Expert: Rural vitalization needs to have long-term vision

Rural revitalization should be carried out from a long-term perspective rather than pursued at a hurried speed, as it requires steady funding and long-term plans to build beautiful villages, said Cheng Yu, director of the rural economy research department at the Development Research Center of the State Council, on Wednesday.

"We need to map out a systematic design, taking infrastructure, living environment and industrial layout into consideration, while encouraging more people to get involved in rural development," she said, while citing the German rural revitalization as an inspiration in a speech at the fourth Sino-German Agricultural Dialogues and Exchange.

According to Cheng, countryside should no longer be a functional area of agricultural production but a livable area, where many people would like to live, and China should balance the layout of towns and industries, which are expected to help shore up rural development as well.

China released a five-year plan on its rural vitalization, the first of its kind, at the end of September, outlining key tasks for 2018-2022.

With a goal of building rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, the plan focuses on humans, land and funds and includes tasks, such as speeding up the work to grant permanent urban residency to rural people moving to cities, strengthening talent support for rural vitalization, guaranteeing land supply for the strategy's implementation, diversifying sources of investment, improving financial support.

Qu Dongyu, vice-minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said at the meeting that China and Germany should continue to cooperate in agriculture based on common ground and innovation. He pointed out the cooperation is an anchor to stabilize relations between the two countries among uncertainties in the world.

As a platform of Sino-German bilateral cooperation, the Sino-German Agricultural Centre was established in 2015, aiming to promote the cooperation between the two countries in the agriculture and food sector and to support China's sustainable agriculture development as well as dialogues on agricultural related issues of common concern.