The new role of Chen Xiwen, a veteran of the "Three Rural Areas"

On March 19, Chen Xiwen, former director of the Central Agricultural Office and former member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was appointed chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the 13th National People's Congress

Chen Xiwen Infographic

Caijing reporter Xiong Pingping/Wen Editor/Zhu Tao

Chen Xiwen, 68, has a new role, as the former director of the Central Agricultural Affairs Office and a former member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will take up the post of chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the New National People's Congress (HEREIN) and the appointment was approved by a vote at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress on the morning of March 19.

In the context of deepening reform, the legislative revision task of the current NPC is arduous, and the three rural areas are particularly prominent. In the legislative plan of the NPC Standing Committee for the next five years, it includes the formulation and revision of the Cultivated Land Occupation Tax Law, the Rural Land Contract law, the Land Management Law, and other laws.

Born in 1950, Chen Xiwen has been working in the field of three rural areas for 50 years since he was 18 years old, and later became the most important expert and decision-maker in the field of land reform and rural economy in China. This trip to the NPC Agricultural Committee to perform his duties will certainly have an important impact on the future legislation of the three rural areas. During this year's two sessions, Chen Xiwen proposed the formulation of a law on rural collective economic organizations.

In 1968, Chen Xiwen went to the countryside to the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps, and in 1978, he was admitted to the Department of Agricultural Economics of Chinese Min University. After graduating from university in 1982, he entered the Institute of Agricultural Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and in 1985, he was transferred to the rural research system of the State Council, and successively served as the director of the Rural Development Research Center of the State Council, the director of the Rural Economic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and the deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

In 2003, Chen Xiwen served as deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, member of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and director of the office, and in January 2010, he became the deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, until 2016, when he was transferred to the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. On March 18 this year, he was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Chen Xiwen has in-depth research on the rural economy, and has won the Sun Yefang Economic Science Award, the highest award in China's economic circles, three times with the "Systematic Investigation of Rural Economic Reform" co-authored in 1984, "National Economy, New Growth Stage and Rural Development" co-authored in 1986, and "Medium-term Outline of Rural Economic Reform" presided over and completed in 1988.

While studying rural issues in depth, Chen Xiwen has always been regarded by the outside world as the leader and think tank of China's land and rural policy decisions. His core views include implementing the party's commitment to maintaining a stable and "long-term unchanged" rural land contracting relationship, and implementing it into laws and systems as soon as possible, and adhering to land use control, so as to effectively protect cultivated land and protect farmers' land rights and interests.

As a defender of the peasants' interests, Chen Xiwen has a clear view on such issues as whether the urban population can buy rural homesteads: "Non-peasants should not think at all about whether they can buy or not, this is a non-divided idea"; he has denied the "pilot project of linking the increase in urban construction land with the decrease in rural construction land" and "the concentration of peasants to live in the countryside" promoted in many localities, believing that its intention is mostly to expand the scale of urban construction land and seek more construction land in addition to the state-approved indicators for the occupation of cultivated land.

At the end of last year, Chen Xiwen revealed the progress of the "three plots" reform pilot that is currently being promoted: the reform of the land acquisition system is difficult, and it is difficult to come up with reform results in the near future, but the reform results will be produced when the homestead and collective operation construction land enter the market.

The NPC Agricultural Committee, where Chen Xiwen went to serve this time, is one of the 10 special committees of the NPC, and its duty is to accept the leadership of the NPC and its Standing Committee, to study, deliberate, and draft various bills in the field of three rural areas, as well as the drafting of relevant laws, and at the same time to deliberate on the legality of relevant administrative regulations, decisions, and orders of the State Council and various ministries and commissions, and to exercise legislative supervision power.

On November 29, 2017, Chen Xiwen, who was then a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, delivered a keynote speech at the "Caijing Annual Conference 2018: Forecast and Strategy", in which he said that rural revitalization is a major event related to China's comprehensive development and eventually building a modern power.

The following is a transcript of the speech:

I would like to share my views on the rural revitalization strategy raised in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress.

As we all know, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward seven major strategies, the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country with qualified personnel, the strategy of innovation-driven development, the strategy of rural revitalization, the strategy of regional coordination, the strategy of sustainable development, and the strategy of military-civilian integration. The other six major strategies have been mentioned more or less before, but the rural revitalization strategy is the first time to propose, why is it that the new urbanization strategy is not mentioned this time, but the rural revitalization strategy is mentioned? I think this is the judgment made by the Party Central Committee on accurately grasping China's national conditions and development stage.

