I would like to clearly tell you villagers [in Anhui] that not only the current land contract system will remain stable and unchanged over a long time, but greater and protected land contract and operation rights will also be given to farmers. At the same time, based on their wishes, farmers will be allowed to transfer in various ways the land contract and operation rights and to develop operations of scale [emphasis added] (Ming Pao [Ming Bao], 2 Oct.).

without agricultural modernization there is no national modernization; without rural prosperity and stability there is no nationwide prosperity and stability; without an all-round well-off society among farmers there is no all-round well-off society in the country as a whole.

the two-tiered operating system with household-contracted operations as the foundation and combining centralization and decentralization is the countryside's fundamental operating system which suits the socialist market economy system and conforms to the characteristics of agricultural production.

[i]n accordance with the principles of by law, by will, and by compensation, [we will] allow farmers to transfer the right to operate on contracted land in the form of subcontracting, leasing out, swap, transfer, shareholder co-operation, etc.

[c]irculation of the right to operate on contracted land cannot change the collective ownership nature of the land, it cannot change the usage of the land, and it must not harm farmers' rights and interests regarding the contracting of land.

We must act with greater awareness and firmness in handling development … act with greater awareness and firmness in promoting scientific development; reaffirm our confidence, observe the situations soberly, employ various ways … to deal with the problems effectively, take flexible and prudent macroeconomic policies to expand domestic demand, especially consumption demand, ensure economic stability, banking stability, stability in the capital market, and overall social stability…

… only when we continue to make the work of addressing the issues of agriculture, rural areas and peasants the party's top priority, uphold the role of agriculture being the foundation of the national economy, firmly adhere to the reform course of adopting the socialist market economic system, firmly adhere to the course of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and firmly safeguard the peasants' material benefits and democratic rights will we be able to continue to liberate and develop the productivity of the rural society and bring about an overall economic and social development in the rural areas.

[t]o promote scientific development, we must have a stronger foundation for agricultural development; ensure the country's food security and effective supply of principal agricultural products; make efforts to promote higher agricultural output, higher incomes for peasants and more prosperous rural areas … To promote social harmony, we must ensure the rural areas' stability, … improve the management of the rural society, promote social fairness and justice, make sure that peasants can live in peace and work in contentment, and build a strong foundation for achieving lasting peace and stability in the country.

[In implementing the scientific development concept] we must … make the construction of a socialist new countryside our strategic mission, regard the course of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics the basic course, make the creation of a new pattern that integrates urban and rural economic and social development our basic requirement, uphold the enlivening policy that industry must feed agriculture in return, cities must support the countryside and cities must give the rural areas more and take from them less …

… the basic situation remains the same, to wit, the status of agriculture as the foundation of the national economy is not secure, farming facilities and equipment are backward, farmers have few job opportunities and experience difficulties increasing their incomes, and educational opportunities and public services for farmers are still lacking.

Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology for us in establishing the party and state. Upholding and consolidating the guiding status of Marxism is the fundamental ideological guarantee for the party and people to unite as one and advance along the correct direction. At the same time, only if Marxism is integrated with China's national condition and the characteristics of the era and is continually enriched and developed in practice can it better play its role in guiding practice.

[i]f we depart from economic construction, the central task, all development and progress of socialism will lose its material basis; if we depart from the four cardinal principles and reform and opening up, economic construction will lose its way and its drive.

In order for the party to undertake the major missions assigned by the people and history, … [w]e must ceaselessly strengthen the party's own building, unify the thinking of the whole party in the course of emancipating the mind, press forward the building of a high-quality cadre contingent in the course of strengthening the building of the party's ability to govern and of its advanced nature, expand the party's mass base while strengthening the party's class base, and carry forward the spirit of the era while inheriting the party's fine traditions, so that the party will always uphold the nature of the vanguard force of the working class and of the Chinese people and nation, uphold the guiding status of Marxism, adhere to the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, carry forward the fine traditions and work style, and continually boost creativity, cohesion, and combat strength (XHNA, 18 Dec.).

The spread of AIDS has generally slowed down in China, but factors for its diffusion still remain in some areas. … The epidemic is lowly prevalent in general but it is highly prevalent among specific groups such as migrant workers, and in some regions, particularly remote areas and the countryside.

… enhance their confidence and co-ordination, co-operate closely and take prompt and effective measures, including all necessary fiscal and monetary means, to stop the spread and development of the financial crisis, bring early stability to the international financial markets, minimize the damage on the real economy, bolster world economic growth and safeguard the common interests of people of all countries.

The issues of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers affect the overall situation of the cause of the party and the nation. During each historical course, namely revolution, construction, and reform, our party has upheld the combining of basic Marxist principles with the specific realities of our country. Our Party has always looked with great importance upon the issues of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. Our Party has dealt with those issues conscientiously, and made a great effort to resolve the problems therein. Our Party has opened up a new path of victory in a new democratic revolution and a new path of development for the cause of socialism.

In 1978, the third plenary session of the 11th Party Committee issued the historic policy decision to shift the focus of the work of the party and the state to economic construction, and to implement reform and opening up. Our Party had a comprehensive grasp of the larger situation of domestic and foreign development, it respected the pioneering spirit of farmers, and it launched reform first of all in rural China. And our party extended reform to the whole country with tremendous momentum, leading the people to write a magnificent epic of reform and development. In the magnificent course of reform and development, our party has upheld Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong thought, Deng Xiaoping theory, and the important thinking of the “Three representations” as the guides, our party has thoroughly implemented the scientific development concept, it has emancipated the mind, sought truth from facts, and advanced with the times, it has continually promoted rural reform and development, and all that has brought huge, earth-shaking change to rural China. The people's communes were abolished, and a two-tiered operating system was established with household contracted operations as the foundation and combining centralization and decentralization. There was comprehensive opening up of markets for agricultural products, abolition of agricultural tax, subsidies paid direct to farmers, and the initial formation of a rural economic system which suits national conditions in China and the demands of developing society's productive forces.

The production of food continually leapt to new levels. The supply of agricultural products grew more abundant with each passing day. Farmers' income increased greatly. Poverty relief through development achieved obvious results. Relying on our own strength steadily resolved the problem of 1.3 billion people having enough to eat.

Town and township enterprises suddenly emerged as a new force. Towns and small cities experienced vigorous development. Rural markets prospered. Rural labour shifted to employment on a large scale, and millions of rural migrant workers became an important component of the industrial workforce. Industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics accelerated and advanced, and a new era of the alliance of the workers and the peasants was consolidated.

The building of rural socialist democratic politics and the building of spiritual civilization were continually strengthened, social undertakings developed faster, and there was a marked improvement in farmers' ideological and moral qualities, scientific and cultural qualities, and health.

The building of the rural party has been continually strengthened. The building of a complete set of village-level organizations with village party organizations as the core advanced comprehensively. This has been effective in firming up the foundation of the party's governance in rural areas.

The grand practice of rural reform and development has greatly mobilized the initiative of hundreds of millions of farmers. It has greatly liberated and developed rural social productive forces. It has greatly improved the material civilization and lives of the broad masses of farmers. Even more important is that the grand practice of rural reform and development has been creative exploration for establishing and improving a basic economic system for the primary stage of socialism in China and a socialist market economy system; it has made a huge contribution to achieving a historic leap from a society in which the people do not have enough to eat and wear to a society which is overall well-off, and to promoting socialist modernization; it has laid a solid foundation for vanquishing all sorts of difficulties and risks, and for maintaining overall social stability; and it has amassed precious experience for successfully opening a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the formation of a theory system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Actual practice demonstrated in full that the only way to continually liberate and develop rural social productive forces and promote comprehensive economic and social development in rural China, is to uphold the resolution of agricultural, rural, and farmers' issues as the most important element of the entire party's work; uphold the fundamental status of agriculture; maintain the orientation of socialist market economy reform; keep to the path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics; and uphold the protection of farmers' material interests and farmers' democratic rights.

