Chinanews, Beijing, Feb. 2 – The People’s Daily Forum Column recently published an editorial, saying that in some parts of rural areas, local people make a lot of window dressing things to display their achievement attained after the central government issued the policy of building a new socialist countryside. They build villas through loans, decorate every corner of the house – even the toilet is covered with ceramic tiles. Some build a fountain in front of their houses. Most ironically, these window dressing acts are viewed as models by local governments from other rural areas that eagerly want to follow their example in building the "new socialist countryside."
In Mianyang, a city in Sichuan Province, local government allocated five zones in its agricultural technology model park for building villas. The villas are built through bank loans. However, farmers living in these villas always worry about where they can have their next meal. Their land has been requisitioned for commercial use. However, they don’t get the compensation to pay for their daily expenses in return. In order to make a living, many farmers living in villas have to go to large cities to look for work.
The case in Mianyang is not rare. In Xikang Village, Fujian, in response to local government's call, local farmers built 40 beautiful villas in their village, turning it into a model of a “well-off village” (well, at least from the appearance). However, in order to build these villas, local people had borrowed 1.3 million yuan of loans from banks. The loans have now become a heavy financial burden to local farmers.
The Ministry of Agriculture recently conducted a survey among 100 villages in China. The survey shows that in some places, local governments don’t realize that building a new socialist countryside is a long-term process. Instead, they are eager to achieve quick results, hoping to realize the goal in just a couple of years. Prompted by this thinking, they urge villagers to dismantle their current houses and move to new places, regardless of whether it is sensible to do so or whether villagers like their ideas.