There have been some arguments that in the process of industrialization and urbanization, the villages of all countries in the world are doomed to decline, and worrying about the decline of the countryside is unfounded, and they feel that this is an inevitable law. But there are two issues to be raised here for discussion.

First, from the perspective of the countries in the world that have achieved modernization, it is not necessary that the proportion of agriculture in GDP has declined, and the decline in the agricultural population must mean that the countryside will inevitably decline. Our surveys of economically developed countries will find that, despite their low proportion of agriculture and a small number of people directly engaged in agriculture, the countryside is still a scene of peace and tranquility. This shows that the proportion of agriculture in modern society is decreasing, and the agricultural population is decreasing, which does not necessarily mean that the countryside is doomed to decline.

Second, among the countries that have achieved modernization, there are actually only two countries with a population of hundreds of millions, one is the United States and the other is Japan. There are more than 300 million people in the United States, less than a fraction of the Chinese population, and Japan has only more than 120 million, which is equivalent to only 9% of China's total population. Therefore, the development law of their country is not necessarily the same as that of a populous country like China. China and India, with a population of more than a billion, are still quite far from modernization.

In countries with a population of more than one billion, there is no ready-made experience in the world to refer to the changes in the urban and rural structure and the distribution of urban and rural residents in the modernization construction. For China, what will happen to agricultural and rural farmers in the process of realizing modernization? After China realizes modernization, what is the pattern of urban and rural areas and the distribution of urban and rural residents? It all needs to be explored by ourselves. It is precisely because of this that the Central Committee clearly put forward the strategy of rural revitalization in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress.

In my opinion, rural revitalization is indeed a major event related to China's all-round development and ultimately building a modern power. In the report of the Nineteenth National Congress, the text on the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy is not long, with more than 400 words, a total of eight or nine sentences, but the content is very rich. The rural revitalization strategy is closely related to the overall layout of the "five-in-one" proposed by the central government, that is, with the comprehensive construction of the five aspects of economy, politics, culture, society and ecology, not only about agricultural production and peasants' lives, but also involves more content. From the perspective of the revitalization of rural areas, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress put forward some major issues that must be grasped well in the future agricultural and rural areas and in the process of national development. Let me talk about my personal understanding.

First, from the formulation of the strategy of rural revitalization in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress, it can be seen that our party has always stressed some major principle issues that should be adhered to, and this time it has been more firmly expressed.

For example, first of all, the "three rural areas" issue was raised as a fundamental issue that has a bearing on the national economy and the people's livelihood, so it is always necessary to properly solve the "three rural areas" problem as the most important task in the work of the whole party. This is not a new word, but it has its special significance now. Because the proportion of China's agriculture in GDP has now fallen to only about 8.5%, the rural permanent population has dropped to 42.6% according to last year's statistics, less than 590 million people. Because of this, it may be possible to have such a view, because the proportion of agriculture has decreased, the rural population has decreased, and the importance of agriculture and the importance of the "three rural areas" issue will also decrease? However, the central authorities still put forward the need to persistently regard the solution of the "three rural areas" problem as the most important task in the work of the whole party, and very clearly pointed out the conspicuous problem that agriculture is still a short leg in the process of the simultaneous development of the four modernizations and that the countryside is still a short board in the construction of a well-off society in an all-round way.

As put forward in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress, the most prominent problem we have now is the imbalance and inadequacy of development, and this imbalance and inadequacy are most prominently reflected in the rural areas. Therefore, in the process of realizing the goal of a modern and powerful country, it is obviously very necessary to always put the solution of the "three rural areas" problem in the position of the top priority.

The report of the Nineteenth National Congress also clearly put forward the need to consolidate and improve the basic rural management system. The full name of the basic rural management system is a two-tier management system based on household contract management and combining unified and decentralized management. I personally believe that this is the most important institutional achievement of rural reform in the past four decades of reform and opening up, and fully reflects the wisdom and ability of the vast number of peasants. With regard to the basic rural management system, there have been different formulations in the documents of the central authorities over the past thirty years and more, and they have talked about stability and persistence, and they have also talked about upholding and perfecting it; the report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China has proposed consolidation and improvement, which has further emphasized the determination of the Party Central Committee to persist in implementing the basic rural management system.

Although the rural areas have been implementing the household contract management system for more than 30 years, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress clearly proposed that the second round of land contracts should be extended for another 30 years after the expiration of the second round of land contracts. I recently went to the countryside to investigate, and the farmers were very supportive of this decision.

The general secretary has said many times on different occasions that upholding and improving the basic rural management system is not an empty slogan, but has real content. He has made it clear before that the basic rural management system must be adhered to and perfected, and the four basic points must be adhered to and perfected.

