Gathering talents, utilizing talents, and retaining talents, turning the fields of hope into fields of wisdom. Wei Qiao | Countryside | Fields
[Talent is the First Resource · Written Talk]
Author: Zhou Xiangzhi
"It's good for a comrade like Wei Qiao to go to the countryside!" During the National Two Sessions in 2023, when General Secretary Xi Jinping participated in the deliberations of the Jiangsu delegation, he had a cordial exchange with Wei Qiao, a representative of the National People's Congress from the Yongxing Agricultural Machinery Mechanization Professional Cooperative in Zhenjiang New District, Zhenjiang City. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "We now need a large number of talents and quality labor force to promote rural revitalization. Our young people and intellectuals also need to flow in both directions."
Wei Qiao and his lover Sun Zhenzhong once worked in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University. After resigning, they returned to the countryside from the city and moved their scientific research to the fields, becoming experts in digital field planting. The great article of rural revitalization requires various talents to write, calling for more "new farmers" like Wei Qiao to write papers on the land of rural areas and turn the fields of hope into fields of wisdom.
To prosper the countryside, talent comes first. By continuously improving the rural talent policy system, attracting opportunities in rural areas, retaining people in the rural environment, and promoting talents from all walks of life to take root at the grassroots level, a meaningful two-way journey with the countryside has become a must answer question on the road to achieving comprehensive rural revitalization.
Understanding the New Variables of Returning Talents
Rural revitalization relies on talent as the primary resource. How rural areas attract people, attract more young people, especially talented individuals, tests the wisdom and abilities of various regions and departments.
Rural revitalization is an important part of Chinese path to modernization. From a historical perspective, the problem of rural talent loss is not only a natural result of the modernization process, but also a root cause of long-term economic and social historical evolution. At present, overall, China is still in the stage of population transfer and agglomeration from rural to urban areas. But with the continuous release of rural revitalization strategy traction and policy attraction, the outflow of rural talents has slowed down, and various "new return" phenomena such as youth returning to their hometowns and rural elites returning have gradually increased. The countryside presents a triple transformation phenomenon of "leaving the land", "defending the land" and "returning to the land" coexisting. Statistics show that from 2012 to the end of 2022, the cumulative number of people returning to their hometowns and starting businesses in China reached 12.2 million. Returned talents have gradually become a new variable in the changes of urban-rural relations.
Analyzing the reasons for these talents returning home is nothing more than a search. Some are for the purpose of seeking dreams. They were born in the countryside and used to flock to cities with dreams to seek business opportunities. After success, they returned to their hometown and nurtured it, connecting external business opportunities with their own hometown. With a longing for rural life, they returned to their hometown to search for memories of mountains and waters, rural countryside, and natural ingredients. Some are for seeking opportunities. With the improvement of rural infrastructure and public services, rural areas have gradually become places of employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. They have found that starting a business at their doorstep can also make great achievements, without having to work hard in big cities. They can use their professional knowledge and skills to participate in the development of rural industries, create their own careers and wealth. Some are for the sake of finding themselves. Follow your inner thoughts, choose the lifestyle you want, escape the city, stay away from the hustle and bustle, return to the slow life in the countryside, and search for your inner poetry and distant places. There are also those who seek their roots. Wandering in a foreign land, with attachment to their hometown and reluctance to part with their hometown, they choose to "return to their roots after falling leaves.".
These "new homecoming" phenomena are the spark of comprehensive rural revitalization; These "new farmers" are the most valuable force for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. To study and formulate rural talent policies, it is necessary to understand the intrinsic motivation of "seeking dreams, opportunities, oneself, and roots", identify needs, target pain points, open up patterns, and innovate strategies, so that people can see the prospects of rural development, and maximize "each one's own place", making the countryside a "dream incubator" and "soul placement place".
Creating a New Economy in Beautiful Scenery
Overall, the trend of talent outflow from rural areas in China is still ongoing.
