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Read in Chinese
Speakers:
Xu Lin, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO)
Ning Jizhe, member of the Leading Party Members' Group and deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics
Liu Huanxin, deputy secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Zhao Chenxin, member of the Leading Party Members' Group and secretary general of the NDRC
Chairperson:
Chen Wenjun, head of the Press Bureau of the SCIO and spokesperson of the SCIO
Date:
Sept. 28, 2021
Chen Wenjun:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. The State Council Information Office (SCIO) is holding a press conference today to issue and introduce a new white paper titled "China's Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity." Present at today's press conference are Mr. Xu Lin, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and minister of the SCIO; Mr. Ning Jizhe, member of the Leading Party Members' Group and deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics; Mr. Liu Huanxin, deputy secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; and Mr. Zhao Chenxin, member of the Leading Party Members' Group and secretary general of the NDRC.
Next, I will give the floor to Mr. Xu Lin.
Xu Lin:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. At the ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC on July 1, General Secretary Xi Jinping declared that China had realized the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects through the continued efforts of the whole Party and the entire nation.
Today, the SCIO issued a white paper titled "China's Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity." The white paper reviews China's journey to moderate prosperity, elaborates on the achievement of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and offers bright prospects for the country's modernization. The important document records and reflects China's practice of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
At more than 32,000 Chinese characters, the white paper consists of preface, main body and conclusion. The main text is divided into five parts: A Critical Step Towards National Rejuvenation, Prosperity Through All-Round Development, Prosperity for All, Prosperity Through Hard Work, and The World Benefits from China's Prosperity. The document provides a systematic explanation of what moderate prosperity in all respects in China is and how it was realized.
First, the realization of moderate prosperity is a critical step toward national rejuvenation. "Xiaokang," meaning moderate prosperity, has been a consistent dream and aspiration of the Chinese nation for millennia. More than 2,000 years ago, the term appeared in the "Book of Songs" to mean modest comfort: "The people are hard-pressed, they need some modest comfort." Centuries later, the "Book of Rites" described the ideal state of society that "xiaokang" would bring about. From the outset, the CPC has made the wellbeing of the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation its abiding goals. The Party is committed to creating a happier and better life for the Chinese people. The white paper reviews how the Chinese people, led by the CPC, have persevered, progressing step by step from a subsistence standard of living to piecemeal prosperity, then to moderate prosperity. The document records that in the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has assumed leadership, made plans, and pushed forward the efforts to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. He has rallied around him Party members and the Chinese people, and led them in eliminating absolute poverty, advancing reform, combating COVID-19, controlling pollution and defusing risks. Under his leadership, the Party and the country have achieved historic successes and transformations in the pursuit of their cause. The moderately prosperous society in all respects has come to fruition as scheduled, marking a critical step toward national rejuvenation. According to the white paper, the realization of moderate prosperity has boosted the Chinese people's pride and confidence in the nation, and inspired further endeavors on the quest for national rejuvenation.
Second, moderate prosperity in all respects has been achieved through all-round development. All-round development is essential to moderate prosperity. In pursuing moderate prosperity, China emphasizes balanced, coordinated and sustainable progress in the economic, political, cultural, social, and eco-environmental fields. It aims to meet people's growing needs in all areas and at all levels, and to promote their well-rounded development. Moderate prosperity makes China a strong and prosperous country striving for national rejuvenation and the people's wellbeing. With a large amount of facts and data, the white paper offers a comprehensive picture of moderate prosperity from various perspectives: sustained and healthy economic growth, greater people's democracy, a flourishing cultural sector, improved living standards, and historic progress in the eco-environment. The achievements include both material progress and advances in culture and ethics; both improvements in the lives of individuals and development of our nation and society; and both tangible and intangible outcomes. In short, moderate prosperity represents progress in every aspect and dimension.
Third, prosperity for all. Working to benefit the people is fundamental to a moderate prosperity society. While building itself into a moderately prosperous society, China has always put the people first so as to ensure that all people can share the fruits of development. It is a society where no individual, region or ethnic group is left behind, and a society where people from all ethnic groups can enjoy a happy and comfortable life in every corner of China's vast land. The white paper introduced China's success in the battle against poverty which has helped poor people rise out of poverty and achieve moderate prosperity along with the rest of the country, as well as China's integrated urban-rural development to ensure urban and rural areas complement each other and advance side by side, like two wheels of a cart. The white paper also introduced China's more coordinated development across regions. China has shaped a new framework of coordinated regional development, featuring reinforcing connectivity, clearly defined core functions for each area, and complementary advantages. According to the white paper, a moderately prosperous society in all respects embodies the organic unity of realizing the well-rounded human development and common development for all, and the major goal of socialism of achieving common prosperity,.
Fourth, prosperity through hard work. China is the world's largest developing country with more than 1.4 billion people. For China, a better life can only materialize through hard work rather than waiting and wanting. The CPC has united and led the Chinese people in rebuilding the country from scratch through self-reliance and hard work, achieving the moderate prosperity which has been an aspiration for thousands of years. Focusing on working for the people, and working scientifically, arduously and continuously, the white paper introduced the extraordinary and arduous journey of building a moderately prosperous society from the following four aspects, including always putting the people first, developing sound policies and strategies, development through reform and opening up and perseverance over generations. The white paper said that the moderately prosperous society in all respects has been achieved in China through much hard work by the Chinese people. It is the Chinese people who have created a better and moderately prosperous life, said the white paper. The CPC leadership has provided the fundamental guarantee for realizing moderate prosperity. Without the leadership of the CPC, there would be no moderate prosperity, according to the white paper.
