The Scientific Methodology Contained in the “Thousand-Village Demonstration, Ten-Thousand-Village Renovation” Project

The “Thousand-Village Demonstration, Ten-Thousand-Village Renovation” project (hereinafter referred to as the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project”) is a people’s wellbeing project personally conceived, deployed, and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his work in Zhejiang, based on the actual historical stage of Zhejiang’s development and the strongest demands and expectations of the peasant masses. The “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” not only profoundly interprets the communist value of putting the people first, but also contains a rich scientific methodology, providing valuable reference for us to do all work well on the new journey of the New Era.

“千村示范、万村整治”工程（以下简称“千万工程”）是习近平总书记在浙江工作期间，着眼于浙江发展所处的历史阶段实际，着眼于农民群众最大的诉求期待，亲自谋划、亲自部署、亲自推动的一项民心工程。“千万工程”不仅深刻诠释了共产党人人民至上的价值观，而且蕴含着丰富的科学方法论，为我们在新时代新征程上做好各项工作提供了宝贵借鉴。

First, adhere to “seeing the big in the small.” In Chinese-path modernization, people’s wellbeing is paramount. The “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” started with improving the living environment, which is indeed a small entry point. However, it started from the most urgent needs of the common people, from the most fundamental problems constraining rural development, thereby awakening dormant resources in the countryside, awakening the sense of pride and belonging of thousands of villagers toward their hometowns, awakening the passion and dreams of village cadres to start undertakings and make achievements on the vast rural land, and also awakening the yearning and attention of the market, social capital, and urbanites toward the countryside, ultimately producing a big article on integrated urban-rural development. This is a grand sentiment, a grand vision, and also a grand people’s wellbeing, a grand undertaking. General Secretary Xi Jinping, during his recent inspection in Chongqing, emphasized the need to learn and apply the experience of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” well, carry out rural construction according to local conditions, focus on key practical matters for which the peasant masses have strong demands at the current stage, which can be grasped, and which can achieve visible results within a few years, ensuring that each task is completed successfully, so that the peasant masses can feel and benefit from it, and gain tangible advantages. The successful experience of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” construction enlightens us that, in promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, we must always adhere to “what the masses want, we do; whether it is done well, the masses decide,” taking mass satisfaction as the highest criterion for evaluating work effectiveness, and never forget the original aspiration, engage in formalism, or harm the people’s interests.

一是坚持“小中见大”。中国式现代化，民生为大。“千万工程”从人居环境改善入手，确实是个小切口。但是，它是从老百姓最迫切的需求入手，从制约农村发展最基础的问题入手，从而唤醒了农村沉睡的资源，唤醒了万千村民对家乡的自豪感和归属感，唤醒了村干部在广袤农村大地上干事创业、建功立业的激情与梦想，也唤醒了市场、社会资本、城里人对农村的向往和关注，最终作出的是城乡统筹发展的大文章。这是一个大情怀、大格局，也是一个大民生、大事业。习近平总书记近期在重庆考察时强调，要学好用好“千万工程”经验，因地制宜开展乡村建设，聚焦现阶段农民群众需求强烈、能抓得住、抓几年就能见到成效的重点实事，抓一件成一件，让农民群众可感可及、得到实惠。“千万工程”建设的成功经验启示我们，推进乡村全面振兴，要始终坚持“群众要什么、我们干什么，干得好不好、群众说了算”，把群众满意度作为工作成效的最高评判标准，绝不能忘了初心，搞形式主义，损害人民利益。

Second, adhere to “using points to drive the whole.” So-called using points to drive the whole means first doing pilot projects well, leveraging the exemplary and leading role of models, continuously summarizing experience, and gradually expanding, without rushing into action all at once. At that time, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee decided to spend five years selecting about 10,000 administrative villages from the province’s 40,000 villages for comprehensive renovation, and building about 1,000 of the central villages into comprehensively well-off demonstration villages. But in fact, once the work started, a “catfish effect” [1]1 The “catfish effect” refers to the phenomenon where introducing a competitor or stimulus (like a catfish among sardines) stirs up a stagnant environment and spurs others into action. immediately formed, and the entire rural area of Zhejiang was mobilized. Villages not listed as demonstration or renovation villages could not sit still, village cadres who had not achieved anything could not sit still, local worthies outside could not sit still… The whole province competed with each other, various innovations emerged one after another, forming a strong atmosphere of learning from and catching up with each other, turning the entire rural area of Zhejiang from a few potted landscapes into a panoramic landscape, with beauty becoming the norm. The successful experience of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” construction enlightens us that, in promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, we must adhere to pilot projects first, using points to drive the whole, combining points and the whole, resolutely avoiding being greedy for big and comprehensive projects, blind expansion, and impulsive investment, which ultimately leads to a mess and heavy debt. Fully respect the pioneering spirit of the grassroots and the masses, continuously summarize and deepen, strengthen supervision and implementation, ensure that reforms make progress and achieve results, and further stimulate the vitality of economic and social development.

