The Main Problems Facing Chinese-Path Modernization and the Paths to Their Resolution

I. Raising the Question

一、问题的提出

The 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, and Chinese-path modernization has become the core task of China’s economic development in the New Era. Needless to say, to realize the strategic vision of advancing Chinese-path modernization in two steps, China still faces many challenges. Among them, resolving the major difficulties of urban-rural imbalance, intergenerational imbalance, and spiritual-material imbalance, achieving the comprehensive development of the individual and common prosperity, and realizing the modernization of governance capacity and governance system through the construction of a modern state are the key issues that urgently need to be addressed. Based on the above understanding, we believe that, under the specific national conditions of a huge population, and under the choice of pursuing a path of peaceful development, to realize the three grand goals of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, common prosperity for all the people, and the coordination of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, it is necessary to take Marxist dialectical materialism as a guide and grasp the principal contradiction of the key issues.

中国共产党第二十次全国代表大会提出以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴，中国式现代化成为新时代中国经济发展的核心任务。毋庸讳言，要实现中国式现代化分两步走的战略设想，中国仍然面临诸多挑战。其中，解决城乡失衡、代际失衡、精神与物质失衡等重大难题，实现人的全面发展和共同富裕，以现代化国家建构实现治理能力和治理体系现代化，是当前亟待解决的关键问题。基于上述认识，我们认为，在人口规模巨大的具体国情之下，在走和平发展道路的选择下，要实现人与自然和谐共生、实现全体人民共同富裕、物质文明和精神文明相协调这三个宏伟目标，必须以马克思主义辩证唯物主义为指导，抓住关键问题的主要矛盾。

So, what is the main problem facing Chinese-path modernization? The principal contradiction in China at the present stage is the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. Therefore, the basic prerequisite for resolving this contradiction through Chinese-path modernization is, first and foremost, the issue of development. On this point, academia and policy researchers have reached a high degree of consensus: transforming the mode of economic development is the basic path to launching Chinese-path modernization with high quality, and the point of application lies in building a modernized economic system. Under the current historical opportunities, building a modern industrial system must be achieved through a new industrial revolution, resolving the problem of unbalanced development on the premise of ensuring development. We find that the problem of regional imbalance under the new industrial revolution is concentratedly manifested as the problem of the urban-rural gap. From the perspective of Chinese-path modernization, the current main problem is prominently manifested as the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap.

那么，中国式现代化面临的主要问题是什么？中国现阶段的主要矛盾是人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不充分、不均衡的发展之间的矛盾。因此，通过中国式现代化解决这一矛盾的基本前提，首先是发展问题。对此，学术界和政策研究者已经形成高度共识：转变经济发展方式是高质量开启中国式现代化的基本路径，落脚点在于建设现代化经济体系。在当前的历史机遇下，现代产业体系建设就要通过新产业革命来实现，在保障发展的前提下解决好发展不均衡的问题。我们发现，新产业革命下的区域不均衡问题，集中体现为城乡差距问题。在中国式现代化视域下，当前的主要问题突出地体现为新产业革命与城乡差距之间的矛盾。

II. The Contradiction between the New Industrial Revolution and the Urban-Rural Gap Is the Current Main Problem

二、新产业革命与城乡差距之间的矛盾是当前的主要问题

The main problem of Chinese-path modernization lies in the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap. This basic judgment is formed mainly based on the following understandings.

中国式现代化的主要问题在于新产业革命与城乡差距之间的矛盾。这一基本判断的形成主要基于如下认识。

01 The Key to Resolving Inadequate Development

01解决发展不充分的关键

The new industrial revolution is the key to resolving inadequate development. The core task of the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics is to satisfy the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. Among these, from the perspective of the development of the times, there are both higher-level individual needs arising from the upgrading of the people’s material and cultural living needs, and the collective needs of the entire society for sustainable development and a good environment with lucid waters and lush mountains. These collective and individual needs must be met, on the one hand, through the advancement of industrial technology and the improvement of labor productivity to achieve accelerated development, by accelerating the “making the cake bigger”; on the other hand, through the cleaning, saving, and renewability of industrial technology, to promote technological progress in fields such as new energy, new materials, and new consumer goods, and to advance sustainable development. Added to this is the fact that China has a huge population, a low urbanization rate, and a still relatively large proportion of rural and low-income populations, which places higher demands on the speed of development. The current new industrial revolution is precisely a major historical opportunity to resolve the above issues. The new industrial revolution is not only an inevitable process of technological progress after a long period of stagnation in industrial technology, but also a result of human society’s reflection on the traditional heavy-chemical industrial system’s model of polluting the environment and depleting resources. At present, the main areas of the new industrial revolution include four fields: the re-industrialization field, which corrects the unsustainable development of the traditional heavy-chemical industrial system; the big health field, which focuses on the quality of human life; the intelligent production field, which improves labor productivity and economic operational efficiency; and the intelligent society field. Therefore, accelerating the new industrial revolution is not only related to the issue of rapidly “making the cake bigger,” but also to the issue of “making the cake better” under the premise of sustainable development.

新产业革命是解决发展不充分的关键。中国特色社会主义市场经济的核心任务，是满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要。其中，从时代发展的视角看，既有人民物质文化生活需求升级带来的更高水平的个体需求，也有整个社会对可持续发展、对绿水青山的良好环境的群体需求。这些群体和个体需求一方面要通过产业技术的进步，通过劳动生产率的提升，实现加速发展，通过加快“做大蛋糕”的方式来实现；另一方面，需要通过产业技术的清洁化、节省化、可再生化，来推进新能源、新材料、新消费品等领域的技术进步，推进可持续发展。加之中国人口规模巨大，城市化比例不高，乡村人口和低收入人口仍占较大比例，因而对发展速度提出了更高要求。当前的新产业革命，正是解决上述问题的重大历史机遇。新产业革命不仅是产业技术长期停滞后必然出现的技术进步过程，更是人类社会对传统的重化工业体系污染环境、耗竭资源模式的反思成果。目前，新产业革命的主要领域包括纠正传统重化工业体系发展不可持续问题的再工业化领域、关注人类生命质量的大健康领域、提高劳动生产率和经济运行效率的智能生产领域、智能社会领域等四个领域。因此，加速推进新产业革命，不仅关系到快速地“做大蛋糕”的问题，也关系到在可持续发展前提下“做好蛋糕”的问题。

02 The Key to Resolving Unbalanced Development

02解决发展不均衡的关键

Narrowing and eliminating the urban-rural gap is the key to resolving unbalanced development. Here, the problem of unbalanced development is specifically manifested in two levels: the regional gap and the urban-rural gap. From the perspective of the goal of Chinese-path modernization to achieve common prosperity, the urban-rural gap is the crux of the problem. Generally speaking, in the process of economic growth, regional gaps are inevitable. This is because the modern industrial system is composed of two levels: the industrial technology system and the industrial spatial system. These two levels are mutually external and internal, interconnected, and mutually constraining, forming an inseparable unified whole. Among them, industrial technology plays a decisive role. Specific industrial technologies require specific locational advantages to cultivate specific industries, while the heterogeneity of space determines that it is impossible for all regions to obtain development opportunities under a given technology. Therefore, to achieve high efficiency and high quality in economic growth, regions with greater locational advantages will inevitably develop first, becoming the main growth poles of a country’s economy; other regions will be in a state of associated development. This unbalanced development model, in the process of rapid economic growth, especially during the unfolding of successive industrial revolutions, is an unavoidable economic phenomenon and is the most efficient result of market choice. However, in this process, whether in developed or relatively underdeveloped regions, the income gap is prominently manifested in the urban-rural gap. The industrialization process up to now, through the agglomeration of industries in specific locations, has brought about the agglomeration of labor, and further brought about the co-agglomeration of industries related to the industrial sector and service sectors serving the industrial sector, forming a mechanism where industrialization drives urbanization. This has led to differences in production technology and social labor productivity between urban and rural areas, and further brought about the urban-rural income gap. For this reason, for Chinese-path modernization to achieve the goal of common prosperity for all the people, the urban-rural gap issue is the crux of the unbalanced development problem within the current principal contradiction.