Fifth, in achieving moderate prosperity for the Chinese people, China has contributed to its own development and delivered benefits to the rest of the world. China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, nor can the world achieve prosperity without China. The growing prosperity of Chinese people and continuous development and progress of China has created positive momentum for world peace and common development. Achieving moderate prosperity in all respects has made China more prosperous, the people happier, and society more stable. This is how China is contributing to world peace and development in its own right. In achieving a moderately prosperous society, China has helped to dramatically reduce the world's poverty-stricken population, and offered enlightenment for the modernization of mankind, said the white paper. In the future, China will embrace the world in a more open and inclusive manner, have more positive interactions with the rest of the world, and contribute even more to building a community with a shared future for humankind and a better world, according to the white paper.
China's realization of moderate prosperity in all respects has achieved the phased goals of China's modernization drive and taken a key step forward in the national rejuvenation. At the same time, unbalanced and inadequate development still poses a stern challenge. China will acquire a better understanding of the new development stage, implement the new development philosophy, foster a new development paradigm, and propel its unique modernization forward to make substantial progress in well-rounded human development and common prosperity while realizing high-quality development.
With the firm leadership of the CPC, and the united efforts of all Chinese people both at home and abroad, China will build itself into a great modern socialist country, the Chinese people will live a happier and better life, and the Chinese nation will make greater contributions to the progress of human society, according to the white paper.
That's all for my introduction. Thank you.
Chen Wenjun:
Thank you, Mr. Xu Lin. The floor is now open for questions. Please identify your media outlet before asking questions.
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CCTV:
The key phrase of the white paper is "moderate prosperity in all respects." How to understand and interpret that? What are your assessment criteria? As you mentioned, working to benefit the people is fundamental to moderate prosperity. In this regard, will people's income and living standards be substantially improved? What are the defining indicators? Thank you.
Zhao Chenxin:
Thank you very much for your questions – I'll take them. These are very good questions, short but rich in content. As far as I can see, they involve the definition of "moderate prosperity in all respects," indicators for its evaluation, and changes it has brought to people's wellbeing. I'll give you my answers from these three aspects one by one.
First, on how to understand moderate prosperity in all respects. As Mr. Xu highlighted just now, the first sentence of the white paper says that "achieving moderate prosperity fulfills a long-cherished dream of the Chinese nation." Over the past century, led by the CPC, generations of Chinese people have persevered, progressing step by step from a subsistence standard of living to piecemeal prosperity, then to moderate prosperity throughout the country, thus marking a critical step towards realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in particular, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has prioritized the realization of moderate prosperity in its governance, ensured coordinated implementation of the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy, focused on tackling areas of weaknesses, and implemented targeted poverty alleviation measures, presenting a series of important ideas and concepts and taking a number of major measures to ensure that the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects is completed on schedule. The key to building a moderately prosperous society in all respects lies in "all respects." In my view, moderate prosperity in all respects means coordinated economic, political, cultural, social, and eco-environmental progress, to the benefit of the entire population and covering both urban and rural areas. To this end, we need to address areas of weakness and facilitate a more balanced, coordinated, and sustainable development. The white paper elaborates on all these points in great detail. I believe that you will gain more understanding and findings from a closer look at it.
Second, on the indicators for its evaluation. At its 18th National Congress, the CPC announced that China would realize the First Centenary Goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It defined the metrics for such a society: sustained and sound economic development, greater people's democracy, a significant improvement in cultural soft power, higher living standards, and major progress in building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society. At its 19th National Congress, the CPC conducted a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental conditions required to achieve all-around moderate prosperity and the internal and external factors impacting this process. On this basis, it defined a strategy for securing success in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and embarking on a journey to fully build a modern socialist China. General Secretary Xi Jinping has assumed leadership, made plans, and pushed forward the efforts to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. As Mr. Xu highlighted just now, with efforts in eliminating absolute poverty, advancing reform, combating COVID-19, controlling pollution, and defusing risks over these years, China has addressed many long-standing and complex problems and achieved many objectives where progress had been slow. We have seen historic successes and transformations in the pursuit of the cause, and the Chinese people have gained a stronger sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. In particular, the country has put an end to absolute poverty – a basic objective – I think, and the most defining indicator of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
Third, on people's wellbeing. A moderately prosperous society in all respects puts people first and places their wellbeing above anything else. The people are at the center of the philosophy of the CPC, and improving people's lives and wellbeing is the Party's goal. People's lives have been notably improved as a result. Here are some data: the average per capita disposable income made a huge jump from 171 yuan in 1978 to 32,189 yuan in 2020 and the Engel coefficient of urban residents dropped from 57.5% in 1978 to 29.2% in 2020, and that of rural residents from 67.7% to 32.7%. Once basic needs for food and other daily necessities have been satisfied, people want a better life, including better food, clothes, housing, and travel facilities. Subsistence-based consumption is gradually giving way to a model directed towards greater fulfillment and comfort. They are fully supplied with daily necessities and own a range of home appliances, and car ownership is common. Consumption of services such as catering, health care, education, tourism, culture, and entertainment has continued to surge. With the improvements in employment, education, social security, medical care, social governance, and other public services, their rights to subsistence and development are well protected. There are a lot more detailed data and examples in the white paper providing evidence for these changes. I hope you will gain a better understanding with a closer look at it. Thank you.
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Bloomberg:
How big is the wealth gap now? How will the country control and narrow it? Will tax policies make a big difference? Thank you.
Ning Jizhe:
I'll answer your questions. Wealth inequality is a very important economic challenge. It is fair to say that in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China has seen poverty going down and its people becoming increasingly richer. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has made continuous leaps in economic strength, all-around progress in people's living standards, and gradual improvements in the distribution of residents' income. Despite disparities, gaps in residents' income between urban and rural areas, among different regions, and among different groups are narrowing in general.
First, the income gap between urban and rural residents has continued to narrow. As a result of poverty alleviation, as well as further agricultural and rural reform and development, the income of rural residents has grown significantly faster than that of urban residents and the income gap between them has continued to shrink. In terms of income growth, the per capita disposable income of rural residents grew at an average annual rate of 10.6% in nominal terms from 2011 to 2020, 1.8 percentage points faster than that of urban residents. In terms of the income ratio of urban and rural residents, their per capita disposable income ratio had dropped year by year from 2.99 in 2010 to 2.56 in 2020, a cumulative decrease of 0.43. The figure went down by 0.08 in 2020 compared with the previous year, the fastest decline since the 18th CPC National Congress.
