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

Retired American teacher Ronald Sakolsky said it is "embarrassing" that a positive story about China hit the world headlines but can only be covered by local media in the United States.

More than two decades ago, Sakolsky supported a Chinese woman, Yin Yuzhen, in planting trees to combat desertification. The story went viral when Ms Yin took to social media to look for the man who offered her financial support 20 years ago because she wanted to show that the trees he helped to plant had flourished. After reconnecting online, Sakolsky and Yin met again in China, a story that hit global headlines.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday referred to the story during a banquet at the White House, saying that it touches the hearts of many Chinese people and stands as a shining example of the friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

During the visit, Xi also said that 100,000 young Americans will be invited to visit China for exchanges and study over the next 5 years.

However, such positive stories are not extensively covered in the U.S. media.

A name called out from a podium, Sakolsky noted, won't make headlines. But it serves as a reminder that what China and the United States need most isn't more noise, but better stories, told well.

"I think the news media, unfortunately, focuses on the negatives. And I'm saying to myself, why aren't you focusing on the fact that President Xi just started the program back again for the student exchange, 100,000 student visas? That's a positive. Why aren't you talking about that? Every single day that I've been home, literally every single day I have been on WeChat, Facebook, e-mail talking to people about the relationship between China and America. I sent a text message to Sean Hannity on Fox news about an hour ago and I said to him, how embarrassing is it that only a local media station here in Pittsburgh has covered the story for five minutes? And yet the President Xi of China mentions it at a White House dinner," said Sakolsky.

Sakolsky said he has spent every day since returning home discussing China-U.S. relations with people across platforms - conversations he hopes can help fill the gap left by mainstream coverage.

Retired American teacher questions US media silence on positive China stories