Is China's rural economy in decline?

In recent years, every Spring Festival, accompanied by the tide of returning home is often the voice of bemoaning the decline of rural areas and weakening folkways, which can be described as endless, year after year. At first glance, I really thought that China's rural areas were hopelessly dilapidated. If we carefully examine these articles, whether it is the first-person personal experience or the third-person retelling, most of the arguments are the same, and the reasons for "bad-mouthing the countryside" can be divided into four kinds:

First, intuitively, the countryside shows a dilapidated scene, the road is not repaired, the appearance of the village is dilapidated.

Second, the farmers go to the city to work, which leads to the stay of the old, weak, women and children, and the rural people settle down in the city and the villages and even farmland are abandoned.

Third, the original pure and beautiful folk customs have disappeared, and the world has become worse and the hearts of people are not ancient.

Fourth, knowledge is no longer respected.

It should be pointed out that these voices usually appear on the Internet and non-mainstream media, while in the official media, the rural areas tend to be prosperous and changing with each passing day. In view of the wide spread of the Internet and non-mainstream media, the theory of rural decline is widely spread. although there has been a weak voice of opposition, there is no doubt that the basic understanding of rural areas is in decline.

The author grew up in the rural areas of Henan Province at the junction of Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces. It has been ten years since he left his hometown to study in other places at the age of 20. He has been going back and forth between his hometown and the city of study every year, and I have seen with my own eyes that the rural areas in eastern Henan are getting better and better over the past 20 years. I really don't agree with the prevailing "theory of rural decline".

In the past, the asphalt road was mainly on the important traffic lines between villages, and even the slightly remote villages rarely had access to the asphalt road, which was basically dirt road. Moreover, it is those asphalt roads that are dilapidated within a few years of use, and they are muddy whenever it rains and snows. Every time I go out, I am distressed by the poor road. In recent years, with the construction of cement road, the road condition has been greatly improved, and basically covered most villages, there are convenient cement roads between villages and within the village. This was unthinkable in the past. In the past two years, with the development of the new rural construction, the installation of tap water and the repair of the network are also being carried out step by step, which can be imagined.

The biggest change comes from Murakami. Twenty years ago, most of them were brick bungalows, and a few were even thatched huts. In recent years, with the increase in income, the buildings in the village have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. The new houses under construction are basically two-story and three-story buildings. Of course, this is a waste, but it is by no means a dilapidated village. In the past, private cars were absolutely unimaginable by rural people, but in recent years, cars are no longer a "rarity" in rural areas, and a small number of people have bought them. In addition, the daily living standards of rural people have also been greatly improved, there is no need to talk nonsense.

As for the so-called "hollowing out" of rural areas, that is, young adults go out to work, leaving old and weak women and children at home. This is an undeniable fact, but it cannot be used to bad name the countryside. In the past, social mobility was extremely poor, the economy of the whole country was underdeveloped, and rural people had few opportunities to go out to work, so they could only stay in the village and live a poor life. But we have to ask: is it true that rural people stay at home and be poor is the prosperity of the countryside? Therefore, I think the hollowing out caused by rural people is the bitter fruit of the dual policy between urban and rural areas. We cannot blame the decline of the countryside on this basis, let alone stand on the hypocritical moral high ground to blame.

With the development of economy, the rural population is transferred to cities and towns, resulting in the abandonment of farmland in some villages. Such a description is common in the theory of decline. At present, this phenomenon is rare in the rural areas of eastern Henan, but it may be more obvious in some areas of the whole country. But I think this is only one side of the story, yes, barren villages and wasteland have emerged, but at the same time, new towns have emerged, and the rural population has not disappeared in vain, but moved to the towns.

There is no doubt that this phenomenon will occur in the process of social development. If the countryside is not abandoned, where can a new type of town come from? From the perspective of onlookers, it is true that the countryside is deserted, but if we take into account the feelings of rural people, they are undoubtedly willing to go to the city and give up their backward life in the countryside and settle in the city. Is it really good to prevent rural people from entering the city according to the bystander's wishful love and imagination in the countryside?

People have the impression that rural folklore has also deteriorated, which is only a superficial phenomenon. In fact, with the development of economy and the increase of income, the customs in rural areas are getting better. In the poor years, everyone saw the trivial interests, so the relations between the neighbors were tense, and there were often fights and even armed fights between villages. Today, these are basically extinct. "the granaries know the etiquette, and the food and clothing know the honor and disgrace." because of the improvement of living conditions, the relationship between rural people is far more friendly than in the past. Moreover, the feudal superstitions that prevailed in rural areas have basically disappeared in recent years. All these are selectively ignored by people.

With the popularity of the Internet and the great improvement of the speed of information dissemination, the rising divorce rate, marriage and funeral ceremonies and occasional pornographic performances in rural areas have all received widespread attention. However, the rising divorce rate, which is the case in the whole society, cannot be used to criticize the rural people. Moreover, according to the author's observation in the rural areas of eastern Henan, divorce is usually unbearable, which is very different from the irresponsible attitude that regards divorce as a child's play, so it should be regarded as a positive phenomenon.