First, we must adhere to the collective ownership of rural land, because only when rural land is collectively owned, there are households that contract collective land in order to implement the form of family management. If the collective ownership of land in the countryside no longer exists, household contract management will inevitably cease to exist.

Second, peasant families in rural collective economic organizations are the legal subjects of contracting their own collective land, and no other organization or individual can replace the peasants as the main body of contracting for rural collective land. Our Property Law makes it very clear that the real and movable property of rural collective economic organizations belong to the collective ownership of the members of the collective, and the reason why the peasant can become the legal subject of the contracted collective land is because he is the owner of the collective land. Can members who are not members of the collective operate rural land? Of course, under the condition of separation of the three rights, the right to lease land and transfer the right to operate the land can be transferred.

Third, the general secretary particularly emphasized that peasant families can operate their own land after contracting land, and can also be transferred to other business entities for operation, and the circulation of land management rights is obviously of positive significance for the development of modern agriculture and the improvement of agricultural efficiency. However, the land contracted by the peasants does not flow, to whom it is transferred, how it is transferred, everything should be decided by the peasants, and cannot be forcibly promoted by the administrative organs.

Fourth, the circulation of land management rights is gradually becoming an increasing phenomenon, but no matter how the right to operate is transferred, the contracting right of land still belongs to the original contractor, which cannot be changed.

Consolidating and improving the basic rural management system is just like the general secretary said, it has rich policy connotations. The first round of "land contract period unchanged for 15 years" was proposed in 1984 Central Document No. 1, and by 1993 the Central Committee felt that the first round of contracting was about to expire, so in 1993, The Central Eleventh Document proposed that the land contract period would be extended for another 30 years after the expiration of this round of contracting, so it would take 45 years to add up to 45 years. By the 40 years of rural reform next year, many farmers are concerned about what to do after the second round of contracts expires.

The Third Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China once proposed to stabilize the rural land contracting relationship and remain unchanged for a long time, at that time everyone has been paying attention to what is the meaning of long-term unchanged? Is there a deadline? How long is it if there is a deadline? From what day does it start? These questions have been clearly answered in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress, and will be extended for another 30 years after the expiration of the second round of contracting. The general secretary gave a very incisive explanation on this issue, saying that the reason why he now proposes to extend the second round of contracting for another 30 years after the expiration of the contract period is because this time coincides with the time node when we achieve the goal of a strong country.

In some places, the second round of contracting will expire in seven or eight years, and some places will have some presidents, and after the expiration of the second round of contracting, there will be 30 years, probably after 2050 in the middle of this century, so the general secretary said that the time node of extending it for another 30 years is in line with the time node of our goal of achieving a strong country. He said that after we have built a modern and powerful country, we can study and implement a new rural land system. At the same time, he also stressed that our party's rural land policy is stable.

The report of the Nineteenth National Congress once again made it clear that national food security should be ensured. Firmly holding the rice bowl of Chinese in one's own hands is not a new word, but it has a very profound new meaning for the current situation.

China's grain has grown for 12 consecutive years from 2004 to 2015, and last year's grain production decreased, remaining the second highest annual record in history. This year's grain production estimates are comparable to last year's. It is precisely because of the continuous bumper harvest that it is easy to produce the view that our grain is no longer a problem, and there is no need to pay so much attention to the food problem. However, looking back at the course of our nearly 40 years of reform and opening up, we have experienced several major ups and downs in grain production. Once the decline in grain production wants to be pulled up again, it will take a lot of effort. China's grain decline is easy to climb and difficult, and we must avoid major fluctuations in grain production, which will affect national food security and affect the economic and social security of the entire country.

In this way, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress reaffirms the major basic principle issues that we have always stressed in the past and expresses a firmer will.

Second, for the rural reform and development that is currently being promoted, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress gives more clear and accurate guidance. So, since the strategy of rural revitalization has been proposed, what is rural revitalization, and how can rural revitalization be achieved? The report of the Nineteenth National Congress gave very clear guidance, which can be reflected in several aspects.

First, the content of this part of the content of what position agriculture should be placed in and what position should be placed in the rural areas has made very accurate guidance, emphasizing that in the next few years, it is necessary to adhere to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas. As you can see, there are only three places that talk about priority development in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress, the first is that agriculture and rural areas should be given priority development, the second is that education should be given priority development, and the third is to adhere to the strategy of giving priority to employment. The priority development of agriculture and rural areas is very important for us to realize modernization and build a modern and powerful country in the next few years.

Second, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress proposed for the first time to accelerate the realization of agricultural and rural modernization. In the past, we talked more about agricultural modernization, but basically did not talk about rural modernization, and proposing that the modernization of agriculture and rural areas is a very good interpretation of the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.