At present, the international situation continues to undergo profound change, and China's reform and development effort has entered a critical phase. If we are to grasp tightly and use well this important period of strategic opportunity, if we are to be victorious in achieving the grand goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way, if we are to accelerate socialist modernization, then we must more consciously put continuing to emancipate our minds into upholding reform and opening up, advancing scientific development, and boosting social harmony, and we must unswervingly advance rural reform and development.

Continuing to emancipate our minds requires tying in with the grand practice of rural reform and development, probing boldly and daring to blaze new trails, applying new theory and lines of thought to solve difficult problems of rural development, and providing an inexhaustible source for the party's innovations in theory and practice.

Upholding reform and opening up requires a grasp of the key point which is rural reform, it requires major breakthroughs in the overall planning of urban and rural reform, and it requires injecting new motive power into rural development, thus adding new vitality to overall economic and social development.

Advancing scientific development requires strengthening the foundation which is agricultural development, ensuring the nation's food security, ensuring the effective supply of principal agricultural products, promoting added agricultural production, added farmer income, and added rural prosperity, and thus providing effective support for all-round, co-ordinated, sustainable economic and social development.

Boosting social harmony requires keeping a grasp on the greater situation which is rural stability, improving rural social management, advancing social fairness and justice, ensuring that farmers can live and work in peace, and laying a solid foundation on which to achieve long term peace and stability in our country.

China's countryside is currently undergoing new changes. Our country's agriculture faces a new situation as it participates in international co-operation and competition. There are many favourable factors for the promotion of rural reform and development, but there are also quite a few difficulties and challenges. In particular, the dualistic, urban–rural structure has created deep-rooted and prominent contradictions. The rural economic system is not yet perfect. The degree to which agricultural production operations are conducted by organizations is low. The system of markets for agricultural products, the system of socialized services to agriculture, and the system of national support and protection of agriculture are not entirely sound. The construction of integrated systems and mechanisms for urban and rural economic and social development is urgently required. The agricultural development pattern remains extensive. Agricultural infrastructure, technology, and equipment lag behind. The quantity of arable land has been greatly reduced. Population, resource, and environmental constraints have grown stronger. The effects of climate change have intensified. Natural disasters occur frequently. Contradictions in the food supply internationally are quite significant. Ensuring the nation's food security and balancing supply and demand for principal agricultural products is under increased pressure. The level of social undertakings and public services in rural areas is rather low. The disparity in development between different regions and in the incomes of urban and rural residents is widening. The mission of changing the backward face of the countryside is arduous. Profound changes have occurred in the structure of social interests in rural areas. In certain places, grassroots rural organizations are weak and lax, and strengthening the construction of a rural democratic legal system, the construction of grassroots organizations, and social management are heavy missions. In summary, the agricultural foundation remains weak, and it needs strengthening the most; rural development still lags behind, and that needs help the most; farmers still find it difficult to increase their incomes, and that needs speeding up the most. We must be prepared for danger in times of peace and redouble our efforts. We must continually consolidate and develop a good situation in the countryside.

The entire party must have a thorough understanding that agriculture is a strategic sector essential to peace everywhere and stable public sentiment; without agricultural modernization there is no national modernization; without rural prosperity and stability there is no nationwide prosperity and stability; without an all-round well-off society among farmers there is no all-round well-off society in the country as a whole. Overall, China has entered a phase of development in which industry promotes agriculture and cities lead the countryside. China has entered a critical time of accelerating the reshaping of traditional agriculture and following a path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics. China has entered an important time in which we will exert effort on eliminating the dualistic urban–rural structure and form up a new arrangement with integrated urban and rural economic and social development. We must keep a firm grasp on our country's basic national conditions in this primary stage of socialism and the characteristics of a phased nature in current development. We must adapt to new circumstances in rural reform and development. We must go along with the new aspiration of hundreds of millions of farmers to live good lives. We must grasp opportunities, strike while the iron is hot, work hard to open up a broad path for agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and do all we can to create an entirely new situation in the building of the socialist new countryside.

Promoting rural reform and development under the new circumstances must comprehensively implement the spirit of the 17th Party Congress, hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, take Deng Xiaoping theory and the important thinking of the “Three representations” as the guides, thoroughly implement the scientific development concept, take the building of the socialist new countryside as a strategic mission, take following the path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics as the basic orientation, take as a fundamental requirement the formation of a new arrangement for integrated urban–rural economic and social development, uphold industry giving back to agriculture, cities supporting the countryside, and the policy of giving more, taking less, and loosening control, innovate systems and mechanisms, strengthen the foundation of agriculture, boost the income of farmers, ensure farmers' rights and interests, promote a harmonious countryside, mobilize in full the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the broad masses of farmers, and promote rural economic and social development both fast and well.

In accordance with the new requirements of the struggle objective to achieve the building of a well-off society in an all-round way as put forth by the 17th Party Congress, and the requirement to build a socialist new countryside of advanced production, improved livelihood, a civilized social atmosphere, clean and tidy villages, and efficient management, the basic goals and missions of rural reform and development to the year 2020 are: a sounder rural economic system, and the basic establishment of integrated systems and mechanisms for urban and rural economic and social development; marked progress in the building of modern agriculture, and obvious improvement in the overall production capability of agriculture; effective assurance of the nation's food security and the supply of principal agricultural products; farmers' net income doubled compared with 2008, farmers' level of consumption increased greatly, and absolute poverty basically eradicated; grassroots rural organizations strengthened further, villagers' self-government system improved, and real assurance of farmers' democratic rights; clear advance in the equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas, rural culture more flourishing, rural people's basic cultural rights and interests better established, everyone in rural areas to enjoy the opportunity for a good education, more sound systems for basic living support and basic medical treatment and health care in rural areas, and further improvement in the social management system in rural areas; resource conserving, environmentally friendly systems of agricultural production basically in place, marked improvement in the rural human habitat and environment, and continual strengthening of the sustainable development capability.

Achieving the above goals and missions requires abiding by the following major principles.

- Consolidate and strengthen the fundamental status of agriculture, and always take resolving well the problem of over a billion people having enough to eat as a matter of the utmost importance in administering state affairs well and ensuring national security. Uphold the policy of basically domestic self-supply of food, increase the national effort to support and protect agriculture, thoroughly implement the strategy of invigorating agriculture through science and education, accelerate the building of modern agriculture, achieve comprehensive and steady development of agriculture, and lay a solid foundation on which to promote economic development, advance social harmony, and protect national security.

- Earnestly safeguard the rights and interests of farmers, and always take achieving, protecting, and developing the fundamental interests of the broad masses of farmers as the starting point and ending point of all rural work. Uphold being people-centred, respect the wishes of farmers, exert effort on resolving the problems of most immediate and most direct concern to the interests of farmers, protect the political, economic, cultural, and social rights and interests of farmers, improve the overall qualities of farmers, promote the comprehensive development of farmers, bring into full play the role of farmers as the main body and the pioneering spirit of farmers, and rely closely on the hundreds of millions of farmers in building the socialist new countryside.

- Continue to free and develop the productive forces of rural society, and always take reform and innovation as the basic motive power of rural development. Unflaggingly advance rural reform and the innovation of systems, boost the scientific nature of decisions on reform, strengthen the co-ordinated nature of measures of reform, bring into full play the fundamental role of the market in resource allocation, strengthen and improve state regulation, control, and guidance of agricultural and rural development, establish a sound rural economic system which meets the requirements of the socialist market economy, adjust production relationships and the superstructure when they do not meet the requirements of developing rural social productive forces, and infuse rural economic and social development with vitality.

