Reflecting on the "Ten Thousand Villages" Program and Adjusting the Condition of China's Villages When visiting the village of...
Reflecting on the "Ten Thousand Villages" Program and Adjusting the Condition of China's Villages
When visiting the village of Meilin in 2002, Xi Jinping, who was then the secretary of the Communist Party of China branch in the Zhejiang province of China and later the country's president, said, "We should try to develop the villages of the province, to create some villages that can be examples in the field of economic development." Then, in June 2003, Mr. Xi introduced a programme called "Make One Thousand Villages Examples of Progress, and Regulate Affairs in Ten Thousand Villages" (we'll call it the "Ten Thousand Villages" program's title for short) to try and spur economic growth in the villages of Zhejiang province in eastern China. Additionally, after he was elected president of China, he expanded this strategy to other regions of the nation.
The programme has been executed throughout the previous 20 years in three phases, from 2003 to 2010, with an emphasis on enhancing the living conditions in the communities. A few companies and cultural endeavours were launched in the villages later in 2011. Additionally, from 2021, efforts have been undertaken to modernise agricultural lands, village maintenance, and farmer care.
• The planning meeting for the job of modifying the village environment
Let's visit the Chinese village of Dazhuyuan and observe how things are going there. To discuss how to carry out some construction projects and modify the village's environment so that the new construction system that will be found will meet the needs of the villagers, a meeting was held there that included the village's authorities, residents, and companies.
Dazhuyuan village residents proposed a tiny river that will travel through the village in order to create a beautiful environment and improve the quality of life. This idea was made in light of the fact that the community is close to the large river Longwang. Then, a meeting was arranged in Sanshan village, close to Dazhuyuan village, by the local government, the residents, and a construction business to discuss a cooperative environmental adjustment plan that will effect Sanshan and five other nearby villages. This demonstrates how, over the past 20 years, they have worked to manage the "ten thousand villages" programme while attempting to reflect the interests of the people.
• Considering the circumstances, revitalise the village.
In the "Ten Thousand Villages" programme, Xi Jinping discusses his ideas on governance while he is working in the province of Zhejiang. One of his ideas is to develop communities in different ways depending on their current circumstances.
For instance, there are 800,000 square metre farms near the town of Cailu where rice may be harvested twice a year. Because of this, it's critical to concentrate on agriculture in the village in an effort to boost the local economy.
People in this community, which has a history spanning more than 700 years, have long attempted to safeguard their farms from flooding.
Lu Yangchun, a resident of the village of Cailu, claims that his neighbours are very devoted and make an effort to regularly expand their farms. Because of this, during the past few years, the size of the farm in the community has increased rather than decreased.
Crop planting, on the other hand, does not produce much revenue. How can the village's residents be taken care of when agriculture is the main industry? In order to increase everyone's income, the Cailu village has adopted a method that allows some farmers to rent out the majority of the land for agricultural use. Later, the remainder of the town will engage in the industrial crop processing job.
The average yearly income in the village of Cailu will be 82000 Chinese Yuan, or 11373 US dollars, by 2022. According to the growth of the industries, a joint organisation founded by the villages has received more than 4 million Yuan, which is the equivalent of 626 thousand US dollars.
• Additional village development approaches outside of agriculture
There are more than 10,000 villages in the Zhejiang province of China, each with its own unique set of climatic circumstances and growth prospects. For instance, among them are villages that are world-class in the production of flowers, some that are well-known for their cultural items, and still others that have traditional cultural experts. If the villagers have formed other groups in place of relying on individuals, these groups are in charge of investing in and creating companies that can increase farmer income.
In Zhejiang Province, firms founded by rural people's groups would be worth 880 billion Yuan (123 billion US dollars) by 2022.
