Is the countryside in central and western China like the eastern coast ten years ago?

The development of the central and western regions is an important strategy for China's economic development and an important step for its sustainable development. The development of the central and western regions is first and foremost the construction and development of rural areas. South Korea developed economy, improved environment and improved people's living standards through the New Village Movement in 1970s. However, the background of rural construction in central and western China is similar to that of South Korea at that time, and the development goal is the same. Therefore, learning from the experience of South Korea's New Village Movement, combining the rural reality in central and western China and the characteristics of modern agricultural development, will have certain enlightenment to the rural construction in central and western China.

First, South Korea's new village movement

The Background of the New Village Movement in Korea

Before 1970, South Korea's economic and socio-economic center of gravity was in the countryside. Farmers account for about 60% of the national population, 80% live in rural areas, and about 40% of GNP depends on agriculture. 1965 farmer's family income 150 dollars, and the per capita income of farmers is 20 dollars, and they are still in extreme poverty. In order to inject new hope into the poor hearts of the Korean people,1In April, 1970, South Korean President park chung-hee founded the new village movement of self-help, mutual assistance and self-reliance. The movement takes the countryside as the main body and turns the poor rural economy and society into rich, happy and beautiful villages; With the development of rural society, realize the modernization of the whole society and establish its independent economy.

Second, the main content and characteristics of South Korea's new village movement

South Korea's new village movement in the 1970s took the development of rural areas as the highest national policy. Its main contents are:

1, implement social development and improve the environment

Social development is the starting point of rural development. It includes the development of living environment and production environment. For example, the development of living environment includes improving roofs and houses to install running water and sewers; From improving toilets and kitchens to building public bathrooms, swimming pools and alleys. The development of production environment includes the construction of public workplaces, such as agricultural roads, public manure fields and bridges, as well as the consolidation of cultivated land and the regulation of rivers. This is actually the foundation and foundation of rural construction.

2. Develop economy and improve economic benefits.

Income increase includes agricultural income and non-agricultural income. For example, agricultural income undertakings include the construction of public nurseries and livestock farms to control pests and diseases and the use of agricultural machinery and tools. Non-agricultural income-generating undertakings include agricultural product processing, handicraft industry and commercial union. By the 1990s, the processing of agricultural products was close to the international level, and some agricultural products reached the world advanced level.

The essence of South Korea's new village movement is to develop new countryside and make farmers get rid of poverty and become rich. Therefore, its characteristics mainly reflect the spirit of poverty alleviation, reform and creation, and the democratic concept and regional development practice of economic unity, intellectual participation, integration of government and people and participation of the whole people. In view of this feature, the new village movement was led by the government and participated by the people in the initial stage. Through ideological enlightenment, necessary support, education and research, rural residents' awareness of improving their lives has been improved, and materials such as cement and steel have been provided to the countryside to develop administrative undertakings. In the development stage, it is transformed into the form of folk leading and official support. What is particularly worth mentioning is the activity of "Zuo Muban", which is a typical model of exerting farmers' own strength in regional development ("Zuo Muban" is a spontaneous organization of farmers and a basic organization of regional economic development composed of specialized departments of crops and livestock). It has played a great role in educating farmers on agricultural technology, developing agricultural technology and increasing output, and has become the core of developing agricultural technology.

Three. Achievements of South Korea's New Village Movement

197 1 South Korea's new village movement quickly set off a prairie fire all over the country. After just ten years of development, its rural areas have kept up with the modernization process, farmers' lives have reached a well-off level, and they are among the best in Asia, and have made remarkable achievements.

1, the integration of urban and rural areas has greatly improved farmers' income and quality of life.

Production and life (medical insurance, annuity system) have been greatly improved, living (kitchen facilities have been modernized, stoves have been electrified, and gas fuel has been used), and transportation and communication have reached the city level. 1970 the per capita national income was $200, and 1978 it was raised to $2,000; 1976 The income of farmers is higher than that of urban workers 100.4%, 1977 high 102.4%. The purchasing power of farmers has been greatly enhanced, and the living environment has changed greatly, which has played a great role in social change.

