The village and the controversy

As the leading village in collective farming and rural industrialization, Nanjie has revived an ideological debate. It has invited criticism, too.

Wang Hongbin, Nanjie's Party chief, considers the October document a "panacea" for problems of villages like Nanjie. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee issued a policy document last month that allows transfer of the land-use rights among farmers.

Wang, who was a delegate to the plenary session of the CPC Central Committee last month, says: "The fifth part of the document stresses that eight types of rural public services have to be improved, but entrepreneurs and the market economy can't be relied on to do any of them. After all, private bosses haven't done much for rural areas. That means we ought to develop the collective economy, which is the basis for solving the sannong problems." Sannong stands for agriculture, rural areas and farmers.