- Make overall plans for urban and rural economic and social development, and always take the creation of a new type of relationship between industry and agriculture and between cities and the countryside as a major strategy for accelerating modernization. Make overall plans for industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. Accelerate the establishment of long-lasting mechanisms by which industry promotes agriculture and cities lead the countryside. Adjust the arrangement of the allocation of national income. Consolidate and perfect policies which strengthen and give preference to agriculture. Put the emphasis on the countryside in the building of national infrastructure and the development of social undertakings. Promote the equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas, achieve co-ordinated development between city and countryside and among regions. Enable the broad masses of farmers to participate as equals in modernization and have an equal share in the achievements of reform and development.

- Uphold Party management of rural work, and always take strengthening and improving the party's leadership of rural work as a political guarantor in promoting rural reform and development. Uphold starting out from reality in all things. Uphold the party's basic policy on rural affairs. Step up the building of rural grassroots organizations and grassroots political power. Improve the systems, mechanisms, and methods by which the party manages rural work. Maintain the party's flesh-and-blood relationship with the masses of farmers. Consolidate the foundation of the party's governance in rural areas, and form up a strong, pooled effort to promote rural reform and development.

Accomplishing the strategic goals of rural development and promoting the modernization of agriculture with Chinese characteristics requires acting in accordance with the demand for overall planning of urban and rural development, it requires breakthroughs at key links in the reform of rural systems, it requires further loosening of control and invigorating of the rural economy, it requires optimization of the external environment of rural development, and it requires strengthening support to the rural development system.

a. Stabilize and improve the countryside's fundamental operating system. A two-tiered operating system with household-contracted operations as the foundation and combining centralization and decentralization is the countryside's fundamental operating system which suits the socialist market economy system and conforms to the characteristics of agricultural production. This two-tiered operating system is a cornerstone of the party's rural policy, and it must be upheld unwaveringly. Bestowing on farmers fuller and assured rights to operate on contracted land means that the current contracted land relationships must be kept stable and unchanging for the long term. Promote innovation in agricultural operating systems and mechanisms. Accelerate the transformation in forms of agricultural operations. Household operations must transform in the direction of adopting advanced science and technology and production measures, increasing the input of technology, capital, and other key factors of production, and exerting effort on enhancing the level of intensification. Unified operations must transform in the direction of developing farming household alliances and co-operation, form up a diversified, multi-level, multi-form system of services to operations, develop the collective economy and strengthen services to collective organizations, foster new types of farmers' co-operative organizations, develop various kinds of agricultural socialized services organizations, encourage pioneering enterprises to establish mechanisms with farmers that tie their interests together closely, and exert effort on boosting the degree of organization. In accordance with the requirements of service to farmers, freedom to advance and retreat, equal rights, and democratic management, assist the accelerated development of farmers' professional co-operatives and enable them to become modern agricultural operations organizations which lead farmers to compete in domestic and international markets. Comprehensively promote reform of the collective forestry rights system, and expand forestry rights system reform test points at state-owned tree farms and key state-owned forest areas. Promote reform of the state-owned farm system. Stabilize and improve the system for contracted operations on grasslands.

b. Establish a sound and strictly regulated system of rural land management. The land system is a fundamental system in rural areas. Further improve the system of rural land management in accordance with the principles of clear production rights, control of land use, thrift and intensiveness, and strict management. Uphold the strictest system for protecting arable land, implement responsibility level by level, and resolutely defend the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land. Demarcate permanent basic farmland, establish mechanisms for preservation and compensation, ensure there is no reduction in the total amount of basic farmland, no change in the use of that land, and that the quality of the land is improved. Continue to promote land remediation, reclamation, and development. With arable land, implement “replenishment before occupation” (xian bu hou zhan – when arable land is to be used for a construction project, the builder rehabilitates some other parcel of land so it can be used for farming), and there must be no balancing of occupation and replenishment across province, autonomous region, or city boundaries. Do well on rural land rights guarantee, registration, and certificate issuance work. Improve the powers and functions of the right to operate on contracted land, and ensure in accordance with the law farmers' rights to occupy, use, and profit from contracted land. Strengthen the management of and services to the circulation of the right to operate on contracted land. Establish a sound market for the transfer of the right to operate on contracted land. In accordance with the principles of by law, by will, and by compensation, allow farmers to transfer the right to operate on contracted land in the form of subcontracting, leasing out, swap, transfer, shareholder co-operation, etc. Develop operations on a suitable scale and in various forms. Locations where conditions exist may develop operational main entities on scales such as specialized big family, family farm, and professional farmers' co-operatives. Circulation of the right to operate on contracted land cannot change the collective ownership nature of the land, it cannot change the usage of the land, and it must not harm farmers' rights and interests regarding the contracting of land. Implement the strictest system of economical use of land, and strictly control the total scale of land used for construction, both urban and rural. Improve the rural housing site system, tighten housing site management, and ensure in accordance with the law farming households' housing site usufruct (right of use and profit). Land saved in rural housing sites and village reorganization must first and foremost be rehabilitated for use as arable land, and the readjustment of land for construction use must conform to land use plans and be incorporated into the annual construction land use programme. Also, priority must be given to satisfying land use for collective construction. Reform the system for requisitioning land, strictly demarcate the use of land for public benefit construction and business construction, gradually reduce the scope of land requisitioning, and improve the mechanism of compensation for requisitioned land. When rural collective land is requisitioned in accordance with the law, give the rural collective organization and farmers reasonable compensation promptly and in the full amount, in accordance with the principle of same land, same price, and resolve well the issues of jobs, housing, and social security for the farmers on the requisitioned land. In the case of the approved occupation of rural collective land for a project other than for public benefit and which is beyond the scope of urban land used for construction as stipulated by a land use plan, allow the farmers to participate in various ways in that development and operation, and ensure that the farmers' legal rights and interests are protected. Gradually establish a unified, urban and rural market for construction land. In the case of legally acquired rural collective land to be used for business construction, the land use right must be transferred by way of a unified and tangible land market, in an open and regulated way, and with the condition that it conforms to plans, it must enjoy equal rights and interests with state-owned land. Improve the related laws, regulations, and policies, and standardize the promotion of the reform of the rural land management system.

c. Improve the system of support and protection of agriculture. Establish a sound system of agricultural input support. Adjust the structure of public finance support, fixed asset investment, and issuance of credit. Ensure that the amount of public finance input to agriculture at every level is higher than the increase in current revenue. Increase by a great extent the state's input to the building of rural infrastructure and the development of rural social undertakings. Increase by a great extent the proportion of new revenue from profit from government land sales and arable land occupation tax which is used for agriculture. Increase by a great extent the investment in rural public benefit-type construction projects in central and western China. The state will gradually eliminate county level and below counterpart funding for public benefit-type construction projects in central and western China, such as the strengthening of dilapidated reservoirs to eliminate danger, and environmental construction. Broaden the channels of agricultural investment sources, integrate investment projects, strengthen the supervision of investments, and increase the effectiveness with which funds are used. Establish a sound system of agricultural subsidies, expand its scope, raise standards, and improve methods. In particular, support the increased grain, increased income [campaign], and increase by a large extent year on year the subsidy to farmers for growing grain. Improve the dynamic adjustment mechanism in which the general subsidy for agricultural materials is linked to increases in the price of materials for agricultural production. Establish a sound system for protecting the price of agricultural products, improve the regulation and control system of the agricultural products markets, steadily increase the minimum purchase price for grain, improve the methods by which to protect the prices of other major agricultural products, replenish the reserves of major agricultural products, optimize the mechanisms for regulating agricultural product import, export, and throughput, and maintain agricultural product prices at a reasonable level. Improve the mechanisms by which the prices of grain and other main agricultural products take shape, straighten out comparative price relationships, and bring into full play the role of market prices in increasing production and income. Establish a sound system of environmental subsidies to agriculture, form up mechanisms to encourage protection of arable land, bodies of water, forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other natural resources, and protect agricultural species resources.