Second, income disparities between regions have been reduced year-by-year. With the implementation of the coordinated regional development strategy and other new regional strategies, the income gap has been narrowed along with and because of a reduction in the development disparity between regions. Between 2011 and 2020, disparities in per capita disposable income between the richest and poorest provincial-level regions were reduced year-by-year, with the ratio falling from 4.62 (of Shanghai to Tibet autonomous region) in 2011 to 3.55 (of Shanghai to Gansu province) in 2020, the lowest in the 21st century. In 2020, the eastern-western income ratio stood at 1.62, down 0.08 from 2013; the central-western income ratio stood at 1.07, down 0.03 from 2013; and the northeastern-western income ratio stood at 1.11, down 0.18 from 2013.
Third, the income gap between different groups has generally been narrowed. The Gini coefficient is commonly used to gauge measuring income inequality. The World Bank estimates the Gini coefficient by both disposable income and consumption expenditure. When estimated by disposable income, China's Gini coefficient showed a generally fluctuant decline over the last decade. In 2008, the Gini coefficient calculation for per capita disposable income of Chinese residents hit 0.491, the highest in years. Since 2009, it has displayed a downward trend and declined to 0.468 in 2020, down 0.023 from 2018. Meanwhile, income distribution has improved. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the per capita net transfer income of residents nationwide grew by 10.1% annually, faster than residents' income growth. Furthermore, according to the World Bank, China's Gini coefficient of consumption expenditure stood at 0.385 in 2016, 0.080 lower than the country's Gini coefficient of disposable income over the same period. Consumption data can better reflect the real living standards of Chinese residents.
Fourth, we have accelerated the realization of equal access to basic public services. The income of Chinese residents covers both household disposable income and public services offered by the government for improving people's lives. In the process of building a moderately prosperous society, all local authorities and government departments have taken active steps to promote equal access to basic public services. Noticeable progress has been made in improving the multi-tiered social security system. China has established the world's largest social security network. The country's basic medical insurance covers more than 1.35 billion people and its basic old-age insurance covers more than 1 billion people. The housing security and supply system has been steadily developed. China has built more than 80 million units of government-subsidized housing and housing for people displaced by urban transformation. It has also improved the housing conditions of more than 200 million poor people. Continuous progress has been made in ensuring equal access to education, and the quality of education has markedly improved. In 2020, the completion rate of nine-year compulsory education reached 95.2%. Basic medical and public health services have also been improved. In 2020, expenditure in the general public budget for health services reached 1.92 trillion yuan. People's work-based earnings, operative income and transfer income have also increased. Meanwhile, aside from household income, some other types of income have been offered through public services. In a country of socialism with Chinese characteristics like us, all government departments and local authorities have done tremendous work in this regard.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we will further contain and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. We should both make the cake bigger and share it fairly. We will focus on development as the top priority and increase the resident's income by developing the economy, working hard and creating jobs. Meanwhile, we will uphold the system in which distribution according to work is dominant, but support it with a variety of modes of distribution, so as to raise the proportion of labor remuneration. We will improve the mechanism of regular wage growth and strive to increase the income of low-income groups while expanding the size of the middle-income group. We will also improve distribution policies and systems based on production factors to increase the factor income of low-and-middle-income groups. We will develop a more rational wealth and income redistribution mechanism, making more intense and accurate adjustments to taxation, social security, and transfer payments. We will give play to tertiary distribution to support the development of charity. Meanwhile, we will build a basic system to arrange and coordinate the primary, secondary and tertiary distribution to promote social fairness and justice, and the well-rounded development of all. By doing so, we will make a steady stride on the way to realizing common prosperity for all.
You just mentioned taxation in particular, which has played an important role in income distribution. We should make sure taxation plays a fully leveraging role in primary, secondary and tertiary distribution. Thank you.
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Phoenix TV:
China completed its mission of eradicating absolute poverty by the end of 2020 as scheduled and built a moderately prosperous society in all respects this year. Next, China will promote common prosperity while pursuing high-quality development. What is the relationship between these three stages? Thank you.
Xu Lin:
Thank you for your question. Ensuring that the people enjoy happy lives is the ultimate goal of the CPC. Over the past century, generations of Chinese Communists have fought for this goal. The CPC united and led the people in making enormous efforts to eradicate absolute poverty, and achieve moderate prosperity and common prosperity. It reflects the unity of continuity and stage of socialist modernization, as well as the CPC's deepened understanding and sustained efforts to reduce income inequality.
On one hand, the three stages of eradicating absolute poverty, and achieving moderate prosperity and common prosperity are interrelated and internally consistent. They conform to the trends of the times for peaceful development, and reflect the common aspirations of the people. They are unified with the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the difficult exploration of socialist modernization and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, which shows the strong desire of the Chinese people to pursue a happy life.
More specifically, first, the three stages all reflect the Party's fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people, the Party's original aspiration of bringing happiness to the Chinese people and national rejuvenation to the Chinese nation, and the Party's continued commitment to a people-centered approach and putting the people first. Second, they all reflect an essential requirement of socialism, which is promoting well-rounded human development, as well as fulfilling people's aspirations for a better life, focusing on balanced, coordinated and sustainable development, and are to be enjoyed by each and every one of the people. Third, in promoting the three stages, we should uphold the leadership of the CPC, forge ahead on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and leverage the political advantages of the socialist system. In addition, in promoting the three stages, we should liberate and develop the productive forces on the basis of development and gather strength and work together. These are the shared aspects of the three stages.
On the other hand, the features of the three stages are emphasized differently. In terms of their contents, they are all different and constantly being enriched. The aim of eradicating absolute poverty is to solve the problem of poverty. Building a moderately prosperous society in the economic, political, cultural, social and eco-environmental fields promotes a happier life for the people. Common prosperity refers to wealth being shared by all, both in material and cultural terms, to realize well-rounded human and social development.
