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Beneath the veneer of Xi Jinping’s ambitious agricultural plan farming communities remain marred by homelessness, poverty and unstable markets
Sun 6 Sep 2020 10.00
China’s leader Xi Jinping learns at an organic daylily farm in Shanxi province in May. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex
The official pictures tell a delightful tale. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is seen touring fish farms, rice paddies and vineyards in Ningxia, ambling through lily fields in Shanxi, and inspecting mushroom- and fungus-growing operations in Shaanxi.
The carefully choreographed images aim to create a vision of his latest signature policy – rural revitalisation. Billions of dollars will be spent on revamping the countryside – increasing prosperity, improving its ecology, and integrating it with the development of China’s shining cities, which had largely left rural areas behind.
