[Xinhua/Li Xiang]

Wang Hong, member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, is also Vice-President of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, Vice-Mayor of Beijing and Vice-President of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPPCC. During the "two sessions," Wang suggested measures should be taken to enhance business development in rural areas, so rural revitalization will be achieved after villages are lifted out of poverty.

On March 6, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC, visited national political advisors, from the agriculture and welfare and social security sectors, who were attending the fifth session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee. Xi said a thriving business environment is the basis for resolving all of the issues facing rural areas.

Wang said there were three specific problems that must be addressed when boosting rural revitalization following poverty alleviation.

First, more importance must be attached to the special functions that rural businesses play, such as guaranteeing food safety, providing good-quality ecological products, and inheriting traditional culture. Second, the imbalance in development between urban and rural areas — especially regarding exchanges of talents, techniques, capital and land resources — must be solved. Third, support policies must be implemented more precisely, to help farmers obtain information and services necessary for their business start-ups and innovation.

Wang offered suggestions to deal with those problems. For example, she said villages can make good use of their rich natural resources, nice ecological environments and unique folk cultures to improve processing of agricultural products, to explore tourism, and to reach mutually beneficial development between industrial revitalization and environmentally sustainable development.

Wang called for better integrated industrial development between urban and rural areas. She said villagers need to know what urbanites need, so they can produce desired and better-quality products.

By applying advanced techniques and working with big enterprises from the cities, rural residents can improve their product-processing skills, and as a result increase their incomes. Wang also called for implementation of policies to encourage — and provide support to — people to return to their hometowns to start businesses.

While discussing farmers' roles in rural revitalization, Wang said the victory in the battle against poverty in rural China has laid a good foundation for promoting wide access to the Internet, modern transportation, and logistics systems in villages across the country. As a result, farmers can make good use of the greatly improved infrastructure, and better access to public resources, to better develop and innovate their businesses, Wang added.

(Women of China English Monthly April 2022 issue)