d. Establish a modern rural finance system. Rural finance is the core of a modern rural economy. Make innovations in the rural finance system. Relax the policy on permission to join in rural financing. Accelerate the establishment of a rural finance system which combines commercial financing, co-operative financing, and policy-type financing, a system which has ample capital, a full set of functions, perfected services, and safe operation. Step up the effort in policy support to rural finance. Broaden the channels of financing. Make comprehensive use of the tools of fiscal leverage and monetary policy. Orient on the implementation of tax reduction and exemption and cost subsidies (fei yong bu tie). Guide more credit funding and social funding as investments in rural areas. Financial organizations of various types must all actively support rural reform and development. Uphold the Agricultural Bank's orientation on service to farmers, strengthen functions and impose responsibility, stabilize and develop the network of rural services. Expand the areas of support by the Agricultural Development Bank, and increase policy-type financing as long-term credit support to the development of agriculture and the building of rural infrastructure. Expand the scope of the Postal Savings Bank's involvement in agricultural affairs. New deposits received by the banking industry financial organizations within a county are to be used primarily for loans issued locally. Improve the structure for governance of rural credit unions as legal entities, ensure that the legal status of county/city credit unions remains steady, and bring into play their role as the main element of service to farmers. Regulate the development of new types of rural financial organizations of various forms, and regional, small and medium sized banks which primarily serve the countryside. Strengthen supervision, put great effort into developing small loan service, and encourage the development of various kinds of micro-financing services which are needed and which suit the characteristics of rural areas. Allow small rural financial organizations to merge in funds from the financial structure. Allow farmers' professional co-operatives where conditions permit to develop co-operation on credit. Regulate and guide the healthy development of private borrowing. Accelerate the building of rural credit systems. Establish rural credit guarantee mechanisms having government support, the participation of all sides, and market operation. Expand the effective scope of collateral in rural areas. Develop the rural insurance sector, establish a sound system of policy-type agricultural insurance, and accelerate the establishment of mechanisms for agricultural reinsurance and dispersing the risk of catastrophes. Step up the construction of an agricultural commodities futures market.

e. Establish an integrated system for promoting urban and rural economic and social development. Achieve breakthroughs as soon as possible in aspects of urban–rural planning, the layout of industry, the building of infrastructure, and the integration of public services. Promote the balanced allocation of public resources between urban and rural areas. Promote the free flow of key elements of production between urban and rural areas. Promote merged, urban–rural economic and social development. Have an overall plan for land use. Make urban–rural plans. Make a rational spatial arrangement of city and town construction, the protection of farmland, the concentration of industry, the distribution of villages, and environmental conservation in the area of a city or county. Have an overall plan for the urban–rural development of industry, optimize the rural industrial structure, develop the rural service industry and town and township enterprises, and guide urban finance, technology, talent, management, and other key elements of production to flow to the countryside. Have an overall plan for the building of urban and rural infrastructure and public services. Improve the overall level of public finance support to rural public undertakings. Gradually establish a unified urban–rural system of public services. Have an overall plan for urban and rural employment, accelerate the establishment of a unified urban–rural human resources market, guide farmers to go elsewhere to work in an orderly manner, encourage farmers to find employment nearby, and support rural migrant workers returning home to start their own businesses. Strengthen protection of the rights and interests of rural migrant workers. Gradually achieve equal treatment of rural migrant workers the same as urban residents in terms of compensation for their work, schooling for their children, public health, and rental and purchase of housing. Improve the working conditions of rural migrant workers. Ensure safe production. Expand the coverage of work injury insurance, medical care, and old age insurance for rural migrant workers. As soon as possible, formulate and implement a method by which rural migrant workers' old age insurance relationship can be transferred and continued. Have an overall plan for urban and rural social management. Promote reform of the household registration system. Relax the conditions for resettlement in small and medium sized cities, to enable farmers who have steady employment and residences in cities and towns to convert to urban residency in an orderly manner. Promote innovation in the systems for serving and managing the floating population. Expand the developmental autonomy of counties, increase general transfer payments and boost the finances of counties to make them commensurate with the counties' authority, and enhance the economic vitality and power of counties. Promote reform of the system by which provinces directly manage the public finances of counties/cities, and give priority to the incorporation of major agricultural counties into the scope of reform. Locations where conditions permit may in accordance with the law explore systems for a province to directly manage counties/cities. Continue to follow the path of urbanization with Chinese characteristics. Bring into play well the role of large and medium sized cities in radiating into and spurring on the countryside. In accordance with the law, grant corresponding administrative management powers to small cities and towns having fast economic development and a strong ability to absorb new residents. Promote the co-ordinated development of large and medium sized cities on the one hand and small cities and towns on the other. Form up mechanisms by which urbanization and the building of the new countryside can advance each other. Actively experiment with complete sets of integrated reforms to promote overall urban–rural planning.

f. Establish a sound system of rural democratic management. Uphold the organic integration of the party's leadership, the people as masters of their own fate, and governing the country by law. Develop rural grassroots democracy. With a focus on expanding orderly participation, promoting open information, providing for sound consultation and discussion of official business, and strengthening the supervision of power, strengthen the build-up of grassroots political power, expand the scope of farmers' self-rule, and ensure that farmers enjoy additional and more practical democratic power. Gradually achieve election of delegates to the People's Congresses with proportional representation the same in urban and rural areas. Increase the proportion of farmers' representatives at county and township People's Congresses. Ensure close ties between People's Congress delegates and farmers. Continue to promote comprehensive rural reform. By 2012, basically complete the mission of reforming village and township structures. Exert effort on strengthening town and township government social control and public services. Improve town and township governance mechanisms which go along with farmers' participation in political affairs and a continual increase in their initiative to do so. Implement openness in government affairs. In accordance with the law, ensure farmers' rights to know what is going on, their right to participate, their right of representation, and their right of supervision. Establish sound mechanisms of villagers' self-rule, led by the village party organization and full of vitality. Thoroughly develop the practice of democratic elections, with the fundamental requirements being direct election, fairness, and orderliness. Thoroughly develop the practice of democratic decision making, with the main formats being villagers' meetings, meetings of villagers' representatives, and villagers discussing official business. Thoroughly develop the practice of democratic management, with the main goals being self-education, self-management, and self-service. Thoroughly develop the practice of democratic supervision, with openness in village affairs, supervision of financial affairs, and mass discussion as the main elements. In these ways, make self-rule by villagers be systematic, standardized, and orderly. Strengthen the build-up of the rural legal system. Improve laws and regulations which relate to farmers and agriculture. Strengthen the ability to administer in accordance with the law. Strengthen law enforcement supervision and judicial protection as they relate to farmers and agriculture. Strengthen propaganda and education about the rural legal system, do well on legal services, improve farmers' understanding of the law, and promote rural governance in accordance with the law. Foster rural social organizations of a service nature, of a public benefit nature, and of a mutual assistance nature. Improve social self-rule functions. Adopt various measures to strengthen grassroots financial capabilities, gradually resolve certain difficult problems in the running of administrative villages, and actively and soundly alleviate rural village debt. Continue to do well with farmers taking on supervisory and management work. Improve the method of one project, one discussion to raise capital and organize labour. Establish sound mechanisms for building rural public benefit projects.

