From 1978 to 2008, China's reform and opening up has gone through a glorious course of 30 years. China's economy has developed from the brink of collapse to the fourth in the world, and its total import and export volume is the third in the world. People's life has developed from inadequate food and clothing to overall well-off, and the number of poor people in rural areas has decreased from more than 250 million to more than 20 million. Remarkable achievements have been made in social and economic construction. Many people are wondering why China's rural economic development has made such great achievements. What basic experience has China's rural economy gained in the past 30 years of reform and opening up? What major policy sets have promoted the rapid and stable development of rural economy? This paper attempts to answer these questions.
The basic characteristics of rural development policies in China in the past 30 years of reform and opening up can be summarized as inclusiveness and selectivity. The so-called inclusiveness means that the China government has adopted a series of policies that are more and more conducive to rural development, such as the land property right reform policy, the agricultural microeconomic organization policy based on the agricultural household contract management system, the agricultural product price and market policy, the agricultural and rural industrial structure adjustment policy, and the rural human resources development policy. These inclusive policies provide the same institutional framework for all farmers, and make the vast majority of farmers embark on the road to wealth. The so-called selectivity refers to the targeted rural development poverty alleviation and minimum living security policies adopted by the China government for the rural poor who cannot get rid of poverty under the framework of inclusive policies. On the one hand, the inclusive and selective rural development policy gives full play to the role of the market economy mechanism, on the other hand, it solves some market failures through the government's macro-control. Inclusive and selective policies
The roles of market and government complement each other and give full play to them. According to the time sequence of reform and its internal logical relationship, since the reform and opening up, the rural development policies implemented by the China government and the basic experience gained are shown in the following aspects:
First, the rural land system reform characterized by the separation of ownership and use right.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the land system has been thoroughly reformed. The surplus land of landlords, rich peasants and bureaucratic capital was confiscated and distributed to peasants with little or no land for free. For the first time in the history of thousands of years, land to the tiller has been realized in China. However, after the land reform, fearing that the privatization of land would lead to polarization, agricultural cooperation and collectivization and later people's commune were quickly carried out, and the land was changed from temporary private ownership to collective ownership by farmers. Collective ownership and collective production and management of land have brought some benefits to social and economic development, but they have also brought fatal problems such as difficulty in improving land productivity and agricultural economic benefits, which led to the rural land system reform of 1978 separation of land ownership and use right. At first, this reform was tested as a model, which was controversial among the government, academia and farmers. However, due to its remarkable economic benefits, such reforms have sprung up all over the country. The central government never allowed experiments, from allowing experiments to extensive discussion, from issuing central documents for approval to forming national laws, and finally formed the rural land system with China characteristics. With the development of China economy, especially the rural economy, water.
The level is still relatively low and there is no corresponding social security system. Therefore, the reform of separating the two rights of rural land in China still adopts the principle of giving priority to fairness and giving consideration to efficiency. Not only did the poor not get hurt, but they also got opportunities for development. This is where the reform of social and economic system with China characteristics began.
Second, establish an agricultural market economic system oriented to agricultural product price reform.
If the agricultural household contract management system characterized by the separation of the two rights of land has laid a property right foundation for the development of rural economy in China, then the establishment of the agricultural market economic system led by the market-oriented reform of agricultural products has injected vitality into the development of rural economy in China and provided a mechanism for the optimal allocation of resources. Almost at the same time of implementing the household contract responsibility system, the China government changed its long-term planned control policy on agricultural product prices. First, liberalize the prices of vegetables, fruits and livestock products, and increase the purchase prices of important agricultural products such as grain, cotton and oil. After the prices of some agricultural products were liberalized, the prices rose sharply and farmers benefited greatly. Subsequently, the supply of these agricultural products increased rapidly and the quality was improved. Agriculture has changed the long-term "grain-oriented" industrial structure, and the proportion of cash crops and animal husbandry has increased significantly. With the implementation of urban residents' price subsidies and wage increases, the surplus of agricultural products consumers has increased. The reform policies that echo each other have achieved Pareto improvement in urban and rural society. The market-oriented reform of agricultural products has benefited farmers and urban residents, and accumulated experience for the government to further market-oriented reform. The reform of agricultural products market and price policy in China is a gradual road. In rural areas, from a planned economy to a planned economy supplemented by market regulation, from the combination of planned economy and market regulation to the implementation of a socialist market economy, from others asking China to implement a market economy to asking others to recognize China to implement a market economy, a fundamental change in the social and economic system has been realized. Joining WTO makes China's agricultural products face more liberalized international market competition, and uncompetitive agricultural products and related producers are greatly affected. However, more intense international competition also forces the government and farmers to strive to improve the international competitiveness of agricultural products. The government has adopted a more systematic and comprehensive agricultural protection policy, and farmers have adopted more scientific means and methods of production and more modern ways of organization and industrial connection. In short, the establishment and improvement of the socialist market economic system is one of the most important reasons for rural economic development and farmers' prosperity. Of course. The competition mechanism of market economy and the survival of the fittest have also widened the income gap between rural residents and between urban and rural residents, but this expansion is at different income growth rates.
