China Releases Policies on Building “New Socialist Countryside”
2 min readChina’s central authorities released its first major document of the year whichcalls for the construction of a“new socialist countryside”as the foremost task facing China in the 2006-2010 five-year period.
The document said the next fives years will be key to laying a solid foundation for the new socialist countryside construction.Its aim is to boost modern agriculture，develop new relationships between industry and agriculture，cities and countryside，and increases rural affluence.
The ideas set forth by the central authorities listed eight policy priorities to promote the reconstruction of the countryside：
Plan economic，social development in urban，rural areas as a whole，and firmly promote construction of the new countryside；Boost modern agriculture to consolidate industrial support to the new countryside construction；Ensure sustained increases of farmers’income to lay a solid rural economic foundation；Increase infrastructure construction in rural areas to improve rural material conditions；Accelerate development of pubic services in the countryside and encourage new farmers；Deepen comprehensive rural reform to guarantee systematic protection for rural people；Improve democracy in rural areas and perfect rural management；Enhance leadershi and motivate all party members and the entire society to care，support and participate in the construction of a new countryside.”Constructing a new socialis countryside is an important historic task in the process of China’s modernization，”said the document.
The document also stressed that construction of the new countryside should focus on practical development and involve democratic consultations.
College Students Join“New Countryside”Construction Drive
Chinese college students will go to the countryside during their summer vacationto publicize“new socialist countryside”policies and help rural residents improve their lives.
The students will head to around 1000 villages in 600 teams，with 100 teams devoted to publicizing government policies，100 publicizing the“socialist concept of honor and disgrace”，100 providing technical assistance to farmers，100 giving lectures to rural students，100 providing medical and health care and 100 teams of PhD students offering advice on local economic development，according to the activity plan.
The summer vacation of Chinese colleges and universities generally start in July and last for around one and a half months.The government usually organizes college students to make field trips to the countryside and other grass-roots units.
A circular，jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and several other organizations，said the the activity is“an effective approach”to improving the ideological and political education of college students.
“It is also an important measure to allow college students to play a role in the‘new countryside’construction，”says the circular.
The government seeks to promote rural development with the“building of a socialist new countryside”program，which aims to improve agricultural production，ethos，living standards，appearance and public administration in the rural areas.
