The Triple Logic and Pathways of Coordinated Urban-Rural Development from the Perspective of Chinese-Path Modernization

One of the basic features of Chinese-path modernization is coordinated development. Coordinated development is not only the coordinated development of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, but also coordinated development across all areas and fields. Coordinating urban-rural relations is an important aspect of realizing Chinese-path modernization. Promoting urban-rural coordination and fostering integrated urban-rural development is a key indicator of national modernization, a crucial measure for solving the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development in our country, and the necessary path to building a great modern socialist country and ultimately achieving common prosperity. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC [1]1 The 19th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2017. first proposed promoting integrated urban-rural development. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC [2]2 The 20th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2022. clearly emphasized adhering to prioritizing agricultural and rural development, adhering to integrated urban-rural development, and smoothing the flow of urban-rural factors. This provides direction and an action guide for further coordinating urban-rural relations and promoting coordinated urban-rural development.

中国式现代化的基本特征之一是协调发展。协调发展不仅是物质文明和精神文明的协调发展，更是全方位、多领域的协调发展。协调城乡关系是实现中国式现代化的重要方面，推进城乡协调、促进城乡融合发展，是国家现代化的重要标志，是解决我国发展不平衡、不充分问题的关键举措，也是建成社会主义现代化强国、最终走向共同富裕的必由之路。党的十九大报告首次提出推进城乡融合发展，党的二十大报告明确强调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，这为进一步协调城乡关系、促进城乡协调发展指明了方向和提供了行动指南。

The core of integrated urban-rural development lies in “vitality,” that is, promoting the two-way free flow and optimal allocation of urban-rural factors. This requires breaking down the barriers of the urban-rural dual structure. To eliminate the urban-rural dual structure, it is first necessary to realize that cities and villages, as independent units, have equal development opportunities and equal development rights, achieving a state where urban and rural areas are different in kind but equivalent in value. Then, through mechanisms and institutional construction, factor resource activation, and other pathways, a higher form of urban-rural relations—integrated urban-rural development—can be achieved. Therefore, the value orientation of urban-rural coordination is for cities and villages to achieve common and prosperous development with equal opportunities, equal rights, and a fair approach, i.e., what some researchers discuss as a community of common urban-rural prosperity. Coordinated urban-rural development pursues mutual promotion, mutual progress, and symbiotic coexistence in spatial patterns, rather than urban prosperity with rural decline or urban encroachment on rural areas. In governance systems, it pursues urban-rural equality, mutual benefit, and value co-creation, rather than cities managing villages or villages becoming appendages of cities. On this basis, integrated urban-rural development can proceed smoothly, and the results and effectiveness of integrated development can be sustainable. Therefore, coordinated urban-rural development is the prerequisite and necessary condition for integrated urban-rural development, and it is essential to promote integrated urban-rural development through coordinated urban-rural development.

城乡融合发展的核心在于“活”，即促进城乡要素双向自由流动和实现优化配置，这要求破除城乡二元结构藩篱。要消除城乡二元结构就首先需要实现城市和乡村作为独立的单元具有均等的发展机会和平等的发展权利，城乡实现不同类但等值的状态，而后通过体制机制构建、要素资源活化等途径达到城乡融合发展这样一种城乡关系的高级形态。因而，城乡协调的价值旨归是城市和乡村以均等的机会、平等的权利、公正的方式实现共同的、繁荣的发展，即部分研究者所讨论的城乡共同繁荣共同体。城乡协调发展在空间格局上追求城乡互促互进、共生共存，而非城市繁荣乡村凋敝、城市挤压乡村；在治理体系上追求城乡平等互惠、价值共创，而非城市管理乡村、乡村沦为城市附庸。在此基础上，城乡融合发展才能顺利推进，融合发展的成果成效才具有可持续性。因此，城乡协调发展是城乡融合的前提和必要条件，必须要以城乡协调发展来促进城乡融合。

However, the current focus and difficulty of coordinated urban-rural development in our country still lie in the countryside. Rural development is in a disadvantaged position relative to urban development, and agricultural and rural modernization has become a weak link and shortcoming in modernization construction. This is due to both historical reasons and contemporary challenges. Solving the problem of inadequate agricultural and rural development and making up for the shortcomings in modernization construction requires not only the pull of external diverse forces but also the activation of internal endogenous momentum. Since the beginning of the 21st century, government policies have placed great emphasis on agricultural and rural development. The 16th National Congress of the CPC [3]3 The 16th National Congress of the CPC was held in November 2002. proposed urban-rural coordination, and the 18th National Congress of the CPC [4]4 The 18th National Congress of the CPC was held in November 2012. proposed integrated urban-rural development, both involving the promotion of coordinated urban-rural development. However, even in the post-comprehensively well-off era, urban and rural areas remain unequal, the urban-rural gap has not been effectively narrowed, coordinated urban-rural development still faces many challenges, and achieving coordinated urban-rural development still has a long way to go. If the problem of coordinated urban-rural development is not solved, integrated urban-rural development will be subject to various constraints. It can be said that without coordination, integration is difficult to achieve. Therefore, it is necessary to fully understand the theoretical direction, historical evolution, and practical problems of coordinated urban-rural development in our country, to promote integrated urban-rural development from the perspective of promoting urban-rural coordination, and thereby further advance the realization of Chinese-path modernization.

然而，当前我国城乡协调发展的重点难点依然在乡村。乡村发展相对城市处于劣势地位，农业农村现代化成为现代化建设的短板弱项，既有历史的原因，也有现实的挑战。解决农业农村发展不充分的问题、补齐现代化建设的短板，不仅需要外部多元力量的牵引，更需要自身内源动力的激活。进入21世纪以来，政府政策高度重视农业农村发展，党的十六大提出城乡统筹，党的十八大提出城乡一体化发展，都涉及促进城乡协调发展，但即使在后全面小康时代，城乡仍不对等、城乡差距仍未有效缩小，城乡协调发展仍面临诸多挑战，实现城乡协调发展仍任重道远。不解决城乡协调发展的问题，城乡融合发展就会受到各种制约，可谓协调性不在、融合性难存。因此，必须充分认识我国城乡协调发展的理论指向、历史演变以及实践问题，以促进城乡协调的视角来推动城乡融合发展，从而更进一步地推动中国式现代化的实现。

I. Theoretical Logic: “Simultaneous Development of the Four Modernizations,” [5]5 “Simultaneous development of the four modernizations” (四化同步) refers to the coordinated advancement of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. Rural Revitalization, and Urban-Rural Coordination

一、理论逻辑：“四化同步”、乡村振兴与城乡协调

The Marxist theory of urban-rural relations is the basic theoretical basis for understanding and handling the issue of urban-rural development in our country. Marx observed the process of urban-rural antagonism during the rise of European industrialization and pointed out that the inevitable product of the emergence and development of the capitalist system and the necessary stage of social development is the urban-rural dual structure, where industry squeezes agriculture, cities deprive villages, and cities and villages are opposed to each other. To eliminate urban-rural antagonism, Marx believed that the most advanced countries should “combine agriculture and industry,” [6]6 This is a paraphrase of a passage from Marx and Engels’ *The Communist Manifesto* (Section II, “Proletarians and Communists”). with the ultimate goal of achieving comprehensive human development and the sharing of the fruits of economic and social development by all people through urban-rural integration and mutual promotion between industry and agriculture. Therefore, to promote coordinated urban-rural development and advance the establishment of a community of common urban-rural prosperity, it is necessary to have both the pull of external forces—using industry to promote agriculture and cities to lead villages—and the activation of endogenous momentum for sustainable, high-quality agricultural and rural development by accelerating the construction of an agricultural powerhouse and promoting comprehensive rural revitalization. Activating the endogenous development momentum of the countryside and promoting rural revitalization is the foundation for promoting urban-rural coordination and helping to realize Chinese-path modernization. Hence, this section focuses on discussing coordinated urban-rural development under the theoretical direction of “simultaneous development of the four modernizations” and rural revitalization.

马克思主义城乡关系理论是理解和处理我国城乡发展问题的基本理论依据。马克思观察了欧洲工业化勃兴之时的城乡对立过程，指出了资本主义制度产生和发展的必然产物以及社会发展的必经阶段就是城乡二元结构，工业挤压农业，城市剥夺农村，城市与农村相对立。要消除城乡对立，马克思认为最先进的国家应该“把农业和工业结合起来”，其最终目标是通过城乡融合、工农互促，实现人的全面发展和经济社会发展成果全民共享。因此，要促进城乡协调发展、推动建立城乡共同繁荣共同体，既需要以工促农、以城带乡的外部力量牵引，也需要加快农业强国建设、推动乡村全面振兴以激活农业农村可持续高质量发展的内源动力，而激活乡村内生发展动力、推动乡村振兴是促进城乡协调、助力实现中国式现代化的基础。故本部分着重讨论“四化同步”、乡村振兴理论指向下的城乡协调发展。

(I) External Force Pull: “Simultaneous Development of the Four Modernizations” and Urban-Rural Coordination

（一）外部力量牵引：“四化同步”与城乡协调

Unlike the “serial” modernization process of Western countries spanning over 200 years, our country’s modernization process is a “parallel” development process, where industrialization, urbanization, informatization, and agricultural modernization are developed in an overlapping manner. “Parallel” modernization has the characteristics of high overlap and simultaneity of development tasks. To promote the “simultaneous development of the four modernizations”—industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization—within less than 100 years, the entire modernization process requires multiple forms of coordination, taking into account not only the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, cultural-ethical progress, social civilization, and ecological civilization, but also regional coordination and urban-rural coordination.

不同于西方国家200多年时间跨度的“串联式”现代化进程，我国的现代化进程是一个“并联式”发展过程，工业化、城镇化、信息化和农业现代化是叠加发展的。“并联式”现代化具有发展任务的高度叠加性和同步性特征，我国要在不到100年的时间里推动工业化、信息化、城镇化、农业现代化“四化同步”，就需要整个现代化发展过程具有多重协调性，既要兼顾物质文明、政治文明、精神文明、社会文明、生态文明协调发展，也要兼顾区域协调和城乡协调。

Urban-rural coordination is the key and difficult issue of “simultaneous development of the four modernizations” in the new stage of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly pointed out that in promoting the “simultaneous development of the four modernizations,” the weak link is agricultural modernization. Without agricultural modernization, national modernization is incomplete, not comprehensive, and not solid. [7]7 This is a paraphrase of a statement by Xi Jinping. In the historical process, our country’s agriculture, rural areas, and farmers have made tremendous contributions to industrialization and urbanization, and have also paid a great price for them. Therefore, compared with industrialization, informatization, and urbanization, our country’s agricultural modernization is the shortcoming of the “simultaneous development of the four modernizations.” Making up for the shortcomings of agricultural modernization requires leveraging external forces to activate the endogenous development momentum of agriculture and rural areas. The core is to correctly coordinate urban-rural development relations, with the key being to ensure resource investment in agricultural and rural development and strengthen talent guarantees. Strengthening the construction of various types of rural infrastructure, cultivating rural industries, and training practical professional talents in rural areas all require the support of modernization factors from other fields.

城乡协调是新发展阶段“四化同步”的重点和难点问题。习近平总书记多次指出，推进“四化同步”，薄弱环节是农业现代化，没有农业现代化，国家现代化是不完整、不全面、不牢固的。在历史进程中，我国农业、农村、农民为工业化、城镇化作出了巨大贡献，也为之付出了很大的代价，因而相比工业化、信息化、城镇化，我国农业现代化是“四化同步”的短板。补齐农业现代化短板需要借助外部力量激活农业农村内生发展动力，这就需要正确协调城乡发展关系，核心是确保农业农村发展的资源投入和强化人才保障。加强乡村各类基础设施建设、培育乡村产业、培养乡村实用型专业人才等多个方面，都需要其他领域现代化要素的支持。

First, new-type industrialization is the fundamental support for transforming traditional agriculture, providing mechanical equipment and biotechnology for agricultural production, enabling agricultural production to move from traditional labor-intensive production methods to scaled production and market-oriented management. This is conducive to promoting the deep integration of agricultural production, processing, sales, and other links, and enhancing the level of agricultural industrialization. Second, informatization and digitalization provide new technologies and new platforms for the development of agricultural modernization, helping to improve the management model of agricultural production and operation, reduce the risks of agricultural production and operation, promote the connection of the rural economy with our country’s huge demand market, and further upgrade modern agriculture. Third, new-type urbanization, on the one hand, drives the transfer of surplus rural labor to cities and towns, continuously reducing the number of small-scale farmers, creating conditions for the mechanization and intelligentization of agricultural production, while also helping to promote moderate-scale operation of rural land, thereby promoting the diversification of agricultural production activities, improving the specialization level of agricultural production and operation, and effectively increasing agricultural productivity. On the other hand, prosperous cities and towns also provide abundant employment opportunities and better living conditions for rural migrant workers, supporting the urbanization of a large part of the agricultural transfer population. Therefore, in the new historical period, the development of informatization, new-type industrialization, and new-type urbanization will generally comprehensively empower agricultural and rural modernization, more conducive to promoting industry’s support for agriculture, cities’ support for villages, and accelerating the construction of a new type of industrial-urban-rural relationship featuring industry promoting agriculture, cities leading villages, industry and agriculture benefiting each other, and urban-rural integration. This is also an important connotation of the “simultaneous development of the four modernizations.”

第一，新型工业化是改造传统农业的根本支撑，为农业发展提供了机械装备和生物技术，使农业生产从传统的劳动密集型生产方式走向规模化生产和市场化经营，有利于促进农业生产、加工、销售等环节的深入整合，提升农业产业化水平。第二，信息化、数字化为农业现代化发展提供新技术和新平台，有助于改进农业生产经营的管理模式以及降低农业生产经营风险，推动实现乡村经济与我国超大需求市场的衔接，使现代农业进一步升级。第三，新型城镇化一方面带动农村剩余劳动力向城镇转移，不断减少小规模农户数量，为农业生产的机械化、智能化创造条件，同时也有助于促进农村土地的适度规模化经营，进而促进农业生产活动的多元化，提高了农业生产经营的专业化水平，切实提高农业生产率；另一方面，繁华的城镇也为农村进城务工人员提供丰富的就业岗位和更为优质的生活居住条件，支撑了很大一部分农业转移人口市民化。因此，在新的历史时期，信息化、新型工业化与新型城镇化发展总体上会对农业农村现代化产生全面赋能作用，更加有利于促进工业反哺农业、城市支持乡村，加快构建起以工促农、以城带乡、工农互惠、城乡一体的新型工农城乡关系，这也是“四化同步”的重要内涵。

Urban-rural economic integration is the foundation of urban-rural coordinated development. With the development of urbanization in China, the key areas and connotations of urban-rural coordinated development differ across stages of development, and increasingly manifest as multi-dimensional coordinated development. Urban-rural coordination involves coordination and integration across multiple dimensions, including factors, industries, institutions, governance, and space, with the ultimate goal of forming a comprehensive, mutually reinforcing, and co-prosperous urban-rural community of prosperity. Against the backdrop of the "simultaneous development of the Four Modernizations" [8]8 The "simultaneous development of the Four Modernizations" (四化同步) refers to the coordinated advancement of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, a key policy framework in China., the new-type urbanization strategy and the rural revitalization strategy will serve as the "two wings" promoting urban-rural coordination, and the linkage of these two major strategies will become the key pathway for advancing urban-rural coordinated development. Through effective linkage between thriving industries and efficient urbanization, ecological livability and green urbanization, rural civility and humanistic urbanization, effective governance and good-governance urbanization, prosperous living and inclusive urbanization, we promote the construction of an organic urban-rural unity of symbiosis and co-prosperity, driving the comprehensive upgrading of agriculture, the comprehensive development of rural areas, and the comprehensive progress of farmers, thereby contributing to urban-rural coordinated development.