The third is to establish agricultural microeconomic organizations based on household contract management.
Taking household contract management as the most basic form of agricultural microeconomic organization is the choice made by China government and farmers after long-term practice. As an organizational system, household contract management has been written into the Constitution and agricultural law by China government. China's practice and international experience have proved that agricultural household management is suitable for different ownership systems, different levels of economic development and technical conditions. The main reasons for taking family management as the most basic micro-economic organization form of agriculture are as follows: first, the natural reproduction of agriculture and economic reproduction are intertwined; Second, agricultural production can generally be completed by a single worker from beginning to end, without a very strict social division of labor; Third, because of the progress of agricultural science and technology, many agricultural technologies can be completed by one person or one family; Fourth, farmers don't need detailed labor measurement in their daily work, but they can link their daily work with the final reward; Fifth, agricultural family management has various labor incentives, which can use a lot of leisure time and semi-auxiliary labor, and the cost of supervision and management is the lowest. The implementation of household contract management in China is one of the important microeconomic reasons for the increase in the supply of agricultural products. Through the implementation of the agricultural microeconomic organization system based on the contracted management system of farmers and extended by agricultural industrialization management and farmers' professional cooperatives, the government of China has given full play to the enthusiasm of farmers and enterprises, promoted the commercialization, marketization, specialization, socialization and enterprise production of agriculture, improved the degree of agricultural organization, extended the agricultural industrial chain and enhanced the market competitiveness of agriculture. Farmers can improve their bargaining power and economic status through the construction and improvement of economic organization forms that are beneficial to farmers after they gain operational autonomy.
Four, to improve economic efficiency as the core of agricultural and rural industrial structure adjustment.
The gradual market-oriented reform of agricultural products prices has greatly changed the comparative interests of various agricultural products. After farmers gained autonomy in management, they mainly arranged their own production structure according to comparative interests, so the sown area of various cash crops increased rapidly and the sown area of grain began to decline. In order to adjust the economic interests and ensure the national food security and the stability of the agricultural products market, the government began to levy taxes on agricultural and forestry specialty taxes, and frequently adjusted the grain purchase price, and implemented the grain protection price purchase in 1998 -2003. However, due to the lack of economic environment at home and abroad and unscientific policy design, the grain protection price purchase policy not only failed to achieve the expected goal, but also brought a heavy financial burden to the government and state-owned grain storage enterprises. In order to solve the problem of environmental protection in economic restructuring, the state has implemented a large-scale project of returning farmland to forests and grasslands, and subsidized farmers with food and funds. The adjustment of agricultural industrial structure has generally increased farmers' income, but due to the spontaneity, consistency and lag of agricultural industrial structure adjustment, the supply of some agricultural products exceeds demand in some years, and the prices have fallen sharply, which has caused farmers to suffer losses from time to time.
With the rapid development of national economy, the comparative advantage of agriculture is declining, and the secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas are developing rapidly. Before the mid-1990s, rural areas in China took the road of decentralized industrialization, that is, township enterprises were distributed in the vast rural areas. These township enterprises have played a great role in strengthening the collective economy, solving the employment of surplus agricultural labor, increasing farmers' income and increasing local fiscal revenue, and have become an important pillar of the rural economy and even the entire national economy. State-owned cities
With the enterprise reform and the emergence of a large number of foreign-funded enterprises, the competitive weakness of township enterprises has gradually emerged, and township enterprises have begun to implement the strategy of agglomeration development, further promoting the development of rural urbanization. Rural industrial agglomeration has produced scale effect, reduced transaction costs, improved the efficiency of public goods and services, and laid the foundation for the development of the tertiary industry.