In terms of their goals, the three stages follow on from each other. Poverty alleviation is a key task and index in the realization of moderate prosperity. Only by eradicating absolute poverty can we ensure success in the goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects. A moderately prosperous society in all respects is an important foundation for realizing common prosperity. Only by building a moderately prosperous society in all respects can we lay a solid foundation for realizing common prosperity. Common prosperity is the goal of poverty alleviation and moderate prosperity. Only by promoting common prosperity can we truly consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation and moderate prosperity, and highlight the advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
As you mentioned in your question, China has achieved the First Centenary Goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. However, the existing problems of imbalances and inadequacies in development mean there is still a long way to go. We will shore up points of weakness and consolidate the foundations to expand the achievements of poverty elimination with an emphasis on promoting rural vitalization. We will make substantive progress toward achieving well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all, while also pursuing high-quality development. Thank you.
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Economic Daily:
In recent years, society has witnessed great changes in every aspect of people's lives. At the same time, we have noticed that people are still facing difficulties in housing, medical care, education, elderly care, and other areas. How do you see these problems, and how will you solve them? Thank you.
Zhao Chenxin:
I'll answer this question. Thanks for your question, which is a very important one. Our people are still facing some difficulties and having some appeals on several direct and practical areas. How should we see these problems, and how will we solve them?
The CPC has always placed ensuring and improving people's wellbeing as a top priority to achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects and made constant efforts to solve prominent problems affecting the vital interests of the people. As a result, over 1.4 billion Chinese people have begun to live the happy lives that they have dreamed of for thousands of years. Their rights to subsistence and development have been effectively protected. Significant progress has been made in ensuring access to childcare, education, employment, housing, medical services, elderly care, and social assistance. However, ensuring and improving people's wellbeing has no end but only new starting points. We think that the difficulties you have mentioned in medical care, housing, education, and other areas are the pursuit of better doctors, better housing, better schools, and better lives. It is a question of whether the quality is good or not after the question of access has been properly solved, which relates to new worries in the new development stage of people's livelihoods. These problems show that after achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the macro environment and internal conditions for improving people's wellbeing are facing new changes. People's needs for a better life have become more extensive since they have more and higher-level demands for steadily rising incomes, quality medical services, more equal education, and better living conditions. In the new development stage, we have to adapt to these new changes, adhere to a people-centered development philosophy and do our best to resolve pressing difficulties and problems that are of the greatest concern to the people, to resolve more prominent problems, and practically ensure people's livelihood.
In the aspect of public services, during the next five years, we will actively adapt to people's desire for a better life and focus on public issues that are most pressing, most practical, and of greatest concern of people's livelihood. We will define the scope of basic and non-basic public services in a scientific and reasonable way, continuously promote the equalization of basic public services, and expand the multiple and inclusive supply of non-basic public services. We will also mobilize multifaceted forces at the levels of government, society, market, and the individual to strengthen weak links and improve quality in order to achieve the final goal of pursuing better access to childcare, education, employment, housing, medical services, elderly care, and social assistance.
Next, we will promote the building of a public service system in two areas. First, governments will provide equal access to basic public services. We will focus on ensuring people's basic living needs and fulfilling the duties of governments at all levels of basic public service supply. We will effectively increase input, continuously improve the standard system, optimize resource allocation efficiency, and advance equal access to basic public services. By doing these, all citizens are expected to get fair and roughly equal basic public services so that the bottom line of people's livelihood can be guaranteed. Second, we will make efforts to expand the multiple and inclusive supply of non-basic public services. Governments should fulfill their guiding responsibilities to encourage and support public institutions, social organizations, the state-owned economy, and multiple subjects to participate in non-basic public service supply, enrich the service supply, and effectively reduce service costs. We will gradually make non-basic public services available after paying – at affordable prices – with guaranteed quality and supervised safety to achieve a dynamic balance between supply and demand and ensure inclusive public services.
By distinguishing basic and non-basic public services, we can clear rights and liabilities, highlight key points, utilize limited financial funds in the most needed and pressing areas of people's livelihoods, and collect more social resources for public services. As a result, we can fully mobilize all positive factors to effectively tackle pains and difficulties and remove barriers to people's livelihoods and meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life, improving people's livelihoods in line with economic development to create a better life together. Thank you.
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Xinhua News Agency:
We often say that "Whether China has achieved prosperity will be judged by the conditions of the rural areas." After the victory in poverty alleviation, we will now comprehensively promote rural vitalization. How has progress been made over the years since the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy? In the next step, what are the considerations and arrangements for promoting the continuous increase in farmers' income and further narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents?
Liu Huanxin:
Let me answer this question, and thank you for your attention to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. The implementation of the rural vitalization strategy is a major deployment made by the 19th CPC National Congress, focusing on achieving two centenary goals. After nearly four years of hard work, the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy has made great headway. First, we have a bumper grain harvest for 17 years in a row, which remains above 650 billion kilograms for six consecutive years. This year, despite the impact of COVID-19 and natural disasters such as floods, both summer grains and early season rice have increased production, and autumn grain is on course for an increase in output, forming a solid foundation for securing the year-round grain harvest. Also, the production capacity of live pigs has been restored. The food supply for 1.4 billion Chinese people has been secured through our own efforts. Second, agricultural modernization has been significantly accelerated. China has built a total of 800 million mu of high-standard farmland, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress exceeds 60%, the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvest has reached 71%, and the application of fertilizers and pesticides has experienced negative growth for four consecutive years. The ratio of agricultural product processing output value to total agricultural output value has increased to 2.4:1. New industries and new business formats such as rural tourism and rural e-commerce keep booming. Third, the overall victory has been won in the fight against poverty. A total of 98.99 million rural poor people were all lifted out of poverty, which historically solved the problem of absolute rural poverty. This year, we have established a dynamic monitoring and assistance mechanism for preventing a return to poverty. We have provided precise assistance to more than 5 million people identified as prone to return to poverty, and we have been dynamically clearing this to zero. We will firmly hold the bottom line of preventing large-scale poverty return. Fourth, solid progress has been made in rural construction. Electric power, hardened roads, and 4G networks are basically connected to each village, and sanitary toilets are used by more than 68% of rural households, and a unified basic pension, basic medical, and critical illness insurance system for urban and rural residents has been established. This year we have formulated an implementation plan for rural construction actions and strive for new achievements in the development of rural area during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Fifth, rural governance has been more efficient. The construction of rural grassroots Party organizations has been strengthened, a rural governance system that combines autonomy, the rule of law, and the rule of virtue is gradually established, governance methods such as point system, inventory system, and digital empowerment are innovated and developed in various places, and more outmoded and undesirable habits and customs are updated, and the cultivation of civilized rural customs was accelerated.
