Elderly farmer Shi Fanding got what is likely to have been the
surprise of his life when he looked up from his weeding to see the
Premier of the world's most populous country reaching out to shake
his hand!
Just days after fielding questions from the international and
domestic media about China's newly adopted five-year development
program, Premier Wen
Jiabao, visited some rural parts of the country. reas.
Wen traveled to China's Shanxi Province for a two-day visit late
last week to listen to the views and answer questions from
villagers and farmers about the government work report he delivered
to the national legislature earlier this month.
Vigorously shaking the Premier's hand, farmer Shi, from Xiaxian
County in the southern part of Shanxi, told the Premier he was
happy he didn't have to pay taxes and to learn about increased
subsidies for farming.
The Premier spent two days listening to the comments of villagers
on this year's budget funding for farmers, agriculture and rural
areas. He also discussed the latest moves concerning rural
education, health care and the growing price of chemical
fertilizers.
As part of the effort to reduce farmers' financial burden and
narrow the widening gap between the rural and urban areas China's
national legislature scrapped the country's agriculture tax law
which had been imposed in various forms over the past 2,600
years.
The Premier also sought reaction to his nationally televised
address in the village of Xujiaying in the rural part of Yongji
City. A middle-aged woman told the Premier that she expects the
pro-rural policies promised in his address to be delivered.
He promised 339.7 billion yuan (US$41.9 billion) in funding from
the central Government for farmers, agriculture and rural areas
this year--a record high and an increase of 14.2 percent over last
year's funding.
Zhang Zhansheng, head of Shijiazhuang Village Committee, offered
the Premier ideas on the distribution and use of the funding. The
Premier said Zhang's words were to the point and urged that the
huge amount of money be put to good use.
He said central Government would continue to increase its funding
for farmers, agriculture and rural areas in the coming
years.
When asked by a farmer why he had to pay tuition fees for his child
since the Premier promised free education in his address the
Premier told the farmer he would not have to pay fees from the
beginning of next year.
China exempted primary and junior middle school students from
paying tuition in the western region, the poorest part of the
country, as of this year, and promised to expand the exemption to
other rural areas next year.
In Nanshi Village in Xiaxian County the Premier was told on Friday
by a group of farmers who sat with him that they had difficulties
getting enough water for drinking and their land. Located on the
Loess Plateau, which suffers from chronic water shortages, because
of low rainfall -- just a quarter of the national
average.
Yu Zhansheng, a farmer in the village, told the Premier that his
family has enough food and clothes but had trouble with drinking
water. Farmers said the underground water they drunk tasted bitter
and was actually bad for the teeth and bones.
Farmers in the village gave the Premier a big round of applause
when Wen ordered Shanxi provincial and city governments to increase
their funding for safe drinking water projects in the area.
At a primary school in Xiaxian County the Premier said children in
both the rural and urban areas should have equal rights to be
educated. In Xujiaying Village's clinic the Premier told farmers
that the central government plans to set up a similar facility in
every village across the country.
China plans to cover 40 percent of its counties in a new
Government-backed medicare co-operative program for farmers this
year. All the rural areas will be covered in the next few years.
Under the plan the government will allocate 40 yuan for every
account of farmers who pay ten yuan each.
The premier told Wang Jicheng, a farmer who joined the medicare
program, that the Government would increase subsidies as fiscal
revenues grew. .
"We will certainly handle with care matters which are essential to
farmers," the Premier said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2006)