Five, to reduce the burden on farmers for the purpose of rural financial system reform.
Before the reform and opening-up, almost all the agricultural surplus was transformed into industrialized primitive accumulation of capital, so it was difficult for agriculture to achieve expanded reproduction or even simple reproduction, and farmers' lives were not greatly improved, so that by the time of reform and opening-up, there were still 250 million people living in absolute poverty. After the reform and opening up, the state gradually liberalized the prices of agricultural products and implemented a market economy. The surplus economic conditions for transferring agriculture through the agricultural product price policy gradually disappeared, which greatly reduced the burden on farmers. If the burden on farmers was hidden before the reform and opening up, it will become explicit after the reform and opening up. After the reform and opening up, farmers' burden is mainly manifested in "three reservations and five overall plans" and arbitrary fund-raising, arbitrary charges and fines. Because these charges are unfair and unscientific, they have caused many social, economic and political problems. Although the country has taken a series of reform measures, there are still many contradictions. Until 2006, the state abolished all agricultural taxes and fees except tobacco tax, and farmers completely relieved the social burden of operating agriculture. In 2004, China government began to implement a comprehensive and systematic agricultural protection policy. The government not only increased investment in agriculture, but also increased investment in rural public goods and social security. Through a more scientific and reasonable financial transfer payment system, the financial situation of counties and townships in poor areas has been greatly improved, and farmers have also become the beneficiaries of public finance.
VI. Promotion of rural human capital investment for the purpose of improving population quality.
Through the continuous improvement of rural human capital investment policy, China's rural human capital has been rapidly improved. By 2007, rural compulsory education has entered a new stage of free. The central and local governments have greatly increased their investment in rural compulsory education, which is developing equally between regions and between urban and rural areas. The improvement of rural vocational education has laid a better and better condition for a large number of surplus agricultural labor to find jobs in urban non-agricultural industries and promote agricultural modernization. The implementation of the family planning policy in China not only reduced the birth rate in rural areas, but also improved the quality of the born population, making the population growth adapt to the social and economic development. The policy of promoting the transfer of surplus agricultural labor to urban non-agricultural industries has accelerated the urbanization process in China.
Seven, the improvement of rural social security system based on the principle of protecting vulnerable groups.
Market economy has created vitality for the growth of wealth, but economic growth can't guarantee the increase of everyone's welfare, which requires the government to take rg-some special assistance and support measures to ensure their basic living needs. The basic needs of rural special or vulnerable groups are mainly solved through the rural social security system. Compared with urban social security system, China's rural social security system is relatively weak. Entering the 2 1 century, China's rural social security system has set off a climax of comprehensive construction. At present, China's rural social security system mainly involves three aspects: establishing a farmer's old-age insurance system, that is, gradually replacing the functions of land pension and family pension through the extensive participation of rural population in the government-led farmer's old-age insurance system operating according to the market mechanism, and providing the most basic living security for elderly farmers; The establishment of rural medical and health security system, that is, through the establishment of public medical service system and rural cooperative medical system, give full play to the enthusiasm of the government, collectives and individuals, so that the rural poor can fundamentally get rid of the plight of poverty caused by illness, returning to poverty due to illness and many diseases that cannot be treated in time and effectively because of poverty; Establish a rural minimum living security system, so that the poor people in rural areas who are poor due to disasters and illness, as well as the traditional' L five guarantees' (food, clothing, housing, medical care, burial and education) can be effectively supported.
Eight, promote the democratization process based on the establishment of villagers' autonomy system.
The Constitution of China stipulates the legal status of villagers' committees as rural grassroots mass autonomous organizations. The system of villagers' autonomy in China is embodied in the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees officially promulgated by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) 1998. This law clearly defines the nature, functions, production procedures and term of office of villagers' committees, which is a grass-roots democratic form and management system in contemporary rural areas of China.