二是坚持“以点带面”。所谓以点带面，就是要先搞好试点，发挥典型的示范引领作用，不断总结经验，逐步推开，不要一哄而起。当时浙江省委定的是花5年时间，从全省4万个村庄中选择1万个左右的行政村进行全面整治，把其中1000个左右的中心村建成全面小康示范村。但事实上是一干起来以后马上就形成了“鲇鱼效应”，整个浙江农村全部动起来了。没有列入示范村、整治村的坐不住了，没有干出名堂的村干部坐不住了，在外面的乡贤坐不住了……全省上下你追我赶，各种创新此起彼伏，形成比学赶超的浓厚氛围，使得整个浙江农村从几处盆景变成了全域风景，美丽成为常态。“千万工程”建设的成功经验启示我们，推进乡村全面振兴，要坚持试点先行、以点带面、点面结合，坚决避免贪大求全、盲目扩张、冲动投资，最后是一地鸡毛、债台高筑。充分尊重基层和群众的首创精神，不断总结深化，加强督查落实，确保改有所进、改有所成，进一步激发经济社会发展活力。

Third, adhere to “proceeding step by step.” The development of things has objective laws; any change in things has a process of quantitative accumulation, and without the accumulation of quantitative change, qualitative change will not occur. From the initial guidance and start of “thousand-village demonstration, ten-thousand-village renovation,” to the deepening and upgrading of “thousand-village excellence, ten-thousand-village beauty,” and then to the iterative upgrading of “thousand-village future, ten-thousand-village common prosperity,” the scope of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” has continuously expanded, its connotation has continuously enriched, and its results have continuously amplified, truly reflecting the orderly progression and keeping pace with the times from environmental improvement to industrial prosperity to comprehensive rural revitalization. Persisting for twenty years as if one day, with one term of leadership following another in doing the work, and one baton after another in the relay race, is the key to the success of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project.” Its successful experience enlightens us that, in promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, we must carry forward the spirit of driving in nails, unfolding step by step, decomposing item by item, implementing piece by piece, and achieving results year by year. We must avoid both impatience and rashness, and also avoid setting up our own barriers, confining ourselves, and being content with small successes. On the new journey of the New Era, we must always anchor ourselves to the Party Central Committee’s decisions and deployments on agricultural and rural modernization, persevere with unremitting effort, not engage in flip-flopping or wavering, continuously accumulate small victories into big ones, and use the “quantitative change” of steady steps to achieve the “qualitative change” of rural revitalization.

三是坚持“循序渐进”。事物的发展是有客观规律的，任何事物的变化都有一个量变的积累过程，没有量变的积累，质变就不会发生。从“千村示范、万村整治”引领起步，到“千村精品、万村美丽”深化提升，再到“千村未来、万村共富”迭代升级，“千万工程”范围不断延展、内涵不断丰富、成果不断放大，真正体现了从环境改善到产业兴旺再到乡村全面振兴的有序推进和与时俱进。坚持二十年如一日，一任接着一任干，一棒接着一棒跑，是“千万工程”得以成功的关键所在。它的成功经验启示我们，推进乡村全面振兴，要发扬钉钉子精神，一步一步地展开，一项一项地分解，一件一件地落实，一年一年地见成效。既要避免激进毛躁，也要避免自设藩篱、画地为牢、小富即安。新时代新征程，我们要始终锚定党中央关于农业农村现代化的决策部署，锲而不舍、久久为功，不折腾、不动摇，不断积小胜为大胜，以一步一个脚印的“量变”跑出乡村振兴的“质变”。

Fourth, adhere to “adapting measures to local conditions.” From the very beginning, the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” recognized that different villages have different resource endowments, different cultural inheritances, and different stages of development, so they must take distinctive paths, focus on “a thousand villages with a thousand faces” and “ten thousand villages with ten thousand phenomena,” base themselves on the specific conditions of different villages, determine construction models by category, formulate “one policy for one village,” promote the formation of “one product for one village” and “one charm for one village,” strictly avoid a uniform approach for all villages, strictly avoid copying and imitating, strictly avoid formalism, and not engage in uniformity or overdoing things. The successful experience of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” construction enlightens us that, in promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, we must proceed from reality, adapt measures to local conditions, implement policies by category, scientifically grasp the reality of unbalanced urban-rural development and large regional differences in rural areas, distinguish between developed and underdeveloped areas, suburban villages and traditional agricultural areas, let each beauty be beautiful and beauty be shared, enable thousands of villages to find the “optimal solution” most suitable for resolving the particularity of their own contradictions, and create a modern version of the “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” [2]2 “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” is a famous Chinese landscape painting by the Yuan dynasty artist Huang Gongwang, often used as a metaphor for an ideal, beautiful rural scene. with distinctive features.

