China sees pressing need to reshape urban-rural relationship with vigorous integrated development: expert

China is committed to deepening reform to advance integrated development between urban and rural areas, which is an inevitable requirement in pursuing the Chinese modernization.

An important resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization was adopted earlier this month at the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. It has made systematic deployment for promoting integrated urban-rural development while defining key tasks of rural reform.

China is a populous country that is home to over 1.4 billion people, and some 500 million of them are living in rural areas. President Xi Jinping has stressed that no matter how far the country goes down the industrialization and urbanization path, it's an objective law that urban and rural areas will coexist for a long time.

The resolution stated that integrated urban and rural development constitutes the centerpiece of the Chinese modernization. Presently, China has reached a critical juncture of removing the urban-rural dual structure and it bears far-reaching significance to reshape the urban-rural relationship and uphold the integrated urban-rural development path.

"The resolution proposed to promote integrated urban-rural development, which means promoting new industrialization, new urbanization and all-round rural revitalization in a coordinated way. Efforts should be made to break the urban-rural dual structure, bridge the urban-rural gap and promote their common prosperity and development by comprehensively integrating urban and rural planning, construction and governance," said Tu Shengwei, researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under National Development and Reform Commission:

In pursuit of that goal, experts noted that it’s necessary to facilitate the flow of production factors between urban and rural area to make resource allocation as efficient and productive as possible, which also has great significance for the high-quality development of Chinese economy and fostering a new development pattern.

"Judging from practices, if the institutional barriers hindering the equal exchange and two-way flow between urban and rural area are effectively removed, more development factors and services will flow freely to rural areas, which will further boost the vitality of agricultural and rural development and inject fresh dynamism into the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas," said Tu.

China sees pressing need to reshape urban-rural relationship with vigorous integrated development: expert

Even as a possible end to hostilities looms on the horizon, families in the southern Iranian city of Minab are still mourning their children killed by a strike on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on the country on February 28.

The Shajareh Tayyiba school, where the attack occurred, now stands as a damaged and silent reminder of the lives lost. Much of the school remains in ruins, with classrooms where students once studied now empty. Among those killed were students, teachers and school staff, including the school's vice principal.

Outside the damaged classrooms, families returned Friday to remember the children they lost.

"I am the mother of these two boys, Ahmadreza and Javad. One was in the second grade and the other in the fifth grade. I took this photo on their first day of school, here at this same school. This was their classroom, which is now destroyed. When I come here, I remember the days when I used to pick them up and they were playing. But today I come here and there is no trace of them," said Raheleh Chamli Zadeh, a bereaved mother.

Parents recalled the day of the strike as one of chaos and terror, as families rushed toward the school and hospitals searching for their loved ones.

"That day was a very difficult day and a very bitter tragedy. When we arrived, we saw that the hospital, the streets, and the school were all filled with smoke, fire and dust. It was very terrifying," said Fateme Shaeri, another bereaved mother.

Some families said they never found the complete bodies of their loved ones, while others still struggled to speak about what they experienced that day.

"I kept looking for my children, I kept searching for them everywhere. I hoped I would bring them out alive, but I couldn't. That day was different," said Ali Salari, a bereaved father and grandfather.

Months later, the destroyed school remains a painful landmark for families in Minab -- a place where children once studied, and where many parents said their lives changed forever.

Families still mourn children killed by strike on first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks