Rural Reconstruction Movement

At the dawn of the new century, as the industry expands and the process of modernization accelerates in China, the essential ingredients in village production gradually outflow. This phenomenon has resulted in the destruction of traditional life, which is fundamental to rural civilization. With the decline of rural civilization, increasing attention has been aroused to the Three Rural Issues.

Since the Green Revolution, the mode of agricultural production satisfying the natural environmental and resources has been promoted all over the world. Agricultural products started to be included in the globalized trading system, which imposes its own formula of production costs (which assumes mass production of a single product) based on general labor productivity. Compelled by the difficult environment for survival, more farmers with small land-holding have been severed from their land. At the same time, mass-manufactured goods besieged rural villages, ousting the traditional hand-crafted goods which were no match of such product in terms of efficiency of production and production costs. The labor which was "liberated" from their land and handicraft workshops moved into cities, speeding up urbanization, which resulted in the vicious cycle of "city surrounded by village" with new problems of employment, social security and provision for the elderly.

To find a way out of modernization's rules of operation and rediscover traditional rural civilization, the young people of this century have stared another round of "go to the countryside" movement with the goal of building the "new" village.

(Reference: This article written by Yan Xiaohui - China) 

Posted in: rural reconstruction