Through the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy, agriculture develops steadily, rural areas are harmonious and stable, and farmers are happy and healthy, which vividly reflects the quality of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. But after completing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, there are still problems of uneven and insufficient development, and agriculture and rural areas, in particular, remain weak links, shortcomings, and weaknesses. In recent years, the income of farmers has continued to grow relatively fast, and the income gap between urban and rural residents has continued to narrow. However, the gap in development between urban and rural areas is still large, and the task of promoting the common prosperity of rural areas and farmers is very arduous. At present and in the future, we will continue to promote farmers' income as the central task of implementing the rural vitalization strategy, continuously optimize policy provision, expand income-increasing channels, enlarge the proportion of middle-income rural groups of people, and increase the income of low-income rural groups, and promote farmers' income to a new level, so that hundreds of millions of farmers can catch up and will not be left behind on the road to common prosperity. There are four main ways to increase farmers' income:
First, increase income through industrial vitalization. Prosperity of the industries is a prerequisite for solving all problems in the countryside, and it is also a bedrock of increasing farmers' income. At present, farmers' net operating income accounts for about one third of farmers' income. We must give top priority to industrial vitalization when it comes to rural vitalization and increase farmers' income by promoting high-quality development of rural industries. Especially, more income will be generated by high-quality agricultural products, the industrial chain, and cost reduction.
Second, increase income by expanding employment. Wage income accounts for more than 40%, which is the bulk of farmers' income. On the one hand, we must create more local jobs to increase income, implement supportive policies in finance, banking, land use, and talents to foster innovation and entrepreneurship and bolster employment and income growth, thus enabling farmers to be employed and make money locally. On the other hand, we will encourage farmers to seek a job in cities to increase their income, strengthen vocational education and skills training for farmers, improve their technological and cultural quality, improve pro-employment policies, and do everything possible to ensure migrant workers have stable jobs.
Third, increase income by deepening reforms. There are still a lot of "sleeping" resources in rural areas. They are the biggest source of potential for increasing property income and they must be activated through reforms.
Fourth, increase income by improving policies. Increasing the transfer income of farmers is an important part of improving the redistribution adjustment mechanism. We must focus on two types of groups: the first type is small agricultural households. For them. we must improve the agricultural support and protection system, stabilize and strengthen farmers' grain subsidies, and distribute beneficial agricultural funds to farmers on time and in full. The other type is low-income farmers. For them, we must establish and improve a normalized assistance mechanism, weave a dense social security safety net, and maintain the bottom line of preventing large-scale returns to poverty. Thank you.
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CNBC:
What are the shortcomings in the development of China's first-tier cities? For instance, in terms of old-age service and social security, what are the future development direction and the priority of first-tier cities? Thanks.
Ning Jizhe:
Let me answer this question. Since the reform and opening up, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and other first-tier cities and other mega cities have witnessed substantial economic growth, significant population growth, continuous expansion of opening up, and vigorous development of social undertakings. They have become an important engine for China's economic growth, an important hub for opening up, and the important support for state governance. They have also increasingly become an important space carrier for people to live and work in peace and happiness to enjoy a better life. Meanwhile, these megacities also have "urban diseases" that are common in countries around the world, such as traffic congestion, high housing prices, and limited development. These are all problems in development, difficulties in progress, and troubles in growth. As for old-age service and social security, the overall level of the first-tier cities is not bad. The average life expectancy of several first-tier cities is above 80 years old, ranking among the best in all kinds of cities. What needs to be improved is to control the costs and get better services. The country's outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan 2021-2025 has made the planning and deployment to improve the spatial layout of urbanization and optimize and upgrade the functions of the central urban areas in megacities. The main aspects are as follows.
First, we will promote high-quality and sustainable development of megacities.
We will make overall plans to take into account the diverse needs of economy, livelihoods, ecology, and security, promote the transformation of development and construction methods of megacities, and strengthen the prevention and control of urban governance risks. We adhere to the principle of building cities with a people-centered approach, deeply grasp the law of urban development, and coordinate the development and the safety. We will effectively promote the transformation of urban development mode from scale expansion to connotation enhancement, paying more attention to people's livelihoods, steadily improving the level of social security, and upgrading the modernization level of urban governance. With these methods, we will make cities healthier, safer, and more livable. At the same time, we will further strengthen the leading roles of megacities, constantly optimize the spatial pattern of economic development and achieve coordinated regional development to better drive rural revitalization and promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas.
Second, we will reasonably reduce the development intensity and population density of megacities. To scientifically plan the urban production, living and ecological space, we will decrease the functions and the related facilities as general manufacturing, regional logistics bases and specified markets in the central urban areas with an orderly manner, avoid excessive concentration of public resources, and strengthen risk prevention and control in urban governance. For example, based on the functional orientation of the national political center, cultural center, international exchange center, and scientific and technological innovation center, Beijing will build a harmonious, livable and beautiful capital. At the same time, focusing on the relief of non-capital functions, we will promote the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to a higher level. The air quality monitoring and joint prevention and control in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas will be strengthened, and Beijing's advantages in scientific and technological innovation will be given play to drive the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries in Tianjin and Hebei, so as to enhance its driving role in the surrounding areas.
