Study on the Shouguang Model in the Promotion of Rural Revitalization Strategy

Zhang Youxiang,Xu Shijiang,Ge Xiaojun

Institute of Rural Revitalization and Regional Economic Development in the New Era,Weifang University of Science and Technology

During the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference in 2018,General Secretary Xi Jinping participated in the deliberations of the Shandong delegation, he fully affirmed the “Zhucheng Model”, “Weifang Model” and “Shouguang Model” created by Shandong in the agricultural and rural reform,and  earnestly hoped that Shandong would strive to become the “Shandong model of rural revitalization” and “the national model of agricultural modernization”.

1. Basic Connotation and Characteristics of Shouguang Model

Since the reform and opening up of China, with good physical and geographical conditions, deep vegetable cultural foundation and harmonious social development environment, Shouguang gives full play to the role of government, example-driven, market-driven and innovation-driven development factors，takes the industrialization of vegetables as the leader, it has promoted the optimum spatial allocation of factors of production such as population, capital, technology and information,it promoted the base of vegetable production, parks and industrialization of agriculture, and promote the process of urbanization and peasant citizenization, it has realized the industry’s enrichment of the people, the interaction of the city and the integration of urban and rural areas, and provided us with experience for the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and the solid advancement of agricultural and rural modernization.

Under the background of the reform and opening up policy, especially since 1989, vegetable industrialization has led the Shouguang model of coordinated development of agriculture and non-agricultural industries,it has gone through four stages of development: “vegetable greenhouse production”, “agricultural industrialization management”, “coordinated development of agriculture and non-agricultural industries”, and “county economic development”,its connotation is constantly evolving and enriching.At present, the basic connotation of Shouguang model is: vegetable industrialization is the initial driving force of Shouguang agricultural rural modernization, industry enrichment is the target driving force, agricultural industrialization is the core path, agriculture promotes the coordinated development of industry, agriculture and non-agricultural industries is an important feature, production-city interaction, urban-rural integration is the endogenous driving force, and residential farmers’ citizenization is the development trend.

“Shouguang Model” with the main content of “farmers’ richness, urban-rural integration and characteristic urbanization” led by vegetable industrialization and the coordinated development of agriculture and non-agricultural industries, following the inherent logic of “vegetable industrialization—-agricultural industrialization —-coordinated development of agriculture and non-agricultural industries—-industry enriches the people—-industrial park—-urbanization of parks—-citizenization of farmers”,it has thoroughly implemented the policy of “giving priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas”,it has achieved the development effect of “remarkable results in practice, distinct local characteristics, sustained development momentum, wide social identity and high degree of reference and promotion”,and finally it has become the “Shouguang Model” of China’s agricultural and rural modernization.

1. The Enlightenment and Reference of the Formation and Development of Shouguang Model

The formation and development of the Shouguang model is the result of a combination of multiple development factors.Revealing the formation and development mechanism of the Shouguang model has important practical significance for drawing on the essence of the Shouguang model.

First, it gives full play to the advantages of vegetable cultivation and rationally chooses leading industries. Shouguang is the birthplace of Jia Sixie, a famous ancient agronomist,so both the agricultural civilization and vegetable planting have a long history. Since the reform and opening up, Sanyuanzhu Village in Sunjiaji Town has taken the lead in experimenting with the technology of “winter-warm vegetable greenhouse” and achieved success,this ended the history of “no fresh vegetables in winter” in northern China, which was called “green revolution”,and it has led the vegetable planting boom and made vegetable cultivation a leading industry for Shouguang’s agricultural development.Under the integration of government, market, science and technology, vegetable, as a small industry, has promoted the development of upstream industries such as seedling breeding, bio-medicine, technology research and development, agricultural machinery,and the development of downstream industries such as product marketing, logistics and transportation, food processing, rural tourism, agriculture-related finance, etc.,it has gradually formed greenhouse facilities manufacturing cluster, seed industry cluster, processing cluster, marketing service cluster, shipment industry cluster and so on, which has promoted the local economic and social development.

