The Theoretical Leap and Realization Path of Urban-Rural Integrated Development

The 2026 Central Document No. 1 states that 2026 is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and that doing a good job of work on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers is of vital importance, requiring that we “adhere to giving priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas, and adhere to urban-rural integrated development.” The urban-rural relationship is an important issue that the classical Marxist writers always kept in mind and studied in depth. Marx pointed out in *The Poverty of Philosophy*: “The greatest division of material and mental labour is the separation of town and country. The antagonism of town and country begins with the transition from barbarism to civilisation, from tribe to State, from locality to nation, and runs through the whole history of civilisation to the present day.” [1]1 This quotation is from Marx’s *The Poverty of Philosophy* (1847). The English text here follows the standard translation; the Chinese original cited by the authors is a slightly different rendering of the same passage. Engels first put forward the concept of “urban-rural integration” in *Principles of Communism*: “By abolishing the old division of labour, by providing industrial education, by changing the nature of work, by making it possible for all to share in the benefits created by all, and by combining town and country, the members of society will be enabled to develop their capacities in all directions.” [2]2 This quotation is from Engels’s *Principles of Communism* (1847). The English text follows the standard translation. The *Communist Manifesto* lists “combining agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradually abolishing the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country” as one of the policy measures that “the most advanced countries” should adopt. [3]3 This quotation is from Marx and Engels’s *Manifesto of the Communist Party* (1848). The English text follows the standard translation.

2026年中央一号文件提出，2026年是“十五五”开局之年，做好“三农”工作至关重要，要“坚持农业农村优先发展，坚持城乡融合发展”。城乡关系是马克思主义经典作家始终念兹在兹、深入研究的重要问题。马克思在《哲学的贫困》中指出：“城乡关系的面貌一改变，整个社会的面貌也跟着改变。”恩格斯在《共产主义原理》中首次提出了“城乡融合”的概念：“通过消除旧的分工，进行生产教育、变换工种、共同享受大家创造出来的福利，以及城乡的融合，使社会全体成员的才能得到全面的发展。”《共产党宣言》中将“把农业和工业结合起来，促使城乡之间的对立逐步消灭”作为“最先进的国家”应当采取的政策举措之一。

The understanding of the urban-rural relationship has been continuously deepened

对城乡关系的认识不断深化

The Chinese Communist Party’s understanding of and policy adjustments regarding the urban-rural relationship have always resonated with the great practices of China’s revolution, construction, and reform, undergoing a process of continuous deepening and keeping pace with the times. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, the firm establishment of the “worker-peasant alliance” was not only the cornerstone of the victory of the Chinese revolution but also, from the level of class unity, initially explained the relationship of shared destiny between urban and rural working people. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, under specific historical conditions and the international environment, in order to quickly establish an independent and complete industrial system, the state formed an urban-rural dual structure through systems such as unified purchase and marketing [4]4 The unified purchase and marketing system (统购统销, 1953–1985) was a state monopoly over the procurement and distribution of key agricultural products, especially grain and cotton, to ensure urban food supply and fund industrialization. and household registration management. [5]5 The household registration system (户籍制度, hukou), formally established in 1958, classifies citizens as either agricultural or non-agricultural residents and restricts rural-to-urban migration, forming the administrative backbone of the urban-rural dual structure. This system served the “overall situation” of the national industrialization strategy at a specific stage, but objectively it also created a “long-tail effect” of obstructed flow of urban-rural factors and a gradually widening development gap.