Third, we will optimize and enhance the core competitiveness of megacities.
We will enhance the roles of megacities in global resource allocation, in driving scientific and technological innovation, and in leading the development of high-end industries, ensure that megacities take the lead in forming an industrial structure with modern service industry as the mainstay and advanced manufacturing as the prop, and enhance their overall capacity and international competitiveness. For example, Shanghai will enhance its overall urban capacity and core competitiveness to play a leading role in the Yangtze River Delta. Led by the "four functions" in global resource allocation, in driving scientific and technological innovation, in leading the development of high-end industries, and in developing the area as an opening hub, and by continuously promoting its roles as the "five centers" in areas of international economy, finance, trade, shipping and scientific and technological innovation, Shanghai will provide services for the Yangtze River Delta's high-quality development and participation in international competition, and lead the integrated development of the Delta. For another example, Shenzhen will take the construction of a pioneering demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics as the lead to build a comprehensive national science center and accelerate the promotion of major cooperation platforms between Guangdong and Hong Kong in Qianhai and Hetao. Shenzhen will also take the lead in practicing the connection of rules and mechanisms in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, give full play to its role as the core engine in the construction of the Greater Bay Area, and facilitate and drive the development of its surrounding areas. Guangzhou will also play an important role in the construction of the Greater Bay Area, including improving the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao science and technology innovation corridors. Thank you.
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People's Daily:
Over the years, we have witnessed material progress as well as great changes to our cultural activities. What's your view on that? Next, what policies and measures will China adopt to meet the growing cultural needs of the people and what will be done to enrich their cultural activities? Thank you.
Xu Lin:
Let me take your questions. As for moderate prosperity in China, material progress should go hand in hand with advances in culture and ethics. The people should have sufficient food and other daily needs, but they should also conduct themselves with dignity and a strong sense of morality. In the process of realizing a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the Chinese people have made both material and cultural progress.
Changes in cultural activities can be seen in all-round cultural prosperity, the rapid development of cultural industry, as well as people engaging in more diversified and active cultural activities.
First, cultural products continued to be enriched. Excellent books, radio programs, films, television programs, literature and art works, and works in philosophy and social sciences have continued to emerge and meet the multi-level and diverse cultural needs of the people. Literature and art production has seen great progress. Book publishing has strengthened the supply of high-quality content, with more and more quality books published. Now, a reading campaign is carried out nationwide. At present, the reading rate of Chinese adults stands at 81.3%. In recent years, Chinese films have also developed rapidly. The number of cinema screens in China has reached 80,000, ranking first in the world. With a quality growth in film production, popular blockbuster hits such as "My People, My Country," "The Sacrifice," "The Pioneer," and "The Wandering Earth" have continued to emerge. The box-office number increased year-by-year, surpassing 60 billion yuan for the first time in 2018, and reaching more than 64.2 billion yuan in 2019, ranking second in the world. Despite that global box-office decline amid the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, China's box office number topped the world last year, exceeding 20.4 billion yuan, and continued to rank first globally in the first eight months of this year, reaching 32.8 billion yuan. All these reflect cultural changes in China.
Second, public cultural services are more standardized and equally accessible, with a six-tier network of public cultural facilities being built across urban and rural areas. By the end of 2020, China had over 3,200 public libraries, 5,700 museums, 600 art galleries, 3,300 cultural centers, 32,000 township and town-level cultural stations, and more than 575,000 village-level cultural service centers. Most of our public libraries, museums and art galleries are open to the public free of charge or at a low cost. More high-standard cultural facilities are under construction.
Third, the cultural and tourism industries are now more integrated. Money and time are important for traveling. Now, more and more people have sufficient time and money to go on a trip at any time, explore their dreams away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, and enjoy China's beautiful landscape. In 2019, China welcomed over six billion domestic tourists, and grossed 5.7 trillion yuan from this sector.
Cultural changes are also reflected in that China's continued growth and cultural development have enhanced the inner strength of the Chinese people, and profoundly changed their spiritual outlook from being oppressed 100 years ago to being treated equally in the world today. The Chinese people has more confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of Chinese socialism. The spirit of patriotism, reform, innovation and hard work in the new era are taking root. Good traditions in Chinese culture, including filial piety, keeping a diligent and friendly attitude, helping those in difficulties or danger, upholding morality while advocating good deeds, and acting bravely for a just cause, have been promoted, filling society with uplifting energy.
Today, the Chinese people are more open-minded and have gained deeper understanding of innovation, rules, and markets. The nation is turning towards a thrifty, green, low-carbon, and healthy lifestyle. Facing difficulties and challenges in development, the Chinese people have overcome difficulties with a strong will and hard work. They have truly created a miracle in the world.
China has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and is making solid progress towards the goal of common prosperity. The people have more expectations and better requirements for cultural life. Common prosperity is both material and cultural. We will stick to a people-centered development philosophy, focus on the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development in the cultural field, and strive to make efforts on three aspects: inclusiveness, diversity and quality, so as to enhance the people's sense of cultural acquisition and happiness.
Inclusiveness means to pay attention to balance and equality, continue to improve the public cultural service system, strengthen the construction of cultural infrastructure, strive to eliminate the gap between urban and rural areas and regions, better protect people's basic cultural rights, and let more people participate in cultural creation and enjoy cultural nourishment. Diversity refers to the enhancement of cultural supply capacity and the enrichment of cultural products in accordance with people's cultural needs in various aspects, such as seeking knowledge, beauty and happiness, and the individualized, differentiated, diversified and multi-level cultural needs of different individuals and groups. Quality means that we must strive to create masterpieces that are of high quality, with good taste, and close to life. The works must appeal to people and lead the times. They must convey truth, goodness and beauty, and spread positive energy. People will thus enjoy a richer and higher quality cultural life. Thank you.
