Day: October 31, 2022

BEIJING, Oct. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Capitalizing on its victory in eradicating absolute poverty, China is now ready for a new round of agricultural and rural development as the efforts to propel rural vitalization are in full swing.

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stressed the country will continue to put agricultural and rural development first, consolidate and expand achievements in poverty alleviation, and reinforce the foundations for food security on all fronts.

In his first inspection after the conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed advancing rural revitalization across the board and striving tirelessly to achieve agricultural and rural modernization.

He said it’s necessary to prioritize the development of agricultural and rural areas, and consolidate and expand China’s achievements in poverty alleviation during his visit to Yan’an in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province and the city of Anyang in central China’s Henan Province from Wednesday to Friday.

Getting off the train on Wednesday afternoon, Xi headed directly to the village of Nangou in Yan’an.

In an orchard there, Xi chatted with local villagers, asking in detail about how they grew apple trees and picked fruits, what species of apple they planted, at what prices their apples were sold, and their income. He also inquired about how the village developed apple planting and other industries.

Xi said that he lived in northern Shaanxi for seven years. During that time, he saw villagers live in harsh conditions, and he kept thinking about ways to make their lives better.

“Now villagers have jobs and stable income, while children have a good education and the elderly are covered by medical insurance,” Xi said. “Lives are getting better and better.”

As Xi mentioned “the changes in northern Shaanxi reflect the changes in China.” Recent years have seen solid progress in fostering rural industries, promoting the application of agricultural technologies and building beautiful countryside when pursuing rural vitalization.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the per capita disposable income of rural residents reached 18,931 yuan (about 2,981.96 U.S. dollars) in 2021, an increase of 9.7 percent in real terms.

The improvement of the rural living environment is part of the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy. According to Hong Tianyun, deputy head of the National Rural Revitalization Administration, more than 40 million rural household toilets had been refurbished, and the rural sewage treatment rate has reached around 28 percent since China launched a three-year rural living environment upgrade campaign in 2018.

Xi called for the enterprising spirit of self-reliance and hard work when he visited the Hongqi Canal, or the Red Flag Canal, in Linzhou City of central China’s Henan Province on Friday morning.

The canal, a key irrigation project and major engineering feat of the 1960s, took local people almost 10 years to complete. It was built across the steep Taihang Mountain to bring water to the parched Linxian County, which is now known as Linzhou City.

The Red Flag Canal itself is a monument to the heroic spirit of the people of Linxian County who did not resign themselves to fate or give in to defeat, Xi said.

He urged the younger generation to carry forward the spirit and contribute to the realization of the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects. “We are living in an extraordinary time and should live up to it.”

During his inspection to the central Chinese city of Anyang, Xi also underscored the importance of building cultural confidence when he visited the Yin Ruins on Friday afternoon.

The ruins boast archaeological remnants of the ancient city of Yin, the last capital of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.). The oracle bone scripts discovered within the ruins are considered to be the oldest Chinese inscriptions.

In 1928, Chinese archaeologists discovered the complex of the ruins, which were added to the World Heritage List in 2006 by UNESCO.

Xi said fine traditional Chinese culture can be better preserved through excavation, studying and protection of cultural relics.

He called on the Chinese people to boost their confidence in Chinese culture and become more confident and proud.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-10-28/Xi-stresses-rural-revitalization-in-inspections-to-Shaanxi-Henan-1eveRpINXA4/index.html

BEIJING, Oct. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has drawn a blueprint for China for the next five years and beyond. What’s its significance to the world? What can the world expect from China in the years forward? And what will Chinese modernization bring to the global community? CGTN organized a special panel discussion titled “Now and Beyond,” hosted by CGTN anchor Liu Xin, to discuss the path forward for China and the world with decision makers and global thinkers.

“The true China message was a message of multilateralism,” says Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, when commenting on the biased coverage of U.S. media on the national congress. “China wants a multilateral world under the UN Charter very explicitly. It doesn’t seek domination; it doesn’t seek conflict in any way. And the message is absolutely explicit…What we need is dialogue, we need better understanding,” Professor Sachs emphasizes.

“President Xi’s central message to the world is that China does want to commit itself to a peaceful world and pursues peaceful co-existence,” Xie Tao, professor and dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, echoes Professor Sachs’s comment, adding that “China does not impose or export its own values, institutions to other countries, neither does China would like to see other countries to tell us what you should do. China has a massive population. China is very different from many other countries. And China is going to achieve national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization,” Xie states.

This is the first time that Chinese modernization is written into a report to the national congress and it’s the blueprint for China’s future. Martin Jacques, senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University, points out that Under American-style globalization, inequality spread across virtually all society. He notes that a key aspect of Chinese modernization is about common prosperity, and that if China can reverse the trend of inequality and create a more equitable environment, that’d have great impact around the world. “In the 21st century, whatever is good for the China needs to be good for the rest of the world. And whatever is good for the rest of the world needs to be good for China. This is the 21st century, we are living in the same planet,” says the former foreign minister of Spain Arancha Gonzalez Laya.

Benyamin Poghosyan, the director of the Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies, says that the attempts to divide the world into black and white is very concerning and that medium and smaller powers appreciate that China does not see the world through confrontation lenses as such a division would put medium and smaller powers in a difficult place. As inflation, energy crisis, food crisis and other challenges threatens everyone, cooperation between greater powers are much anticipated.

Many countries don’t want to choose between China and the U.S., former UN Environment Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Erik Solheim points out. The South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele says that there are a lot of things countries can learn from China. South African and other countries will not be made to choose but will accept anyone who respect their systems and be partner with them, says Cwele. Partnerships is what many countries are looking for, not coercions.

“You can lead either, by example, or generosity, or multilateral cooperation; or you can lead by coercion, you can lead by predation and the unilateral action,” Professor Xie says, “China obviously has pursued the first route.” He believes that global leadership for China is about providing benefits to the rest of the world, not for the claim of hegemony.

“All living things may grow side by side without harming one another, and different roads may run in parallel without interfering with one another,” General Secretary Xi Jinping quoted an ancient Confucius philosophy in his report to the 20th national congress of the CPC. In a world where conflict and differences seem to trump cooperation and management, respect for differences and finding ways to move forward together is craved by many countries. China seeks a peaceful path to modernization and partnership with the global community.

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj2vD1_Xef8
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