城乡经济融合是城乡协调发展的基础。随着我国城镇化的发展，城乡协调发展在不同发展阶段的重点领域和内涵也是不同的，也越来越体现为多维度的协调发展。城乡协调涉及要素、产业、制度、治理和空间等多个维度的协调以及融合，最终目标是形成全面、互促、共进的城乡繁荣共同体。在“四化同步”的背景下，新型城镇化和乡村振兴战略将是促进城乡协调的“两翼”，两大战略联动将成为推进城乡协调发展的关键路径。通过产业兴旺与高效城镇化、生态宜居与绿色城镇化、乡风文明与人文城镇化、治理有效与善治城镇化、生活富裕与包容城镇化的有效联动，推动构建共生共荣的城乡有机统一整体，带动农业全面升级、农村全面发展、农民全面进步，助力城乡协调发展。

(II) Activation of Endogenous Drivers: The Rural Revitalization Strategy, Building a Strong Agricultural Country, and Urban-Rural Coordination

（二）内源动力激活：乡村振兴战略、农业强国建设与城乡协调

1. The Rural Revitalization Strategy and Its Scientific Connotation

1.乡村振兴战略及其科学内涵

The greatest imbalance in China's development is the imbalance between urban and rural development, and the greatest insufficiency is the insufficiency of rural development. Industrialization and urbanization, characterized by economies of scale, agglomeration effects, and economies of scope, have long been engines of economic growth and social development. However, they have also been accompanied by the continuous concentration of resources and factors such as population, land, capital, and technology in cities, causing a sustained outflow of rural population and funds, exacerbating rural "hollowing out" and population aging. This leads to a lack of vitality in rural economic and social development, resulting in rural decline and threatening food security. From the perspective of Chinese-path modernization, China has a population of over 1.4 billion. The realization of Chinese-path modernization inevitably requires continuously enhancing the capacity to coordinate development and security, especially ensuring food security. This also means that the realization of Chinese-path modernization must be premised and based on agricultural modernization. Therefore, under the current conditions where China is still in the stage of new-type urbanization construction, promoting comprehensive rural revitalization and consolidating the foundation of rural development is of strategic significance for China's modernization development.

我国发展最大的不平衡是城乡发展不平衡，最大的不充分是农村发展不充分。工业化、城镇化具有规模经济、集聚效应、范围经济特征，长期以来都是经济增长和社会发展的引擎，同时也伴随着人口、土地、资本、技术等资源和要素持续向城市集聚，造成了乡村人口、资金持续外流，农村“空心化”和人口老龄化加剧，导致农村经济和社会发展缺乏活力，从而导致农村发展凋敝，威胁粮食安全。从中国式现代化建设来看，中国有14亿多人口，中国式现代化的实现必然要求不断提升统筹发展与安全的能力，特别是粮食安全得到保障。这也意味着，中国式现代化的实现必然是以农业现代化为前提和基础的。因此，在我国当前仍旧处于新型城镇化建设阶段的条件下，推进乡村全面振兴、夯实乡村发展基础对于我国现代化发展具有战略意义。

Promoting rural revitalization is an important foundation for advancing urban-rural coordinated development. This first requires a proper grasp of the laws governing urban-rural coordinated development. Drawing on the development experience of developed countries and regions, once the urbanization level exceeds 50%, changes in the geographical distribution pattern of the population will bring about significant changes in residents' lifestyles and consumption patterns, generating enormous demand for the products and services provided by agriculture and rural areas, thereby creating opportunities for promoting urban-rural economic circulation and driving rural development. Against this backdrop, the report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC [9]9 The 19th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2017. first proposed implementing the "rural revitalization strategy." Subsequently, on the basis of the socio-economic conditions established by the comprehensive victory in the fight against poverty and the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the government emphasized that realizing agricultural and rural modernization is a major task in building a modern socialist country in all respects and an inevitable requirement for solving the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development. It then proposed implementing a comprehensive rural revitalization strategy, achieving comprehensive rural revitalization through five pathways: rural economic, ecological, cultural, organizational, and talent revitalization, with the aim of basically realizing agricultural and rural modernization by around 2035 and serving the goal of building China into a great modern socialist country by 2050.

推进乡村振兴是促进城乡协调发展的重要基础，这首先需要把握好城乡协调发展规律。从发达国家和地区的发展经验来看，城镇化水平超过50%后，人口地域分布格局的变动将带来居民生活消费方式的明显变化，并对农业农村所提供的产品和服务产生巨大需求，从而为促进城乡经济循环、带动乡村发展提供契机。在此背景下，党的十九大报告首次提出实施“乡村振兴战略”。随后，在已然取得脱贫攻坚的全面胜利与全面建成小康社会奠定的社会经济条件的基础上，政府强调实现农业农村现代化是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的重大任务，是解决发展不平衡不充分问题的必然要求，进而提出实施全面的乡村振兴战略，从乡村的经济、生态、文化、组织和人才振兴5条进路实现乡村全面振兴，以推动在2035年左右基本实现农业农村现代化，并服务于2050年建成社会主义现代化强国目标。

The rural revitalization strategy is a long-term, overarching grand strategy. Promoting the realization of rural revitalization and agricultural and rural modernization is a complex, multi-dimensional, and long-term systemic project. The realization of rural revitalization includes both building the industrial system, production system, and management system of modern agriculture, improving the agricultural support and protection system, developing适度规模经营 [10]10 适度规模经营 (shìdù guīmó jīngyíng) refers to "appropriately scaled management" in agriculture, a policy concept promoting farm sizes that balance efficiency with the constraints of smallholder farming., cultivating new types of agricultural business entities, and improving the agricultural社会化服务体系 [11]11 社会化服务体系 (shèhuìhuà fúwù tǐxì) refers to a "socialized service system" for agriculture, providing services like technology, finance, and marketing to farmers., which can be broadly summarized as "agricultural modernization." It also encompasses improving rural infrastructure, promoting the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas, creating greater space for farmers' entrepreneurship and employment, enhancing rural governance effectiveness, promoting rural environmental governance and ecological protection, and improving rural public services and social security levels, which can be broadly summarized as "rural modernization." Agricultural modernization and rural modernization are not separate; they are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The essence of promoting rural revitalization is to achieve the coordinated development of "people, land, and industry" in urban and rural areas through rural economic revitalization, cultural revitalization, ecological revitalization, organizational revitalization, and talent revitalization. Its basic model is to take people as the core, land as the basic resource, and industry to link population factors, thereby shaping a new socio-economic form and spatial pattern in rural areas and realizing urban-rural coordinated development.

乡村振兴战略是一项长远性、全局性的大战略，推动实现乡村振兴和农业农村现代化是一项复杂的、多维的、长期的系统性工程。乡村振兴的实现，既包括构建现代农业的产业体系、生产体系和经营体系，健全农业支持保护体系，发展适度规模经营、培育新型经营主体以及健全农业社会化服务体系，总体可以概括为“农业现代化”；也涵盖完善乡村基础设施建设，促进乡村三产融合，为农民创业就业开拓更大空间，提升乡村治理效能，推动乡村环境治理和生态保护，提升乡村公共服务和社会保障水平，总体可以概括为“农村现代化”。农业现代化与农村现代化并不割裂，二者相互关系、相互促进。推动乡村振兴的实质是通过乡村经济振兴、文化振兴、生态振兴、组织振兴和人才振兴，实现城乡“人—地—产业”的协调发展，其基本模式为以人为核心、以地为基础资源、以产业链接人口要素，从而塑造乡村地区经济社会新形态和空间新格局，实现城乡协调发展。

2. Three Key Issues in Implementing the Rural Revitalization Strategy

2.实施乡村振兴战略的三个关键问题

First, the rural revitalization strategy is a long-term strategy, and sustainability must be considered. By the end of 2023, China's rural permanent resident population was 477 million. It is projected that by 2035, the urbanization rate will reach around 75%, meaning the rural population will continue to decrease by approximately 130 million in the future. Therefore, from the overall demographic trend, the population in some rural areas will inevitably continue to decline. Rural revitalization does not mean that all villages across the country can be revitalized; it is inevitable that some villages with poor resource endowments, geographical locations, and other conditions will shrink or even disappear. Thus, rural revitalization is actually advanced in tandem with new-type urbanization construction, and the reduction in the rural permanent resident population may be mainly concentrated in areas where resource and locational conditions are unfavorable for rural industrial development. At the same time, rural areas with significantly reduced populations will also be areas with more severe population aging. Therefore, promoting rural revitalization must be premised on demographic trends; rural revitalization without population support is not sustainable. Overall, the urbanization process is a major trend and will inevitably continue to attract population and factors. Promoting rural revitalization must be based on urbanization's sustained absorption of population and factors, the inflow of some urban population and factors into rural areas, and the optimization of the spatial distribution of the rural population. Under the rural revitalization strategy, some returning population and factors should be concentrated in concentrated residential areas near cities, small towns, or village clusters. In practice, policy design should be classified and advanced in layers according to the characteristics of village differentiation, with forward-looking rural planning, focusing support on the sustainable development of villages with advantages in resource endowments, favorable geographical locations, humanistic, historical, and ecological landscapes, and strong community cohesion and organizational mobilization capacity.

第一，乡村振兴战略是长期战略，必须考虑可持续性。2023年年底，我国农村常住人口为4.77亿人，预计2035年城镇化率达到75%左右，这也就意味着未来农村人口还将继续减少1.3亿左右。因此，从总体的人口趋势来看，必然有一部分乡村的人口会出现持续减少的态势。乡村振兴并不意味全国所有乡村都能实现振兴，一部分资源禀赋、地理区位等条件较差的村庄会萎缩甚至消亡是不可避免的。因此，乡村振兴实际上是与新型城镇化建设同步推进的，而乡村常住人口的减少可能主要集中于资源条件和区位条件不利于乡村产业发展的地区。同时，人口显著减少的乡村地区也将是人口老龄化程度更为严峻的地区，因此推动乡村振兴必须以人口趋势为前提，没有人口支撑的乡村振兴不具有可持续性。总体上，城镇化进程是大趋势，必然对人口及要素具有持续的吸引力，推动乡村振兴须立足于城镇化对人口和要素的持续性吸纳、部分城市人口和要素流入乡村以及乡村内部人口空间布局优化的基础上，乡村振兴战略背景下部分回流的人口和要素应该集聚在靠近城市的集中居住区、小城镇或者乡村群。在实践中，政策设计应该根据村庄分化的特点分类、分层推进，前瞻性地做好乡村规划，重点支持部分具有资源禀赋优势、地理区位条件、人文历史生态景观、较强社区凝聚力和组织动员能力的村庄的可持续发展。

Second, rural revitalization must take realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests of the vast majority of farmers as its starting point and落脚点 [12]12 落脚点 (luòjiǎo diǎn) literally means "foothold" or "point of landing," used figuratively here to mean the ultimate goal or fundamental purpose.. Building a strong agricultural country, safeguarding national food security, and promoting rural industrial prosperity all require giving full play to the principal role of farmers. Industrial revitalization is the endogenous driving force of rural revitalization. This requires integrating industrial revitalization with farmers' production, management, and employment, ensuring that farmers obtain reasonable returns from the development of rural industries. Currently, enterprises participating in rural revitalization in rural areas generally pursue economies of scale in crop and livestock farming operations, which to some extent raises the threshold for farmers' participation. Therefore, in the process of promoting rural industrial revitalization, it is necessary to vigorously develop cooperative organizations serving rural production and management, helping farmers effectively connect with enterprises while serving their production, management, and employment. Furthermore, it must be emphasized that consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation is the foundation and prerequisite for comprehensive rural revitalization. As a continuation strategy of poverty alleviation, rural revitalization is inevitably endowed with the mission of continuously creating economic opportunities for low-income groups in rural areas, that is, to consolidate the stability and sustainability of poverty alleviation and establish a long-term mechanism to prevent返贫 [13]13 返贫 (fǎnpín) means "relapse into poverty," a key concern in post-poverty alleviation policy. and new poverty. Rural revitalization is a strategic upgrade of poverty alleviation, which inevitably requires that the developmental achievements brought by the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy benefit rural residents more, especially low-income rural groups.

第二，乡村振兴要把实现好、维护好、发展好广大农民的根本利益作为出发点和落脚点。建设农业强国，维护国家粮食安全，促进乡村产业繁荣，都必须要充分发挥农民的主体作用。产业振兴是乡村振兴的内源动力，这就需要把产业振兴与农民的生产经营以及就业结合起来，确保农民在乡村产业发展中获得合理收益。目前，在农村地区参与乡村振兴的企业在种养殖业经营中普遍追求规模经济，这在一定程度上提高了农民参与的门槛。因此，在推进乡村产业振兴的过程中，需要大力发展服务于农村生产经营的合作组织，在服务农民生产经营以及就业的同时，帮助农民有效对接企业。此外，还需要强调的是，巩固拓展脱贫攻坚成果是乡村全面振兴的基础和前提。作为脱贫攻坚的接续战略，乡村振兴也必然被赋予持续为乡村低收入群体创造经济机会的使命，也就是要巩固脱贫的稳定性和可持续性，建立防止返贫和新致贫的长效机制。乡村振兴是脱贫攻坚的战略升级，这就必然要求要把乡村振兴战略实施带来的乡村发展成果更多地惠及农村居民，特别是农村低收入群体。

Third, rural revitalization policies should be tailored to local conditions. China’s various regions differ greatly in resource endowments and economic and social development conditions, and there is no universal method or pathway for rural revitalization. In practice, several important issues must be addressed. First, the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy must clarify that industrial development is the core of solving the increase in farmers’ income and thereby resolving the issues of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. Second, it is necessary to handle the nine sets of relationships: between government and market, between urban and rural areas, between primary industry and secondary and tertiary industries, between farmers and urban residents, between smallholder farmers and modern agriculture, among production, living, and ecology, between food security and economic efficiency, between the short term and the long term, and between the partial and the overall. On this basis, the realization of rural revitalization requires the sustained pull of urbanization and industrialization as well as government policy support, creating conditions for the sustainable development of villages, setting policy objectives that change with the times and are tailored to local conditions, selecting appropriate rural governance entities, leading rural industries, and agricultural management entities, and through targeted and classified policy implementation, enhancing the practical effectiveness of rural revitalization and accelerating the achievement of its goals. At the same time, attention must be paid to preventing excessive bureaucratization, excessive formalization, excessive industrialization, and excessive externalization.

第三，乡村振兴政策应当因地制宜。我国各地资源禀赋、经济社会发展条件差异很大，没有普适性的乡村振兴方法和路径。在实践中须处理好几个重要的问题。首先，乡村振兴战略的实施须明确产业发展是解决农民增收、从而解决农业农村农民问题的核心。其次，要处理好政府与市场，城镇与乡村，第一产业与二、三产业，农民与市民，小农户与现代农业，生产、生活及生态，粮食安全与经济效益，短期和长期，局部和全局这九组关系。在此基础上，乡村振兴的实现需要城镇化、工业化的持续拉动以及政府政策支持，为村庄可持续发展创造条件，设定因时而变、因地制宜的政策目标，选择合适的乡村治理主体、乡村主导产业以及农业经营主体，通过分类精准施策，增强乡村振兴的实践效果，加快乡村振兴目标的实现。同时，需要注意防止过度行政化、过度形式化、过度产业化以及过度外部化。

3. Accelerating the Building of an Agricultural Powerhouse and Comprehensively Promoting Rural Revitalization

3.加快建设农业强国，全面推进乡村振兴

The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out the need to accelerate the building of an agricultural powerhouse. This clarifies the main direction of agricultural and rural modernization in the New Era and proposes the major task of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. China is a large agricultural country but is not yet an agricultural powerhouse. For a long time, China has fed over 18% of the world’s population with about 9% of the world’s arable land and 6% of its freshwater resources. In recent years, China’s output of grains, meat, and fruits has each accounted for over 20% of the world’s total, and its vegetable output accounts for over 50%, making it a veritable major producer of agricultural products. However, the problem of China’s agriculture being large but not strong remains prominent: the scale of agricultural production is too small, the organizational capacity of industries is low, scientific and technological innovation capacity is weak, and green transformation and development lack momentum, resulting in relatively low agricultural production efficiency and international competitiveness. In 2022, the number of people that a single agricultural worker in China could support was 7.99; in the United States, this figure reached 90 people as early as the 1990s, and currently a single agricultural worker can support over 120 people. China still has a large gap to close with the world’s agricultural powerhouses.