缩小、消除城乡差距是解决发展不均衡的关键。在此，发展不均衡问题具体体现为区域差距、城乡差距两个层面，而从中国式现代化实现共同富裕的目标来看，城乡差距是问题的关键所在。一般而言，在经济增长过程中，区域差距是不可避免的。这是因为，现代产业体系是由产业技术体系和产业空间体系两个层面构成的，这两个层面互为表里，相互联系，相互制约，是不可分割的统一整体。其中，产业技术发挥了决定性作用。特定的产业技术要求特定的区位优势来培育特定的产业，而空间的异质性则决定了不可能所有区域都得到特定技术下的发展机遇。因此，为实现经济增长的高效率、高质量，区位优势较大的区域必然会率先发展，成为一国经济的主要增长极；其他区域则处于伴生性发展状态。这种不均衡的发展模式，在经济快速增长的过程中，特别是历次产业革命的展开过程中，都是不可避免的经济现象，且是效率最高的市场选择结果。但在这一过程中，无论发达地区还是相对不发达地区，其收入差距都突出地体现在城乡差距上。迄今为止的工业化过程，通过产业向特定区位的集聚，带来劳动力的集聚，并进一步带来工业部门相关产业和为工业部门服务的服务部门的产业共聚，形成了工业化带动城市化的机制。由此，导致了城乡之间生产技术和社会劳动生产率的差异，并进一步带来城乡收入的差距。为此，中国式现代化要实现全体人民共同富裕的目标，城乡差距问题是当前主要矛盾中发展不均衡问题的关键所在。

03 The Manifestation of the Contradiction in Chinese-Path Modernization

03中国式现代化中的矛盾体现

Based on the above understanding, the main problem in the process of Chinese-path modernization lies in the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap. Currently, the key to resolving inadequate development in China lies in the new industrial revolution, and the key to resolving unbalanced development lies in eliminating the urban-rural gap. The new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap are two sides of the principal contradiction of China’s core issues at the present stage, and at the same time, they are a dialectical unity that is closely related, mutually constraining, and mutually supportive. Against the current background, the advancement of the new industrial revolution has shown a tendency to widen the urban-rural gap. First, the new industrial revolution requires good industrial foundations, high-end markets and high-level talent of a certain scale, venture capital funds, and other resources, which makes it mainly unfold centered on cities; second, the new industrial revolution’s enormous demand for capital, technology, talent, etc., forces it to choose large and mega-cities as the birthplace of technological innovation, leading to the inevitable tilt of the above large amounts of resources and policies towards large and mega-cities, thereby exacerbating the resource gap and technology gap between urban and rural areas, and further widening the urban-rural gap; third, to adjust the inter-regional imbalance in development, relatively backward and declining regions can only choose the development path of advancing the new industrial revolution more quickly, but these regions have limited financial resources and human resources, which further amplifies the tendency of resources to flow towards large cities, thereby exacerbating the urban-rural gap.

基于上述认识，中国式现代化进程中的主要问题在于新产业革命与城乡差距之间的矛盾。当前，中国解决发展不充分的关键在于新产业革命，解决发展不均衡的关键在于消除城乡差距。新产业革命和城乡差距是中国现阶段核心问题的主要矛盾的两个侧面，同时又是紧密相关、相互制约、相互支持的辩证统一体。在当前背景下，新产业革命的推进已经表现出扩大城乡差距的倾向。其一，新产业革命需要良好的产业基础、达到一定规模的高端市场和高级人才、风投资金等资源的支持，使得其主要以城市为中心展开；其二，新产业革命对资金、技术、人才等的需求极其巨大，迫使其选择大型、超大型城市为技术创新发源地，导致上述大量资源以及政策都不可避免地向大型、超大型城市倾斜，从而加剧城乡之间的资源差距、技术差距，进而扩大城乡差距；其三，为调整发展的区域间不均衡，相对落后地区、衰退地区也只能选择更快推进新产业革命的发展路径，而这些地区的财力、人力有限，更扩大了资源流向大型城市的倾向，从而加剧城乡差距。

In summary, the process of Chinese-path modernization, which takes the new industrial revolution as a breakthrough to “make the cake bigger” and “make the cake better,” will inevitably face the challenge of how to handle the urban-rural gap issue to “divide the cake well” during the development process. The contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap is an important problem that must be resolved to advance Chinese-path modernization with high quality.

综上所述，中国式现代化以新产业革命为突破口“做大蛋糕”“做好蛋糕”的过程，必然不可避免地面临如何处理城乡差距问题以在发展过程中实现“分好蛋糕”的挑战。新产业革命与城乡差距之间的矛盾是高质量推进中国式现代化所必须解决的重要问题。

III. The Formation Mechanism of the Contradiction between the New Industrial Revolution and the Urban-Rural Gap

三、新产业革命与城乡差距之间矛盾的形成机理

01 The Industrial Revolutions and Urban-Rural Relations in Developed Countries

01发达国家的产业革命与城乡关系

Since the advent of the industrial era, the course of human economic development has mainly experienced four industrial revolutions. The three industrial revolutions before the new industrial revolution, as well as the information revolution that occurred in the 1990s, were essentially a process of moving from an industrial system of agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce toward a heavy-chemical industrial system and gradually perfecting that system. Looking at the specific course, the main reason why the urban-rural gap in developed countries is not significant is that, during the process of their becoming developed countries, the industrial revolutions and urban-rural relations did not form a long-term conflict. The formation of this phenomenon is based mainly on the following reasons.

进入工业化时代以来，人类经济发展历程主要经历了四次产业革命。而新产业革命之前的前三次产业革命以及20世纪90年代发生的信息革命，基本上是从农业、手工业、商业的产业体系走向重化工业体系并逐步完善重化工业体系的过程。从具体历程来看，发达国家之所以城乡差距并不显著，主要原因在于其成长为发达国家过程中的产业革命与城乡关系并未形成长期的矛盾冲突。这种现象的形成主要基于如下原因。

First, the technological innovations of the industrial revolutions raised the factor status of natural resource endowments. The First Industrial Revolution began with the spinning jenny and the steam engine, gradually expanding to industrial sectors such as iron and steel, coal, transportation, and machinery manufacturing. Among these, resources such as coal and iron ore became the food of industry, and the places where these resources were produced often gathered related industries, becoming industrial cities dominated by the extraction and processing of those resources. The Second Industrial Revolution took the internal combustion engine, petroleum, and electrical technology as its starting point, constructing the initial framework of a heavy-chemical industrial system with automobiles, petrochemicals, and the power system as its backbone. Among these, petroleum was widely used as a new energy source, and oil-producing regions thereby became wealthy. The Third Industrial Revolution was mainly dominated by microelectronics technology, adding industrial branches such as household appliances, office machinery, and information and communication to the heavy-chemical industrial system, but the status of the main natural resource factors began to decline. The information revolution strengthened and upgraded the communication machinery manufacturing industry and made the software service industry an independent new industrial branch, but it did not change the heavy-chemical industrial essence of the entire industrial system. The above process of industrial revolutions, especially the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, saw regions with advantages in relevant natural resource endowments rise with the help of the industrial revolutions, either moving toward urbanization or simply becoming wealthy as production sites. This, to a certain extent, shows the driving effect of industrial revolutions on natural resource production areas.

第一，产业革命的技术创新提高了自然资源禀赋的要素地位。第一次产业革命以纺织机、蒸汽机起步，逐步扩展到钢铁、煤炭、交通运输、机械制造等产业部门。其中，煤炭、铁矿等资源成为工业食粮，其资源产地往往聚集相关产业，成为以该资源采掘加工为主导的工业城市。第二次产业革命则是以内燃机、石油、电力技术为出发点，构建起以汽车、石化、电力系统为主干的重化工业体系的初步框架。其中，石油作为新能源得到广泛应用，石油产地则由此得以富甲一方。第三次工业革命主要以微电子技术为主导，为重化工业体系增加了家用电器、办公机械、信息通信等产业分支，但主要自然资源要素地位开始下降。信息革命则强化升级了通信机械制造业并使软件服务业独立出来成为新的产业分支，并不改变整个产业体系的重化工业本质。上述产业革命过程，特别是第一次工业革命、第二次工业革命，都有相关自然资源禀赋优势地区借助产业革命兴起，或走向城市化，或单纯作为产地而致富。这在一定程度上表现出产业革命对自然资源产地的带动作用。

Second, the main industries brought by previous industrial revolutions allowed for the large-scale employment of labor. The textile industry and mining formed by the First Industrial Revolution were, under the technological conditions of the time, typical labor-intensive industries requiring a large number of industrial workers; the metal smelting industry and machinery manufacturing also relied heavily on manual operations. After the Second Industrial Revolution, traditional labor-intensive industries such as textiles, clothing, and footwear continued to exist within the industrial system. While heavy-chemical industries and manufacturing such as coal, iron ore, and petroleum extraction, metal smelting, chemicals, and automobiles gradually shifted toward capital intensity, they also had the characteristic of requiring a large labor force. The microelectronics industry of the Third Industrial Revolution mainly added labor positions in the production and assembly areas. Therefore, in each stage of the above industrial revolution process, the new industries created by technological progress brought a large demand for labor, attracting (and in the early stages, not infrequently coercing) labor into the cities to participate in the industrialization process, forming a mechanism of industrialization driving urbanization, and thereby creating the phenomenon of urban population concentration. This meant that previous industrial revolutions simultaneously had the effect of reducing the rural population and raising overall income.

