 17th National Congress in October 2007 that the Party "will create conditions to enable more citizens to have property income, and the Party will protect lawful incomes, regulate excessively high incomes and ban illegal gains."
Analysts say it shows the Party's updated policy on "affluence," with signals suggesting the offer of more support to the country's 700 million farmers who were not well-off compared with their urban counterparts. These measures include taxation exemption, expanding coverage of medical services and social security.
Chen said promoting common prosperity was an "unprecedented task" for China. "Although the country has achieved rapid economic development, only if it realized common prosperity could China establish its own development mode, and only then could we say the reform has reaped the ultimate success."
Luckily for farmer Tong, most of his problems have been redressed by his village officials in a national drive that called for local officials to "thoroughly investigate and deal with problems raised by the public."
But problems that plague Tong are still widespread in China. And that is what the Party is going to deal with as the 1.3 billion population are on the road to affluence, bumping along but never so certain of the course.
(The author is a Xinhua writer)
These problems - such as misappropriation of lands by the government and embezzlement of public funds - arose as life in his village in northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province turned better in recent years.
Tong's zeal in filing complaints with the government shows that as farmers become wealthy, they are paying more attention to their own interests and they are active in preventing their share of the fruit of economic development from being swallowed by a powerful few.
President Hu Jintao last Wednesday told members of the Party Central Committee Political Bureau that efforts should be made to "earnestly solve problems concerning people's immediate interests" and "always maintain people's fundamental interests."
Hu, also general secretary of the Party Central Committee, said: "Development is for the people, depends on the people and the fruit of development must be shared by the people."
He made the remarks when presiding over the 16th group study for the Party Central Committee Political Bureau, whose theme was understanding and practicing modernization since the founding of New China. He said the Party aimed to let all the people "march toward common prosperity."
Chen Donglin, a research fellow with the Beijing-based Institute of Contemporary China Studies, said China's perception of "affluence" has changed with the country's economic development. The Chinese character for "affluence," or fuyu, is formed by components meaning "having a full stomach" and "having foods and clothes."
Affluence was only the right of a privileged few before the founding of the People's Republlic of China in 1949.
Chen said, "Chinese people cannot realize a common prosperity without the establishment of the socialist system, which is proved by thousands of years of history (of the feudal and slavery systems) before 1949."
China had experienced three stages on the road to common prosperity, he said.From 1949 to 1965, farmers were encouraged to "become better off through one's own labor" and the government promoted "collective prosperity".
From 1966 to 1976 when the country was ravaged by the "cultural revolution," personal affluence, or building up one's own family fortunes, was strictly forbidden.
After China's reform and opening-up in 1978, the chief architect of the country's reform Deng Xiaoping called for "allowing and encouraging some people and areas to get rich first," which was leading to common prosperity and would ultimately realize a moderately prosperous society.
As a result, the rapid development of private businesses had greatly boosted the local economy.
They have also served as major contributors to China's GDP. The country has more than 6.8 million private businesses, according to the State Administration For Industry and Commerce.
President Hu said in a report to the Party's 17th National Congress in October 2007 that the Party "will create conditions to enable more citizens to have property income, and the Party will protect lawful incomes, regulate excessively high incomes and ban illegal gains."
Analysts say it shows the Party's updated policy on "affluence," with signals suggesting the offer of more support to the country's 700 million farmers who were not well-off compared with their urban counterparts. These measures include taxation exemption, expanding coverage of medical services and social security.
Chen said promoting common prosperity was an "unprecedented task" for China. "Although the country has achieved rapid economic development, only if it realized common prosperity could China establish its own development mode, and only then could we say the reform has reaped the ultimate success."
Luckily for farmer Tong, most of his problems have been redressed by his village officials in a national drive that called for local officials to "thoroughly investigate and deal with problems raised by the public."
But problems that plague Tong are still widespread in China. And that is what the Party is going to deal with as the 1.3 billion population are on the road to affluence, bumping along but never so certain of the course.
(The author is a Xinhua writer)
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