The Central Rural Work Conference was recently held in Beijing, and General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on the "three rural" work. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Substantial progress and phased results have been made in promoting the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. ”
The key to promoting the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside depends on people. In recent years, groups of young people have been moving from the cities to the rural areas, scattering in the towns, towns, and villages all over the motherland. As a new force in rural revitalization, these "migratory" youths deserve more attention from the public and policy departments.
Youth power in rural revitalization
-- Research Report on the Development of "Migratory" Youth Returning to Their Hometowns
summary
At present, "migratory" young people are active in thousands of villages and villages on the land of China, and they not only have certain professional experience and social networks, but also have certain knowledge and technology, and are a new force in rural revitalization. The distribution and overall proportion of young people returning to their hometowns are still low, and there is no replicable experience and a relatively mature model, and the driving effect of individual cases on the development of industries or villages is still not obvious. How to stimulate the awareness of "migratory" youth to return to their hometowns and mobilize various forces to jointly promote youth development is a topic that requires continuous attention and in-depth research.
keyword
"Migratory" youth, youth development, rural revitalization
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that "the most arduous and onerous task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way is still in the countryside", and stressed the need to "adhere to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas, adhere to the integrated development of urban and rural areas, and smooth the flow of urban and rural elements". The implementation of the rural revitalization strategy is an inevitable requirement for solving the main contradictions in mainland society in the new era, realizing the second centenary goal and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and is of great practical and far-reaching historical significance.
The key to rural revitalization lies in people. On June 26, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in a collective conversation with the members of the new leadership group of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League that the majority of young people should "strive to be the vanguard and new force in various fields such as scientific and technological innovation, rural revitalization, green development, social services, and defending the country and frontiers, and show the vigor and vigor of youth". (1) Rural revitalization, as an important field of youth contributions, has always been highly valued by the party and the state. In 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League issued the "Opinions on In-depth Development of Rural Revitalization Youth Meritorious Actions", which clearly stated that it is necessary to "guide, support, and serve college graduates and migrant youth to return to their hometowns for employment and entrepreneurship, and cultivate new momentum for comprehensive rural revitalization".
In recent years, groups of young people have been moving from the cities to the rural areas, scattering in the towns, towns, and villages all over the motherland. Some of these young people were born in the countryside and went to the big cities to study, work or live and then return to their hometowns; some grew up in the countryside and chose to work or live in rural areas other than their hometowns after moving to the big cities; and some lived a "two-way life" of "working in the countryside and living in the city...... No matter what form of migration, these young people who go out from the countryside and return to the countryside are like dandelion seeds, where they fall to the land, they take root and strive to grow, they choose to "move with the wind" under the trend of the development of the times, and take the initiative to choose to return to the countryside from the city, which has brought about changes in the mode of production and concepts in rural areas. It is not so much that they are adapting to the environment, but that they are using their own strength to transform the environment, and they are a vigorous "song of youth" in the "symphony" of rural revitalization - "migrating" youth.
At present, "migratory" young people are active in thousands of villages and villages on the land of China, they not only have certain professional experience and social networks, but also have certain knowledge and technology, they are a new force in rural revitalization, and deserve more attention from the public and policy departments.
In order to investigate the actual situation of "migratory" youth in the context of rural revitalization, the research team went to dozens of villages in the Yangtze River Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from June to August 2022 and June to August 2023 to carry out field research, went deep into the main scenes of the life and work of "migratory" youth for non-participatory observation, and organized more than 20 symposiums held by heads of relevant government departments, entrepreneurs, village cadres, and villagers, etc., to obtain rich first-hand information about "migratory" youth, and form a review of "migratory" youth Some new insights into youth life and work.
The characteristics of the times of "migratory" youth
The survey found that returning to their hometowns has become a trend among contemporary young people. Different from farmers in the traditional sense, "migratory" young people have a natural affinity for Internet tools represented by short videos and e-commerce, no matter what kind of industry they are engaged in. Compared with other employment entrepreneurs in the region, "migratory" young people have a dual advantage, that is, they have the advantage of being highly educated and multi-experienced, and they have stronger adaptability and integration ability than outsiders.