Developing modern agriculture requires acting in accordance with the requirements for high output, outstanding quality, high effectiveness, respect for the environment, and safety, and accelerating the transformation of agricultural development patterns, promoting advances and innovations in agricultural science and technology, strengthening agricultural materials, technology, and equipment, establishing a sound system of agricultural production, improving the land productivity rate, the resources utilization rate, and the labour production rate, and strengthening agriculture's ability to withstand risk, its ability to compete internationally, and its ability for sustainable development. Specify goals, formulate plans, and increase input. Concentrate forces to deal with major matters affecting the overall and long-term situations.

a. Ensure the nation's food security. Food security is an issue on which there can never be any laxity. It must always be addressed unflaggingly. Accelerate the creation of a food security assurance system with steady supply, ample reserves, regulation and control ability, and highly effective operation. Put developing food production in first place in the modernization of agriculture, stabilize the area planted, optimize the structure of varieties, increase the yield per unit area, and continually strengthen comprehensive production capabilities. All regions must specify and implement food development goals, strengthen supportive policies, carry out the reserve stockpiling mission, and share out responsibility for the nation's food security. Implement strategic projects regarding food, and promote the establishment of core food production areas and backup production areas. Accelerate the implementation of the national plan to create the capability to produce an additional hundred billion catties (jin – i.e. 0.5 kg) of grain. Concentrate input with the county as the unit and integrated development, with organization and implementation starting this year. Uphold policy measure preference for the main food producing areas, establish a main production area interest compensation system, strengthen public finance incentives for major grain producing counties and increase the level of support to grain production industry construction projects, accelerate the realization of co-ordinated increases in food production, farmers' incomes, and financial strength, and fully mobilize farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain and local emphasis on grain production. Improve the grain risk fund policy, and gradually eliminate counterpart funding by the main production areas. Balanced production and marketing areas and main demand areas are to strengthen the build-up of major grain producing counties, ensure that the amount of farmland devoted to grain in their area does not decrease and that the level of food self-sufficiency in their area does not fall. Uphold open markets, actively reinvigorate circulation, and improve the production-consumption linkage. Improve all of society's awareness of the need to conserve grain, and strengthen grain-saving measures through the entire process from production to consumption. Strengthen international exchanges and co-operation regarding food, and make contributions to improvements in the global food supply.

b. Promote strategic adjustments in the structure of agriculture. Construct a modern agricultural sector with market demands as the guide, scientific and technological innovation as the measures, and quality and effectiveness as the goals. Do well on planning the layout of the sector. Scientifically designate key areas of regional agricultural development. Form up production belts with outstanding advantages and distinct characteristics. Steer the construction of processing, flow, storage and transport facilities to concentrate in areas with a production advantage. Take effective measures to support the development of oilseed production, and increase the level of self-sufficiency in edible vegetable oil. Encourage and support areas with production advantages to concentrate on the development of bulk commodity products such as cotton, sugar, and potatoes. Promote intensive, facility-based production of horticultural crops such as vegetables, fruit, tea, and flowers. Adapt to local conditions in developing distinctive sectors and the town and village tourism sector. Accelerate the development of the animal husbandry sector, support breeding at scale, and support breed improvement and disease prevention and control. Promote the healthy production of aquatic products, and support and enlarge the open-ocean fishing industry. Develop the forestry sector, and bring prosperity to the economies of mountainous regions. Develop industrialized operations in agriculture, promote upgrades in the structure of the agricultural products processing sector, support the growth of pioneering enterprises, and foster name brands. Strengthen policy incentive support to major agricultural production counties, and improve tax policies to support the development of the agricultural products processing sector. Strengthen agricultural standards and agricultural product quality and safety efforts. Tighten supervision and control of the entire process: production environment, use of input, production process, and product quality control. Earnestly carry out agricultural product quality and safety supervision responsibilities at every link: production, procurement, storage and transport, processing, and sale. Prevent substandard products from reaching the market. Support the development of “green” and organic foods. Step up the effort on the protection of agricultural product registrated [sic] trademarks and geographical trademarks. Step up cross-Strait co-operation in agriculture.

c. Accelerate scientific and technological [S&T] innovation in agriculture. The fundamental way to proceed in the development of agriculture is scientific and technological progress. Go with the flow of scientific and technological development worldwide, and focus on building modern agriculture. Exert great effort on promoting autonomous innovation in agricultural science and technology, strengthen original innovation, integrative innovation, and import-digest-absorb re-innovation. Continually promote the integration of agricultural technology, mechanization of the work process, and informatization of production operations. Increase the S&T input to agriculture. Establish an agricultural S&T innovation fund. Support fundamental and leading edge scientific research for agriculture. Strive for major breakthroughs in key areas and in core technologies. Strengthen research, development, and integration of agricultural technology. Focus support on S&T innovations in the areas of biotechnology, cultivation of better strains, high-yield cultivation, water conservation in agriculture, disease prevention and control, and disaster prevention and mitigation. Carry out major scientific and technological projects for the cultivation of new varieties of genetically modified organisms, and as quickly as possible come up with a number of outstanding varieties with major applied value. Meet the requirements for greater scale, precision, and facilities basing in agriculture, accelerate the development of multifunctional, intelligent, and economical agricultural equipment and facilities, and focus on making new progress at the links of field operations, protected cultivation (she shi zai pei), healthy cultivation, intensive processing, and preservation of freshness in storage and transport. Promote the development of agricultural information services technology. Focus on the development of technologies including information gathering, precise operations and management information, rural long-distance digitization and visualization, weather forecasting, and disaster advance warning. Deepen reform of the scientific and technological system, accelerate the building of an agricultural science and technology innovation system and a modern agricultural production technology system, and step up support to public benefit-type agricultural scientific research organizations and agricultural academies and schools. Rely on major agricultural scientific research projects, key branches of learning, and scientific research bases, and strengthen the build-up of the corps of agricultural S&T innovators. Cultivate high-level agricultural S&T talent, especially leaders. Stabilize and grow the corps of agricultural S&T talent. Step up the widespread application of agricultural technology, and conduct technical training of farmers. Accelerate the transformation of agricultural S&T achievements [to practical use]. Support the combination of production, study, and research, and the combination of farming, science, and teaching. Support technical co-operation of various sorts between institutes of higher learning and scientific research institutes on the one hand and farmers' professional co-operatives, pioneering enterprises, and farming households on the other. Continue to run well the national agricultural high-tech production model areas. Bring into play the role of state-owned farms as models of the application of advanced technology and the building of modern agriculture.

d. Step up the building of agricultural infrastructure. Agricultural infrastructure with farmland and water resources as the key elements is an important material condition for modern agriculture. Carry out land reclamation on a large scale. Make good plans and overall arrangements, and advance in tandem. Accelerate the rehabilitation of low and medium producing fields. Encourage farmers to improve soil. Popularize cultivation with soil testing and the preparation and application of customized fertilizers. Thereby improve the quality of arable land, and greatly increase the proportion of farmland which is high yield and steady yield land. Construct water resources infrastructure. Step up the effort to remediate large rivers, streams, and lakes. Concentrate on the construction of a number of large and medium sized backbone water resources projects. Accelerate the rebuilding of large and medium sized irrigation districts and irrigation and drainage pumping stations and related items, and the building of water source projects. Strive to basically complete the ongoing improvements to large irrigation districts and rebuilding for water conservation by the year 2020. Accelerate the strengthening of dilapidated and dangerous reservoirs to eliminate hazards. Ensure that the mission of strengthening and eliminating hazards at large, medium sized, and key small reservoirs is completed by the end of 2010. Update investment mechanisms, adopt ways such as using incentives instead of subsidies to encourage and support large numbers of farmers to carry out projects such as the construction of small-scale farmland water resources facilities and the comprehensive rehabilitation of small watersheds. Spread the use of water conserving irrigation, and conduct demonstration projects in dry farming. Support the development of agriculture-oriented industry, and accelerate the mechanization of agriculture. In accordance with the requirements for a high level of modernization and extensive coverage, strengthen the build-up of the fine varieties breeding system and the agricultural products batch production market network, and accelerate the building of a modern food logistics system and a fresh and live agricultural products cold-chain logistics system.

