**Yue Sheng: Exploring New Paths for Coordinated Urban-Rural and Regional Development in Guangdong**
Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Chinese-path modernization aims to promote common prosperity and resolve the issue of unbalanced regional development." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has inspected Guangdong five times. At every critical juncture and important moment of Guangdong's development, he has "felt the pulse and set the direction" [1], taking the helm to lead the way, expressing the hope that Guangdong will stand at the forefront of advancing Chinese-path modernization. He profoundly noted that the unbalanced development between urban and rural areas and among different regions is the greatest shortcoming in Guangdong’s high-quality development, requiring the province to work hard on resolving the urban-rural dual structure and unbalanced regional development. Thoroughly implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and instructions, and drawing on the experiences of the "Thousand-Village Demonstration and Ten-Thousand-Village Renovation" Project [2], Guangdong has formulated a major strategic deployment based on its actual conditions: the "Project for High-Quality Development of Hundreds of Counties, Thousands of Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages" (hereinafter the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project"). This initiative focuses on the county level as the point of leverage to strengthen counties, promote towns, and lead villages, thereby resolving the difficult problem of unbalanced urban-rural and regional development. After years of exploration, Guangdong’s "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" has achieved phased progress and results, exploring a path and accumulating experience for Chinese-path modernization and coordinated urban-rural and regional development.
The "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" is an Innovative Exploration and Practice of Chinese-path Modernization at the Provincial Level
Provincial-level units possess uniqueness in terms of governance units, spatial scale, history, culture, and resource allocation. Conducting theoretical innovation and practical exploration of Chinese-path modernization at the provincial level is of great significance to the overall landscape of Chinese-path modernization. Guangdong has innovatively deployed the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" as a project for advantage shaping, structural adjustment, momentum enhancement, and value realization, pursuing it with "top-priority momentum and top-priority intensity." Through this project, industry supports agriculture and cities lead the countryside to enhance the endogenous power of rural revitalization; the strategy of "Integrating the Pearl River Delta into the Greater Bay Area and Linking Mountains and Seas" optimizes the layout of productive forces across the Pearl River Delta and the East, West, and Northern regions of Guangdong. By strengthening county-level fulcrums and cultivating new growth points, the project provides strong support for "re-creating a new Guangdong" and strives to explore a Guangdong path for Chinese-path modernization.
The deployment of the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" is a key measure to promote coordinated regional development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Unbalanced urban-rural and regional development is the greatest shortcoming of Guangdong’s high-quality development." Measured against the New Development Philosophy of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, the problem of uncoordinated urban-rural and regional development in Guangdong is prominent. Solving this issue will facilitate the integration and mobilization of innovation resources on a larger scale, creating a new situation for regional collaborative innovation. It will facilitate orderly development based on resource and environmental carrying capacity, promoting the protection of territorial space and the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. It will facilitate a province-wide "chess game" [3] to deepen opening up and cooperation, enhancing the province's overall international competitiveness. It will facilitate regional co-construction and sharing, promoting the common growth of the people's well-being. To resolve the imbalance, Guangdong uses the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" as a major grasp [4], coordinately advancing new-type urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization. It strives to turn "shortcomings" into "potentialities," further smoothening the circulation between industry and agriculture and between urban and rural areas, allowing factors of production to be optimized on a broader scale for maximum efficiency, better creating a strategic pivot for the new development pattern and promoting the modernization of the province as a whole.
The deployment of the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" is an effective measure to stimulate the vitality of county-level development and expand the depth of development. Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out in Up and Out of Poverty: "From the perspective of the relationship between the whole and the parts, the quality of work at the county level relates to the prosperity, decline, safety, and danger of the nation." Starting from an understanding of the status and role of counties, Guangdong launched the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project," seizing the county level as the key. It strengthens the alignment and collaborative development between counties and the Pearl River Delta, aiming to build, develop, and govern counties well. This comprehensively enhances the capacity of county seats to aggregate factors, undertake industrial transfers, and attract populations, fully releasing the potential and momentum of county-level development. This makes counties important carriers for high-quality development and engines for comprehensive rural revitalization, creating a new atmosphere of vigorous development to support the "re-creation of a new Guangdong."
The deployment of the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" is an innovative measure to promote comprehensive rural revitalization. To advance Chinese-path modernization, we must advance comprehensive rural revitalization. Starting from an accurate grasp of the profound connotations of "the country's most fundamental interests" (guo zhi da zhe) [5], Guangdong deployed the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" to promote rural revitalization. It promotes the high-quality development of industries that enrich the people and vitalize villages, while simultaneously advancing new-type urbanization and the construction of "beautiful and harmonious villages that are pleasant to live and work in" in accordance with the laws of population mobility. This safeguards the "Sannong" [6] (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers) foundation and moves steadily toward common prosperity. Guangdong integrates the construction, development, and governance of counties, towns, and villages, "arming" agriculture with industry and leading the countryside with cities. It translates the construction of new-type industrial-agricultural and urban-rural relations into specific work and livelihood projects, accelerating the improvement of rural production, living, and ecological environments, so that rural development catches up with the pace of modernization and farmers can lead modern lives where they reside.