Second, it gives full play to the government’s role in promoting and supporting the priority development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. In line with the tide of reform and opening up, Shouguang City’s decision-making level and the agriculture-related economic entities have formed a benign interaction and collaborative innovation between the expression of institutional demand and the optimization of institutional supply.The previous Shouguang Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government have given strong support to the development of the vegetable industry in terms of financial fund arrangement, technical strength investment, human capital cultivation, and infrastructure construction.For example, they have invested in the construction of productive public service facilities covering highway networks, high-tech demonstration parks, specialized production bases and specialized trading markets,they actively support leading enterprises in vegetable industry, take the lead in organizing vegetable farmers to establish or join rural economic cooperation organizations, implement the policy of introducing high-tech talents, continuously improve vegetable production technology, and establish international standards for vegetable quality, which greatly enhance the organization and standardization of vegetable production,and promote the development of vegetable cluster and agricultural industrialization.

Third, Communist Party members play a leading role and respect the creative spirit of the masses.In 1988, Comrade Wang Leyi, Secretary of the Party Branch of Sanyuanzhu Village, discovered Han Yongshan, the inventor of winter-warm vegetable greenhouse,with the support of Wang Boxiang, then Secretary of Shouguang County Party Committee, Wang Leyi spared no effort to invite Han Yongshan to teach winter-warm vegetable greenhouse technology,he also led the village Party members to grow off-season cucumbers successfully. Under the inspiration of Comrade Wang Boxion and Comrade Wang Leyi’s “Feelings of Home and Country”,Sanyuanzhu Village unreservedly dedicated mature vegetable greenhouse planting and management technology to the whole county, the whole province and even the whole rural areas throughout the country in order to “make more people rich”. It is precisely because of Comrade Wang Boxiang’s pragmatic work for the people and the leading role of Party members and cadres such as Wang Leyi that Shouguang vegetable and Shouguang model have been created. Therefore, Comrade Wang Leyi is known as the “father of winter-warm greenhouse vegetables”, and Comrade Wang Boxiang has won the title of “pioneer of reform” for the fortieth anniversary of reform and opening up. 

   Fourth,it gives full play to the role of market pulling and improves the market circulation system.On the basis of vegetable industrialization, they actively expanded the stretching industry chain and promoted the coordinated development of agriculture and non-agricultural industries.Especially through opening up the “green” channel of vegetables, building specialized market of vegetables and perfecting marketing network of vegetables, the bottleneck of vegetable sales has been broken.They have built a large agricultural full circulation market system including specialized (logistics park) leading market, Township wholesale market, rural market, farmer’s Direct stores and trading platforms such as “China Vegetable Market Network”. It covers 210 cities in China, “buy from the whole country, sell to the whole country, buy big and sell big”. At the same time, they have established long-term vegetable trade relations with Japan, South Korea, Russia and other countries.Large markets and large circulation have promoted the continuous upgrading of agricultural industrialization.

Fifth, it has played an innovative driving role and accelerated the transformation of new and old kinetic energy.Technological innovation drives industrial upgrading, which is the core driving force for the formation and sustainable development of Shouguang model.Winter-warm greenhouse vegetable planting technology is not the original of Shouguang, but Shouguang model is the original of Shouguang people.Because Shouguang is the only one that really popularizes and innovates the winter-warm greenhouse vegetable planting technology in the whole region;at the same time, it is still Shouguang that popularizes this technology, together with related complete sets of equipment and operation modes, to the whole country and even abroad.Shouguang is prosperous for its vegetables, and is also famous for its technological innovation in vegetables.Shouguang has held eighteen consecutive international vegetable science and technology expositions in China,the world vegetable production technology has gathered, experimented, tested, diffused and popularized at this place, under the backward force mechanism, the vegetable production technology has been innovated and upgraded one after another, which promotes the brand and internationalization of Shouguang vegetable industry.

1. Promoting the “Six Transformations” and Innovating Shouguang Model

Based on Comrade Xi Jinping’s earnest hope and the goal and requirement of our country’s Rural Revitalization strategy, Shouguang should innovate and upgrade Shouguang model, endow it with new connotation, new standards and new requirements, and actively create an upgraded version of Shouguang model. Only in this way can Shouguang model become “Qilu model of rural revitalization” and “national model of agricultural modernization”.The new era connotation of Shouguang model is:taking agricultural supply-side reform as the main line, vegetable branding and production standardization as the guide, and the integration of agriculture and secondary and tertiary industries as the grasp, Shouguang model should actively promote the industrialization of agriculture, the professionalization of farmers, the livability of villages, the wisdom of cities and the integration of urban and rural areas.