第二，以往的产业革命带来的主要产业容许劳动力的大量就业。第一次工业革命形成的纺织业和矿业在当时的技术条件下是典型的劳动密集型产业，需要大量的产业工人；金属冶炼产业、机械制造业也严重依赖人力操作。第二次工业革命之后，传统的劳动密集型产业如纺织、服装、制鞋等日用品产业继续存在于产业体系之中，煤炭、铁矿、石油开采产业，金属冶炼、化工、汽车等重化工业及制造业虽然逐步转向资本密集型，但也具有需要大量劳动力的特征。第三次产业革命的微电子产业主要在生产、组装领域增加了劳动力岗位。因此，在上述产业革命过程各个阶段中技术进步创出的新产业都带来了大量的劳动力需求，吸引（早期则不乏强制）劳动力进入城市，参与工业化过程，形成工业化带动城市化的机制，进而形成了城市人口集聚现象。这使得以往的产业革命同时具有减少农村人口、提高整体收入的作用。

Third, the population sizes of the cradles of previous industrial revolutions and the main modernized countries were relatively small, making their urban-rural contradictions easier to resolve. Historically, the main cradles of industrial revolutions and the countries that successfully modernized, such as European countries like Britain, France, and Germany, the United States, and Japan and South Korea, all had relatively small total populations. After a large number of people were absorbed into the cities, the size of the population remaining in rural areas was relatively small. On the one hand, this facilitated the use of industrial profits to subsidize agriculture and raise the level of welfare for the entire country; on the other hand, it also prompted them to raise the level of agricultural mechanization, which also resulted in a substantial increase in farmers' income and a narrowing of the urban-rural income gap.

第三，以往的产业革命的策源地和主要现代化国家的人口规模相对较小，使得其城乡矛盾易于解决。历史上的主要产业革命策源地和现代化成功国家如英法德等欧洲国家、美国以及日韩等国，人口总量都不甚大。在大量人口被吸入城市之后，农村残留的人口规模相对较小。这一方面便于工业利益对农业的反哺，提高整个国家的福利化水平；另一方面也促使其提高农业机械化水平，结果也使农民收入大幅提高，城乡收入差距缩小。

Fourth, during the initial construction of the international division of labor system, industrial development could support the overvaluation of the entire labor price above its labor value. By constructing the international division of labor system, an exploitation mechanism was formed whereby industrial countries exploited agricultural countries, and developed countries exploited developing and underdeveloped countries. Historically, countries such as Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, and South Korea all developed their main industries with the help of industrial revolutions, occupying the high end of the value chain in the international division of labor system. And it happened that the leading industries during the period when they occupied their advantageous international position were the labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, allowing these countries to have a relatively high proportion of their employed population working in what were then "high-tech industries (relative to developing countries)." Consequently, the division-of-labor advantages of high-tech products brought by advanced technology, combined with the advantage of a relatively small overall population, supported the monopoly position of these countries' products, which in turn supported the overvaluation of labor prices in all economic sectors. This established their dominant position in the vertical division of labor with developing countries and created a circular mechanism where high-end technology generated high-value-added products, brought excess profits, and further promoted technological innovation.

第四，国际分工体系初建时期的工业发展可以支撑整个劳动力价格超过其劳动力价值的高估，借助国际分工体系的构建，形成工业国对农业国、发达国家对发展中国家和不发达国家的剥削机制。历史上的英法德美日韩等国都是借助产业革命发展其主要产业，占据了国际分工体系中的价值链高端位置。而恰好其占据国际优势地位时期的主导产业，是第一次工业革命、第二次工业革命时期的劳动力密集型、资本密集型产业，容许这些国家有较高比例的就业人口从事这些当时的“高技术产业（相对于发展中国家）”的工作。于是，先进技术带来的高科技产品的分工优势和整体规模相对较小的人口优势，支撑了这些国家产品的垄断地位，进而支撑了所有经济部门的劳动力价格被高估，由此确立了对发展中国家垂直分工的统治地位，并建立高端技术形成高附加值产品、带来超额利润、进一步推进技术创新的循环机制。

Thus, the main reason why the industrial revolutions in developed countries did not form a long-term contradiction with urban-rural relations is that the industrial revolutions on which these countries relied to establish their position, in the era of constructing the early industrial technology system, allowed natural resources to occupy a certain status, permitted a large amount of labor to be attached to their production systems, and had relatively small populations. Moreover, the high profits brought by the exploitation system formed under the international division of labor with developing countries enabled them to achieve an overall increase in income levels, thereby buffering the contradiction between the urban-rural gap and the industrial revolutions.

由此可见，发达国家的产业革命之所以没有形成与城乡关系的长期矛盾，主要原因在于，发达国家确立其地位所依赖的产业革命在早期的产业技术体系构建时代，允许自然资源占据一定地位，容许大量劳动力依附其生产体系，且人口规模相对较小，加之国际分工体系下形成对发展中国家的剥削体制带来的高额利润，使之实现了整体收入水平的提高，从而缓冲了城乡差距与产业革命的矛盾。

02 The Dual Effects of the New Industrial Revolution and Its Tendency to Widen the Urban-Rural Gap

02新产业革命的双重效应及其城乡差距扩大倾向

At present, Chinese-path modernization not only has the institutional characteristics of the socialist market economy but also the special national condition of a huge population size. More importantly, the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap that Chinese-path modernization faces is vastly different from the industrial revolutions on which the rise of developed countries in history relied. The new industrial revolution no longer has the effects of previous industrial revolutions in increasing industrial branches, expanding the industrial system, absorbing large amounts of labor, and raising the importance of natural resources. Instead, while promoting sustainable development, creating new industries, and improving production efficiency, it also has negative effects such as reducing the importance of natural endowments, expelling labor, slimming down the industrial system, and narrowing the growth area. Therefore, unlike previous industrial revolutions, which were mainly about "addition," the new industrial revolution involves both "addition" and "subtraction." This dual effect of the new industrial revolution, with both positive and negative aspects, is its particularity, distinguishing it from previous industrial revolutions.

当前，中国式现代化不仅有社会主义市场经济的制度特征，也有人口规模巨大的特殊国情。更重要的是，中国式现代化所面临的新产业革命与城乡差距的矛盾则与历史上发达国家兴起时所依赖的产业革命大为不同。新产业革命不再具有以往产业革命增加产业分支、扩大产业体系、吸收大量劳动力、提高自然资源重要性的效应，而是在推进可持续发展、创出新产业、提高生产效率的同时，也具有减低自然禀赋重要性、排出劳动力、产业体系瘦身、增长区域窄化等负向效应。因此，新产业革命不再像以往的历次产业革命那样以“加法”为主，而是既有“加法”，也有“减法”。新产业革命的这种有正有负的双重效应，是其与以往产业革命不同的特殊性。

Unlike previous industrial revolutions, the new industrial revolution that has emerged since 2008 has two main objectives: first, to achieve sustainable development and liberate humanity from the constraints of resources and the environment; second, to achieve intelligent production and further liberate humanity from the bonds of physical labor. To this end, the new industrial revolution has four core areas: first, the area of reindustrialization, currently mainly replacing fuel-powered vehicles with electric vehicles, driving the substitution of new energy, new materials, and other industries for related traditional industries; second, the big health industry, making humanity healthier through technological innovations such as genetic engineering and bioengineering; third, intelligent manufacturing, making the production process intelligent through the introduction of digital technology, liberating physical labor; fourth, the intelligent society, promoting information symmetry through the application of digital technology, saving social operating costs, and improving the efficiency of economic operations.

与以往的产业革命不同，2008年以来兴起的新产业革命的主要目标有两个：其一，实现可持续发展，把人类从资源、环境的约束中解放出来；其二，实现智能化生产，把人类从体力劳动的束缚中进一步解放出来。为此，新产业革命的核心领域有以下四个：一是再工业化领域，目前主要是通过电动车替代燃油车，带动新能源、新材料等产业替代相关传统产业；二是大健康产业，通过基因工程、生物工程等技术创新使人类更加健康；三是智能制造，通过数字技术的导入，使生产过程智能化，解放体力劳动；四是智能社会，通过数字技术的应用，推进信息对称化，节省社会运营成本，提高经济运转效率。

Looking at the main progress of the new industrial revolution, it has positive effects on the entire economy and society in promoting sustainable development, creating new industries, and improving production efficiency. It also has a certain positive significance for rural development, such as improving the agricultural production environment and helping to green agricultural product production; using intelligent technology to strengthen information symmetry, eliminating intermediate links such as wholesale and retail, which is conducive to increasing farmers' income; and improving labor productivity and social operational efficiency through the publicization of intelligent technology.

从新产业革命的主要进展来看，其对整个经济社会有推进可持续发展、创出新产业、提高生产效率的正向效应。其对乡村发展同样具有一定的积极意义，如改善农业生产环境，助力农产品生产绿色化；借助智能技术加强信息对称，消除批发、零售等中间环节，有利于提高农民收入；通过智能技术的公共化，提高劳动生产率和社会运行效率等。

However, the new industrial revolution also has certain negative effects. These negative effects reduce the extent to which the rural economy benefits from the new industrial revolution, or even bring adverse impacts, showing a tendency to widen the urban-rural gap.

