China to Launch Rural Education CampaignChina's Vice-President Hu Jintao has announced that the country will launch a campaign to educate rural officials to protect farmers' interests and promote agricultural efficiency.Hu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said in a keynote speech here that the two-year movement will center on the study of President Jiang Zemin's instruction on the Party's leadership. "It will promote the rural economy and overall social advancement," he stressed. Jiang's important instruction stresses that the CPC earnestly represents the development requirements of China's advanced forces of social production, the progressive course of China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. Hu said that the campaign will improve the cohesion of the grass-roots Party organizations and the Party's leadership in the rural areas. Party committees at all levels should understand how to make proper arrangements for carrying out the campaign, Hu urged. China's grain output rose from 113 million tons in 1949 to 508 million tons in 1999, ranking the first in volume in the world. However, as China has 1.3 billion people, its agriculture sector is still in an unsatisfactory situation. There is an over-supply of agricultural products, while farmers ' incomes have been steadily decreasing, the agricultural structure is irrational and the production efficiency is low. Therefore, the increase of farmers' incomes and the promotion of agricultural restructuring is the centerpiece of the Party's current work. However, a number of village- or township-level officials lack a proper awareness of the situation and the Party's task. This is why the Party has decided to start this campaign, according to Hu. He said that the farmers shoulder excessive burdens because of illegal fee collections and fund raising, and other problems. In addition, the farmers' cultural level is low, cults are rampant in the countryside, and violent crimes occur constantly there. Hu also criticized rural officials who show indifference to the farmers' sufferings, and who even go so far as to take bribes and collude with local gangsters. The grass-roots cadres in the rural areas must have an attitude of serving the farmers wholeheartedly, and improve their democratic and legal awareness through the campaign, Hu said. The campaign will be carried out mainly through self-education, by combining such education with the rur |
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