党的二十大报告指出，加快建设农业强国。这明确了新时代新征程农业农村现代化的主攻方向，提出了全面推进乡村振兴的重大任务。我国是农业大国，但尚非农业强国。长期以来，我国以占世界约9%的耕地、6%的淡水资源，养活了世界18%以上的人口。近年来，我国谷物、肉类、水果产量均占到世界总产量的20%以上，蔬菜产量占比超过50%，是名副其实的农产品生产大国。然而，我国农业大而不强的问题仍然突出，农业生产规模偏小、产业组织能力较低、科技创新能力不强、绿色转型发展乏力，进而造成农业生产效益和农业产业的国际竞争力相对低下。2022年，我国单位农业从业人员能够供养的人口数为7.99人，美国在20世纪90年代就达到90人的水平，当前单位农业从业人员能够供养的人口数超过120人。我国与世界农业强国仍有很大的差距。

An agricultural powerhouse is a dynamic concept of an “industrial powerhouse” with comparative connotations, whose core is high quality, high efficiency, and high international competitiveness. It can not only hold the bottom line of ensuring national food security but also meet the public’s increasingly upgraded food consumption and nutritional needs, thereby creating a safer and higher-quality life for the people. Various sectors of society have fully discussed the characteristics and features of an agricultural powerhouse. For example, a relatively representative study summarizes the characteristics of an agricultural powerhouse as “four strengths and one high,” namely: strong agricultural supply guarantee capacity, strong agricultural science and technology innovation capacity, strong agricultural sustainable development capacity, strong agricultural competitiveness, and a high level of agricultural development. Reviewing various academic viewpoints, the world’s agricultural powerhouses generally possess five common characteristics: strong supply guarantee, strong scientific and technological innovation, strong industrial systems, strong international competitiveness, and strong sustainable development capacity. From a policy orientation perspective, the 2023 Central Document No. 1 [14]14 Central Document No. 1 refers to the first policy document issued by the Central Committee of the CPC each year, traditionally focused on agricultural and rural issues. clearly requires that “based on national conditions and agricultural conditions, reflecting Chinese characteristics, we should build an agricultural powerhouse with strong supply guarantee, strong scientific and technological equipment, strong management systems, strong industrial resilience, and strong competitiveness,” which outlines a relatively clear, scientific, and reasonable blueprint for accelerating the building of an agricultural powerhouse.

农业强国是动态的、具有比较涵义的“产业强国”概念，其核心是高质量、高效益和高国际竞争力，既能守住保障国家粮食安全的底线，又能满足公众日益升级的食物消费及营养需要，从而为国民创造更安全更高品质的生活。社会各界对农业强国的特征特点做了充分的讨论，如比较具有代表性的研究将农业强国的特征归纳为“四强一高”，即农业供给保障能力强、农业科技创新能力强、农业可持续发展能力强、农业竞争力强和农业发展水平高。梳理学界的各种观点，世界上农业强国基本具备供给保障强、科技创新强、产业体系强、国际竞争力强和可持续发展能力强五个共性特征。从政策导向来看，2023年中央一号文件明确要求“要立足国情农情，体现中国特色，建设供给保障强、科技装备强、经营体系强、产业韧性强、竞争能力强的农业强国”，这为加快建设农业强国勾画出了相对清晰、科学、合理的轮廓。

Accelerating the building of an agricultural powerhouse and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization require fully respecting the subjectivity of farmers, taking as the direction enhancing supply guarantee capacity, improving scientific and technological innovation capacity, building a modern management system, increasing the resilience of agricultural industries, strengthening the competitiveness of agricultural products, and promoting sustainable agricultural development. It is necessary to handle the relationships between development and security, between smallholder farmers and the large market, between government and market, and between domestic construction and opening up to the outside world; to build a modern agricultural production, management, and industrial system; to improve and fully utilize China’s distinctive dual-level management system [15]15 The dual-level management system combines unified collective management with decentralized household management, with the household contract system as its foundation.; to further improve agricultural production infrastructure, promote the green transformation of agriculture, optimize agricultural structural adjustment, extend the agricultural industry chain, develop agricultural insurance, and advance the construction of a professional farming workforce; to promote the comprehensive upgrading of agriculture, the comprehensive development of rural areas, and the comprehensive progress of farmers; and to promote coordinated urban-rural development.

加快农业强国建设、全面推进乡村振兴，需要充分尊重农民的主体性，以增强供给保障能力、提升科技创新能力、建设现代经营体系、提高农业产业韧性、强化农产品竞争能力、促进农业可持续发展为方向，处理好发展与安全、小农户与大市场、政府与市场、国内建设与对外开放等关系，建设起现代农业的生产、经营和产业体系，完善和充分利用我国特色的双层经营体制，进一步完善农业生产基础设施、促进农业绿色转型发展、优化农业结构调整、延长农业产业链条、发展农业保险以及推进职业农民建设等，推动农业全面升级、农村全面发展、农民全面进步，促进城乡协调发展。

II. Historical Logic: Policy Intervention, Evolution of Urban-Rural Relations, and Urban-Rural Coordination

二、历史逻辑：政策干预、城乡关系演变与城乡协调

Under the comprehensive leadership of the Party, China can, with national development and national interests as its fundamental purpose, concentrate human, material, and financial resources from all sides to tackle a major project or complete an important task. China’s urban-rural relations, changing with the stages of national development and adjustments in national strategy and regulated by government policies, present an evolutionary thread of “urban-rural dual segmentation – rural-oriented loosening of the urban-rural dual structure – urban-oriented loosening of the urban-rural dual structure – urban-rural interaction – moving toward urban-rural integration.” Urban-rural relations are gradually moving from dual segmentation toward integration, and promoting urban-rural coordination is an inevitable trend in the evolution of these relations.

在党的全面领导下，我国能够以国家发展和国家利益为根本旨归，集中各方面的人、财、物资源来攻克一项重大项目或完成一项重要任务。我国的城乡关系随着国家发展阶段变化和国家战略调整，受政府政策调节，呈现出“城乡二元分割—农村导向的城乡二元松动—城市导向的城乡二元松动—城乡互动—走向城乡融合”的演进脉络。城乡关系逐步由二元分割走向融合，推动城乡协调是城乡关系演变的必然趋势。

(I) Period of Socialist Revolution and Construction: Urban-Rural Dual Segmentation

（一）社会主义革命和建设时期：城乡二元分割

After the founding of New China, facing a complex international and domestic political and economic situation, and in order to achieve independence, self-reliance, and economic catch-up, the government adopted a strategy of prioritizing the development of heavy industries such as metal smelting, petrochemicals, and equipment manufacturing. The priority development of heavy industry required large amounts of financial capital. Given the limited accumulation within domestic industry itself, the government needed to extract agricultural surplus to support heavy industry. To better concentrate agricultural surplus, the government formulated and implemented a set of planned allocation measures, including the household registration system [16]16 The household registration system (hukou) divides the population into agricultural and non-agricultural categories, historically restricting rural-to-urban migration., the people’s commune management system [17]17 The people’s commune system was a collective agricultural production and administrative unit in rural China from 1958 to the early 1980s., and the policy of unified state purchase and marketing of agricultural products [18]18 The unified state purchase and marketing system (tonggou tongxiao) was a state monopoly over the procurement and distribution of key agricultural products., to control the flow of rural labor to cities, while simultaneously controlling agricultural product prices to reduce labor costs, extracting agricultural surplus in a concentrated manner through the “price scissors” [19]19 “Price scissors” refers to the state’s practice of setting low prices for agricultural products and high prices for industrial goods to extract surplus from agriculture. between industrial and agricultural products. Due to the strong intervention of government policies, cities, as the carriers of industrialization, received absolute policy preference from the government. During this period, the exchange of industrial and agricultural products was unequal, the flow of urban-rural factors was strictly restricted, and development opportunities and rights for urban residents and farmers were unequal. Urban-rural relations presented a complete state of “dual segmentation.”

新中国成立后，面对错综复杂的国际国内政治经济形势，为了实现独立自强和经济赶超，政府采取了优先发展金属冶炼、石油化工、装备制造等重工业的战略。重工业优先发展需要大量的资金资本投入，在国内工业自身积累优先的情况下，政府需要提取农业剩余来支持重工业发展。为了更好地集中农业剩余，政府制定并实施了包括户籍制度、人民公社管理体制、农产品统购统销政策在内的一整套计划配置办法，用以控制农村劳动力向城市的流动，同时控制农产品价格进而降低劳动力成本，通过工农产品价格“剪刀差”集中提取农业剩余。因为政府政策的强力干预，城市作为工业化的载体受到政府政策的绝对偏向，此阶段工农产品交易不平等、城乡要素流动严格受限、市民与农民发展机会不均等和发展权利不平等，城乡关系呈现完全的“二元分割”状态。

(II) Period of Reform and Opening Up and Socialist Modernization: From Loosening of the Urban-Rural Dual Structure to Urban-Rural Interaction

（二）改革开放和社会主义现代化建设时期：城乡二元松动走向城乡互动

1. Loosening of the Urban-Rural Dual Structure and Restorative Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas

1.城乡二元松动与农业农村恢复性发展

The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC decided to shift the focus of the Party and state work to economic construction and implement reform and opening up. Against this background, rural economic system reform was first initiated. Places such as Fengyang in Anhui and Guanghan in Sichuan took the lead in implementing the household land contract system [20]20 The household land contract system allocates collectively owned land to individual households for long-term use, a key reform initiated in the late 1970s., opening the prelude to the reform of the rural basic management system. Subsequently, production responsibility systems such as household output quotas and household responsibility contracts were gradually established nationwide. The “big contract” system [21]21 “Big contract” (dabaogan) is a colloquial term for the household responsibility system, where households contract land and retain surplus output after meeting state quotas. did not change collective ownership, but it made the family once again the basic unit of agricultural production and management. Farmers gained autonomous land use rights, management decision-making rights, and residual claim rights, which greatly enhanced farmers’ production enthusiasm and also brought restorative growth in agricultural production during this period. The central government affirmed and recognized the institutional innovation originating from farmers. From 1982 to 1986, it successively issued Document No. 1 with the theme of agricultural and rural development, confirming the legal status of the household land contract system and establishing, in the form of formal rules, the household contract system that maintains long-term stability. The rural basic management system was reshaped, and greater space was given to rural economic development. The 1985 Central Document No. 1, “Ten Policies of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council on Further Invigorating the Rural Economy,” explicitly allowed community cooperative economic organizations to use construction land according to plans and encouraged rural collectives to use construction land to develop township enterprises. The rapid development of township enterprises not only solved the employment problem of a large number of surplus laborers and drove the growth of farmers’ income but also effectively enhanced rural consumption capacity and promoted the expansion of domestic demand, thereby significantly narrowing the urban-rural gap. During this period, central government policies supported and encouraged agricultural production and rural development, leading to a loosening of the absolute “dual” urban-rural relationship, restorative growth in agriculture and rural areas, and a tangible narrowing of the urban-rural gap.

党的十一届三中全会决定将党和国家的工作重心转移到经济建设上来，实行改革开放。农村经济体制改革在此背景下首先发轫，安徽凤阳、四川广汉等地率先实行土地家庭承包制，开启了农村基本经营制度变革的序幕，随后包产到户、包干到户等生产责任制陆续在全国建立起来。“大包干”制度并不改变集体所有权，但使家庭重新成为农业生产经营的基本单位，农民拥有自主的土地使用权、经营决策权、剩余索取权，这极大提高了农民的生产积极性，也带来了此阶段农业生产的恢复性增长。中央政府肯定和认可了源自农民的制度创新，1982—1986年以农业农村发展为主题连续发布一号文件，确认了土地家庭承包的合法地位，并以正式规则形式确立了保持家庭承包的长久不变的家庭承包制度，农村基本经营制度得到重塑，农村经济发展被给予更大的空间。1985年中央一号文件《中共中央、国务院关于进一步活跃农村经济的十项政策》明确允许社区合作经济组织按规划使用建设用地，鼓励农村集体使用建设用地发展乡镇企业。乡镇企业的快速发展，不仅解决了大量剩余劳动力就业问题，带动农民收入增长，还有效提升了农村消费能力、促进内需扩大，进而明显缩小了城乡差距。此阶段中央政策支持和鼓励农业生产和农村发展，带来城乡“绝对二元”关系的松动，农业农村出现恢复性增长，切实缩小了城乡差距。

2. The Loosening of the Urban-Rural Dual Structure and the City’s Renewed Squeeze on the Countryside

2.城乡二元松动与城市再次挤压农村

After 1987, the government’s policy focus shifted toward the cities, and urban economic system reform began. The achievements of the previous stage of rural economic system reform—namely, an ample supply of agricultural products and raw materials, cheap labor, a broad market for industrial goods, and a stable rural society—laid a solid foundation for promoting urban economic development led by state-owned enterprises, driving the rapid advance of China’s urbanization and industrialization. However, urban progress came at the cost of an increased burden on agriculture, the countryside, and farmers. The urban-rural dual management system inherited from the planned economy era allowed the urban economy to once again extract agricultural surplus through the “price scissors” [22]22 The “price scissors” (工农产品“剪刀差”) refers to the state’s policy of setting artificially low prices for agricultural products and high prices for industrial products, extracting surplus from agriculture to fund industrial development. between industrial and agricultural products, to save urban capital by hiring cheap rural surplus labor, and to expand urban space, conserve fiscal funds, and generate fiscal revenue through land expropriation and low compensation for land acquisition, thereby achieving rapid development. According to calculations by Kong Xiangzhi and He Anhua, from 1987 to 1997, the “price scissors” between industrial and agricultural products in China expanded significantly compared with 1981–1986 (see Figure 1). Industrial product prices were markedly raised, while agricultural product prices were significantly lowered. Urban economic development obtained large quantities of agricultural products and extracted substantial agricultural surplus, yet farmers’ incomes failed to achieve effective growth.

1987年以后，政府的政策重心开始转向城市，城市经济体制改革拉开帷幕。前一阶段农村经济体制改革的成果，即充足的农产品和原料供应、廉价的劳动力、广阔的工业品市场、稳定的农村社会，为推动以国有企业为代表的城市经济发展打下了坚实的基础，带来了我国城镇化与工业化的快速推进。然而，城市的进步是以农业、农村、农民负担加重为代价的。自计划经济时代延续而来的城乡二元管理体制，使城市经济可以再次通过工农产品“剪刀差”汲取农业剩余，通过雇佣廉价的农村剩余劳动力节约城市资本，通过征地和偏低的征地补偿拓展城市空间、节约财政资金、提供财政收入，从而获得快速发展。据孔祥智、何安华测算，1987—1997年，我国工农产品“剪刀差”相比1981—1986年有明显的扩大（见图1）。工业产品价格显著拉高，农产品价格明显拉低，城市经济发展获得了大量农产品，还汲取了大量农业剩余，而农民收入却没有实现有效增长。

At the same time, after the establishment of the household contract responsibility system, with the principle of “paying enough to the state, retaining enough for the collective, and keeping the rest for oneself,” farmers had to directly face the pressure of state agricultural taxes, paying local village levies, township pooling funds, and various miscellaneous charges. In particular, after the tax-sharing system reform in 1994, [23]23 The 1994 tax-sharing system reform (分税制改革) restructured central-local fiscal relations, increasing the central government’s share of tax revenue while leaving local governments with reduced fiscal resources. the central government’s share of fiscal revenue increased, while county and township finances generally fell into difficulty. Arbitrary apportionments and unauthorized fees became serious, and agricultural taxes and fees continued to rise, accounting for 10.2% to 12.2% of farmers’ incomes, placing an unbearable burden on them (see Figure 2). In 1994, China’s total agricultural taxes and fees amounted to 95.8 billion yuan, with levies, pooling funds, and other charges accounting for 75.9%, and the per capita tax and fee burden on farmers was 112 yuan. In 2000, total agricultural taxes and fees reached 135.9 billion yuan, an increase of about 42% over 1994, and the per capita burden on farmers was 168.4 yuan, about 50% higher than in 1994. The tax and fee burden on farmers continued to intensify, leading to frequent violent incidents triggered by the increased burden, which became the principal contradiction in China’s rural development at this stage. In March 2000, Li Changping, then Party secretary of Qipan Township in Jianli County, Hubei Province, reported to the Premier that “farmers are truly suffering, the countryside is truly poor, and agriculture is truly in danger,” bringing the “three rural issues” [24]24 The “three rural issues” (三农问题) refer to the problems of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, a key policy focus in China. once again to the high attention of the central authorities.