2. The level of science and technology in rural areas and the market competitiveness of products have been significantly enhanced.

Increasing crop production in the 1970s and pursuing high-quality products in the 1990s; From the production of sterile seeds to the introduction of biotechnology; From self-sufficiency to the development of information industry by computer-improving the competitiveness of crop production by science and technology. Moreover, the food green revolution and the free export of agricultural products have adapted to the international demand, further developed the new village movement, made Korean enterprises more active in the international market, and made the Korean economy one of the four little dragons in Asia.

Second, the status quo of rural areas in central and western China

The rural economy in the central and western regions is developing slowly, and the gap with the eastern and coastal regions is expanding rapidly.

There are many mountains, plateaus and deserts in the midwest of China. Faced with the harsh natural environment, people often pursue immediate interests for a long time, only taking them from nature and ignoring the protection and rational development of natural resources, resulting in the continuous deterioration of the ecological environment. Coupled with inconvenient transportation, backward culture, lack of high-quality labor resources, poor infrastructure conditions, low living standards of farmers, rural economic development is extremely slow. In fact, in the 30 years before the reform and opening up, the economic development speed of the eastern, central and western regions was similar, and the western region was slightly higher than the eastern region by 0.44%. However, since the reform and opening up 20 years ago, the role of market mechanism in regional economic development has been gradually strengthened, and a large number of production factors have been concentrated in the eastern and coastal areas. Although the rural economy in the central and western regions has developed, it has not progressed rapidly, and the gap has widened rapidly compared with the eastern and coastal areas. 1978, the national per capita net income of farmers 133.57 yuan, Guangdong, Shanghai and Jiangsu were 182.30, 290.00,152./0 yuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Gansu and Jiangsu respectively. 1998, the per capita income of farmers in China was 2 16 1.98 yuan, 3,527.14, 5,406.87, 3,376.78 and 381Zhejiang respectively. The income of the richest farmers in Shenzhen and Zhuhai is more than 70 times higher than that of the poorest farmers in the west. 196 80 million poor farmers in the west account for 65 million!

The central and western regions are rich in natural resources and have great potential for agricultural development.

Although the central and western regions are underdeveloped, they are rich in natural resources. The land area in the central and western regions accounts for 89%, the grassland resources in the western region account for 94% of the country, the forest resources account for 5 1%, the coal resources account for 50%, the water resources account for 60%, and various non-ferrous metal minerals account for 90%, while the above resources in the eastern region are extremely scarce. In addition, the population density in the central and western regions is small, accounting for only about 64% of the national population. In addition, geography, humanities and tourism are advantaged, traditional products are abundant, regional characteristics are obvious, agricultural development potential is huge, and natural conditions for economic development are quite advantageous, which will make great achievements in China's social construction. In particular, the central and western regions are highly complementary to the eastern and coastal economies, and the linkage effect is obvious. Therefore, with the further development of the eastern and coastal economies, it will certainly promote the economic development of the central and western regions.

3. Weak infrastructure and outdated concepts

The rural infrastructure in the central and western regions is weak and the land is vast. Far away from the central cities and commodity distribution centers, the traffic is inconvenient, the environment is closed, the information is not smooth, cultural communication, medical care and teaching are difficult, and local finance is limited. As far as the western region, which accounts for 2/3 of the country's land area, the operating mileage of railways only accounts for 20% of the whole country, highways account for 30%, and the freight volume only accounts for 10%. Communication, energy, and population quality (10,000 people with college education or above are less than 15, less than half of the eastern part, illiteracy rate, primary and secondary school dropout rate, and high birth rate) are even more unbalanced, which leads to insufficient rural investment and restricts the economic development of the central and western regions. In addition, compared with the eastern and coastal areas, the majority of cadres in the central and western regions still stick to the traditional way of life and production, and their ideas are conservative, which is easy to produce low-level satisfaction, backward values, and various stagnation consciousness of loving poverty, doing nothing, and being lazy in politics. In recent years, governments at all levels attach great importance to the development of the central and western regions and have successively issued relevant policies, but the effect in the actual implementation process is not ideal.

