중국 사회주의 신농촌 건설의 정치경제학

Abstract

Political Economy of the "New Socialist Countryside Drive" in China Kim, In The Chinese government launched a 'new socialist countryside drive' in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan at the 4th Session of the 10th National People's Congress on March 2006. This "New Socialist Countryside Drive" is similar in its characteristics to the "Saemaeul (new village) Movement" in Korea. China's highest leadership gives a top priority to solving the "Three Agriculture-related Problems" (agriculture, rural areas and farmers). It emphasizes a need to keep balancing socio-economic development between urban and rural areas and to make a steady progress in building up a new socialist countryside by enhancing agricultural productions and improving living standards. The Chinese government's particular attention to agriculture, rural areas and farmers paradoxically proves the political seriousness of the agricultural problems, whose settlement unavoidably becomes a critical task for Hu Jintao regime on the road to its political stability and economic growth.The "New Socialist Countryside Drive," however, does not mean that the Chinese government shifts the priority in its economic development strategy from growth to distribution. Since the top priority in the contemporary China is still given to economic growth, the 'Socialist Harmonious Society' policy cannot but be quite limited in its scope and measures. Accordingly, this article argues, the prospects for a new socialist countryside are not entirely bright.