E-commerce and short videos have become a necessary "toolbox" for returning home. Young people who have grown up in the Internet environment, and the knowledge they have learned through the Internet such as product marketing, market development, and brand building, are "transferable abilities" that are not limited by geography, that is, through the mastery of information search methods, the use of network platforms, and knowledge acquisition channels, they can obtain income and remuneration without geographical restrictions. The survey found that the current "migratory" youth are showing the characteristics of "double high" with high education and high skills, and college graduates, urban white-collar workers, and returnees from studying abroad have gradually become the main force returning to their hometowns. They have completed the iteration of technology and the improvement of their abilities in the fast-paced life of the city, and this leading edge in skills and cognition ensures that they can "do a skill" when they return home.
During the investigation, the research team found that the entrepreneurial team with "migratory" youth as the main body has brought new vitality to rural revitalization. Different from the traditional industrial and commercial capital going to the countryside with high investment, high emissions, and extensive development for profit, "migratory" young people returning to their hometowns to start businesses have the characteristics of small scale, large number, and low threshold, and they will choose green industries related to the new economy, new services, and new models in the process of starting their businesses. According to the survey, most of the "migratory" youth will sell their products through the Internet, which means that the knowledgeable, visionary and skilled "migratory" young people will emphasize the importance of technological innovation to protect the environment in the specific entrepreneurial process, and pay more attention to the leading role of green entrepreneurship in economic benefits. At the same time, in the process of starting a business, the "migratory" youth are more willing to combine with traditional elements such as rural folklore, humanities and geography, pay more attention to excavating traditional rural ecological resources, and emphasize the diversified integration and promotion of rural ecological value, economic value and social value, which is of positive significance for reducing agricultural pollution, exploring traditional rural ecological resources, and promoting the construction of livable, workable and beautiful villages.
"Migratory" young people are willing to accept new ideas, maintain curiosity and exploration spirit for new things, new knowledge and new concepts, and can transform what they see and hear into innovative consciousness and practical ability, providing new ideas and new impetus for rural revitalization. The survey found that most of the "migratory" young people have good digital literacy and can effectively promote the development of their careers. Whether it is employment or entrepreneurship, using e-commerce and short video as a source of income or as an important channel of income is almost a common choice for "migratory" young people. Even if their products and services are more realized offline, they will choose to open at least one e-commerce or short video platform account, and use Internet tools to expand the voice of products and services and reach more potential customers. In addition, in order to attract urban tourists and increase product visibility, some "migratory" young people are also actively building a multi-platform media matrix. They take the initiative to understand the characteristics of each platform, user groups, consumption habits and other information, and use different platforms for different user groups to conduct focus marketing.
Most of the reasons for returning to their hometowns stem from the "disenchantment" and "involution" of urban life. The survey found that the motivation of most young people to return to their hometowns may be related to the "disenchantment" of urban life in their minds. The idea of returning to their hometowns among some "migratory" young people often stems from the "involution" and meaningless "internal friction" of urban life. In 2014, when the research group was doing a survey on "migratory" youth, it was still a "spark" for young people to return to their hometowns, and more often it was a helpless choice of "last resort". After ten years of changes, a little spark has become a "prairie fire", and more young people have begun to think about how to spend a more meaningful life in their hometown. Compared with the high cost, high threshold and strong pressure of the city, the advantages of the countryside are becoming more and more prominent, and more and more capital, talents and technologies are flowing to the countryside, which also drives more young people to return to their hometowns to start their new lives. In recent years, rural revitalization has promoted the rapid development of the county economy, and the working and living conditions have gradually improved, and returning to the hometown can not only meet the needs of parents and children's education, but also obtain entrepreneurial platforms and employment opportunities to meet the needs of young people for career development. Therefore, due to various factors such as a strong sense of belonging to the family, the pursuit of the integrity of family life, and the orderly development of the intergenerational transmission of support and upbringing, some young people have become more and more aware of returning to their hometowns.
The countryside is becoming more and more charming, with birds singing and mountains and lush vegetation, which has become the aspiration of some contemporary youth. Many "migratory" young people in the survey sincerely hope to pursue a new career track in the countryside, believing that the vast world of the countryside can become a "better solution" for them to show their strengths. To a certain extent, it can be said that "migrating" youth are a combination of personal interests and future development planning, and when personal interests, ability accumulation, and family support can provide important support for "migratory" youth, returning to their hometowns has become a new value pursuit and the preferred path for self-realization.
The "hometown" that insists on staying lies in the emergence of a sense of ownership. From leaving the city to returning to the city, the mentality of "migratory" young people is also changing. The identity of "migratory" youth has gone through a process from action consciousness to cultural consciousness. Action consciousness is the basis of cultural consciousness, and the identity construction of "migratory" youth often starts from action consciousness. After young people return to their hometowns, they mainly use the media, such as short videos, WeChat public accounts, etc., to introduce their hometowns and participate in the public life of their hometowns. It is also in this interactive process that they gradually begin to have a sense of belonging to their hometown from the perspective of thought and consciousness, and also slowly sprout a sense of ownership.
