Home market boost to rebalance development

The Government Work Report presented by Premier Wen Jiabao at the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress signaled a new direction in the country's development priorities. The budgets for rural areas, farmers, migrant workers, and the agriculture, education, housing, culture and environment sectors have each been raised by 20 percent or more, with their cumulative amount crossing more than 10 trillion yuan ($1.46 trillion). Such a sharp rise in the allocation of resources for people's general welfare is unprecedented in China.

The increase is the culmination of the Scientific Outlook on Development propounded in the two documents. But to be fair, without the economic crisis brought about by the financial tsunami that began lashing the world in September, these measures would not have been as robust.

In economic terminology, this is called investment in human capital. But the term is seldom used in China because of a humanitarian tradition that doesn't treat a person merely as a factor of production.