農村土地承包制 Rural Land Contract System

A fundamental economic system in rural areas guaranteeing farmers’ rights to land owned by the collectives and the State by signing long-term contracts.

Since the household responsibility system became an accepted form of agricultural land tenure in the early 1980s, the State formally approved farmers’ rights to rural land in 1986 by stipulating all farmers have the right to undertake rural land contracts based up on families in the General Principles of the Civil Law. In 2002, a specific law governing rural land contract granted farmers inheritance rights to their land and the ability to exchange land with one another, to sub-rent, to pool land and to mortgage it for credit. The land contract has an extendable term of at least 30 years and cannot be suspended without bilateral agreements.

抓大放小 Restructuring Major Enterprises and Relaxing Control over Small Ones

A strategy for reforming the State-owned enterprises stressing that the major enterprises in key sectors should be supported to gain further development while the smaller ones should compete in the market.

Initiated in the mid-1990s when the country tried to step up the efficiency of State-owned enterprises as a whole, the strategy was formally accepted as a principle for reforming the public-owned economy in 1997. Big public enterprises were encouraged to develop into groups or establish partnership with each other. Smaller public enterprises were reformed flexibly through market-oriented means, like becoming shareholding businesses, acquisition and merger and contracting managing rights to individuals.

經濟適用房 Economical Housing

Housing sold at low prices to low-income earners to get them affordable shelters. Starting in 1998, the central government decided to offer favorable policies to housing developers so that they could build apartments of specified sizes and prices. Families with living floor space or income under given standards could apply for purchasing the apartments at prices much lower than the market prices. Eligibility standards for purchasing economical housing are set by provincial authorities according to local situations. Economical housing is subject to special clauses for trading in market, which discourage profiting from the property. It is an integrated part of the State efforts to shelter groups with limited financial resources.

三資企業 Foreign-funded enterprises

A term for three kinds of foreign-invested enterprises or ventures in China, which include Sino-foreign joint ventures, cooperative businesses, and exclusively foreign-owned enterprises. As an economic entity responsible for their own profits and losses, these enterprises are set up within China after being approved by relevant State departments and are run in accordance with China’s laws. Since reform and opening-up in 1978, these enterprises have played an important role in helping the country absorb foreign investment, introduce foreign advanced technologies and management know-how, as well as expand export.

鐵飯碗 Iron Rice Bowl

A guaranteed job many Chinese people dreamed of getting during the era of the planned economy. People didn’t need to worry about their future once they gained a post usually in government departments and State or collectively run factories. But since the reform and opening-up was adopted in 1978 and the new labor system and the market economy came into being, such a stable employment model, which hindered people’s creativity to a large extent, has gradually been shattered. The establishment of the new and competitive employment model has contributed a lot to the country’s productivity and its rapid development.

菜籃子工程Non-Staple Food Project

In 1988, the Ministry of Agriculture started this project against a background that the country could not produce enough non-grain food with rich diversity.

Under the project, agricultural bases were established to boost production and supply, and special markets for agricultural produce were set up. By the mid 1990s, food diversity was improved and a reserve network was established around the country. The project then shifted its focus on food safety and branding.

西部大開發Western Development

A drive launched by the central government in 2000 to promote social and economic progress in the central and western parts of the country, which are relatively less developed than the rest of the country.

By injecting financial aid and offering favorable policies, the State wants to speed up infrastructure construction, industrialization and poverty eradication in these areas. Officials, technicians and other qualified talents have been dispatched from the eastern regions to lend a hand.

The campaign covers nearly 400 million people living in Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, Yunnan Province, the Tibet Autonomous Region, Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.