The increasing improvement of the rural environment and the opportunity to create wealth have boosted the confidence of young people in the countryside. At the same time, many local governments are actively creating the "most beautiful villages" with "one village and one scene", which quickly captures the concern of young people who have left their hometowns for rural development, and further strengthens the "nostalgia" of "migratory" young people. To a certain extent, the construction of cultural identity makes up for the uncertainty of the economic level of the "migratory" youth after returning to their hometowns, and makes the return of young people have the motivational connotation of "value rationality".
With the continuous segmentation of the consumer market in large cities, the transformation and upgrading of traditional local products, homestays and other concepts, diversified cultural labels have higher added value. Through their understanding of the countryside and agricultural products, the "migratory" youth who have "taken root for the second time" have sublimated rural work such as farming, breeding, pollution-free agricultural products, and handicrafts into behaviors full of aesthetic significance and cultural style (such as peasant painting, wood carving, bamboo ware, etc.). In the family farms that have sprung up around the city, the "migratory" youth also try to use parent-child experience and free picking as business selling points to attract urban consumers. In addition to work, some "migratory" youths also undertake the construction of rural communities, encouraging villagers to participate in the development and construction of villages through lectures, cultural and entertainment activities, and stimulating people's subjective initiative. They play a leading role in rural development, as one interviewee said: "Rural development is for the villagers, and we return to our hometowns to stimulate the endogenous strength of the villagers and let them strive for their own good life." ”
In the eyes of many "migratory" youth, rural areas not only provide economic opportunities, but also contain rich cultural values, including community memory, cultural inheritance, and nostalgia awakening. As far as self-realization is concerned, many "migratory" young people hope to achieve a brilliant life in the familiar countryside. The local cultural genes and local collective memory play a unique role in the return of young people to their hometowns, and constitute the emotional foundation of "migrating" youth. In this sense, "migration" is also the root of the youth spirit.
The current problems and dilemmas faced by "migratory" youth
The return of young people to their hometowns is a strong social wave, but the power of this wave cannot be fully demonstrated in a single day, nor should there be only a few "waves" and a few typical examples. According to the survey, the distribution and overall proportion of young people returning to their hometowns are still low, and a replicable experience and a relatively mature model have not yet been formed, and the driving effect of individual cases on the development of industries or village industries is still not obvious. How to stimulate the awareness of "migratory" youth to return to their hometowns and mobilize various forces to jointly promote youth development is a topic that requires continuous attention and in-depth research.
There are many constraints in the start-up stage. The survey found that more than half of the respondents said that it was difficult to obtain sufficient entrepreneurial capital and that there were many restrictive factors in financing for the difficulties faced in the process of starting a business. Due to the high business risk, low rate of return and lack of collateral in the start-up stage, it is difficult to obtain the support of bank loans and venture capital. At the same time, the construction of rural infrastructure is relatively weak, and it is difficult to provide strong support for entrepreneurial projects. In addition, in some villages, there is a problem of "hollowing" caused by different degrees of labor outflow, a shortage of high-quality talents, and factors such as limited salaries and insufficient attractiveness of the employment environment also make it difficult for "migratory" young people to find high-quality and capable team members, and it is easy to be in a situation of "lonely hands" when they return to their hometowns to start businesses. Some entrepreneurial projects have good ideas, but they are limited by the limitations of people and money, and fall into a low-level cycle, which makes it difficult to achieve a breakthrough and leap in scale and output.
The homogeneity of entrepreneurial projects is high and the systematization is insufficient. The survey found that the form of "migratory" youth participating in rural revitalization was relatively simple. At present, the common way is to plant and breed local agricultural products, develop and utilize tourism resources, and operate characteristic towns, homestays, farmhouses, etc., with a high degree of homogeneity and a lack of characteristics in the form of operation. For example, in the same county or in neighboring counties, there are many "migratory" young people engaged in similar agricultural projects, but the upstream and downstream industries are less concerned due to their high technology content or insufficient resources, and the county's own market economy development level is limited, which makes it difficult to effectively make up for market shortcomings and support or connect entrepreneurial project resources. In recent years, with the tilt of policies and the support of the government, online e-commerce and other platforms have played an active role in the process of entrepreneurship and employment of "migratory" youth, but the survey also found that although "migratory" young people have a better understanding of their hometown, they lack clear cognition and feasible ideas on how to associate and integrate local agricultural products with national and local e-commerce platforms, and their market awareness is relatively weak, making it difficult to choose their own entrepreneurial projects scientifically and reasonably.