中国共产党对城乡关系的认识与政策调整，始终与中国革命、建设、改革的伟大实践同频共振，经历了一个不断深化、与时俱进的过程。新民主主义革命时期，“工农联盟”的牢固确立，不仅是中国革命胜利的基石，也从阶级联合的层面初步阐释了城乡劳动人民命运与共的关系。社会主义革命和建设时期，在特定历史条件和国际环境下，为快速建立独立完整的工业体系，国家通过统购统销、户籍管理等制度，形成了城乡二元结构。这一体制在特定阶段服务于国家工业化战略的“大局”，但客观上也造成了城乡要素流动受阻、发展差距逐步扩大的“长尾效应”。

The spring tide of reform and opening up surged first in the countryside. The household contract responsibility system [6]6 The household contract responsibility system (家庭联产承包责任制), introduced in the early 1980s, replaced collective farming with household-based land contracts, dramatically boosting agricultural output. liberated productive forces, township enterprises [7]7 Township enterprises (乡镇企业) were collectively or privately owned industrial and commercial ventures in rural areas that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s, absorbing surplus rural labor and narrowing the urban-rural income gap. rose abruptly, a large number of rural laborers began to transfer to cities and towns, and the urban-rural dual structure began to weaken. Entering the new century, with the enhancement of comprehensive national power, the Party Central Committee judged the situation and made the important judgment of the “two trends,” [8]8 The “two trends” (两个趋向) judgment, articulated by Hu Jintao in 2004, held that China had entered a stage where industry should support agriculture and cities should lead the countryside, reversing the earlier pattern of extracting surplus from agriculture. clearly stating that China had generally entered a new stage of development characterized by “industry promoting agriculture and cities leading the countryside.” The policy concept evolved from “urban-rural coordination” to “urban-rural integration,” marking a shift in the adjustment of the urban-rural relationship from passive adaptation to active guidance, and from one-way support to two-way interaction. A series of measures, such as establishing an agricultural subsidy system, completely abolishing agricultural taxes, and increasing investment in rural areas, initiated a historic transformation of industry repaying agriculture and cities supporting the countryside.

改革开放的春潮率先在农村涌动。家庭联产承包责任制解放了生产力，乡镇企业异军突起，大量农村劳动力开始向城镇转移，城乡二元结构开始削弱。进入新世纪，随着综合国力的增强，党中央审时度势，作出了“两个趋向”的重要判断，明确我国总体上已进入“以工促农、以城带乡”的发展新阶段。政策理念从“城乡统筹”演进为“城乡一体化”，标志着对城乡关系的调整从被动适应转向主动引导，从单向支持转向双向互动。建立农业补贴制度、全面取消农业税、加大农村投入等一系列举措，开启了工业反哺农业、城市支持农村的历史性转变。

As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters the New Era, the theory of urban-rural relations has achieved a leap. The 19th National Congress of the CPC proposed “establishing and perfecting the institutional mechanism and policy system for urban-rural integrated development” and integrated its deployment with the “rural revitalization strategy.” The concept of “integration” profoundly transcends the management thinking of “coordination” and the spatial thinking of “integration.” Its core lies in emphasizing that city and countryside are an organic whole with complementary functions and shared interests. The city is not a single center and resource aggregator, nor is the countryside a passive periphery and resource exporter. The two are like the two wings of a bird or the two wheels of a cart, together forming the solid foundation of Chinese-path modernization. Subsequent documents, such as the *Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Establishing and Perfecting the Institutional Mechanism and Policy System for Urban-Rural Integrated Development* and a series of deployments at the 20th National Congress of the CPC, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, and the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, further constructed a top-level design framework for urban-rural integrated development with clear goals, distinct tasks, and well-defined stages. This history of theoretical evolution reflects the precise grasp and active exploration of the laws of socialist modernization, especially the laws governing the evolution of the worker-peasant and urban-rural relationship.

中国特色社会主义进入新时代，城乡关系理论实现跃升。党的十九大提出“建立健全城乡融合发展体制机制和政策体系”，并将其与“乡村振兴战略”一体部署。“融合”概念的提出，深刻超越了“统筹”的管理思维和“一体化”的空间思维，其核心在于强调城与乡是功能互补、利益共享的有机整体。城市不是单一的中心和资源聚集者，乡村也不是被动的外围和资源输出者。二者犹如鸟之两翼、车之双轮，共同构成中国式现代化的坚实基础。随后的《中共中央国务院关于建立健全城乡融合发展体制机制和政策体系的意见》及党的二十大、二十届三中全会、二十届四中全会的一系列部署，进一步构建了目标清晰、任务明确、阶段分明的城乡融合发展顶层设计框架。这一理论演进史，体现了对社会主义现代化建设规律，特别是工农城乡关系演变规律的精准把握和主动探索。

