How the county town becomes the fulcrum of rural revitalization
Dialogue with Professor Lu Dewen, School of Sociology, Wuhan University
Our reporter Hao Sisi
Recently, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting Urbanization Construction with County Towns as an Important Carrier" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), which clarified the development goals and objectives of urbanization construction with county towns as an important carrier. specific tasks.
Why should the county seat be an important carrier to promote urbanization?
How should the county seat be built in the future?
What is the relationship between urbanization construction and rural revitalization strategy?
This newspaper launched an interview on this.
The county seat is an ideal gathering place for the extension and upgrading of the agricultural industry chain, as well as the consumption concentration of county residents and surrounding farmers.
Reporter: Why has the county seat become an important carrier of urbanization?
Lv Dewen: County towns are an important part of my country's urban system.
By the end of 2021, the resident population of 1,472 counties in my country is about 160 million, and the urban resident population of 394 county-level cities is about 90 million. The population of county and county-level cities accounts for nearly 30% of the country's urban permanent population. That is to say, nearly 30% of the "urban people" we often say live in county towns.
The introduction of the "Opinions" means that in the next few years or even a long period of time, the county seat will become the main battlefield of urbanization, which will definitely affect the process of China's modernization.
Promoting urbanization with county towns as an important carrier is first of all based on the laws of urbanization.
For a long time, China's urbanization has mainly been driven by large and medium cities.
Large and medium-sized cities have attracted a large number of rural migrants, especially high-quality people with higher education, to settle down due to the concentration of industries, high levels of public services, and relatively complete municipal construction.
However, in recent years, the pulling function of large and medium cities has basically reached a critical point, especially the absorption of population in megacities has begun to slow down.
The next ten years will be a critical period for my country's urbanization, and a considerable part of the population will still have to leave the countryside and enter the city.
Although some large cities, especially provincial capital cities, still have some room to absorb the population, they are more aimed at professional and technical talents who have a certain degree of education or are matched with urban industries. City.
In this context, we need county towns to absorb these populations, as an important space for China's urbanization to continue to advance with high quality.
At the same time, this is also based on the requirements of the rural revitalization strategy.
Since Qin established the county, for two thousand years, the county has been the basic unit of cultural, economic and social governance radiating to the vast countryside.
In the course of modernization, county towns have assumed the basic function of connecting cities and villages.
In 2021, my country will win the battle of poverty alleviation as scheduled. After that, the focus of work will be to promote the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside, which puts forward higher quality requirements for rural development and requires the assistance of county towns.
From the perspective of economic cycle, the county seat is an ideal gathering place for the extension and upgrading of the agricultural industry chain, and it is also the consumption concentration place for the residents of the county seat and surrounding farmers.
This can be understood in conjunction with the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of a Large Unified National Market" issued a few days ago.
The market is hierarchical, and the further it goes to the grass-roots level, the worse the radiation capability and the weaker the service function.
With the development of county urbanization, the radiation capacity of the entire market will be enhanced. In short, farmers are closer to the market.
In the past, there were some problems in the development of agriculture in many regions, such as lack of sales channels, price reduction by middlemen, and backlog of agricultural products caused by poor logistics.
In the context of domestic circulation and the construction of a unified national market, the urbanization of county towns will be promoted. After the establishment of county-level markets, transportation, logistics and supply chains, agricultural products can be directly delivered from the place of origin to the sales end and even the hands of consumers, and farmers can be employed nearby. , employment and business issues have also been resolved.
It can be said that it is an important direction for the future development of the county to concentrate various economic factors originally scattered in the countryside in the county to form a scale effect and to form a smooth cycle with large and medium cities.
From the perspective of people's livelihood needs, the construction and development of county towns is related to the quality of people's livelihood in the county town and even the whole county.
Improving municipal public facilities is conducive to consolidating the basic support for the operation of the county.
Improving public service facilities is conducive to improving the well-being of people in the county.
Improving the environmental infrastructure is conducive to improving the quality of the county's living environment.
Improving industrial supporting facilities is conducive to cultivating and developing characteristic and advantageous industries and stably expanding employment in the county.
Due to the reality of low population density in rural areas, public service systems such as medical care, health care, culture, and sports can only be maximized if they are set up in county towns.
In general, the state proposes urbanization with county towns as an important carrier, which reflects that my country's urbanization is gradually shifting from high-speed development to high-quality development, and more attention is paid to local and nearby urbanization.
By promoting urbanization with county towns as an important carrier, a spatial pattern that promotes the coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and small towns will be formed as soon as possible
Reporter: What is the relationship between urbanization with county towns as an important carrier and urbanization with large and medium cities as the carrier?
Lv Dewen: There are significant differences between urbanization with county towns as an important carrier and urbanization with large and medium cities as the carrier.
The main transfer population in the urbanization of large and medium cities is college graduates.
In recent years, some provincial capital cities have loosened restrictions on settlement, and there are still certain academic qualifications.
However, the main transfer population of county urbanization is peasants and migrant workers, which have the characteristics of nearby urbanization.
Taking the construction of county towns as an important focus will help alleviate the problems of over-concentration of functions in some mega-cities and mega-cities and over-concentration of population in central urban areas.
It needs to be clear that urbanization with county towns as an important carrier and urbanization with large and medium cities as the carrier is not a substitute relationship.
