By Liu Lihui

Research Report Vol.21 No.6, 2019

Urban and rural integration has improved the quality of life in China’s countryside and created higher local demand for more and better public services. According to the 2018-2022 Plan on Rural Rejuvenation Strategy, China will continue to prioritize the development of the rural areas, allocate more educational, medical, and social security resources to the countryside, and promote equal access to basic public services for urban and rural residents. China will accelerate the development and upgrading of rural infrastructure by stepping up investments. To deliver a better infrastructure and public service system, therefore, is high on the agenda of rural governance and key to poverty alleviation in the countryside.

I. Consumption Upgrade creates new Demand for Public Services and Consumption Growth is influenced by Service Quality

Consumption upgrade and the quality of public services can influence each other. Findings of empirical studies show that the level of urbanization (with infrastructure and public services as core elements) has a huge impact on resident consumption capacity and structure and it is only second to income in terms of the contribution to per capita consumption. In less developed areas, the improvement in public transportation and communications facilities can significantly promote the growth of resident consumption. In fact, urbanization plays a more prominent role in boosting consumption in villages than in cities. Since the 18th NationalCongress of the Communist Party of China, China’s rural resident consumption has maintained a momentum of rapid growth, with its structure and habits continuing to optimize and align with those of urban residents. Rural durables consumption has witnessed three major changes (Table 1). First, the number of household cars has doubled in five years, with cars replacing motorcycles to become the most favored vehicles by rural families. It will only take another five years for China’s villagers to catch up with their urban counterparts in terms of car ownership. Second, computers and mobile phones are widely used in rural households. Third, there is a rapid increase in the number of water heater users. Behind these changes are fast improving infrastructure and public services such as better roads, communications and telecommunications facilities, internet access, water pipelines, and power lines.

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Rural food consumption has also witnessed three major changes (Table 2). First, grain consumption has steadily declined with more attention paid to food quality and variety instead of quantity. The Engel’s Coefficient for rural residents dropped from 39.3% in 2012 to 31.2% in 2017. Second, the consumption of beans, eggs, and dairy products has risen rapidly. Third, the consumption of fresh and dried vegetables and fruit has also witnessed a drastic increase. Behind these changes are fast improving infrastructure and public services such as better supermarkets, general shopping facilities, and logistics and delivery infrastructure, and better systems to protect the ecological environment, prevent land and water pollution, and monitor food safety.

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Service consumption expenditures have increased rapidly in rural areas (see Table 3). Service consumption has seen an average annual growth rate of more than 12% in such areas as housing, education, culture, entertainment, health care, transportation, and communication in the past five years and is continuing to take a larger part in rural household expenditure. Behind these changes are fast improving infrastructure and public services such as better living environment, equal access to quality education, medical care, old-age care, and other basic services, more convenient transportation and communication, and a more efficient and better performing public sector. … II. Despite Significant Progress, Public Services and Infrastructure still cannot meet the Needs of Rural Residents

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, significant progress has been made in China’s rural infrastructure development. In terms of transportation, the rural road mileage across the country reached 4009300 kilometers at the end of 2017, of which 550700 kilometers were county roads, 1157700 kilometers were township roads, and 2300800 kilometers were village roads, connecting towns and townships as well as incorporated villages. The national road network connects 99.99% of the townships and 99.98% of the incorporated villages nationwide while 99.39% of the connected townships and 98.35% of the connected villages have hard surfaced roads. The vast majority of incorporated villages now have access to rural bus services, making it much easier to travel in the countryside. In terms of power supply, China has realized universal power access when the last remote group of 39800 people in Qinghai Province began to benefit from the national grid at the end of 2015. In terms of safe drinking water, China plans to invest RMB13.17 billion in a national program to further improve access to safe and clean drinking water in rural areas, which is expected to benefit 208 million people in its countryside and increase the rural tap water penetration rate from 76% in 2015 to more than 80% in 2020. In terms of irrigation facilities, the country’s irrigated area was 73946000 hectares in 2017, of which 67816000 hectares were irrigated land and accounted for 50.3% of its total cultivated land area. In terms of the conservation of water resources, China has appointed more than 300000 heads of rivers (lakes) at the provincial, municipal, county, and township levels and over 600000 heads of rivers (lakes) at the village level, who are entrusted with the responsibility of protecting rivers and lakes. In this way, China has set up an effective system for water resources conservation, which follows the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, counts on the direction of water resources authorities, and draws strength from the close coordination among various agencies and wide social participation. In terms of clean energy, the rural “coal-to-gas” project is steadily advancing, and the natural gas penetration rate in some areas has reached 90%. However, the high costs and safety issues of natural gas use remain to be addressed.

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The achievements of rural compulsory education have been consolidated, with school conditions further improved (see Table 5) and access to equal educational resources further promoted. In 2017, the number of students enrolled in rural primary schools was 11.365 million, down 2.1% from the previous year, while the number of students enrolled in junior high schools was 9.972 million, up 2.4% from the previous year. 59.7% of teachers in rural junior high schools have an intermediate or higher professional title, narrowing the gap with their urban counterparts to 4.2 percentage points. The value of equipment available to an average primary school student in rural areas is 71.4% of that available to his or her peer in urban areas. In the case of junior high school students, the figure is 75.2%. With 95.9% of rural primary schools gaining access to the internet, the gap with urban areas has further narrowed. In the case of junior high schools, 98.7% now have access to the internet and the gap with cities has disappeared.

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