与此同时，自家庭承包制建立以后，“交足国家的、留足集体的、剩下的都是自己的”，农民需要直接面对国家农业税压力，交纳地方的村提留、乡统筹以及各种名目的杂项。特别是1994年分税制改革后，中央财政收入占比提高，县乡财政却普遍出现困难，乱派款、乱收费现象严重，农业税费持续增长，占到农民收入的10.2%~12.2%，农民不堪重负（见图2）。1994年，我国的农业税费总额为958亿元，提留统筹及其他收费占比达75.9%，农民人均税费额112元；2000年，农业税费总额1359亿元，比1994年增长约42%，农民人均税费额168.4元，比1994年提高约50%，农民的税费负担持续加重，因农民负担增加引发的恶性事件频发，成为此阶段我国农村发展的主要矛盾。2000年3月，时任湖北监利县棋盘乡党委书记的李昌平向总理报告“农民真苦，农村真穷，农业真危险”，“三农”问题再次受到中央的高度重视。

3. The Mid-Stage of Industrialization: The Beginning of Urban-Rural Interaction

3.工业化中期阶段城乡开始互动

The report of the 16th National Congress of the CPC proposed coordinating urban and rural economic and social development, accelerating the urbanization process through the comprehensive prosperity of the rural economy. This required building modern agriculture, further developing the rural economy, and increasing farmers’ incomes. In 2004, China’s per capita GDP exceeded $1,500, the urbanization rate was 42%, and the share of agricultural value added in GDP was 15.2%. Non-agricultural industries had become the leading sectors of the national economy and the main drivers of economic growth. China had entered the mid-stage of industrialization and had generally reached the development stage of “industry promoting agriculture and cities supporting the countryside.” Central policy once again focused on promoting agricultural and rural development, guiding urban modern factor resources toward the countryside, and using the annual No. 1 Central Document [25]25 The annual No. 1 Central Document (一号文件) is the first policy document issued by the CPC Central Committee each year, traditionally focused on agricultural and rural issues since 2004. to drive increases in agricultural output, farmers’ incomes, and rural development, in order to achieve the “simultaneous development of the four modernizations.” [26]26 The “simultaneous development of the four modernizations” (四化同步) refers to the coordinated advancement of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. This stage saw three notable factual changes in economic and social development. First, agricultural taxes and fees were completely abolished, and the burden on farmers was substantially reduced. In 2001, the central authorities selected Anhui Province and a few counties (cities) in other regions to launch a rural tax and fee reform centered on “three cancellations, one gradual cancellation, two adjustments, and one reform.” [27]27 The “three cancellations, one gradual cancellation, two adjustments, and one reform” (三个取消、一个逐步取消、两个调整、一项改革) refers to the abolition of specific taxes and fees, the gradual elimination of the agricultural tax, adjustments to agricultural tax rates and policies, and reform of the agricultural tax collection system. In 2004, the agricultural tax rate began to be gradually reduced, and in 2006, the agricultural tax was completely abolished, finally ending the agricultural tax system that had lasted for more than two thousand years. Second, the government continuously increased fiscal spending on agriculture (see Figure 3), strongly supporting agricultural and rural development. Around 2004, the government successively introduced pro-agriculture and pro-farmer policies such as subsidies for improved seed varieties, direct subsidies for grain producers, comprehensive subsidies for agricultural inputs, subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery, minimum purchase price policies for rice and wheat, and temporary purchase and storage policies for corn and soybeans. It also increased support for the construction of small-scale rural infrastructure and increased investment in rural compulsory education, improvements in medical conditions, and the establishment of a minimum living standard security system. Agricultural and rural development improved markedly, and farmers’ living conditions improved significantly. Third, the two-way flow of rural surplus labor between urban and rural areas promoted urban-rural interaction. According to the General Report on the Study of China’s Migrant Worker Issues published in 2007, in 2004 the total number of “migratory bird” migrant workers—those whose occupation and identity were separated and who flowed between urban and rural areas—was approximately 200 million. Farmers working outside their hometowns not only increased their wage income and promoted rural development in backward areas but also made important contributions to accelerating China’s industrialization and urbanization.

党的十六大报告提出要统筹城乡经济社会发展，以农村经济的全面繁荣，加快城镇化进程。这要求建设现代农业，进一步发展农村经济和增加农民收入。2004年我国人均GDP超过1500美元，城镇化率为42%，农业增加值占GDP的15.2%，非农产业已成为国民经济的主导产业及经济增长的主要动力，我国进入工业化中期阶段，总体上到达“以工促农、以城带乡”的发展阶段，中央政策再次高度关注促进农业农村发展，注重引导城市现代要素资源向农村倾斜，并通过每年的一号文件推动农业增产、农民增收和农村发展，以实现“四化同步”发展。此阶段经济社会发展有三个显著的事实变化：一是农业税费彻底取消，农民负担切实减轻。2001年，中央选择在安徽全省和其他地区少数县（市）开启以“三个取消、一个逐步取消、两个调整、一项改革”为主要内容的农村税费改革，2004年开始逐步降低农业税税率，2006年全面取消农业税，彻底终结了延续两千余年的农业税制度。二是政府持续加大了财政支农资金投入力度（见图3），大力支持农业农村发展。政府在2004年前后陆续出台良种补贴政策、种粮直接补贴政策、农资综合补贴政策、农机购置补贴政策、水稻和小麦最低收购价政策、玉米和大豆临时收储政策等支农惠农政策，加大对农村小型基础设施建设支持力度，加大农村义务教育、医疗条件改善和最低生活保障制度建设的投入，农业农村发展有明显提升，农民生活条件有显著改善。三是农村剩余劳动力城乡双向流动推动了城乡互动。据2007年发布的《中国农民工问题研究总报告》，2004年我国职业与身份相分离、城乡之间双向流动的“候鸟式”流动农民工总数大约为2亿人。农民外出务工，不仅增加了务工收入，带动了落后地区农村发展，也为加快我国工业化和城镇化进程作出了重要贡献。

(III) The New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Urban-Rural Coordination and Urban-Rural Integration

（三）中国特色社会主义新时代：城乡协调与城乡融合

The 18th National Congress of the CPC proposed “urban-rural integration,” the 19th National Congress proposed “urban-rural integrated development,” and the report of the 20th National Congress further emphasized “adhering to urban-rural integrated development.” Government policies have subsequently been further refined and improved, promoting substantive progress in coordinated urban-rural development and urban-rural integration. On the one hand, new-type urbanization has been steadily advanced. The National Development and Reform Commission issued documents such as the Key Tasks for New-Type Urbanization and Urban-Rural Integration, actively promoting the settlement of agricultural transfer populations already employed in cities and towns. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, together with multiple ministries, deeply implemented a vocational skills upgrading plan for rural migrant workers, launching the “Spring Tide Action.” [28]28 The “Spring Tide Action” (春潮行动) is a government program launched to provide vocational training for rural migrant workers. The living conditions of rural migrant workers have continuously improved, and the education of their accompanying children has been guaranteed. The protection of the legitimate property rights and interests of agricultural transfer populations in rural collectives has been strengthened. On the other hand, the factor momentum for rural revitalization has been continuously strengthened. Major progress has been made in the reform of the rural land system. Fixed asset investment in agriculture has continued to increase. Fiscal support for agriculture has been continuously expanded. The capacity for agricultural science and technology innovation has been significantly enhanced. These policies have promoted increasingly frequent urban-rural interaction, and a two-way flow of urban-rural factors has begun: there is both the conversion of agricultural land for other uses and farmers moving to cities, as well as technology and capital going to the countryside, and even returning migrant workers starting businesses and innovating in their hometowns, driving surrounding farmers to increase their incomes and contributing to the revitalization of rural industries. Substantive steps have been taken in urban-rural integration. The urban-rural income ratio fell from 2.88 in 2012 to 2.39 in 2023; the urban-rural consumption ratio fell from 2.57 in 2012 to 1.82 in 2023; and the urban-rural average minimum living standard ratio fell from 1.92 in 2012 to 1.27 in 2023, marking substantive progress in coordinated urban-rural development.

党的十八大提出“城乡一体化”，党的十九大提出“城乡融合”发展，党的二十大报告则进一步强调了“坚持城乡融合发展”，政府政策也随之进一步健全和完善，推动城乡协调发展和城乡融合取得实质性进展。一方面，新型城镇化持续推进，国家发展和改革委印发《新型城镇化和城乡融合发展重点任务》等文件，积极推动已在城镇就业的农业转移人口落户；人社部联合多部委深入实施农村外出务工人员职业技能提升计划，开展“春潮行动”；农村外出务工人员生活条件不断改善，随迁子女教育得到保障；加强保障农业转移人口在农村集体的合法财产权益。另一方面，乡村振兴的要素动能持续强化，农村土地制度改革取得重大进展，农业固定资产投资持续增加，财政支农力度不断加大，农业科技创新能力显著增强。这些政策推动了日益频繁的城乡互动，城乡要素开始了双向流动：既有农地转用、农民进城，也有技术下乡、资本下乡，更有进城务工人员返乡创新创业，带动周边农户致富增收和助力乡村产业振兴，城乡融合迈出实质性步伐。城乡居民收入比由2012年的2.88下降到2023年的2.39；城乡居民消费比由2012年的2.57下降到2023年的1.82；城乡低保平均标准比由2012年的1.92下降为2023年的1.27，城乡协调发展取得实质性进展。

III. Practical Logic: Six Major Difficulties in Unbalanced Urban-Rural Development and Insufficient Rural Development

三、实践逻辑：城乡发展不平衡、农村发展不充分面临六大难题

At the current stage, the two main challenges facing China’s coordinated urban-rural development, or the two most prominent manifestations of unbalanced urban-rural development, are that the urban-rural income gap, especially the absolute urban-rural income gap, is still widening, and that a fully equalized social security system and public service system for urban and rural areas have not yet been established. To address these two important challenges, it is still necessary to first make up for the shortcoming of insufficient rural development and promote comprehensive rural revitalization. However, rural revitalization faces difficulties such as insufficient vitality in county economic development, weak growth of the collective economy, an aging rural population and a weakening labor force, a weak rural industrial system, and the difficulty of small farmers effectively integrating into the large market. These difficulties hinder comprehensive rural revitalization and the pace of promoting urban-rural coordination. To advance urban-rural coordination and urban-rural integration, these difficulties must be correctly understood and actively addressed.

当前阶段，我国城乡协调发展面临的两个最主要的挑战，或者说城乡发展不平衡最主要的两个表征，在于城乡收入差距特别是城乡绝对收入差距仍在拉大以及城乡均等化的社会保障体系和公共服务体系尚未健全。而要应对这两个重要的挑战，仍需首先补足农村发展不充分这个短板，推动乡村全面振兴。然而，乡村振兴面临县域经济发展活力不足、集体经济增长乏力、乡村人口老龄化和劳动力弱质化、乡村产业体系薄弱和小农户难以有效融入大市场的难题，阻碍了乡村全面振兴和推进城乡协调的步伐。要推进城乡协调和城乡融合，必须正确认识和积极应对这些难题。

(I) The Urban-Rural Income Gap Remains Large, and Internal Rural Wealth Polarization Is Severe

（一）城乡收入差距仍然较大，农村内部贫富分化严重

Since reform and opening up, the relative income gap between urban and rural residents in China has generally shown a trend of first fluctuating upward and then declining year by year (see Figure 4), reaching its highest level of 3.14 times around 2007, then declining, and dropping to 2.39 times in 2023, though still far higher than the historical low of 1.82 times (1983). From 2012 to 2023, the average annual growth rate of per capita disposable income of rural residents in China was 9.02%, higher than the 7.20% average annual growth rate of urban residents. The relative income gap between urban and rural residents has continued to narrow, with the urban-rural per capita disposable income ratio falling from 2.88 times to 2.39 times. However, although the relative urban-rural income gap is narrowing, the absolute income gap between urban and rural residents continues to widen. In 2012, the urban-rural income gap was 15,738 yuan; by 2023, this gap had increased to 30,130 yuan, with an average annual growth of 6.08%. The urban-rural development gap remains relatively large, and unbalanced urban-rural development remains an important aspect of China’s unbalanced development.

改革开放以来，我国城乡居民相对收入差距总体上呈现先波动上升、后逐年下降的态势（见图4），在2007年左右达到最高水平3.14倍，随后呈下降趋势，2023年降为2.39倍，但仍远高于历史最低水平1.82倍（1983年）。2012—2023年，我国农村居民人均可支配收入年均增速为9.02%，高于城镇居民7.20%的年均增速，城乡居民相对收入差距持续缩小，城乡人均可支配收入比从2.88倍下降到2.39倍。然而，尽管城乡相对收入差距在缩小，但城乡居民绝对收入差距仍在持续拉大，2012年城乡居民收入差距为15738元，2023年这一差距增加至30130元，年均增长6.08%，城乡发展差距仍旧较大，城乡发展不平衡依然是我国发展不平衡的重要方面。

There is also a considerable degree of income inequality within the rural resident population. Using the ratio of per capita disposable income of the high-income group to the low-income group in the five-tier income grouping of urban and rural residents to measure the income gap within urban and rural residents, it can be found that the income gap within rural residents has long been significantly higher than that within urban residents (see Figure 5). In 2017, the income gap within rural residents reached a historical peak, with the per capita disposable income of the highest income group being 9.48 times that of the lowest income group. The income gap within rural residents has shown a downward trend since 2017, a trend likely resulting from the implementation of the poverty alleviation campaign [29]29 The poverty alleviation campaign (脱贫攻坚战) was a major national initiative launched by the CPC around 2015, aiming to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty by 2020. It was declared successful at the end of 2020.. Worryingly, since 2020, the income gap within rural residents has shown an upward trend again. In 2023, the per capita disposable income of the highest income group among rural residents was 9.52 times that of the lowest income group, exceeding the 2017 level. Over the same period, the income gap within urban residents was 6.33 times, indicating that the problem of wealth polarization within rural residents is relatively more severe.

农村居民内部也存在相当程度的收入不平等问题。使用城乡居民收入五等分组中高收入组与低收入组的人均可支配收入之比，来衡量城镇居民和农村居民内部的收入差距，可以发现，农村居民内部的收入差距长期以来明显高于城镇居民（见图5）。2017年，农村居民内部收入差距达到历史高峰水平，最高收入组是最低收入组人均可支配收入的9.48倍。农村居民收入差距自2017年以来呈下降趋势，这种下降趋势很可能是实施脱贫攻坚计划的成果。值得警惕的是，自2020年开始，农村居民内部收入差距又有上升的趋势。2023年，农村居民最高收入组人均可支配收入是最低收入组的9.52倍，超过了2017年的水平，同期城镇居民内部的收入差距为6.33倍，农村居民内部贫富分化问题相对更为严重。

Although China has eliminated absolute poverty, the income level of rural residents remains relatively low. In 2020, the per capita disposable income of households in the lowest income group among rural residents was 4,618 yuan, while that of households in the low-income group among urban residents was 15,598 yuan, an income level exceeding that of 60% of rural households; 80% of rural households had a per capita disposable income lower than that of the lower-middle income group among urban households. In 2023, the per capita income of various groups within both urban and rural residents increased to varying degrees, but the growth rates of the four groups other than the lowest income group within rural areas were all faster than that of the lowest income group. Consequently, the income gap between these four groups and the lowest income group significantly widened compared to 2020, and the income gaps between different groups within rural areas and the lowest income group were all significantly larger than the income gaps within urban areas (see Table 1). Therefore, the main body of China’s low-income groups is rural residents. The core task of narrowing the urban-rural income gap is to increase farmers’ income. This is an inevitable requirement for China’s high-quality development in the New Era [30]30 The New Era (新时代) refers to the period in China’s development since the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, characterized by the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. and is also a long-term task and difficulty in promoting urban-rural coordination.

