He Xionglang and Yin Fengming: Enlightenments of Zhejiang's "Green Rural Revival Program" for Comprehensively Promoting Rural Vitalization in the New Era
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project (hereafter the "Green Rural Revival Program") in Zhejiang. This program was a major decision personally conceived, deployed, and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his tenure working in Zhejiang. Over the past 20 years, General Secretary Xi has consistently attached great importance to the Green Rural Revival Program. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, he has visited Zhejiang many times, issuing important instructions and requirements on comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and the coordinated development of urban and rural areas. General Secretary Xi pointed out: "We must use the deep implementation of the rural revitalization strategy as a grasp [1], deepening the 'Green Rural Revival Program' and the construction of beautiful villages and beautiful towns. We must establish and improve the systems, mechanisms, and policy frameworks for urban-rural integrated development, and accelerate the promotion of agricultural and rural modernization." Zhejiang Province has persisted in "drawing a single blueprint to the end," with one administration following another in succession [2]. The Green Rural Revival Program has undergone a profound elevation from "demonstrating in a thousand villages and renovating ten thousand" to "creating boutiques in a thousand villages and beauty in ten thousand," and is now iteratively upgrading toward "future-oriented thousand villages and common prosperity for ten thousand villages." This has created thousands of beautiful villages, benefited the vast masses of farmers, and painted a new tableau of village beauty, harmony, and common prosperity.
Today, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the land of Zhijiang [3] is actively promoting the construction of a Beautiful China, comprehensively advancing rural revitalization, and building a demonstration zone for common prosperity through high-quality development. This provides more "Zhejiang practices" for the realization of Chinese-path modernization and offers a "Chinese solution" for global environmental governance and the creation of a harmonious, livable, and beautiful home for humanity.
In September 2018, the Green Rural Revival Program won the United Nations' highest environmental honor, the "Champions of the Earth" award. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to rural revitalization. The report of the 19th CPC National Congress proposed the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, an initiative intended to solve the major difficulty on the road to common prosperity—the "Three Rural Issues" (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers). The report of the 20th CPC National Congress stated: "Comprehensively promote rural revitalization." The rural revitalization strategy involves the overall and historical tasks of comprehensively building a modern socialist country; it is the "general grasp" for "Three Rural Issues" work in the New Era. The implementation of Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Program increasingly demonstrates a precious, powerful force and brilliant light, offering important revelations and epochal value for comprehensively advancing rural revitalization in the New Era.
I. Emphasize investigation and research to seek methods and paths for rural revitalization
Facing the reality of a widening urban-rural gap at the beginning of the 21st century, Comrade Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, conducted in-depth investigation and research. He spent 118 days traveling through 11 municipalities. Based on an accurate grasp of provincial and agricultural conditions, and through a keen assessment of the situation and farsighted vision, he made the major decision in June 2003 to implement the Green Rural Revival Program. This involved selecting approximately 10,000 administrative villages across the province for comprehensive renovation and building approximately 1,000 center villages into demonstration villages for a moderately prosperous society in all respects. He pointed out the need to build a batch of standardized, regulated, and comprehensively developed demonstration villages for new rural construction, sketching a grand blueprint for the program and laying a solid foundation for Zhejiang's comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization. Investigation and research are necessary conditions for scientific decision-making. Facts have proven that the success of this major decision stemmed from General Secretary Xi’s initial precise grasp of the actual situation and profound understanding of the essence of the problems. Investigation and research "take the pulse and clinical diagnosis" [4] for rural revitalization. On the new journey of the New Era, all localities must promote rural revitalization by adapting to local conditions, timing, and trends. Only through in-depth investigation and research, taking into account the actual factors of different regions and stages, can we properly take the pulse, diagnose the symptoms, and prescribe the right medicine—treating both the symptoms and the root causes—thereby finding the methods and paths to promote the revitalization of rural industry, talent, culture, ecology, and organization.
II. Strengthen ecological construction and promote industrial development according to local conditions
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Build beautiful villages that are sonically and ecologically livable, so that the vast number of farmers have a greater sense of gain and happiness in rural revitalization." Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Program—moving from "clearing garbage, sewage, and toilets; hardening roads; and greening villages" to "turning villages into scenic areas, farmhouses into guest rooms, and resources into assets," and further to "rural living environment assessments consistently leading the nation, forest coverage exceeding 61%, and rural per capita income ranking first in the nation's provinces for twenty consecutive years"—all reflects the importance of improving the rural ecological environment. These achievements interpret the true essence of the green development concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." Changshan County in Quzhou, Zhejiang, based on its local resource advantages, has vigorously improved the rural living environment and promoted rural green industries. It continues to enrich the "Oil Tea +" tourism format, extending the industrial chain and increasing farmers' income, vividly demonstrating that "if humanity does not fail the green mountains, the green mountains will certainly not fail humanity." The ecological environment is the foundation of human survival and development; if the ecology flourishes, the countryside flourishes, and if the ecology declines, the countryside declines. Strengthening rural ecological civilization construction is a task of the times, a realistic need to satisfy the people’s desire for a beautiful environment, and an inevitable requirement of Chinese-path modernization. Practice has proven that to promote rural ecological civilization, we must act steadily and surely, carrying forward the "spirit of driving the nail" [5]. We must firmly establish the concept that "success does not have to be attributed to me, but I must contribute to its success" [6]. We must strictly guard the baseline of ecological function protection, the bottom line of environmental quality safety, and the ceiling of natural resource utilization. We must gradually improve the rural ecological environment and explore paths to transform rural ecological and cultural advantages into economic advantages. On the basis of ensuring food security, we should promote the high-quality development of rural industries, continuously advance the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and convert ecological environmental advantages into eco-economic advantages such as ecological agriculture and rural tourism. By using rural green ecological resources as a lever, we can activate the "small universe" of rural green industrial development, thereby realizing the beautiful vision of strong agriculture, beautiful countryside, and wealthy farmers at an early date.
