Better Life head stresses private firms' rural role

Private enterprises should play a bigger role in developing the economy and bolstering revitalization in rural areas, and helping achieve common prosperity, said Wang Tian, chairman of retail and real estate company Better Life Group.

Developing the rural collective economy will not only greatly enhance productivity and increase farmers' income, but also help them better cope with the uncertainties arising from market fluctuations, Wang said.

Along with the deepening reform in rural areas and continuous improvement of the socialist market economy, the rural economy is facing both challenges and opportunities, he said.

"Encouraging private enterprises to participate in the rural collective economy is a powerful measure to develop the collective economy, and consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation, as well as an effective method to promote rural revitalization and achieve common prosperity," Wang added.

China will fully consolidate and build on its achievements in poverty elimination by promoting rural revitalization, according to the 2022 Government Work Report.

The country will further support areas that have been lifted out of poverty in developing distinctive local businesses, and bolster labor collaboration and vocational skills training, to help people who are no longer in poverty steadily increase their income, the report said.

More efforts should be made to actively explore the innovative models of the rural collective economy in accordance with local resources and characteristics, which is of great significance in achieving common prosperity, Wang said.

He also called for joint efforts to expand the cooperation scope by rural collective economic organizations and private enterprises, develop the mixed economy in rural areas, further optimize the allocation of rural resources and guide more private enterprises to take part in rural revitalization.

Established in 1995 in Hunan province, Better Life has become a retail conglomerate covering supermarkets, convenience stores, shopping centers, commercial complexes, logistics and transportation. It operates over 700 brick-and-mortar stores nationwide.

Rural revitalization is a critical way to help achieve common prosperity, said Wei Houkai, head of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Wei said the key to promoting all-round rural revitalization lies in stimulating the indigenous vitality of rural areas, establishing a modern rural industrial system with distinctive and competitive features, and building a mechanism to increase the income of farmers.

Despite the unprecedented impact brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, China has accomplished its poverty alleviation target on schedule. The final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents have all been lifted out of poverty, and all 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages have been removed from the poverty list by the end of 2020.

In addition, Long Haibo, a senior researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, the nation's Cabinet, said digital technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, are playing an increasingly important part in bridging the digital divide in rural areas, empowering the healthcare and education industries, and promoting the rural-urban economic integration and rural revitalization.