When travelling across China, one gradually begins to understand an important feature of the country's development model: large-scale transformation often starts not with spectacular projects, but with solving very practical problems in people's everyday lives. A road to a village. Clean water. Wastewater treatment. Waste collection. Access to the Internet. The ability of a farmer to sell what he produces. A job close to home.
These were among the issues discussed during our visit to Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, where the Seminar on the Chinese Local Development Practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era continued. Two lectures appeared to address different subjects — rural renewal and digital transformation — but in fact they described two stages of the same development story.
The first speaker was Gu Yikang (顾益康), a prominent Chinese expert on agriculture, rural development and China’s “sannong” issues — agriculture, rural areas and farmers. His perspective was particularly valuable because his professional career has been closely connected with Zhejiang’s rural policy and the implementation of the province’s landmark rural development initiatives.
Twenty Years of One Strategy
At the centre of his lecture was the famous “Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation Project” (千村示范、万村整治工程), widely known as the Green Rural Revival Program.
Launched in Zhejiang in 2003, the initiative originally aimed to renovate around 10,000 villages within five years and turn approximately 1,000 of them into demonstration villages. Over the following two decades, however, it evolved far beyond its initial environmental objectives.
It gradually became a comprehensive development model incorporating infrastructure, environmental protection, rural industries, public services, urban-rural integration and higher living standards.
One principle behind this transformation deserves particular attention: continuity.
The policy was not abandoned when administrative teams changed. Successive provincial authorities continued to develop the same long-term strategy. Over more than twenty years, the focus moved from cleaning up villages to building sustainable local economies and creating opportunities for rural residents.
Today, Zhejiang’s villages are connected by roads, while key villages have access to optical-fibre networks and 5G. Wastewater treatment and waste-sorting systems have become part of rural infrastructure, while agritourism and e-commerce have opened new sources of income.
When Green Becomes Gold
The phrase “绿水青山就是金山银山” - “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” - is not treated in Zhejiang merely as a slogan. Over the years, the province has attempted to turn this principle into an economic model.
A cleaner village becomes more attractive for tourism. A good road improves access to markets. The Internet allows rural entrepreneurs to sell products across the country. A preserved natural environment raises the value of a place, while improved living conditions give young people more reasons to remain in their communities.
The results are measurable. Between 2003 and 2022, Zhejiang’s urban-rural income ratio narrowed from 2.43:1 to 1.9:1. By 2025, rural per-capita disposable income had exceeded 45,000 yuan, while the income ratio narrowed further to 1.81:1.
In 2018, the Green Rural Revival Program received the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award, giving Zhejiang’s experiment international recognition.
But perhaps its most important achievement is that the concept itself has evolved. The objective is no longer simply to make villages cleaner. It is to create conditions in which people can build prosperous lives there.
The Next Transformation Is Digital
The second lecture, delivered by Professor Hongdong Guo of Zhejiang University’s China Academy for Rural Development and its Rural E-commerce Research Center, brought the discussion directly into the digital age.
Professor Guo focused on digital rural construction, agricultural transformation and poverty reduction.
In this context, a “digital village” means much more than providing an Internet connection. It is described as the systematic integration of modern information technologies into agricultural production, grassroots governance and farmers’ everyday lives.
The underlying question is fundamental: what does successful rural transformation actually mean?
According to the lecture, it means moving from low-value-added to high-value-added production, from short to longer industrial chains, from scattered to clustered production, from low to higher farmer incomes, and ultimately from poor rural communities to prosperous and attractive ones.
Technology is therefore not the ultimate objective. It is an instrument.
A Smartphone as a Road to the Market
For a farmer, one of the greatest challenges is not simply producing a good product. The challenge is reaching consumers, organizing logistics, creating a recognizable brand and receiving a fair price.
Digital platforms can dramatically shorten this distance.
China’s rural e-commerce strategy seeks to reduce logistics costs, promote agricultural products and brands, develop rural distribution networks and expand services ranging from infrastructure to finance.
A smartphone, in this sense, becomes another road connecting the village to the market.
China’s digital rural strategy combines five major areas: digital infrastructure, smart agriculture, new rural business models and e-commerce, digital governance and public services, and technologies supporting environmental management and better living conditions.
In 2019, China adopted a strategic plan for digital rural development. At the initial stage, the goal was to provide 4G coverage to more than 98 percent of administrative villages, while the longer-term strategy envisages broader 5G applications, a narrower urban-rural digital divide and stronger digital literacy among rural residents.
A Lesson for Kazakhstan
Listening to both lectures at Zhejiang University, I inevitably thought about Kazakhstan.
The two countries differ enormously in population density, geography and settlement patterns. Chinese solutions therefore cannot — and should not — simply be copied.
But their underlying logic deserves careful study.
Perhaps the most important lesson from Zhejiang is that rural development cannot be divided into isolated sectoral programmes.
A road alone is not enough. Neither is an Internet connection if farmers cannot use it to reach markets. Tourism cannot flourish without an attractive environment. Agricultural productivity has limited value without logistics and access to consumers. And young people cannot be encouraged to remain in rural regions without education, jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurship.
What is required is an ecosystem: infrastructure, connectivity, education, entrepreneurship, logistics, ecology, public services and access to markets.
There is another lesson — patience.
The Green Rural Revival Program has been developing for more than two decades. Its objectives have evolved, new technologies have appeared and economic conditions have changed, but the fundamental direction has remained consistent.
A China That Also Begins in the Countryside
Modern China is often viewed from abroad through Shanghai’s skyline, Shenzhen’s technology companies, high-speed railways, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.
Yet another China exists behind these symbols of modernization.
It is the China of hundreds of thousands of villages undergoing their own transformation.
First, make the village clean. Then make it comfortable. Then make it economically productive. Now make it digital.
Ultimately, however, the story is not simply about villages. It is about people and their ability to benefit from modernization regardless of whether they live in a global metropolis or a rural community.
That may be the most important conclusion from our discussions at Zhejiang University.
Development does not begin with technology. It begins with people. Technology becomes transformative when it changes their everyday lives.