The deployment of the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project" is a pragmatic measure to strengthen primary-level governance. The primary level is the foundation of governance, the source of strength, and the final destination of all work. In implementing the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project," Guangdong always prioritizes upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership. It refines the command systems at all levels and fully stimulates the roles of County Party Committee Secretaries as "front-line commanders-in-chief," Town Party Committee Secretaries as "front-line construction captains," and Village Party organization secretaries as "leading geese" [7]. It promotes the deep involvement of Party and government organs, enterprises, and public institutions in primary-level "pairing assistance" [8] while also stimulating the initiative of primary-level cadres and the masses. By focusing on the primary level, directing resources toward counties, towns, and villages, and addressing the people's "pressing, difficult, and anxious" problems, Guangdong promotes security through development and ensures development through security. Through visible and tangible livelihood projects, the masses gain a greater sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. In this practice, Guangdong focuses on transforming the Party’s political and organizational advantages into advantages in work and governance, further deepening the Party's mass base and ruling foundation, fully demonstrating the unique charm and distinctive features of Chinese-path modernization.
Regional Innovative Practice of Advancing Chinese-path Modernization through the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project"
Guangdong is anchored to the goal of "standing at the forefront of advancing Chinese-path modernization," fully promoting the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project." It focuses on key directions such as expanding the county economy, building beautiful market towns, promoting rural reconstruction, and fostering urban-rural integration. With fervent drive, the tenacity to overcome difficulties, and a competitive spirit [9], the province has converged a powerful force to promote counties, towns, and villages. The new vision of coordinated urban-rural and regional development is constantly unfolding, and modernization has made solid strides.
Focusing on "strengthening the hundred counties" to trigger new vitality in the county-level economy. If the counties are strong, the province is strong; if the counties are vitalized, the whole province is vitalized. The county connects the city at one end and serves the countryside at the other; it is a vital battlefield for high-quality development and a key node for modernization. Guangdong seizes the strength of counties as the key, basing development on resource endowments, geographical conditions, and industrial foundations. It scientifically determines development directions—focusing on grain or agriculture where appropriate, and industry or commerce where appropriate—following a path of specialized and differentiated development and continuously expanding characteristic advantageous industries. In the first half of 2024, the economic growth rate of 32 counties (cities) was higher than the provincial average. The province has strengthened platforms for industrial undertaking, coordinately advancing orderly industrial transfer, and accelerating the layout of industrial transfer cooperation zones in East, West, and Northern Guangdong. By co-building "enclaves" and "reverse enclaves" [10], the 15 major industrial transfer platforms achieved an added value of 144.3 billion yuan for industrial enterprises above designated size, undertaking 579 industrial transfer projects—primarily from the Pearl River Delta—with a total investment of approximately 205.6 billion yuan. Guangdong has strengthened the carrying capacity of counties, launching pilot projects for new-type urbanization with the county seat as an important carrier, and starting the renovation of 418 old residential communities in county seats. Through initiatives like county-level commercial construction and foraying into the first batch of 10 business environment reform pilots (such as Xinyi in Maoming), 57 counties (cities) have achieved a net population inflow, highlighting the aggregation effect of people, business, and industry in county seats.
Focusing on "renewing the thousand towns" to improve the appearance and strength of towns and sub-districts. Towns are the basic units of counties and important nodes linking high and low levels in the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project." Guangdong focuses on the specialized development of towns, using the cultivation of "typical cases" as a grasp to advance the construction of beautiful towns. It has completed the formulation of 144 town-level territorial space plans, built 1,171 demonstration main streets, renovated 2,538 farmers' markets and 98,300 building facades, creating beautiful market towns that are "clean, orderly, and sustainable." By strengthening cooperation with central state-owned enterprises (SOEs), four central SOEs were organized to pair with 525 towns/sub-districts in 15 prefecture-level cities across East, West, and Northern Guangdong to assist in environmental improvement and landscape control. To enhance town-level development strength, 65 central towns were selected for planning and construction according to small-city standards. Guangdong has refined a group of industrial towns and commercial hubs, allowing 124 of its towns to enter the national list of "Top 1,000 Towns."