Looking back over a century of history, China’s urban-rural relationship has undergone paradigm shifts: class alliance → dualistic separation → industry supporting agriculture → integrated symbiosis. Theoretically, it has also achieved a transcendence of the traditional dual economic model: first, an ontological transcendence—the countryside is no longer a passive “object to be saved” but a fulcrum for modernization with equal status and complementary functions to the city; second, a methodological transcendence—breaking through the unidirectional “urban radiation—rural reception” model to construct a two-way empowerment of “city leading countryside, countryside promoting city”; third, a value-based transcendence—taking the comprehensive development of human beings as the yardstick and making the equalization of the quality of life for urban and rural residents an important goal of modernization. Thus, urban-rural integration is no longer a “byproduct” of economic transformation but an inevitable requirement of Chinese-path modernization and an important foundation for achieving common prosperity.

回望百年历史，中国城乡关系经历了阶级联盟—二元分立—以工补农—融合共生等范式转换。理论上也对传统二元经济模型实现了超越：一是本体论超越——乡村不再是被动“被拯救者”，而是与城市地位平等、功能互补的现代化支点；二是方法论超越——突破“城市辐射—乡村接受”的单向度，构建“城带乡、乡促城”的双向赋能；三是价值论超越——以人的全面发展为尺度，把城乡居民生活质量等值化作为现代化的重要目标。由此，城乡融合不再是经济转型的“副产品”，而是中国式现代化的必然要求，是实现共同富裕的重要根基。

Key links in promoting urban-rural integrated development

推动城乡融合发展的重点环节

Over more than four decades of reform and opening up, China’s urban-rural gap has gradually narrowed, and the degree of urban-rural integration has continuously deepened. While fully affirming the achievements, we must clearly recognize that at the present stage, there are still problems between urban and rural areas, such as impeded flow of factors, unbalanced distribution of basic public service resources, shallow industrial interaction, and the relatively weak governance carrying capacity and service capacity of county-level “nodes.” During the period of the 14th Five-Year Plan, promoting urban-rural integrated development has its prerequisite in the city, its foothold in the countryside, and its key lies in integration.

改革开放四十余年，我国城乡差距逐步缩小，城乡融合程度不断加深。在充分肯定成就的同时必须清醒地认识到，现阶段城乡之间依然存在要素流动不畅、基本公共服务资源分配不均衡、产业互动停留在浅层、县域“节点”的治理承载力和服务能力较为薄弱等问题，“十五五”时期，推动城乡融合发展，前提在城，落脚在乡，关键在融合。

The prerequisite lies in the city. The city is the “engine” of urban-rural integration, and the city’s development capacity determines its spillover intensity. Promoting urban development must break away from the old path of “scale expansion,” take metropolitan areas and city clusters as units, and better allocate industries, population, and public services within a larger spatial scope: central cities relieve non-core functions, peripheral counties and key towns undertake industries and population, and rail transit and digital infrastructure spill over synchronously, forming a “multi-center, networked” pattern; simultaneously deepen reforms of the household registration, land, and fiscal and taxation systems, so that cities can “take in and stabilize” the resident population and “release and circulate” rural factors. Only when the city itself becomes a high-capacity platform capable of radiation and sharing can it provide the countryside with sustained market demand, capital, and technological sources.

前提在城，城市是城乡融合的“发动机”，城市的发展能级决定其溢出强度。推动城市发展必须跳出“规模扩张”的老路，以都市圈、城市群为单元，在更大空间范围内更好地配置产业、人口与公共服务：中心城疏解非核心功能，外围县域和重点镇承接产业与人口，轨道交通、数字基础设施同步外溢，形成“多中心、网络化”的格局；同步深化户籍、土地、财税制度改革，让城市对常住人口“接得住、接得稳”，对农村要素“放得出、流得动”。城市自身成为可辐射、可共享的高能级平台，才能为乡村提供持续的市场需求、资金与技术源头。