Specifically, it should continue to adhere to the “Five Performance” and actively promote the “Six Transformations”.

First, vegetable branding.Promoting the transformation from “Vegetable Industrialization Leading” to “Vegetable Branding Leading” is the requirement of rural revitalization and industrial prosperity.Shouguang should not only base itself on vegetable industrialization, but also not confine itself to vegetable industrialization. Shouguang should deepen the integration between vegetable industry and secondary and tertiary industries, advance to high quality, standardization and brand, and promote the upgrading of vegetable industry chain.

Second, the industrialization of agriculture.Promoting the transformation from “agricultural industrialization” to “agricultural workshop”is the technical requirement of rural revitalization.The concrete performance is“farmization”, “factoryization” and “intelligentialize”, which represents the development direction of agricultural modernization.Agricultural workshop is not only the technical support of standardization of vegetable production, but also the material carrier of vegetable brand. It will promote the specialization, standardization and modernization of the technical ability of farmers or workers engaged in agricultural production, thus leading to the emergence of “new professional farmers”.

Third, farmers’ professionalization. Promoting the transformation from “traditional farmers” to “new professional farmers” is the main requirement of rural revitalization.It is not only the human guarantee of carrying out production standardization, vegetable brand and agricultural workshop, but also the source of strength to promote new standards and create new brands, which will inevitably promote the continuous renewal of human capital, so as to promote the development of agriculture and rural areas to maintain long-term vitality.

Fourth, the countryside is livable.Promoting the transformation from “traditional countryside” to “livable community” is the inherent requirement of rural modernization, and it is also the spatial carrier of rural revitalization’s “ecological livable, rural style civilization and effective governance”. Ecologically livable, community-based management and civilized countryside will not only enable residents to fully enjoy public services, but also stabilize the ranks of agricultural professionals, thus becoming the space guarantee of “citizenization of farmers living in villages”.

Fifth, urban wisdom.It should promote the transformation of “traditional cities” to “smart cities”, and form a “co-construction, co-governance and sharing” mechanism between urban and rural areas to enhance the convenience, efficiency and sustainability of urban-rural interaction.In the vertical direction, the interaction of “factor-subject-economy-society” should be formed. In the horizontal direction, the “park-community-town-city” should be formed to promote the function of the city, thus achieving”cities support rural areas, public services facilitate farmers, urban resources help agriculture” pattern.

Sixth, urban-rural integration.Promoting the transformation from “urban-rural segmentation” to “urban-rural integration” is the inevitable result of agricultural workshops, farmers’ professionalization, rural livability, urban wisdom and the integration of urban and rural interaction,it is also the fundamental requirement of implementing the strategy of rural revitalization, and the premise of realizing the equalization of public services and allowing urban and rural residents to enjoy the development results equally. The interaction of “network” structure formed by the construction of smart city will strengthen the industrial connection between urban and rural areas, complement the functions of urban and rural areas, and then realize the transformation and upgrading of kinetic energy, and finally realize the integrated development of urban and rural areas with “the countryside has characteristics, the city has vitality, there are differences between urban and rural development, but there is no difference in public services”.

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Author: Zhang Youxiang (1971.02-), male, Han, Shouguang City, Shandong Province, Ph.D. in Economics, Director of Department of Economics and Management, Weifang University of Science and Technology, Executive Dean of the  Institute of Rural Revitalization and Regional Economic Development in the New Era, Chief Expert and Special Professor of Economic and Business Administration, Master’s Tutor of Rural Development, Beihua University, and Doctoral Tutor of Regional Economics, Northeast Normal University. Research Directions: Regional Economics, Fiscal Theory and Policy. Contact number: 13515455295, 18943947377.

Address: No. 1299 Jinguang Street, Shouguang City, Shandong Province, Department of Economic Management, Weifang University of Science and Technology, postcode: 262700

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