Thoughts on solving the problem of Rural Aging

The aging of rural population is regarded as a world phenomenon and an inevitable result accompanied by urbanization and industrialization. Young people are reluctant to stay in the countryside not only because of the poor efficiency and low income of the agricultural industry, but also because people yearn for a comfortable life in the city and the pursuit of modernization. This is the reason why many young people still choose to enter the city even though the income in the countryside is higher than that in the city. It should be said that under the condition of industrial civilization, the aging of rural population is an inevitable trend.

However, we should see that today's world has entered a new era, that is, the era of ecological civilization, industrial civilization not only creates great wealth, but also brings many insurmountable problems. One of its outstanding manifestations is the widening gap between urban and rural areas, the empty shell of rural areas, and the aging of the population leading to rural decline. Under the concept of ecological civilization, the countryside has a new connotation, especially a series of instructions on beautiful rural construction put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping, such as "seeing mountains, visible water, remembering homesickness" and "carefully cutting down trees, not filling lakes, and demolishing houses less." A series of instructions on the construction of beautiful villages, such as improving the living conditions of residents in the shape of the original village, have pointed out a new direction for rural development. People increasingly realize that the countryside has the irreplaceable value of the city, and some scholars even put forward that the countryside is the root of ecological civilization. Urbanization is not based on the elimination of rural areas, but to achieve the integration of urban and rural areas on the basis of complementary functions of urban and rural areas, and promote the common prosperity of urban and rural areas. Recently, in the process of beautiful rural construction, some places put forward the slogan "the countryside makes the city envy more", which is to see the irreplaceable advantages of the countryside.

According to the typical experience created by various places, under the concept of ecological civilization, we should pay attention to the construction of three aspects to overcome the problem of rural aging.

First of all, it is necessary to promote the free flow of urban and rural elements. In the past, we limited the urban population and implemented a strict urban-rural dual management system. It is very difficult for the rural population to become an urban population. Being bound to the land is considered to be one of the important reasons for rural backwardness and farmers' poverty. Under the influence of urbanization thinking, there is an one-sided understanding that the city is superior to the countryside, taking individual mobility measures oriented to the city, encouraging farmers to buy houses in cities, encouraging farmers to transfer their land to cities to work, demolishing villages and letting farmers go upstairs, a series of measures are one-way flow, which aggravates the decline of villages. In particular, some places advocate large-scale agriculture, transfer land to industrial and commercial capital, develop large-scale employment of industry and agriculture, cut off the connection between farmers and land, and accelerate young farmers to leave the land. What's more, some local governments encourage industrial and commercial capital to arable land rather than agriculture, to the countryside and to exclude farmers. Wanton occupying the living space of farmers has become an important factor to accelerate the aging of rural areas. On the other hand, it blocks the way for people to return home. For example, idle homestead in rural areas is not allowed to be sold to urban people, which restricts the flow of urban people to the countryside, while demolishing villages and reclamation of homestead, which fundamentally cuts off the way for people to return to their hometown.

A harmonious society should be a two-way flow of urban and rural elements. If there is no rural population flowing to the city, there will be no room for the development of modern agriculture; without urban people going to the countryside, it will be difficult to maintain rural vitality; it is necessary to encourage rural population to enter the city and promote the process of urbanization We should also support the flow of urban population to rural areas, especially college graduates interested in agricultural production, demobilized military personnel, migrant workers and related enterprises to start businesses in rural areas, so as to promote the prosperity of rural areas. Only through the two-way flow of urban and rural areas, can we have the local culture, develop modern agriculture, realize the city to support the countryside, and retain nostalgia can have a reliable carrier, rather than the elimination of nostalgia.

Secondly, it is necessary to innovate rural formats and promote rural employment. In order to attract young people, rural areas must not only have sound infrastructure and cultural construction, but also have good employment conditions so that young people can get a higher income. From the current successful experience of various places, the following three formats are effective to solve the problem of rural aging.

First, the formation of family farms has become an important carrier to attract young people to work in agriculture. Family farm is considered to be a typical example of moderate scale operation suitable for agricultural characteristics. Family farm not only retains the advantages of family management, but also has moderate economies of scale, and it is also an important space for the restoration of excellent traditional agricultural culture. The scale of family farms can effectively increase farmers' income; the stability of family farms has not only become a prerequisite for the sustainable development of agriculture, but also created conditions for agricultural successors.

The second is the development of rural tourism. The use of rural natural environment, characteristic products, folk culture and other resources to develop leisure, vacation, experience and other tourism industry is considered to be an effective way to revitalize the countryside. The recent development of tourism, picking, residential accommodation and other industries in the suburbs of Beijing have attracted a large number of young people to work. Many villages through the development of rural and agricultural tourism, restore rural handicrafts, revive rural culture, attract migrant workers to return home to start a business, prevent the decline of the countryside, and bring vigor and vitality to the countryside.

The third is the development of rural service industry. In addition to tourism services, Taobao Village has emerged with the development of e-commerce, and the development of agricultural socialization service system has promoted the formation of new professional groups, such as agricultural machinery services, agricultural science and technology services, cultural services, rural brokers and other professional teams. The construction of rural social undertakings has promoted the demand for rural talents in the fields of culture, health, education, domestic economics, pension and so on.

The construction of the countryside, the introduction of enterprises and projects is necessary, but the introduction of projects only benefit farmers, is beneficial to the countryside, can inject vitality into the countryside. Projects that exclude farmers and help a small number of bosses get rich can only accelerate the decline of the countryside.

Third, build a beautiful countryside. The construction of beautiful villages in Beijing is fruitful, and it promotes the construction of beautiful villages in accordance with the requirements of "pastoral beauty, village beauty, life beauty and humanistic beauty". Make the suburbs and villages become a happy home for farmers to live in harmony and an employment garden for getting rich and increasing income, and become a leisure paradise that citizens yearn for. The construction of beautiful countryside has solved the problems of farmers' employment and income, and solved the problems of villagers' living environment. People are rich and modernized, so people naturally do not want to leave the countryside. And it attracts urban people to start businesses in the countryside. The construction of beautiful countryside is not to build a beautiful rural shell, but to combine economic construction with cultural construction, to integrate traditional culture with modern culture, and to truly realize what people call "the countryside makes life better" and "the countryside makes the city yearn for more".