On Building A New Socialist Countryside

This year, I came back to my hometown to spend the Spring Festival with my parents. When we finished eating our family reunion dinner, my father asked me such questions as “What’s a new socialist countryside in your eyes?” and “How can we build a new socialist countryside?”. Those questions aroused my interest because I am a college teacher in Central China Agricultural University, who is much concerned with modern agriculture in China. My reply included the following aspects:

First, a new socialist countryside should be very affluent. Developing agriculture alone cannot attain such a goal. So farmers should also develop industry, tourism, transportation, cultivate in the countryside a new generation of farmers who not only love farming but also have mastered advanced science and technology. We should also encourage college graduates, in the countryside. Last but not least, the countryside should be urbanized. That means farmers can be entitled to social security, pensions and Medicaid just like townsmen. I am sure as long as people in the rural areas make arduous efforts, they are sure to build the countryside into a new socialist countryside even admired by townspeople.