The Future of Rural Area in the Trend of Urbanization

Duan Weihua

【Abstract】The essay mainly focuses on the possible development of countryside when urbanization has become an unstoppable trend in China and what the economic structure as well as people has to do to adapt to the inevitable future.

【Key words】Rural Area; Urbanization; The Future

【作者簡介】Duan Weihua, born in 2001, student of Shiyan High School.

When a majority of cities in China have been rolling on the road of industrialization rapidly over the past twenty years, urbanization follows not far behind. Some coastal cities like Guangzhou and Shanghai where foreign investors are more welcome due to specific historical reasons, perform in a leading role of urbanization by constantly attracting a multitude of individuals per year. The residents of small villages, especially the younger and stronger ones, are more committed to moving into adjacent cosmopolitans to work instead of remaining home and guarding their sterile lands like their ancestors used to do. They adventure for many things, such as monetary, opportunities, higher status, and possibly massive horizon, which are basically everything the city gets to offer while the farmland does not. Thus, the future of these interspersed areas that struggle still on the poverty line hangs in the air.

With the adolescents and labour force flowing out consistently, the future of rural industries are presented to be negative. Factories and plants goes bankrupt year after year, farmland becomes abandoned and infertile, men and women leave their homes, leaving feeble seniors and shrieking children behind.

The elder people who suffer from severe loneliness and chronic diseases are also put into a destitute predicament, possessing mostly nothing apart from their shabby cottages and meager soil, while the children manage to survive the low leveled education by performing extra assiduously and diligently to obtain the opportunity of a decent job in some big cities and become one drop in the tide of urbanization. For farms being unattended, the economy of these rural areas is descending acceleratingly. However, the deterioration is hopefully going to cease given particular measures.

From the perspective of the government, formulating a policy that may have an salient impact on the people who go out for working and attract them back to their hometown might be the vital solution for this dilemma. By regaining labour, there is a warrant for future development. Some pension funds should also be raised by either formal or civil organizations to not only ensure children of the privilege to get well-educated, but also argue for the living standards for those who are left behind. Enhancing the medical care systems is undoubtedly another effective method. While the welfare of children and older residents are reassured, the worries of middle aged citizens will be likely to decrease and choose filial company instead of the job offered in the inner city that simply pays more.

There are also some efforts that ought to be made by the companies which are presented to be a win-win situation. With more people dwelling in big cities, the price of lands is soaring as a result, many companies plan to relocate in the suburb, urging their workers to move along. Therefore, not only do the profits of the company remain, but also bring back the vigor for remote villages, offering a second chance of development.

Last but not least, the villagers who tend to go out to cosmopolitans for opportunities should be conscious of the predicaments caused by their behavior and rethink their decision before they actually perform them. Given their separate circumstances, the majority of them are not always aware of the importance of their presence in their offsprings childhood, and the indispensability of their accompaniment for their aging parents. Once they acknowledge that, there is a great possibility that their decision will yield.

In conclusion, though many stubborn problems still stand in the way, the future of rural area in the urbanization trend could manage to stay positive providing the support of the government , companies and individuals.