To solve the embarrassment of rural talents being unable to be nurtured, retained, attracted, or returned, it is necessary to fully leverage the leading role of policies, guide the layout of public resources, leverage market resource allocation, accumulate social resources and attention, bury the internal growth line of talent gathering, utilization, and retention, and heat up the "pot of water" of rural talents.
Only by continuously improving and perfecting the "gathering people" policies for rural revitalization and agricultural and rural development, and innovating the "gathering people" system and mechanism, can we attract and retain a group of urgently needed development guides, industry leaders, and policy experts in rural areas.
Lack of funds, technology, and ideas are common bottlenecks in current rural development. We should continuously increase support for rural talents, formulate policies and measures to encourage outstanding talents to return to their hometowns for development, and make the call from our hometowns increasingly attractive. For those who bring their own projects, funds, and technology back to their hometowns for entrepreneurship, priority will be given to preferential policies such as land approval and small loans. Excellent agricultural and forestry professionals who carry out scientific research achievements transformation will be given priority support in terms of research sites, funding, technology, etc., with full sincerity to retain the original villagers, call for returning villagers, and attract new villagers.
Industrial revitalization is the top priority of rural revitalization and a platform for gathering talents. Each region should clarify its local comparative advantages, refine the three words "local specialties", develop local resources based on local soil and water, highlight regional characteristics, reflect local customs, match the wishes of the people, develop industries that match local natural and cultural resources, play a good symphony between "mountains" and "water", depict the integration of "red" and "green", and create a "grounded" industrial pattern.
Efforts should be made to establish an open awareness, focus on using the power of the market to promote rural revitalization, introduce professional forces such as brand operation teams, rural professional managers, and rural planners from multiple sources, gather more market entities for agricultural industry upgrading, and make good use of support forces such as science and technology special missions, rural guides, and science, education, culture, and health teams to form a "farmer maker mentor team", focus on expanding new rural industries and models, and create a new economy in the beautiful scenery.
Bring more people with dreams to the countryside
College students, successful individuals, and makers who go out from rural areas have a strong sense of hometown, a sense of returning to their hometown, and a better understanding of the countryside. They are effectively encouraged to return to their hometowns and start businesses, making the countryside a "strong magnetic field" for talent gathering and attraction. Ultimately, it is necessary to rely on local unique natural and cultural resources, characteristic and advantageous industries, and corresponding scientific research projects to actively build a career platform, providing them with a stage for work, opportunities for entrepreneurship, and development space, and attracting them to turn their homesickness "check-in place" into a "struggling place" for their careers.
We can fully utilize rural resources, explore, amplify, and strengthen our unique advantages, and create "one township, one product" and "one village, one specialty". Make good use of idle rural space, create collaborative spaces, encourage talents to return to their hometowns to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams, drive more people to return to their hometowns for entrepreneurship, and bring more people with dreams to the countryside. Learn from the experience of Zhejiang's "Ten Million Project", follow the law of rural development, reflect the rural characteristics, highlight the local flavor, preserve the rural landscape, promote rural resources to become assets, rural areas to become parks, villages to become scenic spots, rural houses to become guest rooms, and farmers to become shareholders, create beautiful villages, and lead the great changes in rural areas.
Establish more advanced models for entrepreneurship and innovation in returning to their hometowns, focus the camera on them, tell their stories well, let local talents see the changes in their hometowns, feel the warmth of development, attract more talents to return to their hometowns for entrepreneurship, leave peace of mind for those who are willing to stay in the countryside and build their hometowns, and give more confidence to those who are willing to take root in the grassroots and give back to the countryside.
The post-90s and post-2000s have both grown up in the rapidly changing information age, with distinct personality traits and new value orientations. We should pay special attention to the individual needs of young people in the new era, provide them with rich public cultural products and social scenes, and enable them to have a better work and life experience in rural areas. They can start businesses and find employment in the vast countryside with peace of mind, and find the joy and tranquility of "this place is my hometown".
Guangming Daily
[