但是，新产业革命同时也具有一定的负向效应，这些负向效应则减少了乡村经济从新产业革命获益的程度，甚至带来不利影响，具有扩大城乡差距的倾向。

First, the new industrial revolution brings about a reduction in traditional economic factor items and a decrease in their participation, and also leads to urban-rural differences in the information gains from new factors. The process of technological progress inevitably affects the increase or decrease of factors participating in economic activities and changes in their participation. Previous industrial revolutions, in terms of natural resources, respectively raised the importance of industrial resources such as coal, iron and steel, petroleum, silicon, and copper. However, the new industrial revolution, on the one hand, increases the participation of technology and capital and enlarges the importance of the information factor; on the other hand, it is committed to sustainable energy substitution, which lowers the status of natural resources attached to land, such that the status of coal, iron and steel, and petroleum will all be compressed to a certain extent, causing the significance of traditional resource advantages for rural development to decline substantially. Among the newly added sustainable resources, some have no special regional significance for rural economic development, such as solar energy; others have little significance, such as wind energy and tidal energy, which account for a small share in the new industrial system and occupy a low position in the industrial value chain. The newly added information factor heavily depends on the process of market information generation and processing, making cities the main production sites of the information factor. Therefore, from the perspective of resource endowment advantages, whether it is regions with traditional resource endowment advantages or regions with advantages in new energy, new materials, and market information resources, the new industrial revolution cannot bring them sufficiently large economic growth benefits. In other words, under the new industrial revolution, the era of relying on resource endowment advantages for survival has come to an end.

第一，新产业革命带来传统经济要素项目的减少和参与度的降低，也导致新要素的信息获益出现城乡差异。技术进步的过程必然影响参与经济活动的要素增减和参与度的变化，以往的历次产业革命在自然资源方面，分别提高了煤炭、钢铁、石油、硅、铜等产业资源的重要性。但新产业革命一方面提高了技术、资本的参与度，增大了信息要素的重要性；另一方面，致力于可持续发展的能源替代，使附着于土地上的自然资源地位下降，如煤炭、钢铁、石油等的地位都将在一定程度上被压缩，使得传统资源优势对乡村开发的意义大幅度下降。而新增的可持续资源则有的对乡村经济发展不具有特殊的区域意义，如太阳能；有的意义不大，如风能、潮汐能等，在新的产业体系中占比少，产业价值链地位低。新增的信息要素严重依赖于市场信息的发生和处理过程，使城市成为信息要素的主要产地。因此，从资源禀赋优势视角来看，无论是传统资源禀赋优势地区还是新能源、新材料、市场信息的资源禀赋优势地区，新产业革命都不能为其带来足够大的经济增长效益。换言之，新产业革命之下，靠资源禀赋优势生存的时代已经终结了。

Second, the new industrial revolution brings about the slimming down of the traditional industrial system. In the material production sector, due to the advancement of high technology replacing low technology, clean technology replacing polluting technology, and digital technology replacing mechanical technology, the traditional industrial chain is subjected to a huge impact. For example, in the field of re-industrialization represented by new energy vehicles, industries such as internal combustion engines and mechanical transmission among the more than 40 upstream and downstream industries of automobile production will completely disappear, and industries such as petrochemicals and iron and steel will undergo significant capacity reduction; in the field of intelligent manufacturing, the traditional machinery manufacturing industry will be replaced by the industrial robot industry, the traditional R&D process will be replaced by digital technology, and a series of manufacturing processes will be completed by computer operation; in the field of intelligent society, intelligent technology will eliminate redundant links in economic operation, industries such as wholesale and retail will be largely replaced by e-commerce platforms, and consequently, simple manual services in the service industry such as bank tellers, taxi driving, translation, legal consultation, and accounting services will also be replaced, and related industries will shrink or even disappear accordingly. The slimming-down effect of the new industrial revolution on the industrial system has a relatively large negative impact on the rural economy. Township industries are mostly traditional agricultural product processing industries, local specialty industries, traditional machinery manufacturing industries supporting central cities, or traditional heavy chemical industries such as iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, and chemicals that have spilled over from central cities. Some of these industries will inevitably be eliminated or compressed due to substitution by the new industries.

第二，新产业革命带来传统产业体系的瘦身。在物质生产部门，由于高技术替代低技术、清洁技术替代污染技术、数字技术替代机械技术的推进，传统的产业链受到巨大冲击。如在以新能源车为代表的再工业化领域，汽车生产上下游40余个产业中的内燃机、机械传动等产业将彻底消失，石油化工、钢铁等产业将大量减容；在智能制造领域，传统机械制造产业将被产业机器人产业替代，传统研发过程将由数字技术替代，一系列制造过程都将由电脑操作完成；在智能社会领域，智能技术将消除经济运行的冗余环节，批发、零售等产业大量被电子商务平台取代，进而服务业中银行柜员、出租车驾驶、翻译、法律咨询、会计服务等简单人工服务也将被替代，相关产业随之缩小甚至消失。新产业革命的产业体系瘦身效应，对乡村经济具有较大的负面影响。乡镇产业多为传统的农产品加工业、地方特色产业、为中心城市配套的传统机械制造业或从中心城市溢出的钢铁、有色金属、化工等传统重化工产业，其中的一些产业将因新产业替代而不可避免地被淘汰或压缩。

Third, the opportunities for the general labor force population to flow into cities are greatly reduced. In terms of the labor force, the labor-intensive industries of the First Industrial Revolution and the capital-intensive industries of the Second Industrial Revolution both had the function of substantially absorbing labor. However, the new industrial revolution, on the one hand, achieves the slimming down of the industrial system through re-industrialization and intelligent production, reducing the labor demand of related industries; on the other hand, in the fields of intelligent production and intelligent society, it realizes the expulsion of labor through the development and widespread application of intelligent technology. This effect of labor expulsion has already formed a situation of structural unemployment in cities, and therefore cities cannot accommodate more labor inflow. At the same time, the relatively low level of rural social training and education means that the effect of human capital cultivation for the rural labor force population cannot keep pace with the rhythm of the new industrial revolution, greatly increasing the difficulty for the rural labor force to settle in cities.

第三，一般劳动力人口流入城市的机会大大降低。在劳动力方面，第一次工业革命时期的劳动密集型产业、第二次工业革命时期的资本密集型产业等都具有大量增容劳动力的功能。但新产业革命一方面通过再工业化、智能生产实现产业体系的瘦身，减少相关产业的劳动力需求；另一方面，在智能生产、智能社会领域通过智能技术的开发和广泛应用，实现劳动力的排出。这种劳动力排出效果，目前已经形成了城市的结构性失业态势，因此无法容纳更多的劳动力流入城市。而与此同时，农村社会培训教育水平相对低下，使农村劳动力人口的人力资本培育效果赶不上新产业革命的节奏，农村劳动力进城定居的难度大大增加。

Fourth, the regional selection of resource allocation is not conducive to rural economic development. The technological innovation process of the new industrial revolution, which relies on large cities and mega-cities, has a general tendency to widen the urban-rural gap and regional disparities. In the process of industrial technological innovation, the new industrial revolution requires substantial support from high-end talent and R&D capital investment, and also needs good industrial foundations and high-end market demand, which makes the new industrial revolution necessarily dependent on large cities and mega-cities. In some regions with a low level of development, a large amount of related resources has to be concentrated in the primate city, also showing a tendency for disparities between cities to widen. At present, this tendency has already interrupted the trend of polycentric development in urban agglomerations that had emerged in some regions, presenting a "retrograde" phenomenon of an increase in the primacy of the primate city. At the same time, because the new industrial revolution has the above-mentioned negative effects of slimming down the industrial system and expelling labor, the social costs of maintaining the stability of traditional industries, preserving employment levels, and strengthening social assistance are also greatly increased. These objective needs inevitably lead to preferential policies and social resources also tilting towards cities. As resources continuously concentrate in large cities and mega-cities, the already apparent urban-rural gap will inevitably further widen. This tendency will be even more pronounced in backward regions and declining regions where the human and financial conditions for the new industrial revolution are relatively insufficient.

第四，资源分配的区域选择不利于乡村经济发展。新产业革命的技术创新过程对大型城市、超大型城市的依赖，具有扩大城乡差距、区域差距的一般倾向。新产业革命在产业技术创新过程中需要大量的高端人才和研发资本投入的支持，而且需要较好的产业基础、高端的市场需求的支持，这使新产业革命必须依赖大型城市、超大型城市。在一些发达程度不高的地区，不得不向首位城市集中大量相关资源，使城市间差距也呈现扩大倾向。目前，这种倾向已经使一些地区本已出现的城市群多中心化趋势被打断而呈现出首位城市首位度提高的“逆行”现象。与此同时，由于新产业革命具有上述产业体系瘦身、排出劳动力的负面效应，其维持传统产业稳定、保持就业水平、强化社会救助等社会成本也大大提高。这些客观需要必然导致优惠政策和社会资源也向城市倾斜。随着资源不断向大型城市、超大型城市集中，本已显在的城乡差距必然进一步扩大。这一倾向在新产业革命人力、财力条件相对不足的落后地区、衰退地区将更为显著。

In summary, the dual-effect characteristics of the new industrial revolution make it possible for the urban-rural gap to continuously widen in the process of the new industrial revolution, constituting the main aspect of the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap.

