Rural reform has a strong political backing

When Communist Party boss Hu Jintao came to power in late 2002, it quickly became clear that he would stress different priorities from his predecessor, Jiang Zemin. Whereas Jiang courted China's emergent middle class and revised the constitution to foster private enterprise, Hu signalled that he would seek to address what many regard as Jiang's greatest failing – the fact that during his tenure the gulf between China's urban rich and its rural poor grew ever wider.

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Other Articles on this Issue

• Capital Intensive China

  Land deals set to transform rural China

• Macro View

  Rich in rural promise

• Postcard From No 528

  Rustic stock picks and Goldman Sachs

• Funds Data

  Taiwan optimism peaked?

• The Big Call

  Rural economy set to thrive

• Consumer China

  Betting on the rural consumer

  Subsidy schemes drive rural vehicle demand

  Sending white goods to the countryside

• Financial China

  Rural finance taking off

• The Best of Chinese Commentators

  Inflation: pork-led?

  Resources: to tax or not to tax?

• Guest Column

  China's Sustainability March

• View issue