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nongken system
农垦系统 nóngkěn xìtǒng

The nongken system consists of 1,785 state-owned farms in 34 relatively poor regions of 31 provinces. In total they occupy about 5 percent of arable land and sustain 13.5 million people. More than 3,000 SOEs holding over C¥750 bn in assets provide associated agricultural processing, distribution, and sales services. The nongken system is no longer sustainable. Farms are small, and ill-equipped to manage modern agricultural production, trade and distribution systems. They are weighed down by social provision responsibilities, unspecified and unsupervised state-owned assets, and are poorly run link

urban villages 城中村

Rarely rural in appearance, ‘villages in the city’ are found on the periphery and in the downtown areas of Chinese cities, where they are often home to migrant workers and transients. Owing their rise to the strict urban/rural division of land ownership, they are generally islands within high-rise developments. They are thought to be unsafe and unhealthy; residents may be subject to demolition and forced removal. 

state advances, private retreats 国进民退 guójìnmíntuì

Coined in 2002, ‘state advances, private retreats’ is an acerbic expression of dissatisfaction from private entrepreneurs about the unlevel playing field between state and private players. It refers to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) crowding out the private sector, either through expansion of market share or heavy-handed government intervention. SOEs are on the front line of growth stabilisation during economic slowdowns, which often justifies more intensive government support, and SOEs often receive unparalleled state subsidies in financing, land, labour and regulation.

three battles 三大攻坚战 sān dà gōngjiān zhàn

Refers to major policy objectives as defined by Beijing at the 19th Party Congress in October 2017: preventing and defusing financial risks, alleviating poverty, and controlling pollution. While the wording of each aim has shifted since the announcement (from ‘battles’ to ‘sieges’, indicating the obstacles encountered and the urgency of the tasks), provincial and local officials continue to be evaluated by how strenuously these goals are pursued.

carrying the basket 提篮子 tí lán zǐ

Methods of ‘carrying the basket’ vary from province to province, but the underlying logic is for local officials to steer projects involving public assets to colluders—people who will pay, are kin, classmates or have other social connections. State procurement contracts, land use rights, access to natural resources, real estate development, qualification and certification, asset management and disposal, investment and financing, as well as scientific research and other major projects—these are all areas where there is often collusion between insiders and outsiders (the former with decision-making power and the latter to provide or collect money, primarily from business interests). Undermining the image of government and the Party, this behaviour creates an unhealthy relationship where policy-making is concerned. New regulations seek to end this rent-seeking by explicitly prohibiting the practice.

fight through chaos with severity 重典治乱 zhòngdiǎn zhì luàn

When the vaccine scandals in Jilin and Hubei were exposed, there were changes in personnel but also a renewed commitment to building regulatory mechanisms up to the task of oversight and safety guarantees. Both measures were presented as serious undertakings by Beijing to hold officials accountable but also continue with reform.

moral baseline 道德底线 dàodé dǐxiàn

The phrase had referred to a line that separated socially permissible behaviour from that which went against commonly understood values.

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