III. Pair up for mutual assistance and promote common prosperity through complementary strengths
In 2021, Zhejiang became the nation’s first demonstration zone for high-quality development and common prosperity. The Green Rural Revival Program also iteratively upgraded toward "future-oriented thousand villages and common prosperity for ten thousand villages." Addressing the weak link of development in mountainous areas, Zhejiang created an "upgraded version of Mountain-Sea Coordination" [7]. Developed economic counties paired with 26 mountainous counties to achieve prosperity together through industrial development, while cooperation expanded in public services such as healthcare, education, and culture. Simultaneously, Zhejiang accelerated the construction of digital villages, actively cultivating new agricultural and rural business formats like "village broadcasting" [8] e-commerce, and innovatively building a batch of rural digital life halls. Driven by the "Mountain-Sea Coordination" mechanism, the "enclave" park economy in the 26 mountainous counties has flourished, the level of shared public services has significantly increased, and infrastructure construction has gradually improved. After twenty years of leapfrog development, the per capita disposable income of rural permanent residents in Zhejiang reached over 37,000 yuan, ranking first among the nation’s provinces for 38 consecutive years. "Pairing up for mutual assistance" is an important manifestation of Chinese-style regional, kinship, neighborly, and ethnic sentiment. It is the emotional bond of mutual help within the Chinese nation and a demonstration of the "1+1>2" synergy. China’s pairing assistance is between people of the same culture and race, linked by blood; it is a heartfelt "one helps when eight are in trouble" effort, and a "nationwide chess game" development model [9] involving the government, market, and society. Common prosperity is the aspiration and expectation of the people for a better life in the New Era; it is a key feature of Chinese-path modernization. The main problems facing the promotion of common prosperity in the New Era include unbalanced and inadequate development, as well as large gaps in urban-rural regional development and income distribution. To achieve common prosperity, coordinated regional and urban-rural development is key. In the pursuit of rural revitalization, all regions should conduct scientific evaluations, understand their advantages, identify their shortcomings, and plan mutual assistance alliances. This will enhance endogenous development momentum and ultimately achieve the win-win goal of seeking common prosperity through complementary advantages.
IV. Base efforts on rural characteristics to release the powerful momentum of urban-rural integration
Since 2021, the Green Rural Revival Program has formed a vivid situation of "a thousand villages facing the future, ten thousand villages striving for common prosperity, urban-rural areas promoting integration, and the entire region creating harmony and beauty." Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Program, based on reality and local characteristics, has transformed the countryside into a series of harmonious and beautiful tableaus, making rural areas places people yearn for. It has created a broader space for exploring urban-rural integrated development and provided an excellent example for releasing the powerful momentum of urban-rural integration and promoting the process of agricultural and rural modernization. In the "Shared Farmland" of Cailu Village, Dongyang City, Jinhua, "broadcast sowing" was used to solve the problem of abandoned fields, and digital means were employed to assist agricultural development. The "Cailu Experience" has undergone continuous renewal and development, transforming from its initial formation to a mature model. Currently, Cailu Village has formed a unique "reciprocal path" for industrial development; nearly a hundred enterprises have settled in the village, and the village collective’s annual property income has increased by over 2 million yuan. It has embarked on a unique path of urban-rural integration, promoting efficient production and the integration of agriculture and tourism in its march toward high-tech modern agriculture. Urban-rural integrated development is the concentrated expression of Chinese-path modernization in terms of urbanization; it is an inevitable requirement for achieving rural revitalization, common prosperity for all, and the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations.
In the process of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization, all localities should study, think about, practice, and realize the scientific concepts and methods contained in the Green Rural Revival Program, especially its unique experience in urban-rural integration. Based on reality, they should create a good natural and business environment, strengthen characteristic industries, improve infrastructure construction, and optimize public services. They should continuously open up new horizons for "garden cities" and "urbanized countryside," scientifically allocate urban-rural resources, balance the flow of urban-rural factors, and promote the high-quality equalization of urban-rural infrastructure. In particular, they must enhance the endogenous development capacity of rural areas to aggregate resource factors and strengthen the internal drive for sustainable rural development, thereby realizing agricultural and rural modernization. On the basis of coordinating the integrated urban-rural layout, rural advantages should be vigorously developed so that the vast countryside can "see the mountains and waters, remember the nostalgia, and retain the village sentiment" [10]. With both material and spiritual progress taking flight together, we can lay a red carpet for common prosperity on the "road back to the village," making the "future village" an important window for displaying urban-rural integration.