There is an urgent need to improve the vocational capacity of agriculture. The survey found that some "migratory" young people lack the practical technology and employment skills needed in rural areas, and cannot adapt to the actual situation in rural areas in a timely manner, which is easy to cause results of half the effort, and there is a phenomenon of "ideas cannot be expressed, theories cannot be used, and skills cannot be obtained" in their work. Although the "migratory" youth have a certain level of Internet use, they are mainly concentrated in the field of leisure and entertainment, lack the thinking of Internet operation, and lack the ability to "monetize". Although entrepreneurship courses and vocational quality courses in colleges and universities have been popularized, the curriculum is not hierarchical and targeted for rural areas, and the teaching force is relatively weak, especially the project practice of rural revitalization and the quality training of vocational competence required in rural areas. Many young people return to their hometowns to work and start businesses in areas that have little to do with their jobs and courses, and they need to re-learn relevant knowledge and master relevant skills. Many respondents said that they "don't know what channels are available to quickly master useful technologies" and "only to find that the knowledge they have learned before is basically useless after starting a business", which means that a considerable number of "migratory" young people have the problem of low vision and lack of practical experience.
Lack of effective management tools. The survey found that in the process of allocating rural labor resources, some "migratory" young people could not accurately grasp the ideological concepts and ways of thinking of farmers, and their work experience and ideological preparation were relatively insufficient, which led to the inefficiency of labor resource allocation and use. As a tentacle for industry to enter the countryside, the rural factories set up by "migratory" youths are usually only responsible for the processing and production of a certain product or a certain process. This export-dependent form of production is at the bottom of the entire industrial chain, with relatively small profits, and it is difficult to attract and retain workers through higher income or career advancement channels. In addition, the "migratory" youth have weak labor control over workers, while workers have the structural strength of "low exit costs", so they are prone to employment crises. In the face of the strong mobility of the worker group and the diversification of the flow trend, although the "migratory" youth have adopted some coping strategies to reduce the mobility of workers and try to form a relatively stable and skilled workers, but with little success, and the high mobility of workers often means that the low-tech content of products and even the quality of products cannot be guaranteed.
Encouraging young people to return to their hometowns needs more support
"Migratory" youth have multiple economic, political, and social significance for rural revitalization. From the perspective of economic significance, they are the new demographic dividend and new human resources, which provide new strength for rural revitalization; from the perspective of political significance, they actively participate in rural grassroots governance, which is conducive to promoting the modernization of rural governance system and governance capacity; from the perspective of social significance, they return to rural production and life, which is conducive to the gradual solution of the problems of left-behind children, left-behind elderly, village hollowing and rural aging.
Give full play to the role of the Internet platform as a "structural hole" to help the career development of "migratory" youth. To encourage young people to go to the vast world of rural areas to make a difference, it is necessary to give full play to the role of the Internet platform as a "structural hole" to promote the agricultural industry from sales model innovation to industrial model innovation. For the Internet platform, it is necessary to change from providing sales platforms and channels to digital planting (breeding), picking, production and other aspects. Internet platforms can consider establishing a professional agricultural brand marketing planning team, aiming at the important bottleneck of low visibility of local agricultural products, to help "migrating" youth enhance their brand influence through multiple channels, and provide "exclusive traffic" and "private domain traffic" and other services for "migrating" youth on the platform, so as to establish a demand docking platform for "migrating" youth and manufacturers and sales channels, so as to revitalize the entire industry. Correspondingly, government departments should also introduce support plans, formulate evaluation systems, and provide key support by providing financial project funds and financial credit discounts. At the same time, it is suggested that the government departments should make overall planning and entrust the head platform to establish a new farmer e-commerce public service center to provide market-oriented services such as policy consultation and information sharing for "migratory" youth, solve the problems of independent development of related e-commerce and lack of talents, and create an agricultural "Silicon Valley".