The "Opinions" focus on the construction and development of county towns, which does not mean that the development of large cities will no longer be paid attention to in the future.
On the contrary, by promoting urbanization with county towns as an important carrier, it is more helpful to promote the early formation of a spatial pattern of coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and small towns.
In China, from the head megacities to large, medium and small cities, to county towns, and then to rural villages, an "ecosystem" is formed together.
Residents living in county towns can choose to go to larger cities for more and better employment opportunities. Residents who originally lived in large and medium cities can also choose to return to the county town or even the village at a certain stage.
When county urbanization develops to a relatively mature stage, a virtuous circle of personnel flow can be freely realized in the "ecological system" of coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and small towns.
For the general public, there are more choices for where they want to move, where to buy a house, settle down, find employment, and settle down.
Reporter: The "Opinions" proposes to "make up for the shortcomings and weaknesses of the county according to local conditions". What are the shortcomings and weaknesses mentioned here?
What issues should be paid attention to in promoting the construction and development of county towns in the future?
Lv Dewen: At present, my country's urbanization has turned to a new stage of high-quality development, but there are still obvious shortcomings in the urbanization of county towns, such as insufficient industrial development, imperfect municipal public facilities, insufficient total supply of public services, low quality, and environmental problems. There is a large gap in infrastructure, and the integration of urban and rural development is not high.
In this regard, the "Opinions" have put forward targeted guidance. For example, in the section of "strengthening the supply of public services and improving the livelihood and well-being of the people in the county", it is proposed to comprehensively improve the conditions for running schools in ordinary high schools in the county, support the development of nursing-type private elderly care institutions, and build a national Fitness centers, public stadiums, fitness trails, social football fields, outdoor sports public service facilities, etc.
Especially in the context of the current normalized epidemic prevention and control, it is imminent to make up for the shortcomings of primary medical care. Therefore, the "Opinions" proposes to promote the upgrading and transformation of county-level hospitals (including traditional Chinese medicine hospitals), and improve the ability of infectious disease detection, diagnosis and treatment and intensive care treatment.
Although there are many shortcomings in the current county construction, dialectically, these shortcomings are actually the focus of future work and potential points.
In the long run, whether it is the evolution of urbanization development trends or the changes in population mobility, urbanization with county towns as an important carrier will have a very strong driving force and a very broad space.
The goal of county development is not to build a new, high-standard big city, but to provide better infrastructure and public services suitable for urban farmers, making the county an attractive place.
In addition to improving the level of infrastructure and public services, county towns also need industrial development to attract and retain population.
The number of counties is large, the types are many, and the development paths are different.
The "Opinions" put forward the development direction of different types of county towns, which is precisely to show that the urbanization of county towns cannot copy the fixed model and must adapt to local conditions.
It should be noted that promoting the construction and development of the county does not mean that all resources should be concentrated in the county. relation.
Urbanization with the county seat as an important carrier must take into account the goals of new urbanization and rural revitalization, and truly realize the integrated development of urban and rural areas.
Reporter: The "Opinion" proposes to insist on promoting new urbanization with people as the core. How do you understand it?
Lv Dewen: The promotion of urbanization with county towns as an important carrier is precisely based on the people-centered development idea.
The main contradiction in our society at this stage is the contradiction between the people's ever-increasing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, and rural areas are the main areas with unbalanced and inadequate development.
Our current work, whether it is rural revitalization or county urbanization, is ultimately in line with the aspirations of hundreds of millions of farmers for a better life.
In recent years of research, we have found that the young generation of farmers and migrant workers have a strong need for lifestyle transformation.
For example, many of the first generation of migrant workers who work in cities seem to be working in cities, but they are actually “farming” in cities—working hard every day, living frugally, and saving the money they earn Get up and take it home.
Therefore, although he worked in the city, he did not realize the urban lifestyle.
Looking at today's new generation of farmers, many people are still pursuing urban lifestyles even though they are farming in the countryside. Enterprises and the way of introducing technology are farming, and there is also a higher demand for lifestyles.
For the farmers left behind in the countryside, the county seat should provide them with the basic elements of various urban lifestyles, so that they can not only obtain basic living security, but also maintain a decent and modern life in the local social environment, live and work in peace and contentment, and enjoy development dividends.
From a strategic point of view, it is necessary to make agricultural and rural areas truly stabilizers and reservoirs.
In the process of promoting urbanization with the county seat as an important carrier, peasant families can maximize their family income and reduce the Expenses to maintain the urban life of the county.
In short, the advantage of in-situ urbanization is to allow farmers to enter the city while still retaining their way back to their hometowns.
This flexible urbanization method with county towns as an important carrier that enjoys both urban and rural development dividends is based on the integrated development of urban and rural areas.
In the final analysis, urbanization with the county seat as an important carrier must take into account the goals of new urbanization and rural revitalization, and truly realize the integrated development of urban and rural areas.
In the foreseeable future, even if my country fully reaches the level of urbanization in a moderately developed country, there will still be a large number of farmers who need to rely on agriculture and rural life.
The construction of county towns is not only to serve those who have entered the city, but also to serve those who remain in the countryside.
Only in this way can urbanization with county towns as an important carrier be sustainable, and rural areas can truly play the role of ballast and reservoir for China's modernization.