e. Establish a new type of system for socialized services to agriculture. Establishing a socialized services system which covers the entire process, is comprehensive and complete, and which is agile and highly effective, is essential to developing modern agriculture. Accelerate the creation of a new type of system for socialized services to agriculture which relies on a common service structure, has co-operative economic organizations as the foundation, has pioneering enterprises as the backbone, is beefed up with other social forces, combines public benefit-type services and services of a business nature, and which co-ordinates special item service and comprehensive service. Strengthen the build-up of agricultural public service capabilities, innovate a management system, improve the quality of personnel, strive to set up a sound structure of public services everywhere in the country within three years, either a town and township or area-type structure for spreading agricultural technology, preventing and controlling animal and plant diseases, and supervising agricultural product quality. Gradually set up village-level service points. Support production and operation services provided in various forms: supply and marketing co-operatives, farmers' professional co-operatives, professional services companies, specialized technical associations, farmers' brokers, and pioneering enterprises. Develop rural markets, and promote the modernization of rural circulation. Establish a sound system of agricultural product markets, improve the system for agricultural information gathering and distribution, develop modern circulation methods for agricultural products, reduce or abolish the collection of fees at links in marketing, institute a long-term “green channel” policy, accelerate the formation of a highly efficient marketing network with low-cost movement of agricultural products. Ensure that production information is supplied for farmers' use, rectify and regulate order in rural markets, and severely punish actions which work against and harm farmers.

f. Promote sustainable development of agriculture. In accordance with the requirement to build an ecological civilization, develop economical agriculture, cyclical agriculture, and ecological agriculture, and strengthen environmental protection. Continue to promote the construction of key forestry projects, lengthen the lifespan of natural forest protection projects, improve policies and consolidate what has been achieved in returning cultivated land to forest, plant trees to create forests, and increase forest cover. Carry out projects to construct and protect grassland, promote the return of pasture to grassland, develop irrigated meadows, and restore the ecological vegetation of grassland. Strengthen the protection of water resources. Strengthen the maintenance of aquatic life resources, and step up the effort on raising and releasing aquatic life. Promote the comprehensive prevention and control of soil runoff in key watersheds and areas, accelerate the control of desertification and petrifaction, and step up the creation of protected natural areas. Protect rare species and genetic resources, and prevent the encroachment of external animal and plant diseases and harmful species. Use many channels to raise funds to pay compensation for the conservation of forests, grassland, soil, and other things of ecological benefit, and gradually increase the standard of compensation. Actively foster the biomass production sector, with non-grain, non-oilseed crops as the raw material, promote the exploitation of agricultural and forestry by-products and waste matter as energy and resources. Promote energy saving and emission reducing technology, strengthen the prevention and control of pollution from rural industry and everyday life and pollution from agricultural areas.

g. Increase the openness of agriculture to the outside. Uphold the combining of “bringing in” and “going global,” improve the ability to make overall plans to exploit both the international and domestic markets and the two types of resources, and expand the breadth and depth of agriculture's openness to the outside. In accordance with the principle of encouraging exporting labour intensive and technology intensive products and to the appropriate extent importing structurally lacking products, improve mechanisms for strategic planning and regulation and control of the import and export of agricultural products, and step up research of international markets and information services. Strengthen agricultural product import and export inspection, quarantine, and supervision, and increase high-quality product added value and the level of quality and safety. Induce foreign business to invest in the development of modern agriculture. Establish a sound system to permit the entry of foreign agricultural ventures and agricultural production materials, a system which complies with World Trade Organization rules. Establish a security review mechanism for foreign investor mergers with domestic enterprises involved with agriculture, and gradually establish a system for international production, marketing, processing, storage, and transport of agricultural products. Participate actively in the formulation of international trade rules and standards regarding agricultural products, and promote the formation of a fair and rational trading order.

Building the socialist new countryside and forming up a new arrangement of integrated urban–rural economic and social development requires expanding the scope of public finance coverage in rural areas, it requires the development of public undertakings in rural areas, and it requires that among the broad masses of farmers, students get an education, workers get earnings, the sick are treated, the old are cared for, and people have somewhere to live.

a. Enrich and develop rural culture. The building of socialist culture is an important part of building the socialist new countryside, and an important guarantor of that effort. Uphold the use of socialist advanced culture to man the ramparts in rural areas. Satisfy farmers' ever-increasing demands regarding spiritual culture. Improve farmers' ideological and moral character. Solidly construct a system of socialist core values. Continue to arm rural party members with the theory system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Educate the masses of farmers in that theory system. Guide farmers to firmly establish the ideology of patriotism, collectivism, and socialism. Promote key cultural projects which favour farmers, such as radio and television reaching every village, the sharing of cultural and information resources, the building of town and township comprehensive cultural centres and village cultural offices, showing movies in villages, and reading rooms for village families. Establish mechanisms for steady cultural input and support to rural areas. As soon as possible, form up a complete system of rural public cultural services. Assist in the creation and production of rural-themed cultural products. Conduct cultural activities in which farmers enjoy participating, and can do so easily. Establish long-lasting mechanisms for “three things to go to the countryside,” namely, culture, S&T, and health care. Support farmers in starting up performance troupes and other cultural groups. Induce cultural organizations in cities to extend their service to the countryside. Put emphasis on enriching the cultural lives of rural migrant workers, and help them to improve their qualities. Conduct extensive mass-type spiritual civilization building activities, such as civilized village and town, civilized marketplace, and civilized household activities, and voluntary service. Spur farmers to uphold science, show integrity and abide by the law, resist superstition, and change backward habits and customs. Spur farmers to abide by citizens' basic moral standards, cultivate healthful and civilized ways of living, and form up social conduct with equality of the sexes, respect for the old and love for the young, good neighbourliness, hard work leading to prosperity, and help for the poor and those in extreme difficulties. Strengthen the protection of rural cultural relics, the intangible cultural heritage, and well-known historical and cultural towns and villages. Develop rural sports, and conduct physical fitness activities among farmers.

b. Make a great effort in the cause of rural education. Develop rural education, promote educational fairness, improve the scientific and educational qualities of farmers, and foster a new type of farmer who is educated, who understands technology, and who can engage in business operations. Consolidate what has been achieved in the spread of rural compulsory education. Improve the quality of compulsory education. Improve the policy of free compulsory education and the mechanism for funding support. Ensure that the children of impoverished families, children left behind [by parents who have gone to a city to work], and girls in particular, attend school equally and complete their studies. Improve the nutrition of rural students. Promote the balanced development of urban and rural compulsory education. Accelerate the spread of high school education in rural areas. Focus on accelerating the development of rural mid-level vocational education, and gradually make it free. Establish a sound network of county-level vocational education and training, strengthen skills training for farmers, and extensively foster practical talent for the countryside. Make a great effort to support rural education in impoverished and ethnic minority areas. Step up the sending of talented people and services to the countryside by colleges and university. Do well with academic expertise relating to agriculture. Encourage talented people to go and work on the front line in rural areas. Discount the tuition and give subsidized student loans to graduates who go to the countryside for a period of service. Give these students priority in selection for graduate school and employment as teachers. Ensure and improve the wages, benefits, and working conditions of rural teachers. Establish a sound system for rural teacher training and development, and improve the quality of teachers. Establish sound mechanisms for interaction between urban and rural teachers. Continue to select urban teachers to go to the countryside to support the teaching effort. Develop rural preschool education, special education, and continuing education. Step up distance learning. Promptly send high-quality educational resources to rural areas.