Thirdly, the enlightenment of South Korea's New Village Movement to the rural development and construction in central and western China.

Comparing the background and specific content of the New Village Movement in South Korea with the current situation of rural construction in the development of central and western China, it is not difficult to see that they have similarities and their own characteristics. South Korea's goals and measures of improving the environment, improving economic benefits, developing rural education and realizing urban-rural integration have provided some experience and reference for rural construction in central and western China, but there are differences between the development of central and western China and the New Village Movement in South Korea. It is embodied in the following aspects: First, give priority to the restoration, protection and development of the environment, and take the road of simultaneous development and governance; Second, the development time difference between the two is 30 years. The western part of China has a certain development foundation, with strong government support, strong capital injection and advanced scientific and technological achievements. The people have a strong desire to get rich. It should be said that development is the aspiration of the people. Third, there are some differences between them in form and connotation. Therefore, while learning from the experience of South Korea's new village movement, we should have our own new content. We should emancipate our minds, be determined to reform, make use of our own advantages and experience, and develop the advantages of resources and talents from a high starting point in comparison with the new trends and standards of today's world development, so as to achieve leap-forward development, strive to reach the goal in one step and avoid detours. Specifically:

Protect the ecological environment and develop and utilize natural resources.

The central and western regions of China are rich in agricultural resources. For a long time, due to natural, historical, cultural and other reasons, not only the effective and rational development and utilization of resources is not high, but also it has been relatively poor, and it has not completely effectively solved the problem of food and clothing for the people. In recent years, due to the increasingly prominent short-term behaviors such as destructive land use and predatory management, the ecological and environmental problems such as vegetation destruction, soil erosion and land desertification are extremely serious, which is an area with fragile agricultural resource base in China. In the process of developing the central and western regions, we should resolutely abandon the vicious deforestation that only cares about economic benefits and ignores ecological benefits in the past. While solving the problem of food and clothing and increasing farmers' income, we should make full use of the improvement of agricultural basic conditions, the progress of science and technology and the relevant subsidy policies of the central government to rationally and comprehensively develop resources. By adjusting the agricultural industrial structure, ecological environment restoration measures such as forest, grazing, ploughing, returning farmland to forest and grassland, and comprehensive environmental management have landed. Only in this way can the sustainable development of agricultural production be realized.

Second, to develop rural economy through diversified economy at a higher level.

Due to the influence of natural conditions and low traditional productivity, agricultural production and management in the central and western regions are often relatively simple. This is not only reflected in the variety and quality of agricultural products, but also in the adjustment of industrial structure. In this regard, we can learn from and develop the experience of "one village, one product (variety)" or "one township, one product" and "one county, one product" according to the characteristics of local natural resources, develop regional economy and implement industrial structure adjustment and upgrading. At the same time, it adopts advanced and applicable agricultural technology, develops diversified operations, and implements a one-stop production service system of planting, breeding, production, supply and marketing. This is the fundamental point and core of developing the local rural economy, and it is also an indispensable pillar of building a new countryside in the central and western regions.

Third, raise funds through multiple channels and strengthen infrastructure construction.

