OECD Rural Policy Review: China
With more than 700 million residents living in rural areas, China is still a predominantly rural country. Despite substantial improvements in standards of living, the Chinese countryside is largely lagging behind. Rural-urban disparities in income and services and subsequent migration trends pose great challenges to sound development. The Chinese government’s recent strategy, “Building a New Socialist Countryside”, and related governance and fiscal reforms, represent an innovative approach to tackling these challenges and have brought substantial investments in rural areas.
This report analyses the key socio-economic forces at work in China’s rural areas and discusses the current government strategy for rural development. It argues that in order to bridge rural-urban divides the current policy approach needs to go beyond agriculture and that food-security targets need to be balanced with wider rural development objectives. This will entail a greater focus on investment rather than redistributive measures. Action is needed to: optimise land use and strengthen land-related rights; improve rural service delivery in education, health care, and business and financial services; develop a stronger strategy of rural economic diversification, drawing on the potential of rural China’s rich natural and cultural amenities; and address serious environmental challenges with a view to the local-level implementation of national laws.
Long abstract