总之，新产业革命的双重效应特征，使城乡差距在新产业革命进程中出现不断扩大的可能，构成了新产业革命与城乡差距这一对矛盾的主要方面。

03 The Dual Effects of the Urban-Rural Gap on the New Industrial Revolution

03城乡差距对新产业革命的双重效应

While the new industrial revolution, due to its dual effects, poses a serious threat of widening the urban-rural gap, the urban-rural gap also has dual effects on the new industrial revolution. This dual effect takes the dual effects of the new industrial revolution as its background and is the other aspect of the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap.

在新产业革命因其双重效应而对城乡差距扩大形成严重威胁的同时，城乡差距也对新产业革命具有双重效应。这种双重效应是以新产业革命的双重效应为背景的，是新产业革命与城乡差距这一对矛盾的另一方面。

As mentioned above, although the advancement of the new industrial revolution can increase the production efficiency of the entire society and bring about a tendency for common income expansion in both urban and rural areas, this process of common urban and rural income expansion is not only asynchronous but also has a tendency for the gap to widen. The tendency for the urban-rural gap to widen stems, on the one hand, from the new industrial revolution unfolding with cities as the center, inevitably creating a gap in production efficiency between urban and rural areas, and thus forming differences in economic growth and income growth; on the other hand, it originates from the new industrial revolution requiring innovation resources, industrial policies, and even other social resources and preferential policies to tilt towards cities, while the rural economy not only suffers from the negative effects of the new industrial revolution but also lacks resource input.

如前所述，新产业革命的推进，虽然可以使整个社会的生产效率提高，带来城乡共同的收入扩大倾向，但这种城乡收入共同扩大的过程不仅不是同步的，而且具有差距扩大的倾向。城乡差距的扩大倾向，一方面源自新产业革命以城市为中心展开，不可避免地造成城乡之间生产效率的差距，进而形成经济增长和收入增长的差异；另一方面，源于新产业革命要求创新资源、产业政策甚至其他社会资源和优惠政策都向城市倾斜，而乡村经济不仅受到新产业革命负面效应的影响，而且缺乏资源投入。

Against this background, if a strategy prioritizing the narrowing of the urban-rural gap is chosen and more resources are invested in rural areas, there is a possibility of delaying the process of the new industrial revolution and affecting its efficiency. First, the new industrial revolution is in its ascendant stage; the process of slimming down the industrial system has not yet fully unfolded, and the basic framework of the future industrial system is unclear. Blindly supporting rural industries is highly likely to waste resources on traditional industries that will be eliminated or compressed by the new industrial revolution, ultimately delaying the entire process of industrial system restructuring and affecting the efficiency of the new industrial revolution. Second, the resources required by the new industrial revolution are enormous, the cost of industrial technological innovation is extremely high, and the social costs demanded by the negative effects of the new industrial revolution are also very large, making social resources relatively insufficient. Except for a few developed regions, in general regions, especially backward regions urgently needing to advance the new industrial revolution and declining regions already affected by the negative effects of the new industrial revolution, social resources are already stretched thin for the new industrial revolution, and naturally, they have no strength to devote efforts to increasing rural income. In fact, the economic policy orientation of many declining and underdeveloped regions is basically city-centered, with the new industrial revolution as the priority choice.

在此背景下，如果选择缩小城乡差距优先的策略，向乡村投入较多资源，则存在延缓新产业革命进程、影响新产业革命效率的可能。其一，新产业革命正在方兴未艾之际，产业体系瘦身过程尚未充分展开，未来产业体系的基本框架也不明朗，盲目扶植乡村产业极有可能将资源浪费在新产业革命将要淘汰或压缩的传统产业上，最终延缓了整个产业体系的重构过程，影响了新产业革命的效率。其二，新产业革命所需资源巨大，产业技术创新成本极高，新产业革命负面效应所要求的社会成本也非常大，这使社会资源变得相对不足。除少数发达地区外，一般区域特别是亟待推进新产业革命的落后地区、已经受到新产业革命负面效应影响的衰退地区，社会资源用于新产业革命已经捉襟见肘，自然无力对乡村收入提高倾注力量。事实上，许多衰退地区、不发达地区的经济政策导向基本是以城市为主、以新产业革命为优先选择的。

However, if the urban-rural gap is allowed to widen, although it ostensibly supports the tilt of resources toward cities and the innovation process of the new industrial revolution, it will also increase the financial burden on local governments and adversely affect the product realization process of technological innovation in the new industrial revolution. First, the widening urban-rural gap, with rural areas losing resource support, will, under the negative effects of the new industrial revolution, cause industrial decline and a diminished capacity for self-sustaining development, endangering food security and social stability. This will force local governments to ensure basic rural financial needs, increasing the local financial burden and delaying the process of common prosperity. Second, in the current information-rich social environment, although urban-rural income disparities exist, people's expectations for upgrading their consumption structure are broadly consistent. Moreover, rural residents, lacking the housing expenditure pressure of urban residents, possess a certain market scale in terms of their ability to pay for upgrades in living consumption. Therefore, maintaining a trend of gradually increasing rural residents' incomes is conducive to providing market support for the new industrial revolution. The widening urban-rural gap will weaken rural residents' expectations of income growth, thereby increasing their propensity to save and reducing consumption expenditure, ultimately weakening the market realization of new technological products under the new industrial revolution.

但是，如果放任城乡差距扩大，虽然表面上支持了资源向城市的倾斜，支持了新产业革命的创新过程，但也会加重地方财政负担，且对新产业革命技术创新的产品实现过程带来不利影响。其一，城乡差距的扩大，农村失去资源支持，在新产业革命的负面效应下将会造成产业衰退和造血能力下降，危及粮食安全和社会稳定，将迫使地方政府不得不确保基本的农村财政需求，加重了地方财政负担，延缓了共同富裕的进程。其二，在当前信息发达的社会环境下，虽然城乡收入差距存在，但人们消费结构的升级预期是基本一致的，而且乡村没有城市居民的住房开支压力，其在生活消费结构升级上的支付能力也具有一定的市场规模。因此，保持乡村居民收入逐步提高的态势，有利于为新产业革命提供市场支持。而城乡差距的扩大会削弱乡村居民对收入增长的预期，从而增加储蓄倾向而减少消费支出，最终削弱新产业革命下新技术产品的市场实现。

In summary, the urban-rural gap also has a dual effect on the new industrial revolution. In the process of the new industrial revolution, although the widening urban-rural gap appears to support the advancement of the new industrial revolution in cities, it weakens rural market support for the new industrial revolution while endangering national economic security, food security, and social stability. Adopting a strategy that prioritizes narrowing the urban-rural gap weakens the premise of development—common prosperity—and clinging to traditional industrial technologies will lead to the same decline as that of old industrial bases, bringing about an overall decline in urban and rural incomes.

总之，城乡差距对新产业革命也具有双重效应。在新产业革命进程中，城乡差距的扩大虽然看似支持了新产业革命在城市的推进，但削弱了乡村对新产业革命的市场支持，同时危及国家经济安全、粮食安全和社会稳定；采取优先缩小城乡差距的战略削弱了发展这一共同富裕的前提，固守传统产业技术就会走老工业基地衰退的老路，带来城乡整体收入下降。

IV. Path Choices for Solving the Problem

四、解决问题的路径选择

In summary, the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap are major challenges that cannot be avoided in the process of Chinese-path modernization in the New Era. As two aspects of a contradiction, they are not a relationship of substitution where one is chosen and the other discarded, but an internally unified relationship of mutual constraint and mutual promotion. To this end, the basic ideas for our path choice in resolving this contradiction are as follows.

综上所述，新产业革命与城乡差距是新时代中国式现代化进程中不可回避的重大挑战，二者作为矛盾的两个方面，不是舍此取彼的替代关系，而是相互制约和相互促进的内在统一关系。为此，我们解决这一矛盾的路径选择的基本思路如下。

01 Advancing the New Industrial Revolution and Narrowing the Urban-Rural Gap Are Both Indispensable

01推进新产业革命与缩小城乡差距缺一不可

As mentioned above, advancing the new industrial revolution and narrowing the urban-rural gap are the most primary pair of contradictions among the many challenges currently facing Chinese-path modernization. So, does there exist the option of abandoning one and focusing solely on the other? Clearly, abandoning either is impossible.