虽然我国已消除绝对贫困，但是农村居民的收入水平仍较低。2020年，农村居民最低收入组家庭人均可支配收入为4618元，而城镇居民低收入组家庭的人均可支配收入是15598元，这个收入水平超过了60%的农村家庭居民；农村80%的家庭人均可支配收入不及城镇中间偏下收入组家庭。2023年，城乡居民内部各个群体的人均收入有不同程度的增加，但农村内部最低收入组以外的四个群体增速均快于最低收入组，因而四个群体与最低收入组的收入差距相比2020年显著加大，并且农村内部不同群体与最低收入组的收入差距均显著大于城镇内部的收入差距（见表1）。因此，我国低收入群体的主体是农村居民，缩小城乡收入差距的核心任务是提高农民收入，这是新时代我国经济社会高质量发展的必然要求，也是促进城乡协调的长期任务和难点。

(2) The level of rural social security is relatively low, and the equalization of urban and rural public services needs improvement.

（二）农村社会保障水平较低，城乡公共服务均等化有待提升

A well-established social security system is an important pillar for building a common prosperity society, and an equalized urban-rural social security system is an inevitable requirement for promoting urban-rural coordination. China has currently established a social security system covering both urban and rural areas. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, by the end of 2022, the number of people participating in basic pension insurance in China reached 1.053 billion, including 503 million participants in basic pension insurance for urban workers and 549 million participants in basic pension insurance for urban and rural residents. The total number of urban and rural residents receiving minimum subsistence allowances reached 40.32 million, and the social security coverage rate has reached a relatively high level. However, China’s social security system has long had the problem of unbalanced resource allocation. Taking the basic pension insurance system as an example, a prominent issue is the significant gap in security levels between urban and rural residents, especially between urban workers and rural residents. From the perspective of basic pension fund revenue contributions, in 2022, the per capita contribution of urban workers was 12,576 yuan/year, while that of urban and rural residents was 1,021 yuan/year, meaning the contribution of urban workers was 12.3 times that of urban and rural residents. From the perspective of pension income, in 2022, the per capita pension income of retired urban workers was 44,870 yuan/year, while that of urban and rural resident pension recipients was 2,456 yuan/year, with the former being 18.3 times the latter. The gap in pension income between urban workers and rural residents is significantly larger than the gap in pension contributions. In 2022, the average monthly pension income of rural residents receiving pensions was 189 yuan, significantly lower than the rural minimum subsistence allowance (542 yuan/month in 2022) and the 2010 standard national rural poverty line (approximately 192 yuan/month).

完善的社会保障制度是建设共同富裕社会的重要支柱，城乡均等的社会保障体系是促进城乡协调的必然要求。我国目前已建立覆盖城乡的社会保障体系，据国家统计局和人社部发布的数据，截至2022年年末，我国参加基本养老保险人数达10.53亿人，其中，城镇职工基本养老保险参保人数为5.03亿人，城乡居民基本养老保险参保人数为5.49亿人，享受最低生活保障的城乡居民总数达4032万人，社保覆盖率已达较高水平。然而我国社会保障体系长期存在资源配置不均衡的问题，以基本养老保险体系为例，一个突出的问题是城乡居民，特别是城镇职工与农村居民的保障水平存在明显差距。从基本养老基金收入贡献来看，2022年城镇职工人均贡献为12576元/年，城乡居民人均贡献为1021元/年，城镇职工的贡献是城乡居民的12.3倍。从养老金收入看，2022年城镇退休职工人均养老金收入为44870元/年，城乡居民领取者的人均养老金收入为2456元/年，前者是后者的18.3倍，城镇职工与农村居民的养老金收入差距显著高于养老金贡献差距。2022年，领取养老金的农村居民，其养老金平均月收入为189元，明显低于农村最低生活保障（2022年为542元/月）以及2010年标准的国家农村人口贫困线（约192元/月）。

Beyond the social security system, elderly care and medical care are also issues closely related to rural residents’ pursuit of a better life, but the construction of an equalized urban-rural public service system still has a long way to go. Taking rural medical and health care as an example, a sound and complete rural medical and health system directly concerns the health and well-being of nearly 500 million permanent rural residents. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [31]31 The 18th National Congress of the CPC was held in 2012, marking the beginning of Xi Jinping’s leadership and the initiation of many major policies, including the comprehensive deepening of reform and the anti-corruption campaign., China has continuously strengthened the construction of the rural medical and health system, and the capacity of rural medical and health services has been continuously improved. Rural residents have basically achieved fair access to basic medical and health services. However, it must also be recognized that the problems of unbalanced urban-rural medical and health development levels and insufficient development of the rural medical and health system remain prominent, and there is still a large gap from the goal of meeting the growing health needs of rural residents. There are differences in the health levels of urban and rural residents in China, and there are also significant inequalities in medical service utilization, health financing, and accessibility of health services. Total health expenditure measures the government’s investment in health undertakings, and its distribution between urban and rural areas will directly affect the degree to which the medical service needs of urban and rural residents are met. However, since the beginning of the new century, the unfairness in the allocation of urban and rural medical financial resources in China has been continuously expanding.

社会保障体系之外，养老和医疗也是与农村居民追求美好生活密切相关的问题，但城乡均等的公共服务体系建设仍任重道远。以乡村医疗卫生为例，健全完善的乡村医疗卫生体系直接关系近5亿农村常住居民的健康福祉。党的十八大以来，我国持续加大乡村医疗卫生体系建设，乡村医疗卫生服务能力得到持续提升，农村居民基本实现了公平享有基本医疗卫生服务。也要看到，城乡医疗卫生发展水平不平衡、乡村医疗卫生体系发展不充分问题依然突出，与满足农村居民日益增长的健康需求的目标还有很大差距。我国城乡居民的健康水平存在差异，也在医疗服务利用、卫生筹资、卫生服务可及性等方面存在较大的不平等现象。卫生总费用衡量政府对卫生事业的投入力度，其在城乡间的分配将直接影响对城乡居民医疗服务需求的满足程度，然而，进入新世纪以来，我国城乡医疗财力资源的配置不公平程度在持续扩大。

As shown in Figure 6, urban health expenditure increased from 262.424 billion yuan (57.2% of the total) in 2000 to 3,545.801 billion yuan (75.6% of the total) in 2016, with an average annual growth rate of 17.7%; correspondingly, rural health expenditure increased from 196.239 billion yuan in 2000 to 1,088.687 billion yuan in 2016, with an average annual growth rate of 11.3%, significantly lower than the urban growth rate, and its share continued to decline. In terms of per capita health expenditure, from 2000 to 2016, urban per capita health expenditure increased from 813.7 yuan to 4,471.5 yuan, while rural per capita health expenditure increased from 214.7 yuan to 1,846.1 yuan. Due to the migration of the rural population, the growth rate of rural per capita health expenditure was faster than that of urban areas, but in 2016, urban per capita health expenditure was still 2.4 times that of rural areas. The health financial resources available in rural areas were only equivalent to the urban level in 2008; in other words, rural medical resources lagged behind urban areas by about 8 years. Beyond financial investment, the absolute gap in the number of hospital beds per thousand population between urban and rural areas has shown a tendency to widen, while the absolute urban-rural gaps in the number of health technicians, licensed (assistant) physicians, and registered nurses per thousand population have not significantly narrowed. Furthermore, in addition to the quantitative differences in medical services between urban and rural areas, there is a clear gap in the “quality” of urban and rural public services, with the level of urban public services far higher than that of rural areas. Therefore, it is urgent to further improve the level of rural public services and promote the equalization of urban and rural public services.

如图6所示，城市卫生费用从2000年的2624.24亿元（占比57.2%）增长到2016年的35458.01亿元（占比75.6%），年均增长17.7%；相应地，农村卫生费用从2000年的1962.39亿元增长到2016年的10886.87亿元，年均增长11.3%，增速大幅低于城市，占比持续下降。在人均卫生费用方面，2000—2016年，城市人均卫生费用从813.7元增加至4471.5元，农村则从214.7元增加至1846.1元，由于农村人口的迁移，农村人均卫生费用的增速快于城镇，但2016年城市人均卫生费用仍为农村的2.4倍，农村拥有的卫生财力资源仅相当于城市2008年的水平，换言之，农村的医疗资源大致落后了城市8年。在财政投入之外，城乡每千人口医疗机构床位数的绝对差距有扩大趋势，同时每千人口卫生技术人员、执业（助理）医师、注册护士数的城乡绝对差距仍没有明显收缩。此外，除了城乡间医疗服务在数量上的差异，城乡公共服务在“质”上更存在明显差距，城镇公共服务水平远高于农村，因而亟须进一步提升农村公共服务水平，促进城乡公共服务均等化。

(3) County-level economic development is unbalanced and lacks driving force.

（三）县域经济发展不平衡且带动力不足

The county economy is the connecting point between the urban economy and the rural economy. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC explicitly stated, “advancing urbanization with the county town as an important carrier,” clarifying the significant role of county-level urban areas in urbanization development. The 2023 Central Rural Work Conference pointed out, “coordinate new-type urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization, enhance the comprehensive carrying capacity and governance capacity of county towns, and promote integrated urban-rural development at the county level,” once again emphasizing the important position of the county as “linking the city and the countryside.” At present, China’s county population accounts for about 74% of the national population, and the county GDP accounts for about 53% of the national GDP. In terms of population size, by the end of 2021, China’s county urban population was 250 million, of which the permanent population of county towns in 1,472 counties was about 160 million, and the permanent population of urban areas in 394 county-level cities was about 90 million. The population of county towns and county-level city urban areas accounts for nearly 30% of the national urban permanent population. The county economy plays an important role in promoting the “simultaneous development of the Four Modernizations” [32]32 The “Four Modernizations” (四化) refers to the simultaneous development of new-type industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, a strategic framework for China’s development., plays a positive role in absorbing surplus rural labor, and plays a key role in promoting urban-rural coordination and integrated development. However, overall, the phenomenon of unbalanced and inadequate development of county economies across various regions of China remains very prominent.

县域经济是城市经济和农村经济的联结点。党的二十大报告明确提出，“推进以县城为重要载体的城镇化建设”，明确了县域城镇地区对城镇化发展的重要作用。2023年中央农村工作会议指出，“统筹新型城镇化和乡村全面振兴，提升县城综合承载能力和治理能力，促进县域城乡融合发展”，再次强调了县域“连城带乡”的重要地位。目前，我国县域人口约占全国人口的74%，县域GDP约占全国GDP的53%。从人口规模来看，2021年年底，我国县域城镇人口规模为2.5亿，其中1472个县的县城常住人口为1.6亿人左右，394个县级市的城区常住人口为0.9亿人左右，县城及县级市城区人口占全国城镇常住人口的近30%。县域经济在推进“四化同步”发展过程中发挥重要作用，在吸纳农村剩余劳动力等方面发挥积极作用，在促进城乡协调和融合发展方面发挥关键作用。但是，总体来看，我国各地区县域经济发展不平衡不充分的现象还非常突出。

From the perspective of unbalanced development, the county economy in the eastern region of China is developed, while county economic development in the central, western, and northeastern regions is clearly lagging behind. According to the “2023 China County Economic Top 100 Research Report,” among the top 100 counties in 2022, the eastern region accounted for 65 seats, the central region for 20 seats, the western region for 14 seats, and the northeastern region for 1 seat. The regional distribution pattern of the top 100 counties has changed little over the past five years, and the problem of unbalanced regional distribution remains prominent. The top 100 counties in the eastern region are mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong provinces, accounting for 23, 16, and 13 seats respectively. The top 100 counties, with less than 3.0% of the land and 11.0% of the population of all counties, created about one-quarter of the county GDP. The imbalance in county economic development between regions inevitably affects the imbalance in rural development between regions. According to the “2022 China Rural Revitalization Top 100 Counties Research Report,” the eastern region still had the most entries, accounting for 38 seats, the central region for 28 seats, the western region for 15 seats, and the northeastern region for 19 seats. The top 100 counties for rural revitalization in the eastern region are mainly distributed in Guangdong (15), Jiangsu (14), and Shandong (3). From this, it can be observed that in economically developed provinces, county economic development is better, and the effect of promoting rural revitalization is also relatively better, showing a “Matthew effect” [33]33 The “Matthew effect” (马太效应) is a term derived from the biblical Gospel of Matthew, used in sociology and economics to describe the phenomenon where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. where the strong get stronger, which may further widen the urban-rural gap and the income gap among rural residents themselves.

从发展不平衡来看，我国东部地区县域经济发达，中西部和东北地区县域经济发展明显落后。根据《2023中国县域经济百强研究报告》，2022年百强县东部地区占65席，中部地区占20席，西部地区占14席，东北地区占1席，近五年百强县区域分布格局变化较小，区域分布不平衡问题仍然突出。东部地区的百强县又主要分布在江苏、浙江、山东三省，分别占23席、16席和13席。百强县以占全部县域不到3.0%的土地、11.0%的人口，创造了县域约1/4的GDP。地区间县域经济发展不平衡，也必然影响地区间农村地区发展不平衡。据《2022中国乡村振兴百强县研究报告》，东部地区仍然入榜最多，占38席，中部地区占28席，西部地区占15席，东北地区占19席，东部地区的乡村振兴百强县主要分布在广东（15个）、江苏（14个）和山东（3个）。从中可以观察到经济发达省份县域经济发展较好，同时乡村振兴的推进效果也相对更好，出现强者愈强的“马太效应”，这可能进一步拉大城乡差距和农村居民内部的收入差距。

From the perspective of inadequate development, regions with backward county economic development often exhibit characteristics such as a single industrial structure, weak leading industries, indistinctive characteristic industries, and a low degree of agricultural industrialization. The economic radiation capacity and driving ability of county towns towards the rural areas under their jurisdiction are weak, the degree of openness to external markets is low, and overall vitality is insufficient. In particular, with the advancement of new-type urbanization, some underdeveloped county regions have also experienced the outflow of factors such as capital and talent, posing significant challenges to county economic development.

从发展不充分来看，县域经济发展落后的地区，往往呈现产业结构单一、主导产业不强、特色产业不突出、农业产业化程度低等特点，县城对辖区农村地区的经济辐射能力和带动能力较弱，对外部市场的开放程度低、整体活力不足。特别是，随着新型城镇化的推进，部分欠发达县域地区也出现了资本、人才等要素流出的现象，使县域经济发展面临巨大挑战。

(4) The foundation of the rural collective economy is weak and lacks sustained momentum.

（四）乡村集体经济基础薄弱且后劲不足

A basic feature of China’s agricultural and rural development is “a large country with small-scale peasant farming” [34]34 “A large country with small-scale peasant farming” (大国小农) is a standard Chinese phrase describing the structural feature of China’s agriculture: a vast agricultural nation dominated by millions of small, family-based farms.. The scale of the agricultural population and the rural population is large, but the scale of agricultural production and operation is small, and the efficiency of agricultural production and operation is generally not high. In 2023, China still had 477 million people in rural areas, accounting for 33.8% of the national population. The agricultural employed population accounted for about 24% of the total employed population (2022). The average household contracted management area per household in China was only 7.12 mu (2020) [35]35 One mu (亩) is a Chinese unit of land area equal to approximately 1/15 of a hectare, or about 0.0667 hectares., and the characteristics of smallholder management are still relatively common. Overall, China’s agricultural productivity is relatively low, and there is still a large gap from the goal of becoming an agricultural powerhouse. The small per capita arable land area also restricts farmers from increasing their income through crop farming. To promote rural revitalization, it is necessary to further enhance the efficiency of agricultural production and operation, taking the path of scaling up and specialization. The rural collective economic organization is one of the important organizational forms for promoting appropriate-scale agricultural operations and increasing the degree of farmer organization. The basic form of rural land ownership in China is collective ownership. However, due to issues such as property rights constraints and improper management, the overall development of the rural collective economy has been slow, presenting a basic situation of inadequate and unbalanced development. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in 2018, the proportion of villages with collective economic operating income exceeding 500,000 yuan was only 4%, more than one-third of villages had collective economic operating income below 50,000 yuan, and nearly 20% of villages were “empty-shell villages” [36]36 “Empty-shell villages” (空壳村) is a Chinese term for villages where the collective economy has virtually no operating income or assets, leaving the village organization without financial resources to provide public services or drive development. in terms of the collective economy. At the same time, the development of the rural collective economy is also extremely unbalanced regionally. The collective economy in the eastern region is better developed. The total book assets of the national rural collective economy are 7.7 trillion yuan, with the eastern region accounting for 5 trillion yuan, close to two-thirds; the central region accounts for 1.4 trillion yuan, or 17.6%; and the western region accounts for 1.3 trillion yuan, or 16.9%. In addition to the gap in asset quantity, the asset quality of collective economic organizations in the eastern region is higher, with operating assets accounting for more than 50%. In contrast, the proportion of operating assets of collective economic organizations in the central and western regions is only 26.5% and 23.9%, respectively.