So how to revitalize the countryside? Twelve years ago, in 2005, when the Central Committee formulated the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, it put forward the construction of a new socialist countryside, and the construction of the new socialist countryside at that time put forward five requirements: production and development, comfortable living, rural civilization, neat village appearance, and democratic management. This time, five requirements were also put forward, and the requirements were even higher. In the past, we talked about production development, this time we talked about industrial prosperity, in the past we talked about living a comfortable life, this time we talked about living a prosperous life, in the past we talked about neat and tidy villages, this time we talked about ecological livability, we talked about management democracy in the past, and this time we talked about effective governance. If we conscientiously follow this requirement, rural revitalization will certainly be able to gradually achieve its goal.

For the reform of the rural property rights system, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress proposes to deepen the reform of the rural property rights system. What are you trying to achieve? Very clearly. In order to protect the property rights and interests of peasants and to strengthen the collective economy, this is of great guiding significance for healthyally promoting the deepening reform of the property rights system in rural areas.

The report comprehensively discusses how to promote China's agricultural modernization in the next step, involving many contents, including the construction of a modern agricultural industrial system, production system, and management system, improving the agricultural support and protection system, developing various forms of moderate-scale operations, and improving the agricultural socialization service system, especially clearly proposing to effectively connect the development of small farmers and modern agriculture.

As far as I know, since the reform and opening up, the concept of small farmers has never been used in central documents and reports of the Party Congress. In my personal opinion, the central authorities are very soberly aware that for a long time to come, small peasant households operated by one family will be a long-standing historical phenomenon in Chinese society, and it is impossible to completely eliminate them in the short term.

To build China's agricultural modernization, on the one hand, it is necessary to make the peasants who have contracted land more down-to-earth and more confident in transferring their own contracted land through forms such as confirming land rights, and on the other hand, it is necessary to provide modern agricultural technology and equipment services for small farmers through various agricultural socialization services. For example, through farmland trusteeship, substitution of farming, and purchase of socialized services, the modern technical equipment of various agricultural socialization service organizations can better serve the production of small farmers, and realize the organic connection between small farmers and modern agricultural development.

Third, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress also clearly pointed out the outstanding contradictions that currently exist in rural areas, and clearly put forward the basic ideas on how to resolve these contradictions. The report emphasizes two aspects of the current outstanding contradictions in rural areas. First, with regard to the employment and increase of peasants' income, the report clearly proposes to promote the integrated development of the first, second, and third industries in rural areas, increase more employment opportunities for farmers, and open up employment space for farmers.

Some peasant brothers are asking: In the past, it was emphasized that peasants should go to the cities to work and do business to increase their incomes, but in recent years, they have talked more about letting peasants who have gone to the cities to return to their hometowns to start their own businesses. In fact, it is because the times are changing and the potential is changing, and the practices at each stage are different. From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, there was a sudden rise of township enterprises, which solved a large number of peasant employment problems, but after the mid-1990s, township enterprises gradually receded, so soon there was a huge wave of migrant workers, and in recent years, everyone felt that the number of new migrant workers entering the city was decreasing. The next step should be to work harder to create a third employment space for farmers.

The peasants' land is regarded as the peasants' first employment space, but relying on these lands alone cannot solve the peasants' employment, so it is necessary to let the peasants go to the cities and towns to the non-agricultural industries to find employment, which is their second employment space, but now it seems that it is not enough to rely on the first and second employment space, but it is also necessary to open up the peasants' third employment space. Just like the central government said, it is necessary to promote the integrated development of the first, second, and third industries in rural areas, develop new industries and new formats in rural areas, and enable rural areas to create more employment opportunities for farmers in addition to cultivated land. In recent years, rural development of online shopping, e-commerce, rural tourism, rural pension health, etc., have provided new employment opportunities for farmers, but also brought them new channels to increase income.

Second, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress emphasizes the need to strengthen the basic work of the rural grassroots, mainly referring to two aspects, the first is the social governance of the countryside, this document emphasizes that rural social governance should highlight the combination of autonomy, rule of law and rule by virtue, in the countryside not only to give full play to the autonomy function of villagers, but also to strengthen the role of rule of law and rule by virtue. Second, it is emphasized that it is necessary to cultivate a "three rural" work force that understands agriculture, loves the countryside, and loves farmers, which is particularly important in the context of the profound changes in the current rural demographic structure.

The implementation of the rural revitalization strategy in the report of the Nineteenth National Congress will bring about profound changes in China's agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and make China have a more solid foundation from agriculture, rural areas and farmers in the journey of realizing the goal of modernizing and strengthening the country.