The foothold lies in the countryside. The countryside is the “stabilizer” of urban-rural integration, and its endogenous development capacity determines the quality of the countryside’s undertaking. The main line of revitalizing the countryside lies in turning “resources” into “assets,” “products” into “commodities,” and “ecology” into “income”: revitalizing rural land resources through the “separation of three rights” [9]9 The “separation of three rights” (三权分置) in land refers to the division of rural land rights into ownership (collective), contract rights (household), and management rights (which can be transferred to third parties), allowing land to be leased or mortgaged without changing ownership. in land; using an industrial chain mindset to extend the planting and breeding industries backward into deep processing, cold chain logistics, and leisure agriculture, increasing agricultural added value; using the ecological value realization mechanism to make lucid waters and lush mountains [10]10 “Lucid waters and lush mountains” (绿水青山) is a phrase from Xi Jinping’s 2005 statement “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” encapsulating the idea that ecological preservation has economic value. accountable and mortgageable; using talent policies to turn returning migrant workers, entrepreneurs, and scientific and technical personnel into rural partners, forming a self-hematopoietic system of “strong agriculture, beautiful countryside, and prosperous farmers,” enabling the countryside to both receive urban factors and, in turn, export high-quality agricultural products, ecological services, and cultural experiences.

落脚在乡，乡村是城乡融合的“稳定器”，其内生发展能力决定着乡村的承接质量。振兴乡村的主线在于把“资源”变“资产”、把“产品”变“商品”、把“生态”变“收益”：以土地“三权分置”盘活农村土地资源；以产业链思维把种养业向后端精深加工、冷链物流、休闲农业延伸，提高农业附加值；以生态价值实现机制让绿水青山可核算、可抵押；以人才政策把返乡农民工、企业家、科技人员变成乡村合伙人，形成“农业强、农村美、农民富”的自我造血系统，使乡村既能接收城市要素，又能反向输出优质农产品、生态服务与文化体验。

The key lies in integration. Further leverage the role of counties in coordinating urban-rural integrated development, so that cities and villages each display their own beauty and share beauty together. Advance the construction of a “single map” for territorial spatial planning, simultaneously laying out county seats, central towns, and central villages, achieving the integrated extension of transportation, water conservancy, information, and energy networks; through a unified construction land market, orderly promote the entry of rural collective operational construction land into the market; through fiscal transfer payments and public service standards centered on the resident population, achieve non-differentiated coverage of education, medical care, and social security within the county; through industrial chain collaboration mechanisms, deeply embed the city’s technology, standards, and orders with the countryside’s raw materials, scenarios, and labor, with income flowing back to farmers through shareholding cooperation, leaseback and subcontracting, and guaranteed dividends; through digital governance platforms, precisely match supply and demand, credit, and policies between urban and rural areas, forming a sustainable value loop between urban and rural areas, enabling residents, whether in the outskirts of the capital or in the Jiangnan water towns, to enjoy a good quality of life and development opportunities.

关键在融，进一步发挥县域在统筹城乡融合发展中的作用，让城市与乡村各美其美、美美与共。推进国土空间规划图“一张图”建设，同步布局县城、中心镇、中心村，实现交通、水利、信息、能源网络一体延伸；通过统一建设用地市场，有序推进农村集体经营性建设用地入市；通过以常住人口为核心的财政转移支付和公共服务标准，使教育、医疗、社保在县域内无差别覆盖；通过产业链协作机制把城市的技术、标准、订单与乡村的原料、场景、劳动力深度嵌套，收益通过股份合作、返租倒包、保底分红回流农民；通过数字化治理平台精准匹配城乡之间的供需、信用与政策，形成城乡之间的可持续价值回路，使居民无论身处京畿郊野还是江南水乡，都能享有良好的生活品质与发展机遇。

(Authors: Cao Dongbo and Zhang Jinhua, respectively Professor at the Institute of Marxist Studies and Dean of the Institute of Urban-Rural Development, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)

（作者：曹东勃、张锦华，分别系上海财经大学马克思主义研究院教授、城乡发展研究院院长）