During inspection tours across China, President Xi Jinping has spoken often of the need for a better agricultural system to raise prosperity in rural areas, and guarantee better lives for those who live there.
Millions of people who live in China's countryside today are seeing steady growth in their incomes as the effects of reform bring the fruits of development to all, be they herdsmen in remotest Qinghai or startup entrepreneurs in Zhongguancun. "No one should be left behind," Xi said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, annual rural per capita disposable income last year stood at 11,422 yuan in 2015, a 7.5 percent increase in real terms. Urban per capita disposable income is up too, reaching 31,195 yuan. A better income is doubtless a good thing, but reform is not just about money. It is about feeling secure, and a sense of optimism for one's children and one's health.
Educational resources are expanding and are available to more children, especially those in rural areas. Promised support for rural teachers may benefit over three million of them along with 40 million of their students. Ensuring that every child has access to, and attends, state education for the mandatory nine years, especially in under-developed regions, has become a central priority of the national educational strategy.
Improvements are already being seen to the social security system, the health service, taxation and the justice system. The aim of reform is equity and fairness, and a sense of better well-being. By unifying the pension, social security and housing systems, people will no longer be discriminated against because of their job or their origins. Reform of the residence system allows migrants to apply for residence permits if they fulfill some reasonable conditions, giving them equal access to education, employment services and healthcare, wherever they choose to live.
Development is not an end in itself, but simply the way for people to have better lives. Innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development with fewer barriers in the system will bring prosperity and happiness within the reach of average people and mean justice and fairness for all.
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