【Report】Summary of the seminar delivered by Ben Hillman

11 January 2024

Title: The Chinese Communist Party’s Return to the Countryside

In the lecture, Professor Hillman examines the probable costs and consequences of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ‘rural revitalisation’ program, referring to a set of economic policies targeted to boost development at the village level. He starts by providing some historical background of the Chinese economic miracle, a period of time when China experienced double-digit economic growth. During this period, China managed to lift almost 800 million from poverty and became the second largest economy in the world. The economic miracle also provided strong legitimacy for the CCP and generated significant confidence in their economic model, which combines strong state support with innovation from the private sector.

However, as Professor Hillman argues, the existing state-led economic model is starting to show its limits, especially as consumer growth remains low. Moreover, Xi Jinping has set out to modernise agriculture to improve food security by 2049 as part of his second centennial goal. To achieve these goals growth, the CCP is looking to increase their control over the villages, particularly by directly intervening in village governance in order to implement policies designed by the central Party leadership. These interventions, Professor Hillman argues, may be risky and counterproductive to China’s potential economic growth, and might hurt the Party’s popular legitimacy. He concludes that the trajectory of current rural revitalisation policies is important to observe as it may have ramifications on China’s domestic politics in the future.

Participants were actively engaged in the question-and-answer session. Many questioned the feasibility of the CCP’s rural revitalisation policies, especially in regards to its top-down approach and whether it would be sustainable. Other questions that emerged were questions on how to conduct research in China, and the possible effects of China’s ageing population on the CCP’s goals.