c. Promote the development of rural medical treatment and health care. Basic medical treatment and health care services affect the health and happiness of the broad masses of farmers, and they must be made available to all farmers as soon as possible. Consolidate and develop new types of rural co-operative medical care systems, raise the standard of funding and the level of public finance assistance, uphold the formula of hospital care for major illnesses as the main element, but with consideration also to care by outpatient clinics. Improve the rural medical care assistance system. Uphold the government as the leader, integrate urban and rural health resources, establish a sound network of three levels of rural medical treatment and health care services, focus on operating a county-level hospital and a health clinic in every town and township, support the building of village health clinics, and provide farmers safe, low-cost basic medical services. Step up the building of a corps of rural health care personnel. Orient on developing and training rural health care personnel free of charge. Resolve in an appropriate way the issue of subsidies for rural doctors. Improve the system by which urban doctors assist rural areas. Uphold prevention as primary, expand the scope of free public health services and free vaccinations in rural areas, and step up the effort on preventing and controlling endemic diseases, contagious diseases, and diseases affecting both animals and people. Strengthen the prescribing and supervision of medicines in rural areas. Actively develop Chinese medicine and ethnic medicine services. Extensively conduct the patriotic health movement, and stress health education. Strengthen rural health care for women and children, and gradually introduce the policy of subsidized hospitalization for childbirth. Uphold the basic national policy on family planning, promote prenatal and postnatal care, keep the rural low birth rate steady, improve and implement a system of family planning incentives and aid, and effectively address the problem of the rather high sex ratio imbalance among newborns.

d. Establish a sound rural social support system. Implement the principles of broad coverage, basics ensured, multi-level, and sustainable, and accelerate the establishment of a sound rural social support system. In accordance with the requirement for a combination of individual contributions, collective subsidy (bu zhu), and government subsidy (bu tie), establish a new type of rural old age insurance. Create the conditions to explore ways of effectively linking urban and rural old age insurance systems. Handle social security for farmers whose land has been requisitioned, see to assurance before requisitioning, enable farmers whose land has been requisitioned to have long-term assurance of basic living support. Improve the rural minimum living support system, increase central and provincial public finance subsidies, make it the case that support that ought to be provided is provided in full, and continually raise the standard of support and level of subsidy. Comprehensively implement the rural five-guarantee policy [food, clothing, medical care, housing, and burial expenses for childless and infirm elderly people]. Ensure that the level provided reaches the average standard of living of farmers in that locality. Improve the system for assistance to rural masses hit by disasters. Implement the preferential policies for families of revolutionary martyrs and servicemen and disabled and ill retired servicemen. Develop social welfare and charitable undertakings focused on supporting the old, assisting the disabled, helping orphans, aiding the poor, and disaster relief. Develop rural services for the aged. Strengthen rural work on disability prevention and rehabilitation of the disabled. Promote the development of causes for the rural disabled.

e. Step up the building of rural infrastructure and the rural environment. Building up the countryside into a beautiful garden for the broad masses of farmers requires earnestly improving farmers' living and working conditions. Formulate town, township, and village construction plans scientifically. Accelerate the construction of projects for safe drinking water in rural areas, and resolve the rural drinking water safety problem within five years. Step up the construction of rural roads, ensure the basic completion of asphalting or concreting of town and township roads by the end of the 11th Five-Year Programme (2006–2010), and gradually form up a passenger travel network in which urban and rural public transportation resources are interlinked, convenient, and quick. Promote rural energy construction, expand the percentage of the population which can access the electricity grid, spread the application of renewable energy technology such as biogas, crop straw, small hydroelectric plants, wind power, and solar power, and form up a rural energy system which is clean and economical. Carry out rural cleanup projects, accelerate the modification of water supplies, kitchens, toilets, and pigsties, develop centralized handling of rubbish, and continually improve rural health conditions and the environment in which people live. Promote the “merging of three networks,” namely, the radio and television network, the telecommunications network, and the Internet, and actively bring in to play the role of informatization in the service of rural areas. Develop rural postal service. Establish sound mechanisms for the maintenance of rural public facilities, and boost the effectiveness of the comprehensive utilization of them.

f. Promote rural poverty relief through development. Doing well on rural poverty relief through development in the new phase is of great importance in ensuring that everyone enjoys a share of what has been achieved in reform and development. Rural poverty relief through development must be grasped tightly and persistently as a long-term historic mission. Improve the national poverty relief strategy and its policy system. Uphold the development-type poverty relief programme. Achieve an effective linkage between the rural minimum living support system and the poverty relief through development policy. Implement new poverty relief standards, implement the poverty relief policy comprehensively among the low-income rural population, and take alleviating as quickly as possible the problem of having enough to eat and wear for the targets of poverty relief and enabling them to escape poverty as the mission of prime importance in poverty relief through development in the new phase. Focus on improving the self-development ability of the rural impoverished population, and provide social aid to the poor who are not able-bodied or have lost the ability to work. Step up the developmental support effort in the old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and impoverished areas. Continue to develop poverty relief at party and Government-staff designated sites, and continue to conduct east-west [China] poverty relief co-ordination. Bring into full play the positive role of enterprises, schools, scientific research institutes, the armed forces, and people from all segments of society in poverty relief through development. Strengthen international exchange and co-operation in anti-poverty efforts.

g. Step up the building of rural areas' ability to prevent and mitigate disasters. China's countryside experiences a lot of natural disasters, extensive areas are affected, and the ability to prevent and fight disasters is weak, so disaster prevention and mitigation efforts in rural areas must be earnestly strengthened. Strengthen forecasting of disaster-related weather, geological disasters, and earthquakes. Improve the level of monitoring and measurement, improve advance plans to deal with disasters, strengthen the build-up of specialized forces, improve emergency rescue and assistance abilities, spread through propaganda knowledge about disaster prevention and mitigation, improve the ability to deal with disasters and the ability of farmers to avoid disasters and save themselves. Step up the construction of facilities to prevent floods, drain flooded fields, and relieve drought. Build up the ability to monitor conditions and give advance warning. Accelerate the reconstruction of dangerous houses in rural areas. Improve the disaster resistance of rural roads, electricity supplies, water supplies, and telecommunication facilities. Improve the quality of construction of rural public facilities such as schools and hospitals, and impose safety standards and responsibility. Go all out with rural restoration and reconstruction work in the Wenchuan earthquake disaster area, increase input, provide counterpart support, mobilize the masses, accelerate the reconstruction of disaster damaged farmers' homes, rebuild agricultural production facilities, and restore agricultural production and the rural economy as soon as possible. Take comprehensive measures to promote the restoration of the environment in the disaster area as quickly as possible, and continually improve it.

h. Strengthen social management in rural areas. Uphold serving farmers and relying on farmers, improve systems and mechanisms of social management in rural areas, step up the building of rural communities, and maintain social harmony and stability in rural areas. Establish sound mechanisms, guided by the party and the Government, for protecting farmers' rights and interests. Widen the channels by which to express rural public sentiment. Do well on rural letters and in-person appeals work. Strengthen mediation among the people, and promptly investigate and alleviate contradictions and disputes. The broad masses of cadres in rural areas must go down to villages and households and talk to people. They must earnestly resolve contradictions and problems at the grassroots level, and nip them in the bud. Thoroughly conduct peace-constructing campaign activities (ping an chuang jian huo dong – a public security campaign). Strengthen rural political science and law work. Promote rural police construction. Implement mass prevention and mass treatment (qun fang qun zhi – the public helping to maintain public order). Do well on comprehensive control of public order. Establish a sound system for emergency response and control in rural areas, and improve the ability to handle crises. Consolidate and develop equal, unified, mutually assisting, and harmonious socialist ethnic relations. Implement in full the party's basic policy on religious work, and manage religious affairs in accordance with the law. Oppose and stop the exploitation of religion or religious groups to interfere in rural public affairs. Resolutely crack down on cults, and strike hard at evil powers.