Focusing on "transforming the ten thousand villages" to bring new luster to the construction of harmonious and beautiful villages. Viewed from the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world's once-in-a-century profound changes, stabilizing the agricultural base is the "ballast" for responding to changes and opening new chapters. Guangdong seizes village vitalization as the foundation, vigorously developing industries that enrich people and vitalize villages, and planning 22 national modern agricultural industrial parks and 84 national-level strong agricultural towns. It actively promotes the construction of 10 hundred-billion-yuan level industrial clusters (such as grain and vegetables) and 5 tens-of-billions-yuan level clusters (such as tea and Southern medicine [11]), and has started 90 modern marine ranch projects with an investment exceeding 20 billion yuan. By improving the rural living environment and advancing the "Green and Beautiful Guangdong" initiative, the province has held rural landscape design competitions and promoted the construction of rural revitalization demonstration belts. It continues to expand the new-type rural collective economy, leading the nation in legislation to promote its development and implementing a three-year action plan to enhance the capacity of new-type agricultural entities. The number of "weak villages" with a collective economic income below 100,000 yuan has basically been cleared.
Focusing on "urban-rural integration" to achieve new results in integrated and coordinated development. Urban-rural integrated development is an inevitable requirement of Chinese-path modernization and a key grasp for breaking the urban-rural dual structure, expanding the space for high-quality development, and achieving common prosperity. Guangdong seizes "integration" as the focus, deepening reform and innovation pilots. This includes pilot reforms of the county and town management systems, advancing pilot projects for concentrated rural residential construction, expanding the quality of comprehensive land consolidation, and launching pilot projects for the integrated development of agriculture, culture, and tourism. It is planning the construction of a high-level lead area for the high-quality development of counties, towns, and villages in the Huannankunshan-Luofushan area. Guangdong has strengthened education and medical assistance, organizing 125 universities to pair with 86 counties (cities/districts) through the "Double Hundred Action" (Hundred Universities Linking Hundred Counties), and 73 "Grade A Tertiary" [12] hospitals have sent teams to assist 113 county-level hospitals in 60 counties of East, West, and Northern Guangdong. It has pushed fiscal and financial resources down to the county, town, and village levels, implementing the fiscal system of "province directly governing counties" [13] and establishing incentive mechanisms for county-level economic development. In 2024, the provincial finance department integrated and allocated 11.4 billion yuan as a special guarantee fund for the key tasks of the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project."
Main Experiences of Advancing the Regional Innovation Practice of Chinese-path Modernization through the "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project"
Guangdong has deeply grasped and applied the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. On the basis of fully respecting the laws of population mobility and urban-rural development, it has continuously deepened reform exploration, improved institutional mechanisms, and stimulated momentum. It strives to answer the "question of the times" regarding the high-quality development of a major economic province, forming a series of experiences and practices for reference.
Always adhering to the combination of the effective market and the proactive government, and incorporating the strengthening of the Party's overall leadership throughout...
...The entire process and all fields of the "Hundred Counties, Thousand Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages Project" (the "Project"). Persisting in the leadership of the Communist Party of China is an essential requirement of Chinese-path modernization. In the process of implementing the Project, Guangdong has integrated the persistence and strengthening of the Party’s total leadership into every specific task, forming a comprehensive set of systematic maneuvers. The province has constructed a command system characterized by powerful leadership and orderly coordination: headquarters have been established at the provincial, municipal, and county levels with offices functioning as physical entities, where the "top leaders" [14] and deputy secretaries of the Party committees personally oversee operations. Nine major working task forces led by provincial departments have been assembled, and promotion meetings and on-site meetings are held annually to advance the work. The "1+N+X" policy system has been perfected to ensure that fiscal, investment, consumption, industrial, and regional policies are coordinated and move in the same direction. By giving full play to Guangdong's advantages of a vibrant market economy and a wealth of business entities, the province insists on prioritizing planning, pre-positioning operations, and combining construction with management. This guides various business entities to participate deeply, turning the Project into a project of shared prosperity and mutual growth where all parties share development opportunities.
The province consistently adheres to the New Development Philosophy [15] as a guide, taking the construction of a new type of relationship between industry and agriculture and between urban and rural areas as the focal point to systematically promote coordinated regional and urban-rural development. Coordinated development is a vital component of the New Development Philosophy and an important feature of Chinese-path modernization. During the implementation of the Project, Guangdong has consistently adhered to the concepts of urban-rural integration, regional coordination, and the mutual promotion of material and cultural-ethical civilizations [16]. It has coordinately promoted new-type industrialization, new-type urbanization, and the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside. It promotes the Pearl River Delta region in taking the lead in achieving modernization while accelerating the development of the eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong as a whole, integrally advancing industrial development, town and village construction, and the cultivation of civilized rural customs to continuously improve the balance and coordination of development. The province insists on considering Guangdong’s development within the overall context of national development, deploying rural revitalization within the framework of building new-type urban-rural relations, and synergistically promoting common prosperity for the masses alongside the comprehensive improvement of development quality and "making the cake bigger" [17]. Guangdong is deeply advancing new-type urbanization with county seats as an important carrier, comprehensively enhancing the function of towns as nodes connecting cities and villages, and adapting to local conditions to promote the functional reconstruction and value reshaping of the countryside, thus carving out a path of urban-rural integration and regional synergistic development where cities lead villages and industry promotes agriculture.