如前所述，推进新产业革命与缩小城乡差距是当前中国式现代化所面临的诸多挑战中最主要的一对矛盾。那么，是否存在放弃其中之一而专务另一的选择呢？显然，放弃任何一个都是不可能的。

First, the new industrial revolution is an option that cannot be abandoned and a topic that cannot be bypassed. To begin with, to achieve the grand goal of Chinese-path modernization, China does not aim for a simple, massive accumulation of low-level labor outcomes, but rather for the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature, common prosperity, and the coordination of cultural-ethical progress with material progress. Under the global competition to advance the new industrial revolution, these goals cannot be achieved with existing technologies; they must be realized through a technological revolution that raises the overall labor productivity of society. The new industrial revolution happens to be a historical opportunity. If we fail to seize this historical opportunity, we must actively promote the new industrial revolution ourselves, creating such a historical opportunity. Next, the new industrial revolution is an inevitable result of the market mechanism, whose fundamental driving force is the upgrading of demand. Before this, the prolonged low growth or depression of major developed economies, and even the bubble crises caused by the expansion of the virtual economy, all stemmed from the long-term stagnation of industrial technology, which failed to meet the upgrading of demand. When major countries worldwide recognized this problem, the new industrial revolution emerged in response. It uses "reindustrialization" to meet people's collective demand for harmonious coexistence with nature, and employs biotechnology, digital technology, etc., to meet individual demands for healthy personal development, labor liberation, and convenient living. If we stop at the current technological level and only pursue scale expansion to accumulate wealth, this would mean that by clinging to traditional technologies, we abandon the satisfaction of new demands. We would neither achieve harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature nor obtain sufficient returns from the market. Ultimately, it would prove impossible to accumulate wealth through traditional technologies, and we would only head toward decline. Finally, the new industrial revolution is not simply a matter of global technological progress; it is an opportunity for the restructuring of the future world industrial system. After more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China is now deeply integrated into the international division of labor. Abandoning the new industrial revolution means we will remain at the bottom of the industrial system in the international division of labor, relying on public technologies, engaging in rough processing, and surviving on resource endowment advantages. In such a state, it is utterly impossible to achieve the ambitious goal of per capita income reaching the level of moderately developed countries.

第一，新产业革命是不能放弃的选项，是不能绕行的课题。首先，中国要实现中国式现代化的宏大目标，不是要实现简单的、低级劳动成果的大量累积，而是要实现人与自然和谐共生、共同富裕、精神文明与物质文明相协调，这些目标在世界竞争推进新产业革命的态势下，靠现有技术是不能实现的，必须通过技术革命实现整个社会劳动生产率的提高。新产业革命恰好是一个历史机遇。如果我们没有赶上这样的一个历史机遇，我们也要自己主动推进新产业革命，去创造出这样一个历史机遇来。其次，新产业革命是建立在以需求升级为根本动力的市场机制作用下的必然结果。在此之前，世界主要发达国家之所以出现经济长期低速增长或萧条甚至虚拟经济膨胀导致的泡沫危机，都是产业技术长期停滞，不能满足需求升级所致。而当世界主要国家都意识到这一问题后，新产业革命应运而生，以“再工业化”满足人们与自然和谐共生的群体需求，以生物技术、数字技术等满足人们自身健康发展、劳动力解放、便捷生活等个体需求。如果我们止步于当前的技术水平，只追求规模的扩大以积累财富，实际上意味着我们将因固守传统技术而放弃对新需求的满足，既不能实现人与自然和谐共生，也无法从市场获取足够的回报，最终证明靠传统技术也无法实现财富积累，而只能走向衰退。最后，新产业革命不是简单的世界技术进步潮流问题，而是未来世界产业体系重组的契机。中国在改革开放40余年后的今天，已经深深融入国际分工体系之中。放弃新产业革命就意味着我们将在国际分工体系中处于利用公共技术、进行粗加工、靠资源禀赋优势生存的产业体系底层。这种状态下根本无法实现人均收入达到中等发达国家水平的宏远目标。

Second, in advancing the new industrial revolution, there is no option to develop only individual fields—that is, to promote the new industrial revolution in major fields while maintaining the high labor-force proportion of the organic composition of capital in traditional labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries. This is determined by both technology and human factors. From a technological perspective, what makes an industrial revolution an industrial revolution is not only the epoch-making significance of its technological innovation but also the fact that these new technologies will transform the main industrial technologies and even general public technologies of the entire industrial system, thereby raising the labor productivity of the whole society. For example, the steam engine not only provided power for the textile industry but also supplied basic power for transportation, mining, smelting, and other sectors. Similarly, the advent of electricity electrified the entire social industrial power system and all aspects of life. This new industrial revolution will also, through digital technological innovation, bring about the intelligentization of all production sectors and areas of life, ultimately realizing the transformation of intelligent technology into public technology. Labor-intensive and capital-intensive sectors will inevitably be impacted by intelligent technology. Restructuring their production processes on the basis of basic intelligent technology and using intelligent technology to save labor is not only realistic and feasible but also readily accepted by enterprises. From a human perspective, on the one hand, rising per capita income and the upgrading of consumption structures have strengthened wage rigidity. The production methods of labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries, which rely on low-cost labor, are unsustainable and will inevitably choose to replace simple labor, and even complex and mental labor, through technological progress. On the other hand, people's job preferences are shifting toward low-intensity, high-income positions, leading to an emerging "labor shortage" problem for enterprises, which will increasingly force them to shift toward technology-intensive industries through technological progress. Therefore, under the new industrial revolution, although progress in adopting intelligent technology and automating production processes may be relatively slow in some individual industrial sectors, under the goal of common prosperity and in the process of per capita income reaching the level of moderately developed countries, these traditional technology fields will inevitably move toward the intelligentization of production processes and ultimately toward the liberation of labor for the whole society.

第二，新产业革命的推进，不存在只发展个别领域的选项，即在主要领域推进新产业革命，对传统的劳动密集型产业、资本密集型产业则延续其劳动力占比较高的资本有机构成状态。这是由技术和人两个方面共同决定的。从技术层面而言，一场产业革命之所以被称为产业革命，不仅在于其技术的创新性具有划时代意义，更在于这些新技术会改变整个产业体系的主要产业技术乃至一般性公共技术，从而带来全社会的劳动生产率的提高。如蒸汽机的出现不仅为纺织业提供动力，更为交通运输、采矿冶炼等行业提供基本动力；再如电力的出现使全社会的产业动力系统和生活的方方面面都实现了电力化。这次新产业革命也将通过数字技术创新带来所有生产部门、生活领域的智能化，最终实现智能技术向公共技术的转型。劳动密集型部门、资本密集型部门必然受到智能技术的冲击。在基本的智能技术下重组其生产过程，利用智能技术实现劳动力节省不仅是现实可行的，也是乐于为企业接受的。从人的层面而言，一方面，人均收入提高、消费结构升级，使得工资刚性增强，劳动密集型、资本密集型产业依靠劳动力低成本的生产方式无以为继，必然选择通过技术进步来替代简单劳动甚至复杂劳动和脑力劳动；另一方面，人们对工作的选择倾向也正在向低强度、高收入的方向转移，导致企业“招工难”问题开始凸显并将不断迫使企业转向通过技术进步向技术密集型转移。因此，新产业革命下，虽然有个别产业部门在采用智能技术、实现生产过程自动化领域的进展相对缓慢，但在共同富裕目标下、人均收入达到中等发达国家水平的进程中，这些传统技术领域最终必然走向生产过程的智能化，必然走向全社会的劳动力解放。

Third, narrowing the urban-rural gap cannot be “paused”; it cannot be deferred until after the new industrial revolution is completed and then resolved by “dividing the cake.” First, as the main area of income disparity in China today, the urban-rural gap is one of the core challenges facing Chinese-path modernization in achieving common prosperity. Narrowing the urban-rural gap is certainly a problem that needs long-term resolution in the process of Chinese-path modernization, but under no circumstances can we temporarily or in the short term allow the urban-rural gap to widen in order to accelerate the new industrial revolution at the current stage. Allowing the urban-rural gap to widen will pose a huge threat to economic security and social security, adding excessive pressure to “dividing the cake well.” Second, narrowing the urban-rural gap also has a positive promoting effect on the new industrial revolution. Raising rural incomes is conducive to the market realization of the achievements of the new industrial revolution. Especially in the current era of full information sharing, rural consumption expectations have basically synchronized with those of cities; new consumer goods also form consumers’ functional expectations and preference expectations in rural areas. As rural incomes rise and purchasing power increases, these consumption expectations will generate enormous market support, thereby effectively aiding the development of new technologies, new products, and new industries. Finally, narrowing the urban-rural gap can incorporate rural development into the process of the new industrial revolution. Narrowing the urban-rural gap is superficially manifested as a reduction in income disparity, but in essence it requires the revitalization of the rural economy and an increase in rural labor productivity as prerequisites. Here, incorporating the industrial and technological revolution related to rural areas into the new industrial revolution, promoting an overall increase in labor productivity in rural agriculture, township industry, and services, will greatly reduce the difficulty of narrowing the urban-rural gap, alleviate social pressure, and accelerate the realization of common prosperity.