我国农业农村发展的一个基本特征是“大国小农”，农业人口与农村人口规模大，但农业生产经营规模较小，农业生产经营效率总体不高。2023年，我国农村仍有4.77亿人，占全国人口的33.8%，农业就业人口约占总就业人口的24%（2022年），而我国户均家庭承包经营面积仅为7.12亩（2020年），小农户经营的特征仍比较普遍。总体来看，我国农业生产率相对较低，距离农业强国目标还有很大差距。人均耕地面积少也制约了农民通过种植业增收。要推动乡村振兴，就需要进一步提升农业生产经营效率，走规模化、特色化道路。而乡村集体经济组织是促进农业适度规模经营、提升农民组织化程度的重要组织形式之一。我国农村土地所有权的基本形式是集体所有权，但由于产权制约、管理不当等问题，农村集体经济整体发展缓慢，呈现发展不充分不平衡的基本态势。根据农业农村部的统计，2018年集体经济经营收入超过50万元的乡村比例仅占4%，超过三分之一的乡村的集体经济经营收入低于5万元，近20%的乡村为集体经济“空壳村”。同时，农村集体经济发展在区域上也极不平衡，东部地区集体经济发展较好，全国农村集体经济账面资产7.7万亿元，东部地区为5万亿元，占比接近2/3；而中部地区为1.4万亿元，占比17.6%；西部地区为1.3万亿元，占16.9%。除了资产数量上的差距，东部地区集体经济组织的资产质量更高，经营性资产占比超过50%。相比之下，中部和西部地区集体经济组织的经营性资产比重分别仅为26.5%和23.9%。

To deepen the reform of the rural collective property rights system and develop a new type of rural collective economy, it is necessary to effectively address the challenges of insufficient rural collective economic development. For example, insufficient supply of factors for the village collective economy, insufficient village collective assets, and insufficient labor supply due to rural “hollowing out”; land resources being expropriated by governments at all levels, restricting the development of the collective economy; imperfect governance subjects of rural collective economic organizations, and coordination issues in governance with the village committee as an autonomous organization; the definition of “membership rights” of rural collective economic organizations still needs further clarification; the single source structure of rural collective economic income and the lack of sustainable growth momentum. To effectively address these challenges, it is necessary to grasp the laws of rural collective economic development, and thereby leverage the positive role of the rural collective economy in promoting rural revitalization and urban-rural coordination. Village collective economic organizations are endogenous to rural society and, by embedding themselves in rural social relationship networks, exert influence on rural economic and social development. Through the leadership of elites/able persons, integration of village collective resources, coupled with government support, they help consolidate rural development momentum, release the vitality of rural production factors, improve agricultural production conditions, enhance the level of agricultural industrialization, promote the development of rural public undertakings, strengthen the endogenous development momentum of rural areas, and promote comprehensive rural revitalization.

要深化农村集体产权制度改革，发展新型农村集体经济，需要有效应对农村集体经济发展不足的挑战。例如，村集体经济要素供给不足，村集体资产不足，农村“空心化”导致的劳动力供给不足；土地资源被各级政府征用，制约了集体经济发展；乡村集体经济组织治理主体不完善，与作为自治组织的村委会存在治理协调问题；乡村集体经济组织的“成员权”界定还需要进一步明晰；乡村集体经济收入来源结构单一以及可持续增长动力不足。有效应对这些挑战，就要把握乡村集体经济发展规律，进而发挥乡村集体经济对推进乡村振兴和城乡协调的积极作用。村集体经济组织内生于乡村社会，并通过嵌入乡村社会关系网络对乡村经济社会发展产生作用，通过精英/能人带领、整合村集体资源，加之政府支持，有助于凝聚乡村发展动力、释放农村生产要素活力、改善农业生产条件、提升农业产业化水平、促进乡村公共事业发展、增强农村内生发展动能，推动乡村全面振兴。

(5) Rural population aging is more severe, and the problem of weakening agricultural labor force is evident.

（五）农村人口老龄化更为严重，农业劳动力弱质化问题明显

China’s urbanization process continues to advance, with the urbanization rate rising from 17.9% in 1978 to 66.2% in 2023, and it is expected to reach about 70% by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Nevertheless, due to China’s large population base, there are still 477 million people living in rural areas, equivalent to the total population of the United States and Russia combined, a scale that remains substantial. This is also a group that cannot be ignored when formulating any policy. The fundamental factor affecting China’s future rural revitalization and urban-rural coordinated development is the rural population issue. Currently, China’s rural areas face the dual pressure of a severe population aging situation and the weakening of the agricultural labor force.

我国城镇化进程持续推进，城镇化率从1978年的17.9%提高到2023年的66.2%，预计在“十四五”末期达到70%左右。尽管如此，由于我国人口基数较大，我国还有4.77亿人生活在乡村，相当于美国和俄罗斯两国人口总和，规模依然庞大。这也是制定任何政策都不能够忽视的群体。未来影响我国乡村振兴和城乡协调发展的根本性因素是农村人口问题，目前我国农村面临人口老龄化形势严峻、农业劳动力弱质化的双重压力。

With the continuous advancement of new-type urbanization, the total rural population will continue to decline. Data from the sixth and seventh national population censuses show that China’s rural population decreased from 670 million in 2010 to 510 million in 2020, a net decrease of 160 million. It is expected that by 2035, China will complete the urbanization process, with the urbanization rate reaching about 75%. It is estimated that from 2021 to 2035, China’s rural population will further decrease by about 150 million, falling below 350 million by 2035. The phenomenon of rural “hollowing out” may become more severe.

随着新型城镇化的持续推进，农村人口总量将持续下降。第六次和第七次全国人口普查数据显示，我国乡村人口从2010年的6.7亿人下降到2020年的5.1亿人，净减少1.6亿人。预计到2035年我国将完成城镇化进程，城镇化率将达到75%左右。预计2021—2035年，我国农村人口还将减少1.5亿人左右，农村人口在2035年将降到3.5亿人以下，农村“空心化”现象将可能更加严重。

As the rural population continues to decline in absolute terms, the trend of rural population aging will further intensify. According to data from the Seventh National Population Census, in 2020 China’s rural population aged 65 and above reached 90.35 million, accounting for 47% of the total population aged 65 and above. Compared with 2010, the total rural population in 2020 had decreased by 160 million, yet the rural population aged 65 and above had increased by 23.7 million. In 2010, the proportion of the population aged 65 and above in China’s rural population was 10.06%, already significantly higher than the level of aging in urban areas (7.80%); by 2020, the proportion of the population aged 65 and above in the rural population had risen to 17.72%, even more markedly exceeding the urban aging level (11.14%), with the urban-rural aging gap widening considerably over the decade. As shown in Table 2, in 2022, the proportion of the elderly population in urban areas was 12.52%, an increase of 1.38 percentage points from 2020; while the proportion of the elderly population in rural areas was 19.30%, an increase of 1.58 percentage points over the same period. It can be foreseen that the urban-rural disparity in population aging will continue to widen, and the problem of rural population aging will become increasingly prominent.

而随着农村人口总量的持续下降，农村人口老龄化趋势将进一步加剧。据第七次全国人口普查数据，2020年我国农村65岁及以上的老龄人口达9035万人，占全部65岁及以上老龄人口的比重为47%。相对于2010年，2020年农村人口总量下降了1.6亿人，但是农村65岁及以上人口总量却增长了2370万人。2010年，我国乡村人口中65岁及以上人口比率为10.06%，已显著高于城镇的老龄化程度（城镇为7.80%）；到了2020年，乡村人口中65岁及以上的人口比率为17.72%，更加明显高于城镇老龄化水平（城镇为11.14%），近十年城乡老龄化差异显著拉大。如表2所示，2022年，城镇老龄人口占比12.52%，相比2020年增加了1.38个百分点；而农村老龄人口占比19.30%，同比增加了1.58个百分点。可以预见，城乡人口老龄化差异将继续加大，农村人口老龄化问题将愈发突出。

According to the forecast in *China Development Report 2020: Trends and Policies of Population Aging in China*, China’s population aged 65 and above will reach 310 million by 2035. In 2020, the rural population aged 50–64 numbered 120.99 million; this age cohort will be 65–80 years old in 2035. If this portion of the population cannot be converted into the urban population, and considering the increase in life expectancy, by 2035 the rural population aged 65 and above will exceed 100 million, equivalent to about 30% of the rural population at that time. By then, China’s countryside will have entered a state of ultra-high aging society as a whole, and rural population aging will become the most severe challenge for China’s rural development in the future. Therefore, policies to address the aging society should fully attend to the urban-rural differences in aging and place great emphasis on the more serious problem of rural aging.

据《中国发展报告2020：中国人口老龄化的发展趋势和政策》预测，中国65岁及以上的老年人口到2035年将达到3.1亿人。2020年，乡村人口中年龄分布在50~64岁的人口规模为12099万人，这个年龄段的人口在2035年将是65~80岁。如果这部分人口不能转化为城镇人口的话，考虑人均寿命的提升，到2035年农村65岁及以上人口规模将超过1亿人，相当于2035年农村人口比重的30%左右。届时我国乡村将整体上进入超高老龄化社会，农村人口老龄化将成为未来我国农村发展最严峻的挑战。因此，应对老龄化社会的政策应当充分重视老龄化的城乡差异问题，高度重视更加严峻的农村老龄化问题。

Closely related to the problem of rural population aging is the continued increase in the number of rural young and middle-aged laborers who work outside their hometowns. In 2023, the total number of rural migrant workers nationwide was 297.53 million, of whom 120.95 million worked locally and 176.58 million worked away from home. The sustained non-agricultural transfer of rural young and middle-aged labor has led to the weakening of the agricultural labor force, giving rise to the question of “who will farm the land.” Under such demographic and labor trends, the decline in the rural population and more severe aging will lead to the “hollowing out” of the countryside. Some rural areas will face problems of population decline and industrial stagnation, posing severe challenges to increasing agricultural output and efficiency, constraining rural social vitality and consumer demand, and clearly hindering rural revitalization and the promotion of coordinated urban-rural development.

与农村人口老龄化问题密切相关的是农村青壮年劳动力外出务工人员的持续增加。2023年，全国农村外出务工人员总量29753万人，其中本地务工12095万人，外出务工17658万人。农村青壮年劳动力持续的非农转移，导致农业劳动力弱质化，带来了“谁来种地”的问题。在这样的人口和劳动力趋势下，农村人口数量下降以及更加严峻的老龄化将导致农村“空心化”，部分农村地区的发展将面临人口凋敝、产业不兴的问题，对农业增产增效造成严峻挑战，制约农村社会活力与消费需求，将明显不利于乡村振兴和促进城乡协调。

(6) The rural industrial system is relatively weak, and small farmers find it difficult to effectively connect with the large market.

（六）乡村产业体系相对薄弱，小农户难以有效对接大市场

Industrial revitalization is the top priority of rural revitalization. With increased government policy attention and investment, China’s agricultural industry chain construction has achieved considerable results, basically forming an integrated agricultural industry chain encompassing multiple links such as production, processing, storage, packaging, transportation, wholesale, and distribution. However, in key areas related to high-quality development of rural industries—such as green production and quality safety of agricultural products, agricultural product processing and logistics, brand building and marketing of agricultural products, new rural industries and new business forms, and county-level industries that enrich the people—there are still many shortcomings, and China’s rural industrial system remains relatively weak.

产业振兴是乡村振兴的重中之重。随着政府政策重视和投入增加，当前我国农业产业链建设取得了相当的成效，基本形成了生产、加工、储存、包装、运输、批发、配送等多环节一体化的农业产业链条。然而，在涉及乡村产业高质量发展的关键领域，如农产品绿色生产与质量安全、农产品加工流通业、农产品品牌构建与营销、乡村新产业新业态、县域富民产业等领域，仍存在不少短板，我国乡村产业体系仍然相对薄弱。

First, the level of green agricultural production is not high, as evidenced by non-point source pollution and ecological damage during agricultural production processes that affect the quality and safety of agricultural products. According to the annual *Green Food Statistical Yearbook* of the China Green Food Development Center, the number of standardized production bases for green food raw materials fluctuated from 665 in 2015 to 742 in 2020, decreased slightly in 2021, and increased to 748 in 2022; while the area of standardized production for green food raw materials fluctuated between 2015 and 2022, standing at 168.53 million mu in 2015, declining slightly to 168.067 million mu in 2021, and rising modestly to 174.368 million mu in 2022. The green transformation of China’s agricultural production still has a long way to go (see Figure 7).

一是农业绿色生产水平不高，体现在农业生产过程中的面源污染和生态破坏影响农产品质量安全。据中国绿色食品发展中心历年《绿色食品统计年报》，我国绿色食品原料标准化生产基地数自2015年的665个波动增加至2020年的742个，2021年略有下降，2022年增加至748个；而绿色食品原料标准化生产面积在2015—2022年呈现出波动状态，2015年为16853万亩，2021年甚至略有下降，为16806.7万亩，2022年小幅增长到17436.8万亩，我国农业生产绿色转型任重道远（见图7）。

Second, the overall strength of the agricultural product processing industry is not strong, its development mode is extensive, the level of deep processing is low, and regional development levels vary greatly. Even the rapidly growing prepared food industry urgently needs to improve its standard system. In 2022, the average ratio of the output value of the national agricultural product processing industry to the total agricultural output value was 2.52:1. In the same period, the ratio for the three major agricultural provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning was only between 0.58:1 and 0.65:1. The agricultural product processing industry chain is relatively short, the driving role of leading enterprises is relatively weak, and most processing enterprises are at the primary stage of processing, unable to link forward to the primary industry or backward to the tertiary industry. The integrated development of “planting, breeding, and processing,” “trade, industry, and agriculture,” “production, processing, and sales,” and “commerce, warehousing, and logistics” has not yet fully taken shape.

二是农产品加工业的总体实力不强、发展方式粗放、精深加工业发展水平低、区域发展水平差异大，即使呈爆发式增长的预制菜产业，标准体系也亟待完善。2022年全国农产品加工业产值与农业总产值之比平均为2.52∶1，同期农业主产区的黑吉辽三省比值仅为0.58∶1~0.65∶1，农产品加工产业链条较短，龙头企业带动作用相对较弱，大多数加工业企业处在加工的初级阶段，无法向前链接第一产业、向后融合第三产业，“种养加”“贸工农”“产加销”“商仓流”一体化发展尚未完全成型。

Third, agricultural production is generally small in scale, uneven in quality, lacking professional talent, and lacking sales channels and professional service platforms. Brand building for products such as “original brands,” “time-honored brands,” “specialty brands,” and “food brands” still needs to be strengthened, and the added value of agricultural products needs to be improved. According to the “2022 China Top 500 Brands” list released by Asiabrand, only four enterprises—COFCO Group, Muyuan, Wens, and Hefeng Animal Husbandry—belong to the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery or farming, animal husbandry, and fishery industries; two enterprises—Adisseo and Sinochem Fertilizer—belong to the pesticide and veterinary drug industry. Even if broader categories of agriculture-related food and beverage industries are included, such as Yihai Kerry and New Hope, as well as Yili in the dairy industry and Mengniu in the wholesale and retail industry, China’s well-known agricultural brands total fewer than ten. The overall effectiveness of agricultural product brand building still needs to be improved.

