Full text: China's Rural Roads in the New Era

VI. Interconnected Roads Bring Prosperity to All Industries, and Help Improve People's Lives and the Environment in Rural Areas

Rural roads help to connect beautiful scenery, drive the development of local industries, grow the local economy, and benefit the local people. The construction and development of rural roads provides strong support for the comprehensive development of the rural economy and society, and lays the groundwork for advancing all-round rural revitalization and accelerating agricultural and rural modernization.

1. Creating a Path to Prosperity for Rural People

"If you want to become better-off, build a road." Guided by poverty alleviation programs and policies, China has taken extraordinary steps and made an enormous effort to expedite the development of rural transport in poor areas. Since 2014, more than 1.4 million km of rural roads have been built or upgraded in previously poor areas, and more than 45,000 towns, townships and administrative villages have joined the list with access to bus services. All towns, townships and administrative villages where conditions allow had been connected to paved roads by 2019, and all such villages had been connected to bus services by 2020, fulfilling the promise that no region would be left behind because of inadequate road coverage on the journey towards prosperity. Better transport has cleared the bottlenecks that had long delayed economic and social development in poor areas, and has laid a solid foundation for rural people to realize moderate prosperity in all respects.

The steady improvement of transport facilities in rural areas has attracted more capital, projects and talent to the countryside, creating more job opportunities and broadening the avenues for income growth. In order to expand employment channels further, and help rural people to find jobs close to their homes and boost their incomes, local governments have encouraged disadvantaged people to work on rural road construction projects (see Panel 9) and developed public welfare posts in rural road maintenance. At present, rural road construction projects provide work for about 80,000 people in need as a form of relief, enabling an annual average per capita income increase of around RMB8,500; and about 850,000 jobs are provided in rural road management and maintenance, offering an annual average per capita income of approximately RMB13,000.

2. Advancing Rural Revitalization Across the Board

Thriving businesses are an important pillar of rural revitalization. The government continues to integrate rural roads into the overall economic development of rural areas, ensuring that the vast countryside is finding greater prosperity and becoming more attractive.

Supporting modernization of rural industries. Based on the local availability of resources in rural areas, and taking into account territorial space planning at county and township levels, the government continues to coordinate the network of rural roads and the layout of industrial parks, accelerate the construction of rural roads connected to major local businesses, improve traffic access to key economic nodes in the countryside, and develop the model of Rural Roads Plus Local Industries, ensuring agricultural modernization.

Boosting rural tourism. Taking into account local natural landscapes and cultural heritage, the government emphasizes rational planning of rural roads. It works to connect rural roads with cultural and tourist resources, create high-quality themed tourist routes (see Panel 10), expand the comprehensive added value of rural road services, create popular tourist destinations from beautiful landscapes preserved by generations of villagers, and boost rural revitalization through rural tourism.

Making efficient use of distinctive resources in rural areas. Efforts have been made to promote the model of Rural Roads Plus Local Resources, which integrates the development of rural roads with local natural resources such as energy and minerals. Transport departments have been committed to providing better access to local industries in order to integrate roads and businesses and create new momentum for rural economic development.

3. Creating a Beautiful and Harmonious Countryside Where People Want to Live and Work

Building a beautiful and harmonious countryside with complete infrastructure, inclusive public services, and prosperous rural culture, where people want to live and work, is a prerequisite for rural people to live a modern life close to their homes, and a requirement for fostering greater social etiquette and civility in the countryside.

Building roads to make the countryside more attractive. In the planning and design of rural roads, transport departments focus on integration with the natural environment and local culture and customs. They continue to improve the environment of rural roads and carry out roadside greening and beautification programs. Beautiful rural roads connect natural and cultivated landscapes, and blend in with distinctive rural homes, helping to build a large number of villages and towns that are desirable places to live and work, and painting new scenes of rural harmony and beauty.

Extending basic public services. Safe, convenient and efficient rural transport facilities allow the extension of basic public services such as education and medical care to rural areas. The development of rural transport has made it safer and more convenient for rural people to travel and obtain medical services. Personalized transport services, including dedicated shuttle routes and customized school buses, have reduced problems for students in remote areas and supported equal access to education in urban and rural areas.

Accelerating urban-rural exchanges and integration. The development of rural roads has effectively shortened the distance and travel time between urban and rural areas, and promoted the two-way flow of personnel, materials, funds, information and culture. It has enabled mutual promotion between urban and rural areas, transformed the rural lifestyle, working pattern, and social landscape, and broadened the outlook of rural people, thereby helping form a new model of urban-rural relationship characterized by complementarity, coordinated development, and common prosperity.