第三，缩小城乡差距不能“暂停”，不能等到新产业革命结束后再通过“分蛋糕”的方式加以解决。首先，城乡差距作为当前中国收入差距的主要领域，是中国式现代化实现共同富裕所面临的核心挑战之一。缩小城乡差距固然是中国式现代化进程中需要长期解决的问题，但也绝不能在现阶段为加速推进新产业革命而暂时或短期放任城乡差距的扩大。放任城乡差距的扩大，将给经济安全、社会安全带来巨大威胁，为“分好蛋糕”增加过多的压力。其次，缩小城乡差距对新产业革命也有积极的促进作用。提高乡村收入，有利于新产业革命成果的市场实现。特别是在当前信息充分共享的时代，乡村消费预期基本上已与城市同步，新的消费品在乡村同样会形成消费者的功能预期和偏好预期，而随着乡村收入的提高、支付能力增强，这些消费预期就会形成巨大的市场支持力，从而有效地助力新技术、新产品、新产业的发展。最后，缩小城乡差距可以将乡村发展纳入新产业革命进程之中。缩小城乡差距在表象上体现为收入差距的缩小，在本质上则需要以乡村经济的振兴、乡村劳动生产率的提高为前提。在此，将乡村相关的产业技术革命纳入新产业革命之中，推动乡村农业、乡镇工业及服务业整体劳动生产率的提升，将极大地降低缩小城乡差距的难度，减轻社会压力，加速共同富裕的实现。

02 Urban and Rural Areas Jointly Build a Modern Industrial System

02城乡共建现代产业体系

The 20th National Congress of the CPC [1]1 The 20th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2022, at which Xi Jinping delivered a report outlining proposed adhering to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas, adhering to integrated urban-rural development, and smoothing the flow of urban-rural factors. Here, to effectively promote the flow of urban-rural factors in a direction conducive to Chinese-path modernization, efforts must be made to adjust the content and direction of urban-rural factor integration, so that it is both beneficial to the new industrial revolution and avoids the widening of the urban-rural gap caused by the concentration of rural factors in cities. To this end, we should start from urban and rural areas jointly building a modern industrial system, exploring a path that advances both the new industrial revolution and the narrowing of the urban-rural gap.

党的二十大提出，坚持农业农村优先发展，坚持城乡融合发展，畅通城乡要素流动。在此，为有效推进城乡要素流动向有利于中国式现代化的方向发展，需着力调整城乡要素融合的内容和流向，使之既有利于新产业革命，又能避免乡村要素被城市集聚而导致城乡差距的扩大。为此，应从城乡共建现代产业体系入手，探索推进新产业革命和缩小城乡差距的共进之路。

First, in constructing the industrial technology system, actively promote the expansion of the new industrial revolution into the entire economic system, with a focus on tilting toward the modernization of the rural economy. As stated earlier, the main areas of the new industrial revolution currently include four major fields: the “re-industrialization” field centered on new energy vehicles, new energy, and new materials; the big health field centered on biotechnology; the intelligent production field centered on industrial robots; and the intelligent society field centered on digital technology applications. Among these, biotechnology, genetic modification technology, etc., are directly and closely related to agricultural production; intelligent technology can greatly improve agricultural production efficiency; and intelligent society has already had a significant impact on the rural economy in areas such as e-commerce. Therefore, the current process of the new industrial revolution already possesses the basic conditions for expanding into the rural economy. We should actively promote the new industrial revolution entering a historical stage of transforming the entire industrial system, including agriculture, thereby enabling rural development to benefit from the achievements of the new industrial revolution and be directly incorporated into its main fields. First, vigorously develop facility agriculture, promote the factory-style production of agriculture, introduce intelligent machinery, achieve economization and precision in fertilization and irrigation, and build smart agriculture. Second, by leveraging intelligent technology, develop agricultural production management software to promote the intelligentization of agricultural production management and increase agricultural productivity. Third, actively promote the production of modern agricultural machinery to meet the mechanization needs of moderately scaled agricultural production. Fourth, actively promote the extension of the industrial chain in the big health industry field into rural areas, building industrial chains for traditional Chinese medicine, nutritional products, and green foods starting from raw material production, strengthening core enterprises in related industrial chains, and managing the rural parts of the industrial chain, such as the cultivation and planting of biological raw materials, to improve the operational efficiency of the industrial chain. Fifth, continue to expand the positive role of smart platforms such as e-commerce in the rural economy, strengthen market expectation management and sales and after-sales service for agricultural products, and form a supply self-improvement system driven by demand.

第一，在产业技术体系构建上，积极推进新产业革命领域向整个经济体系的扩展，重点向乡村经济现代化方向倾斜。前文已述，新产业革命目前的主要领域在以新能源汽车为核心的新能源、新材料等“再工业化”领域，以生物技术为核心的大健康领域，以产业机器人为核心的智慧生产领域，以数字技术应用为核心的智慧社会四大领域。其中，生物技术、转基因技术等与农业生产关联直接且紧密，智慧技术则可以大大提高农业生产效率，智慧社会也已在电子商务等领域对乡村经济产生重大影响。因此，当前的新产业革命进程已经具备了向乡村经济扩展的基本条件，应积极推进新产业革命走进改变包括农业在内的整个产业体系的历史阶段，以此使乡村发展受惠于新产业革命成果，并直接纳入新产业革命主要领域之中。其一，大力发展设施农业，推进农业生产工厂化，导入智能机械，实现施肥、灌溉的节约化、精准化，建设智慧农业。其二，借助智慧技术，开发农业生产管理软件，可以推进农业生产管理的智能化，提高农业生产率。其三，积极推进现代农业机械生产，以满足适度规模农业生产的机械化需求。其四，积极推进大健康产业领域的产业链建设向乡村延伸，从原料生产起步构建中医药、营养品、绿色食品的产业链，加强相关产业链核心企业，以及对生物原料的养殖、种植等培育环节的乡村部分产业链管理，提高产业链运营效率。其五，继续拓展电子商务等智慧平台在乡村经济中的积极作用，加强农产品市场预期管理和销售、售后服务，形成以需求为动力的供给自我完善体制。

Second, in adjusting the industrial spatial system, take metropolitan area construction as the direction, vigorously promote the rational distribution of the regional industrial system across metropolises, surrounding cities, outer suburban small towns, and rural areas, and strive to build a spatial pattern of integrated urban-rural development. As stated earlier, the demand of the new industrial revolution for high-end resources means that its advancement has to rely on large or mega-cities. However, this tendency is not entirely reasonable in itself, and is mainly reflected in the technological innovation links of the new industrial revolution. We can fully achieve integrated urban-rural development throughout the process of advancing the new industrial revolution through the rational allocation of industrial space. First, the effective allocation of industrial technology innovation R&D bases can eliminate absolute dependence on large cities in geographic space. Industrial technology R&D is a key link in the new industrial revolution, including parts such as theoretical research, technological R&D, and achievement transformation (industrialization). With the widespread application of digital technology and network platforms, the theoretical research and technological R&D parts can be carried out by research institutes, enterprises, and other relevant institutions relying on cyberspace, adopting a form of virtual agglomeration. The physical research process can be conducted separately in each institution’s laboratory as a base, while discussions on research progress and the collection and spillover of research results can all rely on virtual networks. For the achievement transformation (industrialization) part, those with relevant industrial foundations can be handed over to relevant industries; those without such foundations can have transformation bases or shuttle factories built on the urban fringe or in surrounding towns with good commuting accessibility. In particular, the industrial transformation parts of industries such as genetic engineering and agricultural machinery should be located in surrounding towns close to rural areas. Second, the layout of emerging industries should also be adjusted; they need not be crowded into large cities. Industries closely related to rural revitalization, such as health foods, traditional Chinese medicine, modern agricultural machinery, and leisure tourism, can all be laid out close to rural areas. At the same time, industries such as e-commerce and medical services should continue to expand into rural areas. Third, as the crowding effect caused by excessive agglomeration in large cities becomes prominent, some traditional industries will be “cleared out to make way for new birds” [2] by large cities. These industries spilling over from cities can be rationally laid out in small and medium-sized towns surrounding large cities, increasing the industrial content of the rural economy and enhancing the rural economy’s ability to generate its own income. Fourth, accelerate the construction of a metropolitan area commuting network linked to the large city transportation network, forming a half-hour to one-hour commuting circle centered on major industrial agglomeration areas, and build a good urban road and highway transportation network to lay the material foundation for smooth flows of people and goods in industrial spatial adjustment, supporting an industrial layout with county towns and small towns as main nodes.

