Shibadong Village, the birthplace of the “targeted poverty alleviation”campaign, has set a model for China’s poverty alleviation and elimination efforts. Based ondata obtained from long-term field research, this paper illustrates Shibadong’s journey outof poverty by outlining its main practices of targeted poverty alleviation, and summarizingthe learnings that are worth sharing. Guided by the “targeted poverty alleviation” strategy,measures were taken to unleash the endogenous development force of the village byprecisely identifying targets, developing targeted rural industries, implementing specificrelief plans tailored to each household, and bringing cohesion among different social forces.Thanks to these efforts, the village has undergone tremendous changes in many areas suchas civility level, living conditions, industrial development, social governance, infrastructureand public services. This paper argues that Shibadong’s experience has universalapplicability for poverty elimination. We believe that by building an enabling government,an effective market and an organic society, and giving full play to the synergistic effects ofthe three, poor villages can break out of the dilemma caused by the “triple failures” andachieve modern rural governance and development.
Rural revitalization is not only an important development goal for the Chinesegovernment, but also a path to development. It is a crucial strategic choice of socialismwith Chinese characteristics in a new epoch that to achieve both urban-rural and intraruralprosperity in the course of promoting rural revitalization. In the context of commonprosperity, the key to achieving rural revitalization is to strive for the year 2050 long-termobjectives of “robust agriculture, beautiful countryside and well-off farmers”, while alsoaccelerating efforts to meet the mid-term targets of “improving the quality and efficiency ofagriculture, making rural areas suitable to live and work, and ensuring farmers are affluentand well-off”. In terms of a strategic path, it is vital to combine endogenous growth with asharing mechanism, with the former aiming to stimulate the internal vitality of rural areasand unleash their growth potential, and the latter to ensure that wealth is shared amongall people and access to basic public services is made equal. To implement the strategy, itis suggested to take a regionally differentiated approach and a classification differentiatedapproach by scientifically grasping rural differences and identifying policy priorities, andexplore innovative and diversified mechanisms of rural common prosperity.
Coordinating regional development is a key step for China to achieve the goalof common prosperity for all. From the era of the planned economy to the development,consolidation and improvement of the socialist market economic system after reform andopening up since 1978, as a key target of economic development, China has been committedto balancing regional development, and after decades-long explorations and relentlessefforts made great progress. Coordinated regional development - as manifested in narrowedregional development gaps, more equal access to basic public services and eradicationof regional absolute poverty - has paved the way for more substantive progress to bemade in delivering common prosperity for all. Despite the progress, China still needs tofurther improve institutional systems for regional coordination and undergird the regionalfoundation for common prosperity according to the requirements of its new developmentstage. Specifically, China should focus on the following priorities: (i) Strengtheninstitutional infrastructure, smooth regional internal and external circulations, and developa unified domestic market at a higher level; (ii) give full play to the role of the governmentin equalizing access to basic public services, promoting infrastructure connectivity andprotecting basic living standards; (iii) optimize integrated urban-rural developmentmechanisms, take solid steps to revitalize the countryside, and further coordinate urban andrural development; (iv) improve the layout of the industrial chain and advance interregionalindustrial chain upgrade and social progress.
The world today is facing turbulence and change, and global developmentis at a crossroads. At this critical juncture, President Xi Jinping put forth the GlobalDevelopment Initiative (GDI) with the theme “implementing the 2030 SustainableDevelopment Agenda for more robust, greener and healthier global development” at the76th General Assembly of the United Nations, which sheds light on the direction of globaldevelopment. The GDI, proposed by China, has galvanized support from the internationalcommunity as an international public goods to promote common development. Followingthe historical trends of human development, the GDI breaks through the limitations ofthe hegemonic stability theory and the free-riding curse to expand and innovate thetheoretical perception of international public goods with the right approach to principlesand interests. With a people-oriented approach and the basic principles of green andinnovative development, the GDI both addresses urgent challenges and attaches importanceto enhancing development capabilities and creating supporting conditions to offer a holisticsolution to global challenges. Through the implementation of multiple pathways underinternational cooperation, the GDI will build a consensus on global development, increasethe momentum of global development, and play an important role in creating a communitywith a shared future for mankind.