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NTV:
The accelerated risks of fewer children and an aging population in China may have an impact on China's future economic development. Under such circumstances, can China continue to maintain a moderately prosperous society in all respects? Thank you.
Ning Jizhe:
I will answer this question. Thank you. Since the beginning of the century, changes have taken place in the structure and number of China's population. The seventh national census in 2020 has comprehensively investigated the number, structure and distribution of China's population, and this result has been published. Although the growth rate of China's total population has slowed down, the total fertility rate has declined, and the degree of aging has deepened, on the whole, the demographic dividends still exist. We also now have a talent dividend, and the health of Chinese people has been continuously improved. With the gradual improvement of the population policy, China will maintain long-term momentum in economic growth. Human resources will provide a solid guarantee for building a modern socialist country on the basis of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects .
First, labor resources are still abundant and demographic dividends continue to exist. China is still the most populous country in the world. The total population is still growing, and the total working-age population is still huge. China's working-age population, aged 16-59, has reached 880 million, and there are more than 300 million women of childbearing age, which can maintain a birth population of more than 10 million every year. In 2020, the total number of migrant workers in China reached 286 million. The dividends generated by population growth still exist, and labor resources are still abundant, which will provide population support for sustainable economic development.
Second, the quality of the population has significantly improved, and new advantages of talent dividends have gradually emerged. Over the past decade, the education level of China's population has significantly improved. In 2020, the average number of years of education of China's working-age population aged 16-59 reached 10.75 years, an increase of 1.08 years compared with 9.67 years in 2010. In the past decade, education has made great progress, with 208 million people now having a college education or above, accounting for 23.61% of the working-age population, a sharp increase of 11.27 percentage points over 2010. The proportion increased by more than 10 percentage points, nearly doubling. This will help accelerate the transformation of China's economic development mode, optimize and upgrade the industrial structure, and continuously improve the total factor productivity, thus providing new talent support for high-quality economic development.
Third, people's health has improved significantly, and conditions for labor resources have been optimized. Health is important for both well-being and productivity. With the reform and development of medical and health services, the physical quality of Chinese people has improved significantly. China's life expectancy reached 77.3 years in 2019, an increase of 2.47 years over 2010, which is a significant increase. The physical condition of middle-aged and elderly people has improved generally. Although many people have reached old age, their physical condition is still quite good. The infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate also dropped to 5.4 per 1,000 and 16.9 per 100,000 in 2020, respectively, with improvements in physical fitness at both ends of the spectrum. On the whole, the health level of Chinese residents is better than the average level of middle and high-income countries. The achievements in health care also provide effective labor support for sustainable economic development. Improved physical health is conducive to the functioning of labor resources.
Fourth, the number of children increased and their proportion as a part of the population rose. A new generation of labor resources is growing up. The number of births rebounded as a result of decisions and policy measures such as the "selective two-child" policy and the "universal two-child" policy. Data from the Seventh National Population Census show that the number of children aged 0-14 increased by 30.92 million compared to 2010, and their proportion rose by 1.35 percentage points. The birth rate of second child saw a significant increase, and the proportion of babies born as a second child rose from about 30% in 2013 to about 50% in 2017. This year, the implementation of three-child policy and supportive measures will be conducive to the growth of the birthrate and the improvement of age composition, to achieve long-term and balanced demographic development. Thank you.
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The Paper.cn:
A moderately prosperous society means there will be more active consumption activities created with higher level and quality. Under the current economic conditions, how will the government ensure the steady growth of consumption, and how will they promote the upgrading of consumption? Thank you.
Zhao Chenxin:
I will answer your question, thank you. It's a very good question. You all have a keen interest in consumption. Over the years, China's consumption has been scaled up in a steady manner and there has also been an improvement in the consumption structure. More business forms are thriving and we are continuing to optimize the consumption environment, to meet people's diversified and multi-tiered needs for consumption. In 2019, the per capita consumption expenditure of residents exceeded 20,000 yuan for the first time. Service consumption expenditure took up 45.9% of the per capita household consumption expenditure, nearly half of the total, 4.8 percentage points higher than that of 2015. Consumption drove GDP growth up by 3.5 percentage points, being the primary driving force of China's GDP growth for the 6th consecutive year in 2019. After the COVID-19 outbreak, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all departments and local governments followed the general principles of pursuing stable performance and making new progress, coordinating epidemic control with socio-economic development. China's economy continues to show its resilience, and consumer demand has maintained a steady recovery. In the future, as China accelerates towards a new development paradigm, expands domestic demand and moves towards common prosperity, with the middle-income group expanding and new products, business forms and models emerging in consumption sector, I believe that China will continue to expand its consumption sector, and will not slow down its steps to boost consumption upgrading. The overall trend for meeting people's needs for a better life and unleashing consumers' willingness will not be altered.
Going forward, on the basis of strict epidemic control measures, we will stick to the strategy of expanding domestic demand, and coordinate supply-side structural reform and demand-side management. We will take targeted measures to tap into the household consumption potential, expand the scale of consumption and improve quality. We will carry out works in five aspects to boost and upgrade consumption, which are as follows:
First, we will work to enhance residents' abilities and willingness to consume. In accordance with routine epidemic control measures, we will improve the system to ensure daily life supplies, and roll out relevant polices and measures. We will take measures to both increase people's income and ease their burdens. We will work to build an innovative system that facilitates a virtuous cycle through the whole process of employment, the distribution of income and consumption so as to improve people's willingness and abilities to consume in a steady manner.
Second, we will work to provide better services and products. The expansion of consumption will be aligned with the goal of improving people's livelihoods. We will push forward the building of a supply system for high-quality consumption, and encourage enterprises to provide high-quality products and services at relatively low prices. We will make full use of various platforms to boost consumption, continue to carry out a series of consumption campaigns and leverage their roles in promoting consumption, such as "China Brand Day," National Consumption Promotion Month and the Brand and Quality Online Shopping Festival, among others. In addition, we will continue to convene China International Import Expo, the China International Consumer Products Expo and more, to pool together high-quality consumption resources at home and abroad to better meet the individual, diversified and medium- and high-end consumption needs of the Chinese people.