第二，在产业空间体系调整上，以都市圈建设为方向，大力推进区域产业体系在都市、周边城市、远郊小城镇、乡村的合理分布，努力构建城乡融合发展的空间格局。前文已述，新产业革命对高端资源的需求，使得新产业革命的推进不得不倚重于大城市或超大城市。但这种倾向本身也非完全合理，且主要体现在新产业革命的技术创新环节，我们完全可以通过产业空间的合理配置，在整个新产业革命的推进过程中实现城乡融合发展。其一，产业技术创新研发基地的有效配置可以在地理空间上消除对大城市的绝对依赖。产业技术研发是新产业革命的关键环节，其中包括理论研究、技术研发、成果转化（产业化）等部分。随着数字技术和网络平台的广泛应用，其中的理论研究、技术研发可由科研院所、企业等相关机构以网络空间为依托，采用虚拟集聚的方式，物理上的研究过程可以分别以各自实验室为基地进行，而研究进展的探讨、研究成果的汇集和溢出都可以依托虚拟网络进行；成果转化（产业化）部分可以将有相关产业基础者交给相关产业，无相关基础者则可在通勤可达性较好的城市边缘、周边城镇建设转化基地、摆渡工厂等。特别是基因工程、农业机械等产业的产业转化部分更应放在靠近乡村的周边城镇来布局。其二，对新兴产业也应调整布局，不必一味拥挤在大城市里，特别是与乡村振兴紧密相关的健康食品、中医药、现代农机、休闲旅游等产业，都可以紧贴乡村进行布局。同时，电子商务、医疗服务等产业也应继续推进在乡村的扩展。其三，随着大城市的过度集聚带来拥挤效应的凸显，一些传统产业将被大城市“腾笼换鸟”，这些城市溢出产业可合理布局在大城市周边的中小城镇，增加乡村经济中的工业含量，提高乡村经济造血能力。其四，加速构建链接大城市交通网络的都市圈通勤网，形成以主要产业集聚地为核心的半小时至1小时通勤圈，并构建良好的城市道路、公路交通网，为产业空间调整奠定人流、物流通畅的物质基础，可支持以县城、小城镇为主要节点的产业布局。

Third, actively advancing rural infrastructure construction, accelerating the integrated development of urban and rural lifestyles, and taking in-situ urbanization as the direction can eliminate the gaps in public services, social welfare, and social culture between urban and rural areas. First, focus on strengthening public infrastructure construction, achieving the grid connection and sharing between rural and urban areas in fields such as water, electricity, and gas, especially the standardization of water supply and drainage network construction standards, thereby eliminating the public service gap in basic living welfare. Second, strengthen information services, advance the construction of a smart society in rural areas, with a focus on promoting 5G network construction, particularly in fields such as smart education, telemedicine, and public knowledge dissemination, and actively promote the application of smart platforms in rural industrial development and the improvement of quality of life. On the one hand, this can increase the importance of information factors in rural areas; on the other hand, it can support the development of agricultural production intelligence, e-commerce, residential tourism, and other industries, and promote the synchronous development and deep integration of rural social consciousness and cultural concepts with those of cities. Third, build livable, workable, and distinctive urban and rural living environments. On the one hand, ensure the convenience of residents' work commutes and daily life; on the other hand, with distinctive urban and rural characteristics, cultivate social demand for mutual exchange between urban and rural areas, support the development of large cities' commerce, entertainment, cultural industries, and rural leisure tourism, forming cultural interaction and spillover effects, and driving the integrated development of urban and rural social culture. Thus, a coordinated development pattern of large, medium, and small cities based on urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas will be formed, advancing urbanization construction with county towns as important carriers, and achieving a comprehensive narrowing of the urban-rural gap.

第三，积极推进乡村基础设施建设，加速推进城乡生活方式的融合发展，以就地城镇化为方向，可以消除城乡间公共服务、社会福利、社会文化的差距。其一，重点加强公众基础设施建设，实现乡村与城市在水、电、煤气等领域的并网共享，特别是上下水网络建设标准的统一化，以此消除基本生活福利的公共服务差距。其二，加强信息服务，推进乡村智慧社会建设，重点推进5G网络建设特别是智慧教育、远程医疗、公共知识普及等领域的信息网络建设，积极推广智慧平台在乡村产业发展及生活品质提高等领域的应用，一方面可以提高乡村地区信息要素的重要性，另一方面可以支持农业生产智能化和电子商务、民居旅游等产业发展，并推进乡村社会意识、文化理念与城市的同步发展和深度融合。其三，建设宜居宜业、各具特色的城乡居住环境。一方面保障居民工作通勤的便利性和生活的便利性；另一方面，以鲜明的城乡特色，培育城乡相互交流的社会需求，支持大城市商业、游乐业、文化产业和乡村休闲旅游等产业的发展，形成文化的互动和溢出，并带动社会文化的城乡融合发展。由此，形成以城市群、都市圈为依托的大中小城市协调发展格局，推进以县城为重要载体的城镇化建设，并实现城乡差距的全面缩小。

In summary, although advancing the new industrial revolution requires the concentration of resources in large cities and thus has a tendency to widen the urban-rural gap, this process is mainly reflected in the stage of industrial technological innovation. The industrialization of new technologies and the realization of products can achieve integrated development with rural areas. At the same time, the rural economy is not lacking in important areas that intersect with the new industrial revolution, and there is even broader space for the application of the new industrial revolution's achievements. Therefore, exploring the path of jointly building a modern industrial system in urban and rural areas is an important way to resolve the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap and to accelerate the integration of urban and rural areas.

总之，推进新产业革命虽然要求资源向大城市集聚而具有扩大城乡差距的倾向，但这一过程主要体现在产业技术创新阶段，新技术的产业化、产品的实现都可以实现其与乡村的融合发展。同时，乡村经济中不乏与新产业革命交叉的重要领域，更有新产业革命成果的广泛应用空间，因此探寻城乡共建现代产业体系的路径，是化解新产业革命与城乡差距之间矛盾、加速推进城乡融合的重要路径。

V. Conclusion

五、结论

In summary, the main problems of Chinese-path modernization at present are prominently manifested as the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap. Among them, the new industrial revolution is the key to solving inadequate development, while narrowing and eliminating the urban-rural gap is the key to solving unbalanced development. However, the advancement of the new industrial revolution has a tendency to widen the urban-rural gap, making the two form a contradictory unity that is closely related, mutually constraining, and mutually supporting. Historically, during the process of developed countries becoming developed nations, the industrial revolution and urban-rural relations did not form a long-term conflict. The reason is that the industrial revolution at that time raised the status of natural resource endowments, allowed for large-scale employment of labor, and their population size was relatively small, enabling industrial development to support the overvaluation of the entire labor price. With the construction of the international division of labor system, a mechanism of exploitation by industrial countries over agricultural countries, and by developed countries over developing and underdeveloped countries, was formed. The current Chinese-path modernization not only has the institutional characteristics of the socialist market economy but also the special national condition of a huge population. More importantly, the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap faced by Chinese-path modernization is vastly different from the industrial revolution on which the rise of developed countries in history relied. The new industrial revolution no longer has the effects of previous industrial revolutions in increasing industrial branches, expanding the industrial system, absorbing large amounts of labor, and raising the importance of natural resources. Instead, while promoting sustainable development, creating new industries, and improving production efficiency, it presents negative effects such as reducing the importance of natural endowments, expelling labor, slimming the industrial system, and narrowing the growth region. This dual-effect characteristic makes it possible for the urban-rural gap to continuously widen in the process of the new industrial revolution, constituting the main aspect of the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap. Consequently, the urban-rural gap also has a dual effect on the new industrial revolution, forming the other aspect of the contradiction between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap. We believe that the relationship between the new industrial revolution and the urban-rural gap is not one of substitution, choosing one over the other, but an internally unified relationship of mutual constraint and mutual promotion. To this end, we should start from jointly building a modern industrial system in urban and rural areas, exploring a path of advancing the new industrial revolution and narrowing the urban-rural gap simultaneously.

综上所述，中国式现代化当前的主要问题突出地体现为新产业革命与城乡差距之间的矛盾。其中，新产业革命是解决发展不充分的关键，而缩小、消除城乡差距是解决发展不均衡的关键。但新产业革命的推进具有扩大城乡差距的倾向，使二者构成了紧密相关、相互制约、相互支持的矛盾统一体。历史上发达国家在其成长为发达国家的过程中产业革命与城乡关系并未形成长期的矛盾冲突，原因在于当时的产业革命提高了自然资源禀赋地位、容许劳动力的大量就业，且其人口规模相对较小，使工业发展可以支撑整个劳动力价格高估，并借助国际分工体系的构建，形成工业国对农业国、发达国家对发展中国家和不发达国家的剥削机制。而当前的中国式现代化不仅有社会主义市场经济的制度特征，也有人口规模巨大的特殊国情。更重要的是，中国式现代化所面临的新产业革命与城乡差距矛盾与历史上发达国家兴起时所依赖的产业革命大为不同。新产业革命不再具有以往产业革命增加产业分支、扩大产业体系、吸收大量劳动力、提高自然资源重要性的效应，而是在推进可持续发展、创出新产业、提高生产效率的同时，呈现出降低自然禀赋重要性、排出劳动力、产业体系瘦身、增长区域窄化等负向效应。这种双重效应特征使城乡差距在新产业革命进程中出现不断扩大的可能，构成了新产业革命与城乡差距这一对矛盾的主要方面，并由此使城乡差距也对新产业革命具有双重效应，形成了新产业革命与城乡差距这一对矛盾的另一方面。我们认为，新产业革命与城乡差距之间不是舍此取彼的替代关系，而是相互制约和相互促进的内在统一关系。为此，应从城乡共建现代产业体系入手，探索推进新产业革命和缩小城乡差距的共进之路。

(Author's bio: Zhao Ruyu, Dean of the Institute of Regional Development and Common Prosperity, Ningbo University of Technology; Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Jilin University)

（作者简介：赵儒煜，宁波工程学院区域发展与共同富裕研究院院长，吉林大学教授、博士生导师）

Online editor: Tongxin

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