The province consistently adheres to the people-centered development philosophy, extensively gathering the collective strength of the entire society to continuously improve the production and living conditions of the masses. The masses are the principal force driving social development. Guangdong's Project adheres to the people-centered approach, respects the will of the masses, and takes the improvement of people's well-being as the fundamental starting point. In advancing industrial development, town and village construction, and the improvement of the regional landscape, the province focuses on stimulating the people's sense of ownership. It mobilizes the enthusiasm of practical rural talents such as rural artisans, "industrial village chiefs," and capable individuals returning to their hometowns [18], leading more of the masses to participate extensively and driving a shift from "I am required to build" to "I want to build." The province insists on following the Party’s mass line in the New Era, taking the participation of the whole society as the foundational support for the Project. It has innovatively established a new type of assistance and cooperation mechanism that combines vertical support, horizontal assistance, and internal collaboration. It has deeply implemented programs such as "A Thousand Enterprises Assisting a Thousand Towns, Ten Thousand Enterprises Revitalizing Ten Thousand Villages" and the "Double Hundred Action" [19], guiding universities, enterprises, and social organizations to devote themselves to the construction of counties, towns, and villages. It has mobilized experts and think tanks from various fields to provide decision-making consultations, supported various democratic parties, federations of industry and commerce, and personages without party affiliation to participate in construction, and leveraged the roles of "compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan" and "overseas Chinese." The entire province is playing a "concerto" and drawing "one map" together, continually whipping up a fervent surge of hard work across the land of Southern Yue [20].
The province consistently insists on exerting the important role of reform, striving to explore new paths and solutions with a spirit of courage and continuous innovation. Chinese-path modernization is continuously advanced through reform and opening up; reform is the fundamental driving force for high-quality development and Chinese-path modernization, while innovation is the primary driver leading development. In the process of implementing the Project, Guangdong has always insisted that development sets the questions and reform provides the answers. It follows the central government's top-level design while also respecting the grassroots' pioneering spirit. The entire province focuses on "releasing" authorities, "revitalizing" resources, and "activating" factors of production, continuously drawing momentum and vitality from reform. A series of integrated reforms have been deployed, including the reform to expand the powers of strong counties and vice versa, the reform of town and subdistrict systems, the reform of urban-rural integrated development mechanisms, and comprehensive rural reforms. These efforts aim to build a robust institutional mechanism and policy system for coordinated urban-rural and regional development, breaking the urban-rural dual structure at the institutional level and injecting surging momentum into the high-quality development of counties, towns, and villages.
The province always firmly establishes the conviction to persist over the long term, both strengthening systematic planning and holistic advancement while highlighting key priorities for concentrated breakthroughs. Guangdong has deeply studied the experience and enlightenment of the "Thousand-Village Demonstration and Ten-Thousand-Village Renovation Project" [21], which involves always centering on overall goals, maintaining strategic resolve, and working term after term. In implementing the Project, following the "1-3-5-10" overall goals—starting and kicking off in one year, seeing initial results in three years, achieving significant changes in five years, and attaining fundamental transformation in ten years—Guangdong combines persisting over the long term with a "seize the day" urgency. It insists on "drawing the blueprint to the end" and emphasizes the "spirit of driving a nail" [22], maintaining the stability of the grand blueprint and general plan, the stability of the main tasks and overall layout, and the continuity of policies, while continuously extending the scope and enriching the connotations according to the development of the situation. It firmly grasps every key node, focuses on key areas, concentrates resources, and gathers strength for breakthroughs, accelerating the resolution of prominent problems and institutional obstacles that have long constrained Guangdong's coordinated urban-rural and regional development. Through new progress and achievements at every stage and node, the province ensures the timely realization of the Project’s goals and tasks.
Guangdong will always keep in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping’s earnest instructions, anchoring itself to the goals, facing difficulties head-on, working with pragmatic results, and persisting over the long term. Through the promotion and implementation of the "Hundred Counties, Thousand Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages Project," the province will strive to create a new situation for coordinated urban-rural and regional development, exploring Guangdong's experience and providing Guangdong's wisdom for the advancement of Chinese-path modernization.
Source: People's Daily, January 24, 2025, Page 9 Web Editor: Huihui