三是农业生产总体上规模小、质量参差不齐、缺少专业人才、缺乏销售渠道和专业服务平台，“原字号”“老字号”“特字号”“食字号”等产品品牌建设仍需加强，农产品附加价值有待提升。据亚洲品牌集团（Asiabrand）发布的“2022中国品牌500强”榜单，属于农林牧渔或农牧饲渔行业的仅有中粮集团、牧原、温氏股份、禾丰牧业4家，农药兽药行业有安迪苏和中化化肥2家，即使纳入更广泛意义上的涉农食品饮料行业，如金龙鱼、新希望，以及乳制品行业的伊利、批发零售行业的蒙牛，我国著名的农业品牌总计不到10家，农产品品牌建设总体成效仍需提升。

Fourth, due to the lack of momentum in green development, industrialization, and branding of agriculture, the degree of integrated development of rural primary, secondary, and tertiary industries remains shallow. New industries and new business forms such as leisure agriculture, creative agriculture, rural e-commerce, rural service industries, and the integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism are developing slowly, and county-level industries that enrich the people still need sustained efforts to cultivate. Although China’s rural industrial system remains relatively weak, in recent years, multiple entities in the process of agricultural industrialization—such as leading enterprises, farmer cooperatives, and family farms—have played a positive role in linking agriculture with farmers, promoting the sale of agricultural products, increasing employment opportunities, and boosting the income of small farmers, helping to solve the problem of “difficult connection” between small-scale production and the large market. However, in the process of agricultural industrialization, problems such as an unreasonable pattern of benefit distribution among multiple entities and the squeezing of small farmers’ interests remain prominent. Due to their small scale, limited factors of production, and generally low quality, small farmers have insufficient participation in the benefit distribution link and have little bargaining power over the agricultural products they sell. Consequently, after bearing the natural risks of agricultural production and most of the market risks, farmers receive the relatively lowest share of the benefits, while strong corporate capital and midstream and downstream wholesalers and retailers with market advantages can shift risks upward and obtain larger benefit shares. For example, Li Na examined the distribution pattern of the mutton sheep industry chain in a certain county in Hebei Province and found that the total profit from a sheep through the entire process of breeding, slaughtering, processing, and sales was 318.54 yuan, with the slaughtering and processing link accounting for 54.71% of the profit, the sales link accounting for 44.76%, and the farmer’s profit accounting for only 0.53% of the total profit. Thus, in essence, small farmers are still unable to effectively connect with the large market and therefore find it difficult to obtain truly sustainable income. This is not conducive to narrowing the absolute urban-rural income gap and also poses a challenge to comprehensively promoting rural revitalization.

四是由于农业绿色化发展、产业化发展以及品牌化发展乏力，乡村一、二、三产业融合发展程度仍然较浅，休闲农业、创意农业、农村电商、乡村服务业以及农文旅融合等新产业新业态发展滞缓，县域富民产业仍需持续发力培育。尽管我国乡村产业体系仍然相对薄弱，但近年来农业产业化发展过程中的多元主体，例如龙头企业、农民合作社以及家庭农场等新型经营主体，在联农带农方面发挥出积极作用，带动农产品销售、增加就业岗位、促进小农户增收，有助于解决小生产与大市场的“对接难”问题。然而，在农业产业化过程中，多元主体的利益分配格局不合理、小农户利益受到挤压等问题仍然突出。小农户由于规模小、要素少、素质整体偏低，在利益分配环节参与不足，对卖出的农产品鲜有议价权，因而农户在承担了农业生产的自然风险、大部分的市场风险后，所获得的收益份额却相对最低，强势的企业资本、拥有市场优势地位的中下游批发商、零售商能够向上转移风险并获得更大的收益份额。如李娜考察了河北某县肉羊产业链的分配格局，发现一只羊经历了整个养殖、屠宰加工、销售过程后的总利润为318.54元，屠宰加工环节获利占比54.71%，销售环节获利占比44.76%，而养殖户获利仅占总利润的0.53%。因而，从实质上来说，小农户仍无法有效对接大市场，从而难以真正获得可持续收入。这不利于缩小城乡绝对收入差距，也对全面推进乡村振兴提出挑战。

IV. Advancement Path: Promoting Coordinated Urban-Rural Development through Comprehensive Rural Revitalization

四、推进路径：以乡村全面振兴促进城乡协调

Promoting coordinated urban-rural development is an important aspect of implementing the new development philosophy and a key task in advancing Chinese-path modernization; resolving the problem of insufficient development in agriculture and rural areas and promoting comprehensive rural revitalization are fundamental to achieving urban-rural coordination. In the new stage of development, as new-type urbanization continues to advance, promoting comprehensive rural revitalization has also become a strategic guide for fostering coordinated urban-rural development. Based on the current situation and trends of China’s urban-rural development, particularly in agriculture and rural areas, the following development pathways for promoting urban-rural coordination, especially rural revitalization, are proposed.

促进城乡协调发展是贯彻落实新发展理念的重要方面，也是推进中国式现代化的重要任务；而解决农业农村发展不充分问题、推动乡村全面振兴是促进城乡协调的重要基础。在新发展阶段，随着新型城镇化的不断推进，推进乡村全面振兴也成为促进城乡协调发展的战略指引。基于我国城乡发展特别是农业农村发展的现状与趋势，提出以下推进城乡协调特别是推进乡村振兴的发展路径。

(I) Stimulating the Vitality of County Economies

（一）激发县域经济活力

Stimulating the vitality of county economies helps to unify strengthening the county and enriching the people, facilitates the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, and promotes urban-rural coordination. To develop the county economy, it is necessary to accurately grasp the specific conditions of each county and district, adapt measures to local conditions, leverage comparative advantages, highlight regional characteristics, fully utilize external drivers, keep pace with technological innovation and advance digital construction, use key urban districts and townships as distributed centers to drive surrounding rural areas, accelerate high-quality development of the county economy, and continuously enhance its competitiveness.

激发县域经济活力有助于把强县和富民统一起来，促进乡村振兴战略的实施，推进城乡协调。发展县域经济，必须准确把握所属县情、区情，因地制宜，发挥比较优势、突出区域特色，充分利用外部动力，紧跟技术创新步伐、推进数字化建设，以重点城区、乡镇为分布式中心，带动周边农村，加快推进县域经济高质量发展，不断增强县域经济竞争力。

First, stimulating the development of the county economy should follow the approach of identifying positioning, pursuing differentiated development, and building a new pattern of county economic development with distinctive features, complementary advantages, and prosperity. This should be supported by developing advantageous and distinctive industries, promoting the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in counties, strengthening characteristic and advantageous industries, advancing the specialized and clustered development of county industries, so that county economic development can fully radiate and drive the development of rural areas under its jurisdiction, and leverage the important function of the county economy in absorbing rural migrant labor.

第一，激发县域经济发展要按照找准定位、错位发展，构建特色鲜明、优势互补、繁荣兴旺的县域经济发展新格局的思路，以发展优势特色产业为支撑，促进县域一、二、三产业融合发展，做强特色优势产业，推进县域产业特色化、集群化发展，使县域经济发展能够充分辐射和带动辖区农村地区发展，发挥县域经济在吸纳农村转移劳动力的重要功能。

Second, strengthen the economic linkages between the county economy and regional central cities, actively expand new development space for the county economy, and enhance the external drivers of county economic development. In terms of implementation pathways, it is necessary to base efforts on the region’s advantageous and distinctive industries, accurately position the region’s role in the industrial division of labor, support and cultivate “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” enterprises [37]37 “Specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” (专精特新) enterprises: a Chinese policy category referring to small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market, are refined in management, offer distinctive products or services, and are innovative in technology or business models. that focus on niche markets, concentrate on core businesses, possess strong innovation capabilities, and have good growth potential, actively undertake industrial transfers from central cities, and strengthen ties with regional central cities in the industrial and value chains. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the principal role of enterprises in innovation, promote the concentration of various innovation factors in enterprises, enhance the innovation capacity of local enterprises while undertaking external industrial transfers, and create new engines for development. Additionally, raise the level of openness of the county economy to the outside world, vigorously develop export-oriented industries, and cultivate brands with national and international influence.

第二，加强县域经济与区域性中心城市的经济联系，积极拓展县域经济新的发展空间，增强县域经济发展的外部动力。在实现路径上要立足本地区的优势特色产业，找准区域产业分工定位，支持和培养专注于细分市场、聚焦主业、创新能力强、成长性好的“专精特新”企业，积极承接中心城市的产业转移，强化与区域中心城市在产业链和价值链上的关系。同时要强化企业创新主体地位，促进各类创新要素向企业集聚，在承接外部产业转移的同时提高本地企业创新能力，打造发展的新引擎。此外，提高县域经济对外开放水平，大力发展外向型产业，培育具有全国以及国际影响力的品牌。

Third, focus on building central towns as key points, using organic towns as fulcrums, to drive the development of surrounding rural areas. Select townships with favorable geographical locations, strong economic strength, and good infrastructure as central towns for priority development, develop their characteristic and advantageous industries, promote social service industries for agricultural industrialization, and advance the development of agricultural industrialization. Enhance the social service functions of central towns, promote the extension of infrastructure and public services to rural areas, and while building the central node of the town, improve the town-village interest linkage, continuously enhancing the function of central towns in serving rural economic prosperity.

第三，以建设中心镇为重点，以建制镇为支点，带动周边农村发展。选择具有较好区位优势、较强经济实力、较好基础设施的乡镇作为重点发展的中心镇，发展中心镇的特色优势产业，发展农业产业化社会服务业，促进农业产业化发展。增强中心镇的社会服务功能，推动基础设施和公共服务向农村延伸，打造镇中心节点的同时，完善镇-村利益联结，不断提升中心镇服务农村经济繁荣的功能。

Fourth, vigorously promote the positive role of digital empowerment in the development of the county economy. Improve the level of digital management of county resources, promote the deep integration of digital technology, data elements, and the county’s characteristic and advantageous industries. Accelerate the construction of rural broadband networks and logistics distribution systems, vigorously develop digital agriculture and smart agriculture, actively leverage the role of e-commerce platforms, and broaden the development space of the county economy. Continuously promote the movement of agricultural products from villages to cities and the movement of agricultural production materials from cities to villages, strengthen the foundation of the county economy’s industrial and supply chains, and create conditions for the development of rural characteristic industries.

第四，大力推进数字化赋能对县域经济发展的积极作用。提升县域资源的数字化管理水平，推进数字技术、数据要素与县域特色优势产业深度融合。加快农村宽带网络和物流配送体系建设，大力发展数字农业、智慧农业，积极发挥电商平台的作用，拓宽县域经济发展空间。持续推进农产品出村进城、农业生产资料下乡，增强县域经济的产业链和供应链基础，为发展乡村特色产业创造条件。

(II) Strengthening the Rural Collective Economy

（二）壮大乡村集体经济

Rural revitalization must be based on the full development of a modern rural industrial system, which inevitably requires that future new-type agricultural business entities adapt to the requirements of scaled and technology-driven production, organized and market-oriented operations, and specialized and socialized services. This highlights the important role of developing a new-type rural collective economy.

乡村振兴必须建立在现代乡村产业体系充分发展的基础上，必然要求未来新型农业经营主体适应生产的规模化与科技化、经营的组织化与市场化、服务的专业化与社会化的要求，这凸显了发展新型乡村集体经济的重要作用。

First, further improve the inventory and management of village collective assets, revitalize idle collective resources in rural areas, and tap into the scale effects of rural collective assets. Repair and develop idle natural resources such as land and ponds to provide land elements for the development of the village collective economy and increase village collective economic income. Actively explore new models for the development of the village-level collective economy, establish various forms of village-level operational service entities, innovate “village-enterprise” cooperation methods, actively explore diversified pathways for the development of the village collective economy, and fully leverage the role of rural collective economic organizations in developing collective resources, managing collective assets, and serving collective members.

第一，进一步完善村集体资产的清查和管理，盘活农村闲置集体资源，挖掘乡村集体资产的规模效应。对闲置土地、坑塘等自然资源进行修整开发，为村集体经济发展提供土地要素，实现村集体经济增收。积极探索村级集体经济发展新模式，创办多种形式的村级经营性服务实体，创新“村企”合作方式，积极探索多元化村集体经济发展途径，充分发挥乡村集体经济组织在开发集体资源、管理集体资产、服务集体成员等方面的作用。

Second, on the basis of fully protecting the reasonable interests of farmers, steadily explore a mechanism for withdrawing from contracted farmland. The withdrawn contracted land can be converted into collective assets, serving as an important resource foundation for developing the rural collective economy, leveraging the scale economy effects of the village collective, driving employment for the masses while expanding the scale of operations, and thereby increasing production and income for collective members.

第二，在充分保障农民合理利益的基础上，稳步探索农户承包地退出机制，所退出的承包土地可以转为集体资产，作为发展乡村集体经济的重要资源依托，发挥村集体的规模经济效应，在扩大经营规模的同时带动群众就业，进而带动集体成员增产增收。

Third, improve the property rights system and distribution system of the village collective economy, clarify that the primary function of the village collective economy is to serve and protect the interests of collective members, balance the interests of different types of villagers, reasonably distribute the income of the village collective economy, and also ensure that the income of the village collective economy can serve as one of the important input guarantees for rural livelihood development.

第三，完善村集体经济的产权制度与分配制度，明确村集体经济的首要功能是服务和保障集体成员利益，平衡好不同类型村民的利益，合理分配村集体经济收益，同时也确保村集体经济收益能够作为农村民生发展的重要投入保障之一。

Fourth, improve the governance structure of the rural collective economy, properly handle the relationship between village committees and village collective economic organizations. It is necessary to fully leverage the “leading goose” role [38]38 “Leading goose” (领头雁): a Chinese idiom for a pioneer or pacesetter, here referring to the leading role of village Party branches and village committees in driving development. of the “two village committees” [39]39 “Two village committees” (村两委): the village Party branch committee and the village committee, the two core leadership bodies at the village level in China., while also properly handling the relationship between the representatives of collective interests and the operators of collective economic organizations. Improve the functions of rural collective economic organizations, not only leveraging their role as economic organizations but also fully promoting their coordination and cooperation with grassroots organizations such as villagers’ committees and villagers’ groups in rural social construction.

第四，完善乡村集体经济治理结构，处理好村委会和村集体经济组织的关系，既要充分发挥“村两委”班子发挥“领头雁”作用，又要处理好集体利益的代表人与集体经济组织的经营者的关系。完善乡村集体经济组织的功能，既要发挥其经济性组织的作用，也要充分促进集体经济组织在乡村社会建设方面与村民委员会、村民小组等基层组织协调配合。

(III) Developing the Rural Cooperative Economy

（三）发展乡村合作经济

The revitalization of cooperative organizations is an important aspect of rural revitalization. Against the background of China’s basic national and agricultural conditions of “a large country with small-scale peasant farming” [40]40 “A large country with small-scale peasant farming” (大国小农): a phrase describing China’s agricultural reality of a vast national scale combined with a predominance of small, fragmented family farms., the degree of organization among farmers remains relatively low. Some farmers’ cooperatives exist only in name, lacking radiation and driving effects, unable to effectively integrate pre-production, in-production, and post-production links, and unable to form effective alliances among cooperatives, resulting in a generally low level of organization among farmers. Therefore, to develop the rural cooperative economy and achieve an organic combination of “unified” and “separate” management [41]41 “Unified” and “separate” management (统分结合): a reference to the dual-level management system in China’s rural reform, combining unified collective management with separate household-based management., it is necessary to start by promoting the high-quality development of farmers’ cooperatives, deepening the degree of vertical integration, optimizing interest linkage mechanisms, and strengthening alliances and federations.

合作组织振兴是乡村振兴的重要方面。我国“大国小农”的基本国情农情背景下，农民的组织化程度仍较低，部分农民合作社处于“空壳”状态，农民组织化有名无实，缺乏辐射带动作用，无法有效整合产前、产中、产后各环节，无法形成合作社之间的有效联合，导致农民整体的组织化程度不高。因此要发展乡村合作经济，实现“统”和“分”的有机结合，需要从推动农民合作社高质量发展、加深纵向一体化程度、优化利益联结机制、加强联合联盟等方面着手。

First, continuously carry out actions to standardize and improve farmers’ cooperatives, promoting their high-quality development. Improve relevant laws and regulations, promote farmers’ cooperatives to perfect their charter systems, improve organizational structures, standardize financial management, strengthen registration management, optimize surplus distribution, and enhance the level of standardized development of farmers’ cooperatives. Clean up “shell cooperatives” [42]42 “Shell cooperatives” (空壳社): cooperatives that exist on paper or in registration only, without actual farmer participation or genuine economic activity. that exhibit phenomena such as no actual participation by farmer members, no substantive production and operation activities, or cessation of operations due to poor management, clarify the scope of cleanup, smooth the exit mechanism, and implement classified treatment. Encourage grassroots Party organizations to lead the establishment of cooperatives, guide cooperative operations with Party building, and improve the quality of farmers’ cooperatives.