Degree, the villagers' social relations and social activities institutionalized and standardized. The core contents of the villager autonomy system in China are democratic election, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic supervision. Villagers' autonomy has become a basic social and political system for farmers to directly exercise their democratic rights, handle their own affairs according to law, create their own happy lives, and implement self-management, self-education and self-service. The implementation of villagers' self-government first expanded rural grassroots democracy, and then promoted the reform of rural management system. Village cadres have changed from the past appointment system to the election system, which basically ensures that rural cadres can better serve farmers and safeguard their interests; The relationship between township governments and village committees has changed from the previous relationship between leaders and led to the relationship between guidance and guided, which is conducive to increasing farmers' autonomy.
Nine, improve the feasibility of the implementation of rural poverty alleviation and development policies.
In the process of overall transition from planned economy to market economy and steady modernization, China has effectively accomplished the dual tasks of promoting economic growth and alleviating poverty. Poverty alleviation in rural areas of China is a road of "government-led, social participation, self-reliance and poverty alleviation through development". China Municipal Government has made remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation in rural areas through effective policies and measures, such as replacing work with relief, promoting the whole village, industrialization poverty alleviation, labor transfer training, subsidized loans for poverty alleviation, resettlement, and poverty alleviation through science and technology. The experience of poverty alleviation in rural areas of China is mainly manifested in the strong government-led, development-oriented poverty alleviation model, gradual targeting mechanism, empowerment and participation of the poor, extensive social participation and active international cooperation under the market economy system.
Ten, to build a harmonious society as the goal of the new rural construction strategy.
Building a well-off society in an all-round way and building a new socialist countryside is the basic development strategy determined by the China government after entering the 2/kloc-0 century. China's economy has entered the middle stage of industrialization, and the conditions for industry to feed back agriculture and cities to support rural areas are basically mature. The development of agriculture and rural economy in China is entering an important stage of strategic transformation. In order to solve the prominent contradictions in the process of economic and social development, the construction of new countryside has become an objective requirement of economic and social development. Among the five contents of building a new countryside, developing production is the material condition for building a new countryside, and a well-off life is the material condition for building a new countryside.
The specific requirements of building a new countryside, rural civilization is the ideological basis of building a new countryside, village cleanliness is the environmental requirement of building a new countryside, and democratic management is the institutional guarantee of building a new countryside. They are interrelated and mutually restricted, and together form an organic whole. Only by adopting the policy system of agricultural protection to promote agricultural development, perfecting the policy system of rural public goods construction based on public finance, gradually building a relatively perfect rural social security system, adopting the policy system of promoting the development of rural human resources, and constantly improving the policy system of protecting farmers' political and economic rights can we achieve the strategic goal of new rural construction.
The above ten basic experiences and policy collections of rural economic development in China are not isolated, but interrelated, mutually conditional and complementary, forming a relatively complete rural development policy system. The land policy of separating the ownership and use right of agricultural land laid the property right foundation for the establishment of agricultural market economic system; The gradual agricultural marketization reform has optimized the allocation efficiency of agricultural related resources; On the basis of household contract management, the agricultural microeconomic organization system expanded by agricultural industrialization management and farmers' professional cooperatives has built a dynamic market subject; The adjustment of agricultural industrial structure, which is dominated by market demand and supplemented by government guidance, has promoted the sustainable development of agriculture. From rural decentralized industrialization to urbanization, industrial agglomeration effect has been achieved; The reform and relief of agricultural tax and fee system has gradually reduced the outflow of agricultural economic benefits, and the improvement of financial transfer payment system and financial support for agriculture has made the supply of rural public goods tend to be equal in the process of significant improvement; The promotion policy of rural human capital has built a long-term mechanism for social and economic development and the improvement of farmers' income level; The effective implementation of the rural poverty alleviation and development policy has freed the vast majority of rural poor people from poverty, and the establishment and improvement of the rural social security system has woven a life safety net for rural residents, especially the poorest people; The system of villagers' autonomy ensures farmers' participation in economic, social and political activities. The development strategy of new rural construction aiming at building a harmonious society is the development and summary of this series of successful experiences and policies.
This paper is a part of the project "Study on the Development Policy of Rural Poor People in China" (CPR /05/208) funded by the United Nations Development Programme.