Rural potential tapped

The deliberations on rural development at the third Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China Central Committee are momentous.

Much of the limelight has been on breakthroughs in the contract-based household management system, and rural finance, which are revolutionary moves in their own right.

Yet they, along with more of what we will see in the coming days when the entire policy package is revealed, appear less than the sum of the parts of an organic whole. This is the first time in 30 years that the CPC has come up with a truly comprehensive approach to rural progress in which we see a good chance of success.