第一，持续开展农民合作社规范提升行动，推动农民合作社高质量发展。完善相关法律法规，促进农民合作社完善章程制度、健全组织机构、规范财务管理、加强登记管理、优化盈余分配，提升农民合作社规范发展水平。清理存在无农民成员实际参与、无实质性生产经营活动、因经营不善停止运行等现象的“空壳社”，明确清理范围、畅通退出机制、实行分类处理。鼓励基层党组织领办合作社，以党建引领合作社运行，提升农民合作社的质量。

Second, encourage farmers’ cooperatives to move from specialized operations to comprehensive operations, deepening the degree of vertical integration. Against the background of the reform of the rural collective property rights system, encourage the establishment of village (community) stock cooperatives or economic cooperatives to carry out activities such as production services, resource development, asset accumulation, running public welfare undertakings, and providing public services. Guide some qualified specialized cooperatives to carry out internal credit cooperation, consumption cooperation, labor cooperation, land stock cooperation, etc., promoting the formation of a “multi-in-one” comprehensive cooperative business model. Further promote the participation of specialized farmers’ cooperatives in agricultural industrialization consortia, achieving the integration of production, processing, and sales and the integration of three industries, and promoting the scaling of production and circulation and the socialization of services.

第二，鼓励农民合作社从专营走向综合性经营，加深纵向一体化程度。在农村集体产权制度改革背景下鼓励建立村（社区）股份合作社或经济合作社，开展生产服务、资源开发、资产积累、兴办公益事业、提供公共服务等活动。引导部分符合条件的专业合作社在内部开展信用合作、消费合作、劳务合作、土地股份合作等，推动形成“多位一体”的综合社业务模式。进一步推动农民专业合作社参与农业产业化经营联合体，实现产加销一体与三次产业融合，推动生产流通规模化、服务社会化。

Third, further standardize and improve the profit distribution mechanism of farmer cooperatives, and optimize the mechanism linking cooperatives with farming households. Standardize the surplus distribution plan for farmer cooperative members; the general requirement is that the distributable surplus of a cooperative shall be returned mainly in proportion to the volume (amount) of transactions between members and the cooperative in which they participate. Popularize knowledge about cooperatives among farmers, enhance their cooperative awareness, and effectively raise the degree of farmer organization. In conjunction with the comprehensive cooperative development model, guide farmer cooperatives to provide agricultural socialized services, rural e-commerce, agricultural product sales, agricultural materials procurement, microcredit, agricultural insurance, basic financial services, and other services to community residents and smallholder farmers; under equal conditions, give priority to smallholder farmers and households in difficulty for job positions, deepening the interest linkage between cooperatives, communities, and farming households.

第三，进一步规范和完善农民合作社利益分配机制，优化合作社与农户的利益联结机制。规范农民合作社农民盈余分配方案，一般性要求合作社可分配盈余主要按照成员与所在农民合作社的交易量（额）比例返还。向农民普及合作社知识，提升其合作意识，切实提高农民的组织化程度。结合综合社发展模式，引导农民合作社为社区居民和小农户提供农业社会化服务、农村电商、农产品销售、农资采购、小额信贷、农业保险、基础金融等服务，同等情况下的工作岗位优先向小农户和困难家庭提供，深化合作社与社区及农户的利益联结。

Fourth, guide alliances and unions among cooperatives to achieve “improving quality and controlling quantity” of farmer cooperatives. Guide and encourage localities to use organizational forms such as specialized associations, union cooperatives, and federations to carry out horizontal and vertical integration of specialized farmer cooperatives around production, marketing, industrial chains, and comprehensive operations, expand scale to build a “market vessel,” promote the organic integration of resource factors, reduce procurement costs for various means of production, enhance market bargaining power, jointly build brands and open up sales channels, extend the industrial chain, strive for bargaining power in the circulation link, improve market competitiveness and risk resistance, and achieve mutual complementarity among cooperatives and the strengthening and expansion of cooperatives.

第四，引导合作社之间的联合与联盟，实现农民合作社的“提质控量”。引导和鼓励各地以专业协会、联合社、联合会等组织形式，围绕生产、营销、产业链以及综合业务，开展农民专业合作社横向与纵向联合，壮大规模打造“市场大船”，促进资源要素有机整合，降低各类生产资料采购成本，增强市场话语权，共同筑品牌、拓销路，延伸产业链条，争取在流通环节的话语权，提升市场竞争力和抗风险能力，实现社际取长补短、社社做大做强。

(4) Enhancing Farmers’ Employment Capacity

（四）提升农民就业能力

For a long time, rural residents have mostly engaged in traditional agricultural production; even when they work outside their hometowns, they are mostly employed in low-skill service, manufacturing, construction, and similar jobs. Therefore, to increase farmers’ income and narrow the urban-rural income gap, the focus must still be on empowering farmers, increasing their employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, and improving employment quality.

长期以来，农村居民大多从事传统的农业生产，即便是外出务工也多从事技能要求较低的服务业、制造业、建筑业等工作。因此要增加农民收入、缩小城乡收入差距，还是要着眼于为农民赋能、增加农民就业创业机会、提升就业质量。

First, cultivate new-type professional farmers. Actively adopt various online and offline training models to cultivate new-type rural practical talents, building a talent team for agricultural industrialization and agricultural science and technology innovation; focus on village group cadres, heads of specialized farmer cooperative organizations, college-graduate village officials, and others as key targets to cultivate rural social governance talent. Vigorously develop rural e-commerce, encourage e-commerce platforms to deepen their presence in rural markets, and, supported by the vigorous development of rural logistics systems and e-commerce platforms, promote the “branding + platformization” model for agricultural products, advancing the development of the rural digital economy. Second, create favorable conditions for farmers’ entrepreneurship and employment. On the one hand, increase the construction of a new type of urbanization, steadily transform some rural migrant workers into “new urban residents,” especially by ensuring institutionally that migrant workers from rural areas can fairly enjoy public services at their place of work—this is also an inherent requirement of new-type urbanization construction; on the other hand, actively provide tax incentives or subsidies for migrant workers’ entrepreneurship, encouraging migrant workers to drive employment for other migrant workers through entrepreneurship. Third, improve farmers’ employment quality. Encourage farmers engaged in agricultural production to develop industries to increase income, build a modern industrial system that integrates agricultural production, processing, circulation, and marketing in multiple links according to local conditions, as well as integrating agriculture, commerce, culture, and tourism, to enhance the quality of agricultural products and the efficiency of agricultural output; provide migrant workers with more diverse labor skill training, raise the value of the rural population in the industrial chain, and improve farmers’ employment quality.

第一，培养新型职业农民。积极采用线上线下各种培训模式培养新型农村实用型人才，打造农业产业化、农业科技创新人才队伍；以村组干部、农民专业合作组织负责人、大学生村官等为重点，培养农村社会治理人才。大力发展农村电商，鼓励电商平台深耕农村市场，以大力发展农村物流体系和电商平台为支撑，推广农产品“品牌化+平台化”模式，推进乡村数字经济发展。第二，为农民创业就业创造有利条件。一方面，要加大新型城镇化建设，让一部分农村进城务工人员稳步转变为“新市民”，特别是要在制度上保障外出农民工群体能够公平享受工作地的公共服务，这也是新型城镇化建设的应有之义；另一方面，积极为农民工创业提供税收优惠或补贴，鼓励农民工通过创业带动农民工就业。第三，提升农民就业质量。鼓励从事农业生产的农民发展产业促增收，因地制宜构建农业生产、农产品加工、流通、营销等多环节一体化，以及农商文旅相融合的现代产业体系，提升农产品质量和农业产出效益；给予外出务工人员更多元的劳动技能培训，提升农村人口在产业链中的价值，提升农民就业质量。

(5) Innovating Rural Investment Mechanisms

（五）创新农村投入机制

Promoting comprehensive rural revitalization depends on diversified investment mechanisms for talent, technology, and funds. Among these, fund investment includes fiscal fund investment, financial services, insurance services, social capital investment, and other aspects; by coordinating various types of fund investment, continuously improve the efficiency of fund use, and promote the comprehensive development of rural infrastructure, people’s livelihood security, and industrial chain extension, strengthening, and supplementation. First, accelerate the establishment and improvement of a fiscal investment guarantee system for agricultural and rural development; in accordance with the principle of prioritizing agricultural and rural development, public finance should be tilted more heavily toward rural areas, ensuring that fiscal investment matches the goals and tasks of rural revitalization. At the same time, introduce policies and regulations to encourage and guide fund-raising beyond public fiscal funds, support the construction of eligible rural public welfare projects with certain returns, and resolutely avoid illegal borrowing in the name of rural construction, so as to truly promote agriculture and enrich farmers. Second, strengthen the construction of rural public infrastructure. Further improve rural transportation, farmland water conservancy, rural information infrastructure, and the supply of water, electricity, and gas to rural residents; focus on extending rural infrastructure to villages and households, enhance village-level comprehensive service facilities, and strengthen the digital and intelligent construction of rural public services and social governance. Vigorously develop digital agriculture and smart agriculture, establish a big data system for agriculture and rural areas, and promote the industrialization, scientification, and digitalization of agricultural production and operations. Third, closely monitor the international food situation and hold the bottom line of national food security. Improve agricultural fiscal subsidy policies. Further strengthen the construction of the agricultural management system, promote the development of the rural land transfer market, and improve the efficiency of rural land allocation. Consolidate grain production capacity, ensure that grain is stored in the land and in technology, establish an efficient grain market regulation system and circulation system, expand international cooperation mechanisms on grain, and deeply participate in international agriculture and global food security governance.

推动乡村全面振兴有赖于多元的人才、科技和资金等投入机制保障。其中，资金投入包括财政资金投入、金融服务、保险服务、社会资本投入等方面，通过协调各类资金投入不断提升资金使用效率，促进农村基础设施、民生保障、产业延链强链补链全面发展。第一，加快建立健全农业农村发展的财政投入保障制度，按照农业农村优先发展的原则，公共财政应更大力度向乡村倾斜，确保财政投入与乡村振兴目标任务相匹配。同时也要出台政策法规，鼓励、引导公共财政资金之外的资金筹集，支持符合条件、有一定收益的乡村公益性项目建设，坚决避免借乡村建设之名的违法举债，做到真正地促农富农。第二，加强乡村公共基础设施建设。进一步提升农村交通、农田水利、农村信息基础设施、农村居民供水、供电、供气，着力推进乡村基础设施往村覆盖、往户延伸，提升村级综合服务设施，加强乡村公共服务、社会治理等数字化智能化建设。大力发展数字农业、智慧农业，建立农业农村大数据体系，推进农业生产经营产业化、科技化、数字化。第三，密切关注国际粮食形势，守住国家粮食安全底线。完善农业财政补贴政策。进一步加强农业经营体系建设，推动农村土地流转市场发展，提高农村土地配置效率。夯实粮食生产能力，确保藏粮于地、藏粮于技，建立高效的粮食市场调控体系和流通体系，拓展粮食国际合作机制，深度参与国际农业和全球粮食安全治理。

(6) Consolidating Rural Social Security

（六）夯实农村社会保障

Improving the construction of the rural social security system is a manifestation and requirement of socialist fairness and justice, and it is also an inherent requirement for achieving equalization of urban and rural public services. Although rural social old-age insurance and basic medical insurance have basically achieved full coverage, they are still at the level of minimum living security and need to transition to a higher level of security. First, adhere to integrated urban-rural development, strengthen the institutional linkage of various social security systems such as basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents and the minimum living security for urban and rural residents. On this basis, continuously raise the pooling level of basic old-age insurance and minimum living security, and accelerate the promotion of national pooling. Continuously strengthen fiscal support for the rural social security system; the central finance should focus on supporting provinces and regions with weak local finances, increasing fiscal subsidies for the basic old-age insurance fund for urban and rural residents. Second, substantially raise the minimum standard for basic old-age pensions for urban and rural residents, narrow the gap with the basic old-age insurance for urban workers, ensure the continuous improvement of the living standards of the rural elderly population, and promote common prosperity for farmers and rural areas. In 2022, the minimum standard for basic old-age pensions for urban and rural residents was 98 yuan per month; it is recommended that by 2025 this be substantially raised to a level equivalent to the urban and rural minimum living security standard. Thereafter, on this basis, further gradually increase it, so that rural residents can share in the fruits of economic development. Third, based on the income level of rural residents, gradually raise the contribution level for farmers’ basic old-age insurance. Raising the contribution level for farmers’ basic old-age insurance should fully consider farmers’ affordability, moderately raise the minimum contribution tier, while significantly raising the maximum contribution tier, and increase contribution tiers in light of regional differences. Raising farmers’ contribution levels also requires increased publicity to enhance farmers’ awareness of old-age insurance and increase their willingness to contribute.

完善农村社会保障体系建设是社会主义公平正义的体现和要求，也是实现城乡公共服务均等化的应有之义。农村社会养老、基本医疗保险虽已基本实现全面覆盖，但尚属于最低生活保障层次，还需向更高阶的保障层次转变。第一，坚持城乡统筹发展，加强城乡居民基本养老保险、城乡居民最低收入保障等各类社会保障体系的制度衔接。在此基础上，不断提高基本养老保险和最低收入保障的统筹层次，加快推进全国统筹。不断加强财政对农村社会保障体系的保障，中央财政重点支持地方财力薄弱省区，提高对城乡居民基本养老保险基金的财政补助。第二，大幅提高城乡居民基础养老金的最低标准，缩小与城镇职工基本养老保险差距，确保农村老龄人口的生活水平不断提高，推进农民农村共同富裕。2022年，城乡居民基础养老金最低标准为98元/月，建议到2025年大幅度提高至与城乡最低保障水平相当。此后，在此基础上再进一步逐步提升，使农村居民共享经济发展成果。第三，依据农村居民收入水平，逐步提高农民基本养老保险缴费水平。提高农民基本养老保险缴费水平要充分考虑农民的承担能力，适度提高最低缴费档次，同时显著提高最高缴费档次，并结合地区差异增加缴费档次。提高农民缴费水平还要加大宣传，增强农民养老保险意识，提升缴费意愿。

(7) Improving Rural Social Governance

（七）提升农村社会治理

Rural social governance is a key area of China’s social governance, affecting the overall level of national governance and the modernization process of national governance; it is one of the focal points for promoting rural revitalization and coordinated urban-rural development. Actively construct a rural governance mechanism that deepens self-governance, strengthens rule-of-law governance, and substantiates rule-of-virtue governance, highlighting the leadership of Party building, cultural infiltration, and mass participation, organically combining grassroots social governance with Party organization building and propaganda, ideology, and cultural work. The key is to strengthen the construction of grassroots Party organizations and highlight the leading role of grassroots Party organizations. At the same time, strengthen the organizational construction of villagers’ self-governing organizations, rural social organizations, and economic organizations, enhance villagers’ self-governance capacity, and improve the effectiveness of villagers’ deliberation and consultation. Under the leadership of Party building, strengthen the construction of the rule of law in rural areas, standardize the management of village-level public affairs, substantiate the construction of rule-of-virtue governance, cultivate rural civilization, and promote moral new trends.

农村社会治理是我国社会治理的重点领域，影响着国家治理的整体水平与国家治理现代化进程，是推进乡村振兴、促进城乡协调发展的着力点之一。积极构建深化自治、强化法治、实化德治相结合的乡村治理机制，突出党建引领、文化浸润、群众参与，把基层社会治理与党组织建设、宣传思想文化工作有机结合起来，重点是要加强基层党组织建设，突出基层党组织的领头作用。同时，强化村民自治组织、农村社会组织和经济组织的组织建设，增强村民自治能力，提升村民议事协商效能。在党建引领之下，强化乡村法治建设，规范村级公共事务管理，实化德治建设，培育乡风文明、弘扬道德新风。

(Author bios: Zhou Shaojie, Ph.D., Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University; Zhong Xiaoping, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (Corresponding Author), School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University)

（作者简介：周绍杰，博士，清华大学公共管理学院教授，博士生导师；钟晓萍，博士，清华大学公共管理学院博士后（通信作者））

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心