Currently, vast numbers of farmers desperately want access to basic and guaranteed public services. With regard to the reality in China's rural areas, building a rural public service system should be a primary issue regarding construction of the new socialist countryside.

The negative impact of the lack of basic rural public services on the subsistence and further development of farmers should be fully addressed. China's rural public service system has been undergoing constant updating recently. But basic needs: public Medicare and minimum living allowances, have not been met. The lack of rural public service has direct bearing on the improvement of farmers' quality of life. This lack will affect their long-term future. Take minimum cost of living for instance; by the end of 2004, only eight provinces had fully established the system of a rural minimum cost of living. Related statistics also show that about 90 percent of China's 90 million aged farmers are not covered by social security. In the case of education, the average education received by rural population above 15 years old is below seven years. This lags almost three years behind that of the urban population. Research by the China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development shows that in some rural areas, the average education received is below four years. Of the 85 million illiterate and half-illiterate rural populations, three fourths are located in the western areas, ethnic minority areas and state-level poor counties.

Practical means should be incorporated to secure the supply of basic public goods for the rural areas. China owes its lack of rural public service most to its lack of a public service mechanism. The public service mechanism has two evident flaws. First, it is not clear which entity is responsible for the supply of public service. Second, two separate but unequal public service systems exist: one for the rural and one for the urban sector. The defects in the rural public service mechanism must be effectively addressed in order to provide fundamental and guaranteed public service; it should work in conjunction with the development of rural economy.

3. Rural comprehensive reform should be enacted with the rural public service system setting the pace. As China's economy and society develop nationwide and the population expands, the need for basic and guaranteed public service also increases. Compulsory education, public medicare and social security are needed. Living standards need improvement throughout the population. These demands put pressure on the rural public service system.

Currently, China's rural comprehensive reform has entered a new phase. Reform priorities have switched to the village and town level institutions, rural compulsory education and county and village level financial mechanism. In accordance with rural reality, the building a rural public service system to serve the population and incorporating a family planning network into this framework cannot be underestimated. Specifically, efficient coordinating mechanisms are needed as soon as possible to strengthen the uniform leadership of the construction of the rural public service system. Second, all vested interests need to be thoroughly addressed and supported. For instance, a village-level budget could be managed from the county-level in order to strengthen the village and town-level governments' public service functions.

(China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development and translated by China Development Gateway December 20, 2007)