四是坚持“因地制宜”。“千万工程”从一开始就认识到各村的资源禀赋不同，文化传承不同，发展阶段也不同，必须走特色之路，注重“千村千面”“万村万象”，立足不同村的具体情况，分类确定建设模式，制定“一村一策”，推动形成“一村一品”“一村一韵”，力戒千村一面，力戒照搬照抄，力戒形式主义，不搞整齐划一、不做过头事。“千万工程”建设的成功经验启示我们，推进乡村全面振兴，要坚持从实际出发，因地制宜，分类施策，科学把握城乡发展不平衡、农村区域差异大的实际，区分发达地区和欠发达地区、城郊村庄和传统农区，各美其美、美美与共，让千万乡村找到最适合解决自身矛盾特殊性的“最优解”，打造各具特色的现代版“富春山居图”。

Fifth, adhere to “organizational guarantee.” From the beginning of its implementation, the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” established a leadership system with the “top leader” personally grasping it, the responsible leader directly grasping it, one level grasping one level, and implementation at each level, constructed a complete set of promotion mechanisms including scientific planning, gradual expansion, investment construction, and institutional innovation, and formed a work pattern with leaders taking charge, departmental coordination, and graded responsibility. Implement the “Leading Goose Project.” [3]3 The “Leading Goose Project” (头雁工程) is a Party-building initiative to train and empower village-level Party secretaries and cadres as exemplary leaders for rural development. Through methods such as “First Secretary,” “cadres contracting villages,” “village work teams,” and “village-level organizations combining multiple roles in one person,” [4]4 “Combining multiple roles in one person” (一肩挑) refers to the practice where the village Party secretary also serves as the head of the village committee, consolidating leadership. fully leverage the “leading goose” role of village-level cadres, continuously strengthen village-level organizations, and ensure that all tasks are implemented. The successful experience of the “Thousand-Village, Ten-Thousand-Village Project” construction enlightens us that, in promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, we must adhere to the Party’s overall leadership over the work concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, gradually establish a rural governance mechanism of “Party committee leadership, government dominance, and villager autonomy” with each performing its own duties, taking responsibility, with peasants as the main body and market participation, for co-construction, co-governance, and shared benefits, effectively avoid the phenomenon of “a small horse pulling a big cart” [5]5 “A small horse pulling a big cart” (小马拉大车) is a Chinese idiom describing a situation where a weak or under-resourced entity is tasked with an overly heavy responsibility. where capabilities and responsibilities do not match, and personnel and tasks are misaligned, as well as the phenomenon of half-finished and abandoned projects caused by lack of project planning, construction, and management capabilities, resolutely investigate and punish problems such as rent-seeking by power and corruption among capable individuals that damage the image of the Party and government, and provide a strong guarantee for comprehensively promoting rural revitalization.

五是坚持“组织保障”。“千万工程”从实施之初就建立“一把手”亲自抓、分管领导直接抓、一级抓一级、层层抓落实的领导体制，构建科学规划、逐步扩容、投资建设、制度创新等一整套推进机制，形成领导挂帅、部门协同、分级负责的工作格局。实施“头雁工程”。通过“第一书记”“干部包村”“驻村工作队”和“村级组织一肩挑”等方式，充分发挥村级干部的“领头雁”作用，推动村级组织持续建强，确保各项任务落到实处。“千万工程”建设的成功经验启示我们，推进乡村全面振兴，必须坚持党对“三农”工作的全面领导，逐步建立起“党委领导、政府主导、村民自治”的各司其职、各负其责、农民主体、市场参与的共建共治共享乡村治理机制，切实避免能责不符、人事失配的“小马拉大车”现象，以及因为不具备项目规划建设管理能力等原因而导致的半拉子、烂尾工程现象，坚决查处权力寻租、能人腐败等败坏党和政府形象的问题，为全面推进乡村振兴提供坚强保证。

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