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In China's vast countryside, land is not only the foundation of farmers' lives, but also their spiritual sustenance. However, with the promotion of the land transfer policy, this land, which has nurtured countless generations, is gradually slipping out of the palm of farmers' hands.
Although the original intention of the policy was to promote agricultural modernization and efficient use of land, in the process, many farmers found that their control over the land was drastically weakened, and their lives and futures were suspended on an invisible rope.
The Pain of the Land: The Challenge of Farmers' Survival
Land circulation actually allows for the lease or transfer of land, with the intention of concentrating land for large-scale agricultural production. The problem, however, is that many farmers feel powerless in the face of complex contracts and terms, resulting in the loss of valuable land resources in unequal negotiations.
This change has not only affected their economic income, but also touched their sense of security in life. With land controlled by large-scale corporations and wealthy investors, farmers who had relied on small-scale farming to survive were faced with the difficult choice of having to leave their homeland or change their livelihoods.
This upheaval has undoubtedly exacerbated the unease of peasants, who are often forced to take collective action and even clash with the government and big business in the process of defending their rights and interests.
These conflicts and challenges are not isolated phenomena, but are part of China's modernization process. The peasants fought not only for the land, but also for maintaining control and dignity over their way of life.
As the struggle continues, so does the role of society and the media, and how they report and interpret these protests often determines the public's understanding and attitude towards these events. In this context, farmers' legitimate demands are often misinterpreted as "agricultural troubles", resulting in their voices being marginalized or distorted.
Misunderstood Voices: From "Peasant Trouble" to "Peasant Voice"
In China's social upheaval, peasant rallies and demonstrations are often misunderstood and reduced by the media and the general public as "peasant riots", a negative label that implies vexatious and disturbs social order. This labelling not only deprives farmers of the opportunity to express their legitimate demands, but also distorts their image in the public mind.
In fact, behind these so-called "agricultural disturbances" are often hidden farmers' deep voices for the right to subsistence and development, and they are faced with threats to their livelihoods brought about by land transfer policies and the protection of traditional lifestyles.
The media plays a key role in this process. Coverage often focuses on the scale and impact of rallies and marches, ignoring the reasons and purposes of farmers' actions. This superficial approach to reporting, coupled with a lack of in-depth investigation and a compassionate perspective, has led to a lack of understanding of the real situation of farmers in society as a whole.
As a result, it is easy for the public to accept the simplified label of "peasant trouble" and ignore the vulnerability of peasant groups to the impact of modernization and their basic need for fair treatment.
This misunderstanding not only exacerbates the prejudice between urban and rural areas, but also prevents the problems of peasant groups from being effectively resolved for a long time.
With the proliferation of social media and the internet, new communication channels are beginning to change this narrative. A growing number of independent journalists and online activists are paying attention to the demands of farmers, documenting and disseminating their lives and stories of struggle through blogs, microblogs and short videos.
This message from the grassroots gradually helped the public understand the complexity and rationality behind the farmers' rally, and began to redefine the "peasant trouble" as "the voice of the peasants". This change in voice has not only won more sympathy and support for the peasants, but also provided a new social impetus for solving the peasants' problems.
The Light of Policy: Illuminating the Hope of the Future of Farmers
In the broader context of China's rural areas, policymakers are challenged to promote agricultural modernization while ensuring the basic livelihood and development rights of hundreds of millions of farmers.
Although some progress has been made in past policies, such as land transfer, agricultural subsidies, and rural reform, there is still a huge gap between them and the actual needs of farmers. This gap is not only reflected in the implementation of policies, but also in the neglect of farmers' voices in policy design.
Some of the support measures in place, such as price protection and agricultural technology training, do provide some degree of safety net for farmers. These policies tend to favor short-term benefits rather than long-term sustainable development.
Price protection may have temporarily increased incomes for agricultural products, but it did not address the volatility of agricultural markets and did not improve the overall quality of life for farmers. Technical training, on the other hand, tends to focus on traditional agriculture and ignores the urgent needs of farmers for modern markets and new technologies.
In the face of these shortcomings, future policy needs call for a profound reform. Policy-making needs to be more based on the actual needs of farmers, such as by increasing investment in rural infrastructure, improving the working and living conditions of migrant workers, and providing more education about the market economy.
Policies should promote direct linkages between farmers and markets, for example by supporting farmers' organizations and cooperatives, so that farmers can be directly involved in the processing and marketing of their products, thereby increasing their bargaining power and market sensitivity.
Such a policy shift would not only address some of the pressing issues facing farmers today, but also lay a solid foundation for their long-term well-being.
The success of the policy will be measured not only by the yield and economic efficiency of agricultural products, but more importantly, by the quality of life and satisfaction of farmers. This requires sustained dialogue and cooperation among policymakers, farmers' representatives, academics and all sectors of society to jointly explore a path of agricultural and rural development with Chinese characteristics.