The accidental appearance of pornographic performances is not rare in the first place. This kind of pornographic performances are not fixed in one place, and most of them are "crimes". Twenty years ago, the author heard that there was such a thing in the area when he was young, so it should not be regarded as a phenomenon that appeared only in recent years. Strictly speaking, porn will always exist no matter when and where, as long as human quality does not improve by leaps and bounds. We should not make a fuss about the occasional appearance of pornographic performances in rural areas only on the basis of our pure imagination of the countryside.

When a doctor of sociology from a university returned to his hometown in Hubei in 2015, he mourned the decline of the countryside and put forward a new phenomenon, that is, the so-called disrespect for knowledge. This article is very popular around the Spring Festival last year and has won the approval of many people. But I think there is a misunderstanding in this view. in fact, rural people have never really respected knowledge, what they respect is the power represented by knowledge.

In the past, social mobility was not high, the system was rigid, and farmers almost had no choice but to read books and become officials. In other words, in the past, knowledge was power, and if you had a high degree of knowledge, you could win the honor of returning home in the countryside. It is a great thing for a doctoral student to return home. In fact, people in rural areas respect scholars because they feel that they may become high-ranking officials in the future.

But today, the situation has changed, and there are more ways for rural people to change their destiny. there is not only one way to read, but also knowledge has lost its unique magic. Rural people can get rich, change their social status, and win respect when they do business at home or abroad, and naturally they are no longer as respectful of knowledge as they used to be. as a result, some intellectuals will feel a deep sense of loss when they return home because they do not receive the respect and support they imagined. However, I think we should be happy and applaud for this. After all, it shows that the rural areas have really begun to develop, there are ways to develop, and this society has become more dynamic.

All in all, the prevailing decline theory does not reflect the real situation in rural areas, which is actually developing and making progress. Although it cannot be said that the "theory of decline" is all made up, it actually looks at the countryside with tinted glasses, which obscures the real scene of the countryside and does not see the upward side of rural development.

Why have these obvious facts not been accepted by the Chinese people? Why is the theory of decline so popular? On the one hand, this is related to the popular trend of thought in recent years, that is, while bemoaning the noise and dirt of the city, we imagine the countryside as a pastoral pastoral life, in order to place our ideals or feelings. Once we find that the reality in rural areas is not as good as imagination, we think that it has gone bad now, and it used to be pastoral life. Therefore, consciously or unconsciously, we hope that the countryside will maintain its primitive ecology, regardless of the life and feelings of 800 million rural people. This view, especially obvious in the imagination of frontier life, is full of "wild interest" which is very different from the usual "wild interest", showing "strange", simple and primitive customs and customs.

At present, most of the cultural scenic spots are also under the signboard of the original ecology, trying to satisfy the public's appetite for novelty. In fact, the local people and government are aware of the urgency of development and will not keep the appearance of backwardness in order to satisfy the imagination. In fact, the simple and primitive in the hearts of the public is actually synonymous with poverty and backwardness, which is also applicable to the imagination of the countryside. This imagination of the frontier completely ignores the feelings of the local people and their desire to integrate into modern society, while the stereotyped imagination in rural areas ignores the desire and pursuit of rural people to improve their living standards.

In addition, it is also related to the identity and background of this kind of authors. Most of the authors of such articles circulated on the Internet are college students who have gone out of the countryside through the college entrance examination. they have certain academic qualifications and work hard in the city, but they are unable to settle down, so they have an excessive yearning for their hometown as a sustenance from the bottom of their heart.

This beautification is inextricably linked with modern media and literary works, including pop songs, TV dramas, movies, novels and so on. In the past 10 or 20 years, there has been an excessive beautification and rendering of "hometown" and "home". These college students who work hard in the city are affected too much by this, but they are very new to the countryside and regard the past as the golden age. This is somewhat similar to the Confucian ideal of the three generations, which is a kind of intentional or unintentional construction and shaping.

Putting aside the argument, if you ask rural people how they feel about the changes in the countryside, they must feel better, and few people hold the view of decline. Not only is life rich now, but there are far more ways to change fate than in the past. Whether it is to go out to work, or to do business at home, there are many opportunities. Such obvious facts are ignored by the public.

Think about it carefully, this is also a very helpless thing. Rural people have no right to speak and are in a state of aphasia, which causes the truth to be buried. There are more such cases in history. The lower-level studies carried out by historians, especially the rural studies of the Ming and Qing dynasties and modern times, spoke and recorded the squire and had their own unique moral standpoint, to what extent they reflected the truth of history, which is doubtful.

An important indicator of whether society is making progress is whether the system is free and flexible, so as to give ordinary people more room to rise. China is far more open now than it was three decades ago, and people have far more ways to change their lives than in the past, as do people in the countryside.