Third, we will work to unleash new driving forces for consumption. We will cultivate new types of consumption, stay attuned to the trend of consumption upgrading, and encourage the growth of new models and forms of consumption. We will promote the integrated development of online and offline consumption, and nurture a group of demonstrative cities and leading companies in promoting new types of consumption. We will ramp up efforts to promote green consumption, therefore leading to a green production. We will advocate green and low-carbon consumption and build a green consumption pattern. Efforts will be made to improve people's willingness to purchase green and low-carbon products and services.
Fourth, we will work to expand rural consumption. We will step up efforts to increase access to e-commerce and delivery services in rural areas, and push forward the modernization of circulation of agricultural products. Efforts will be made to improve the three-tiered e-commerce service system at the village, township and county levels, and the delivery logistics system as well. There will be an improvement in rural residents' willingness to consume when infrastructure is improved. We will work to improve services to facilitate people's life in rural areas. Efforts will be made to seek the digital and industrial development of agricultural products and services and make their development more brand-development focused and procedure-based. We will promote the transformation with regard to these aspects.
Fifth, we will work to optimize the environment for consumption, which is also a very important issue. We will strengthen the building of a consumer credit system and quality standard system. We will improve the mechanism on protecting consumers' rights and settling disputes in the consumption sector. We will carry out in-depth regulation on market orders and strengthen regulation on the quality and safety of consumer goods. We will ensure a consumption environment that is safe, credible and trustworthy.
That is my answer for your question. Thank you.
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China Daily:
As the world's second-largest economy, China is one of the major drivers of global economy. Last year, China was the only major economy in the world to register positive economic growth. Today, when and if the world economy will rebound remains unclear. Against this backdrop, what does it mean for the world that China has built a moderately prosperous society in all respect? What new development opportunities will it bring to the world economy?
Ning Jizhe:
I will take these questions. China has achieved moderate prosperity in all respects, which means as the world's most populated country and the largest developing country, China's economy is strong and the people's well-being has been improved. That in itself is a significant contribution to the world's peace and development. Meanwhile, achieving moderate prosperity in all respects in China has not only fueled and provided opportunities to the world's economic resurgence, but also contributed Chinese wisdom and strength to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China's development needs the world, and the world's development also needs China.
First, China's realization of moderate prosperity in all respects has made an impressive contribution to global poverty alleviation. As Mr. Xu introduced just now, since reform and opening up, 770 million poor rural people have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for over 70% of the world total during the same period. In 2020, the problem of extreme poverty in the country has also ended. China realized its poverty reduction goal from the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. More than 1.4 billion Chinese people have started a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country, which will be an unprecedented transformation and also a monumental event in human history. In recent years, the number of people living in poverty around the world has not fallen but increased, and the global cause of poverty reduction fell on hard times. Against this background, China's achievement has dramatically reduced the number of poor people in the world, giving confidence and power to the global cause of poverty reduction.
Second, China completion in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects has fueled economic growth and recovery all over the world. China had made the biggest contributions to global economic growth for 15 years straight starting from 2006, and its average contribution rate exceeded 30% for many years, which enables the country to be the major driver for global economic growth. In 2020, with its GDP exceeding 100 trillion yuan, China overcame the influence of the COVID-19 and became the only major power to deliver positive growth. In the first half of this year, China's economy increased by 12.7% year-on-year, which makes the country not only the major driver for global economic and trade recovery, but also allows it to play a positive role in stabilizing the global supply system. Over the past year or so, China has supplied hundreds of billions of masks, and hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to the world, supporting the fighting against the epidemic in various countries.
Third, China's realization of moderate prosperity in all respects has brought great opportunities for the economic development of the entire world. At present, China is the second largest consumer market and largest goods trading power in the world, leading the world in terms of foreign capital utilization and outbound investment. Now that China is accelerating the fostering of a double development dynamic, with the domestic economy and international engagement reinforce each other, and the former as the mainstay, China is bursting out potentiality in the market and opening its door wider and wider. This is presenting the world with a broader market, greater cooperative opportunities and larger space to grow. By our estimation, over the next five years, China will import goods of more than $10 trillion and make direct investment worth of over $550 billion to other countries and regions, which will greatly bolster the global economic stabilization, recovery and continuous development.
Finally, China's realization of moderate prosperity in all respects has opened up new ways for developing countries' pursuit of modernization. After more than seven decades of construction and development including over four decades of reform and opening up, China has achieved a tremendous transformation by raising the living standards of its people from bare subsistence to general prosperity. We have gone from a poor and backward country to the world's second largest economic power. We have gone from standing upright to becoming prosperous and growing in strength. In this process, we created the twin miracles of fast economic growth and long-running social stability, which do not only bring concrete benefits to the Chinese people, but also improve the state of the world. Since 2019, China's per capita GDP has exceeded by $10,000, which means almost 3 billion people in the world now enjoy per capita GDP exceeding $10,000 because of the 1.4 billion Chinese people joining and doubling the number. This is undoubtedly an enormous boon for the development of human society. The vivid practice of China's building a moderately prosperous society in all respects presents various countries and nations which would like to speed up development and remain independent with a brand-new choice. Thanks.
Chen Wenjun:
Thank you to all speakers and friends from the media. Today's briefing is hereby concluded. Goodbye!
Translated and edited by Zhang Liying, Wang Qian, Gong Yingchun, Yang Xi, Zhang Jiaqi, Wang Yiming, Li Xiao, Zhang Rui, Wang Mengru, He Shan, Zhou Jing, Wang Zhiyong, Duan Yaying, Liu Sitong, Xiang Bin, Chen Xia, Cui Can, Huang Shan, Wang Yanfang, Li Huiru, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Tom Arnstein. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.
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