We will further give full play to the influence of rural construction leaders and first secretaries in villages, and drive more young people to participate in rural revitalization. At present, agricultural development has entered a new stage of scale and industrialization, and the government, enterprises, and social organizations should take the initiative to integrate policy investment and social capital, accelerate the "last mile" in rural industrial logistics, financial mechanisms, etc., and provide opportunities for "migratory" young people to become new farmers. It is suggested that the leaders with influence in the villages, such as rural construction leaders and the first secretaries of villages, should organize the "migratory" youth and create a platform for them to exchange and cooperate. It is even possible to consider openly recruiting "beautiful rural operators" to build an agricultural entrepreneurship and innovation incubation platform, so as to increase the publicity and practice of relevant support policies, so that the majority of young people can truly see the broad space and human temperature of rural development. Grass-roots counties, districts, townships and towns can regularly sort out, summarize and release the "three rural" projects as a starting point to attract young people to return to their hometowns, and establish a dynamically adjusted reserve of agricultural entrepreneurship projects to facilitate the independent choice of willing young people. At the same time, we can learn from the "project system" method in some regions, and provide exclusive services for high-quality talents who are determined to take root in the countryside and help them solve problems through rural construction leaders.
Starting from the two dimensions of capacity building and expected guidance, we will provide more targeted guidance for "migratory" youth. Grassroots governments should focus on the rural industry development plan, through the introduction of external talents, the establishment of industrial development platforms, etc., to better provide systematic technical support for new farmers. For example, "base + project", "teaching + training" and follow-up services can be adopted to help new technical farmers improve their production and operation level in an all-round way. It can also cooperate with vocational colleges to establish a number of training bases, guide colleges and universities to increase technical support and talent delivery for the development of rural industries, and cultivate and support local talents, practical talents and "Tian Xiucai" in local characteristic industries through skill upgrading and targeted training of rural talents, so as to fully tap the potential of local talents and strengthen the construction of "transferable ability" of "migratory" youth. At the same time, it is necessary not only to arm the "migratory" youth in terms of skills, but also to do a good job in their ideological work in terms of confidence. For their training, we should not adopt the traditional way of "speaking on stage and listening with both ears", but should pay attention to the use of new media tools, select science and technology correspondents and other forces to strengthen training and counseling, and use the Internet platform to share entrepreneurial experience, so that "migrating" young people can learn and master more practical skills at the same time, but also meet more like-minded friends, develop together, and move forward together. Consideration can also be given to including "migratory" youth in the rural governance team, so that they can actively participate in the management of village affairs and bring vitality to grassroots organizations. In addition, the propaganda departments should consciously enhance the image of farmers, so that the whole society, especially the vast number of young people, will gradually recognize that "agriculture is a promising industry" and "farmers are attractive occupations." It is also necessary to carry out education at the high school and university levels, especially in the courses of career planning in universities, to explain the current policies on the development of agricultural industry and rural environmental governance, so as to eliminate the blind spots of college students' cognition of rural areas.
Through forward-looking design and institutional support, we can solve the worries of "migratory" young people returning to their hometowns. Introduce and refine the overall implementation plan and various supporting policies for new farmers to help, establish a multi-departmental collaborative promotion mechanism, fully stimulate local enthusiasm, accelerate the promotion of related projects, promote the sharing and opening of agriculture-related government affairs information and resource integration of various departments, improve the assessment and evaluation system of financial investment, infrastructure, technology application, policy implementation, etc., and extend the refined service tentacles to the end of rural entrepreneurship. The first is the policy of land contracting and circulation. The second round of land contracts on the mainland expires in 2027, and a large number of contracted land, agricultural innovation parks, and supporting land are now facing land planning redistribution. In order to avoid the impact on the confidence and expectations of young rural entrepreneurs, it is recommended to introduce policies in advance, unify planning, rationally allocate land contracting rights and management rights, protect the rights and interests of entrepreneurs, balance farmers' demands, and ensure the long-term stability of land elements. The second is fiscal and monetary policy. It is recommended to innovate the financial service model, introduce special policies such as project capital loans, lower the threshold for entrepreneurship, and explore ways to actively build a capital platform and use government interest discounts to guide banks to issue a certain amount of agricultural entrepreneurship loans and establish agricultural entrepreneurship funds. The third is the policy related to infrastructure and life services. Preferential treatment will be given to the education of the children of "migratory" youth, the support of the elderly, and the settlement of medical treatment. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the quality of public services such as education, medical care, and culture in rural areas, create a livable living environment, and make the countryside a field of hope and a worry-free place for young people to start a business.
Source: People's Forum
First instance: Wang Xinyu
Second trial: Shi Ce's final trial: Bi Ran