Social Sciences in China, 2023

Vol. 44 , No. 3, 2023

The Chinese Path to Rural Common Prosperity: Based on an Analysis of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Rural Demonstration Projects

Abstract：Common prosperity in rural areas is integral to achieving common prosperity. This paper makes an in-depth analysis of Jiangsu and Zhejiang rural demonstration projects from a state-society interaction perspective. Pathway analysis is based on the framework of “high- level promotion-endogenous development” linked by the advancement of the building of the Communist Party of China and the Party’s leading role: high-level promotion, through multi- level responsibilization, ensures policy implementation, while endogenous development, driven by endogenous breakthroughs and economies of scale brought about by industrial integration, generates explosive dynamics through common interest bonding. By linking high-level promotion with endogenous development, the advancement of Party building and the Party’s leading role ensure benign interaction between state and society. The combined efforts of state and society creates a “common prosperity effect,” effectively solving the thorny problem of “weak society” in the welfare system of developing countries and that of the “welfare trap” in the welfare system of welfare states. This, in a sense, enables China to embark on the road to rural common prosperity.

Keywords: Chinese path to modernization, rural common prosperity, high-level promotion, endogenous development