Coordinated urban and rural development boosts common prosperity

With the help of the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou city, Pushan village has taken on a new look over the past nine years. Projects have been brought to the village, injecting fresh impetus into the local economy.

In 2019, Pushan village in East China's Zhejiang province introduced 100 million yuan ($15.5 million) of investment to develop homestay businesses in the area.

Lai Lianfeng, a rural resident, started her homestay business by renting out her farmhouse, which has brought her an annual income of 26,000 yuan. This has given Lai financial stability without having to work elsewhere.

Like Lai, many villagers developed their homestay businesses and saw their income increase over time. Now the annual operating income of the village collectively has reached 210,000 yuan.

The collaborative work done by Xiaoshan and Pushan is an example of the "Shanhai Xiezuo" project, a kind of cooperation between the mountainous and coastal areas.

Launched in 2002 in Zhejiang, the project uses the advantages of developed coastal cities to help the undeveloped mountainous counties. It is one way to promote coordinated development between rural and urban areas, reduce the regional gap, and promote common prosperity.

"Xiaoshan district has given more than 4.5 million yuan to Pushan village to help improve our public infrastructure and support industries related to the rural vitalization strategy," said Huang Weimin, head of Pushan village.

The story of Pushan village epitomizes the efforts of Zhejiang made in promoting balanced and coordinated urban and rural development and narrowing income gap between urban and rural areas.

Concentrating resources in one industry to create advantages to drive the development of the local economy has been an effective way to promote common prosperity in Zhejiang.

Fanglin village, a once impoverished village in Zhejiang's Taizhou city, has benefited from the support given to auto companies, including promoting the secondhand car market in the village.

Last year, Fanglin village achieved a market turnover of 20.8 billion yuan, and villagers received a dividend of 49,000 yuan per share.

Common prosperity, an essential requirement of socialism and a key feature of Chinese-style modernization, aims to create a future where prosperity is shared by everyone in the country. Efforts to achieve the goal include promoting common prosperity among farmers in rural areas, consolidating and expanding achievements in poverty elimination, and advancing rural vitalization on all fronts.

In August, China unveiled an action plan to promote rural vitalization in Zhejiang as part of efforts to achieve common prosperity. The plan stated the weak links of promoting common prosperity are in agriculture and rural affairs, stressing that those areas have room for improvement and development potential.

"To promote common prosperity amid high-quality development, Zhejiang should allow the fruits of development to benefit socially disadvantaged groups as much as possible, increase income for people with low incomes, and improve their development capabilities," said Yu Jianxing, president of Zhejiang Gongshang University.

According to the plan, agricultural and rural modernization will be realized in parts of the rural areas in the province by 2025, with replicable practices and models generated.

Xinhua