The key to promoting rural reform and development is the Party. Take building up the party's ability to govern and the party's advanced nature as the main line, use the spirit of reform and innovation to comprehensively promote rural party construction, conscientiously conduct activities for the thorough study and practice of the scientific development concept, strengthen the creativity, cohesiveness, and fighting power of party organizations at all levels, and continually improve the level of the party's leadership of rural work.

a. Improve systems and mechanisms for the party's leadership of rural work. Strengthen the rural work leadership system and work mechanisms for the party's unified leadership, the joint effort and unified management by party and Government, the general departments' (zong he bu men) organization and co-ordination of rural work, and concerned departments each shouldering its respective responsibility. Party committees and the Government at all levels must continue to give rural work an important place on their daily agenda. They must earnestly embody the strategic ideology that this is work of central importance to the entire party as they formulate policy, lay out work arrangements, release funds, and allocate cadres. They must step up their investigation and research of problems in the theory and practice of rural reform and development. They must tailor measures to local conditions, guide by category, and carry out this work in an innovative manner. Principal leaders of party committees and Government must see to rural work personally. Province, municipality, and county party committees must appoint a responsible comrade to take charge of rural work. County/city party committees must make rural work the centre of their efforts and the place where their main effort goes. Strengthen the build-up of a Party committee general department for rural work. Establish an administrative management system for agriculture having clear functions, authority in line with responsibility, and co-ordinated operation. Emphasize the selection and assignment of strong party and Government leadership teams at the county and township level, and especially the officials mainly responsible. Continue to uphold the system by which province governors are responsible for the “rice sack” [the grain supply], and city mayors are responsible for “the vegetable basket.”

Improve the system of cadre examination and appraisal which embodies the scientific development concept and a correct view of one's official achievements. Make food production, the increase in farmers' income, protection of arable land, environmental remediation, and harmony and stability be important elements of performance evaluations of local, and especially county/city, leadership teams. People's Congresses and Political Consultative Conferences are to continue to carry out their functions, bring into play the positive role of the democratic parties, people's organizations, and social organizations, and work together to promote rural reform and development.

b. Step up the building of rural grassroots organizations. The Party's rural grassroots organization is the party's foundation for rural work. Take the build-up of the leadership team and the focal point, the creation of a sound party organization as a guarantor, and three-level joint creation activities as the medium, and build the party organization into a strong leadership core promoting scientific development leading farmers to prosperity, tying in closely with the masses, and protecting rural stability. Reform and improve the method for selecting the leadership teams of rural grassroots organizations. Keep a good grasp on building a complete set of village-level organizations with the village party organization as the core. Lead and support the village committee, collective economic organizations, Communist Youth League branch, Conference of Women's Representatives, the militia, and other organizations, and town and township enterprise workers' unions, to carry out this work in accordance with laws, regulations, and organizational statutes.

Innovate the form of the setup of rural party's grassroots organization, and popularize ways to establish party organizations in rural communities, farmers' professional co-operatives, professional associations, and links in the sector's chain. Step up party work among rural migrant workers. Establish sound mechanisms for mutual assistance between urban and rural grassroots party organizations. Construct a new arrangement of urban and rural grassroots party organizations with an overall plan. See to the construction of venues for activities by village-level organizations, and cover all administrative villages in this regard within two years.

c. Strengthen the building of the corps of rural grassroots cadres. Building a corps of rural grassroots cadres who abide by their convictions, stress dedication, have skills, and emphasize conduct is critically important in rural work. Put effort into expanding the sources of rural grassroots cadres, improve their qualities, alleviate their troubles back home, and mobilize their enthusiasm for their work. Emphasize the selection of village cadres from among rural people who are good at making money, retired military personnel, and farmers returned home after working elsewhere. Induce graduating college students to take duty positions in villages, and implement a plan for a college student to every village. Encourage outstanding young cadres from party and Government staffs and enterprises and institutions to go to villages to help with the work. Step up the effort on selecting town and township officials from among outstanding village cadres taking exams, and appoint them town or township leading cadres. Explore having village party organization secretaries perform duties in more than one village. By ways such as public finance transfer payments and party membership dues subsidies, form up a support mechanism established by the rural grassroots organization, with village cadre pay and old age insurance, and with party cadre training funds. Integrate training resources, extensively train rural grassroots cadres, and strengthen their skill in leading farmers in the building of the socialist new countryside. Solidly promote modern distance education for rural party cadres, and basically cover the nationwide township and village network in this regard within two years.

d. Strengthen the building of the corps of rural party cadres. Consolidate and develop what has been achieved in advanced educational activities, do well in developing party member work, improve the management of party member education, strengthen party members' understanding, and establish a corps of high-quality rural party cadres. Expand grassroots democracy within the party, respect the status of party members as the main body, and ensure that party members carry out their obligations and exercise their power in accordance with the stipulations of the Party Constitution. Organize rural party members to study theory, line, and policies, as well as laws and regulations, and applicable techniques. Conduct extensive activities on party member duty positions, making pledges about their duty positions, and striving to be the best. Show concern and care for party members, establish sound, internal party mechanisms for incentives, concern, help and support, and strengthen the party organization's affinity (qin he li). Strengthen and improve the management of floating party members, and establish sound mechanisms for the dynamic management of integrated urban–rural party members. Increase the effort to develop party members from among outstanding young farmers. Explore new mechanisms for the development of party members, and continually improve the quality of party members.

e. Strengthen the build-up of party conduct and honest government in rural areas. Putting great effort into carrying forward the party's fine traditions and working style, and maintaining close relations between the party and the masses and between cadres and the masses, is an important guarantor that rural reform and development will be carried out well. Uphold the combining of education, systems, supervision, reform, rectification, and punishment, and promote the building of a system for both punishment and prevention of corruption in rural areas. Take the establishment of ideals and convictions and the strengthening of ideology and morals as the foundation, thoroughly conduct education advocating honesty and opposing corruption, display the working style of seeking truth and being pragmatic, impartiality and honesty, and struggling hard, and firmly establish the ideological foundation of party members and cadres serving the masses and demonstrating honesty and self-discipline. Take regulation and restraint on the exercise of power as the core, comprehensively promote openness in government affairs, openness in village affairs, and openness in party affairs, establish a sound system for managing rural collective funds, property, and resources, and make it the case that authority, matters, and personnel are all handled according to the system. Take protecting farmers' rights and interests as the focal point, revolve around the party's rural policy in strengthening supervision and inspection of the status of implementation, earnestly rectify significant problems harming the interest of farmers, and seriously investigate and deal with cases of violations of discipline or law which affect farmers. The broad masses of party members and cadres must uphold the idea that power is to be used for the people, sentiment is felt for the people, and interests are pursued for the people. The broad masses of party members and cadres must be concerned about the suffering of the masses, they must listen to the voices of the masses, they must pool the wisdom of the masses, they must speak the truth, handle practical matters, and pursue real results, they must oppose formalism and bureaucratism, and they must work hard towards genuinely outstanding achievements.

The most arduous, most strenuous missions in the building of a well-off society in an all-round way are in the countryside. Yet the deepest and most extensive foundation is also in the countryside. All comrades in the party must unite closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as its General Secretary, reform with keen determination, accelerate development, and in advancing progress in the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, work hard to create a new situation in rural work.