Infrastructure is the materialized form of economic development, and it is something that can be seen and touched. It is closest to people's lives, and its construction can arouse people's enthusiasm best. More importantly, infrastructure, as a "bottleneck" restricting the development of rural economy in the central and western regions, must be broken through first. Without the corresponding infrastructure, the development of various resources and industries will be difficult to implement. In the face of the vast territory and sparse population in the central and western regions, when we learn from the goals of the two stages before and after the Korean New Village Movement and the investment forms led by the government, led by the people and supported by the government, we may as well form the understanding of all investors, such as Chinese and foreign capital, private individuals and collectives, countries and individuals, open the door to development, increase the efforts to raise and absorb funds and materials at multiple levels and in a diversified way, and focus on strengthening the infrastructure construction of water conservancy, transportation and telecommunications in the central and western regions. Strengthen cultural education and ecological environment protection, improve basic conditions and ecological and investment environment, focus on supporting key advantageous agricultural industries suitable for local conditions, speed up the formation of rural markets, improve competitiveness by relying on market mechanisms, integrate major central and western regions into national and even world commodity economic networks and high-speed information networks, participate in economic cycles, and truly transform rich agricultural natural resources in the central and western regions into funds, into high investment returns, and enhance their attraction to talents and funds from the connotation, thus driving them for a long time.

4. Implement industrialized production and accelerate the construction of small towns.

Agricultural industrialization and small town construction are important signs of economic development and new rural construction in the central and western regions. Agricultural industrialization and small town construction have a good interactive effect. Industrial production is conducive to the relative concentration of agricultural resources; Conducive to the further upgrading of rural industrial structure; It is conducive to improving agricultural labor productivity, thus promoting the development of secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, providing rich agricultural and sideline products for the construction of small towns and promoting the market construction of small towns. The construction and scale expansion of small towns provide a broader market space for agricultural and sideline products (connecting producers, operators and consumers with markets); As the local political, economic and cultural center, small towns will provide manpower, intelligence, technology and financial support for the development of agricultural industrialization; The development of small towns has also promoted the transfer of rural surplus labor, which is conducive to the rapid formation of urban-rural integration.

Develop rural education and improve the quality of the population.

Today's economic development depends largely on the development and progress of science and technology. General Secretary Jiang pointed out in the report of the 15th National Congress: "Talents are the first resource for scientific and technological progress and economic and social development". The rural population in the central and western regions of China has a low level of education, short years of education and high illiteracy rate, which affects the quality of labor resources. The urgent task is to get rid of poverty and get rich as soon as possible, have good children, control population growth and improve population quality, especially scientific and cultural quality. It can be said that the development of the central and western regions is first of all the development of education, science and technology and talents. The "Zuomuban" organization in South Korea's New Village Movement and its experience are worth learning. Therefore, developing rural education, especially strengthening education for farmers, will have an extremely important impact on the development, progress, degree, quality and effectiveness of rural construction in the central and western regions.

6. Implement preferential policies and intensify poverty alleviation.

Preferential development policies should be implemented in the central and western regions, especially in remote and poor areas, such as: in agriculture, reducing farmers' taxes, helping farmers to establish appropriate circulation organizations, dredging the circulation channels of agricultural products, and providing farmers with relevant information on excellent varieties and agricultural development; In terms of infrastructure construction, the implementation of cost price for some basic materials and the exemption of some working expenses are conducive to the rural areas in the central and western regions to get rid of poverty and become rich as soon as possible; In improving people's quality of life, we should attach importance to the development of medical care and insurance to improve and protect people's living standards. While the policy is tilted, the state and local governments have planned to help the poor from the aspects of funds, science and technology, talents, etc., and timely injected the necessary funds for the start and development of rural economy. On the one hand, raise funds in a diversified and efficient way, make good use of funds, vigorously cultivate local talents, and give preferential treatment to the funds and requirements for running schools and training; On the other hand, encourage and attract aspiring talents from the eastern region to participate in it and support the construction of the central and western regions with preferential conditions; Third, marry and pair up with the eastern and coastal developed areas, give full play to the advantages of their own resources and labor force and the advantages of technology, capital, talents, information and experience in developed areas, realize interaction and improve primitive accumulation of capital.

Today, under the favorable situation of China's reform and opening up, we are trying to solve the population, food and disease problems in the central and western parts of China with another stone of the North Korean New Village Movement. Problems such as housing and environmental pollution control are of great significance to rural construction in the central and western regions.