UP AND OUT OF POVERTY is a compilation of Xi Jinping's major works from 1988 to 1990 when he was Secretary of the CPC Ningde Prefectural Committee, Fujian Province.The book on poverty relief comprises 29 speeches and articles. The following is an excerpt from UP AND OUT OF POVERTY, published by FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS in 2016.
February 1990
When we talk about education in Ningde Prefecture, there is first the question of how to assess it. Historically, we can be proud of our development of education since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, and especially over the last decade. Before 1949 the area was a backwater, but now we have built schools, and it is not a novel thing for the children of farmers to attend university. But can we be complacent about it? I think not! As measured by the new concept of education, we must have a greater sense of urgency. What is the new concept of education? It is no longer to simply discuss education when considering education, as in the past, but rather to link education to economic and social development. We look to see whether education in this place is suited to and is promoting the development of the local economy and society. As we assess the reality of education in Ningde according to this concept of education, we cannot help but recognize the seriousness of the situation. We find that Ningde is poor when it comes to economic development, but is the education here also "poor"? It is not a bad idea to view the problem as more serious than it actually is, because this helps to increase our sense of crisis and urgency. I have traveled around to quite a few villages and have seen a lot of humble school buildings, which leave me with a heavy heart. In conversations with rural officials and farmers, I gain an even greater sense of the urgency and importance of developing agriculture through science and technology and using talent to develop our economy. Farmers are determined to become prosperous, but their lack of knowledge, science, and technology makes it difficult. We urgently await the rise of township enterprises and county-level industries. Unfortunately, everything is in place but for a shortage of talent.
We should recognize that the slow economic development of Ningde means that we lack the money to develop education, and have experienced tremendous difficulties in doing so. We should also notice that, because we have been unable to develop education well, today we are experiencing the problem of a shortage of competent personnel in our economic development. In an essay, I once discussed the Matthew Effect in education: It is more difficult to develop education in poor areas, but it is those very areas that need education the most; the less education is developed there, the poorer they become. Such a Matthew Effect is actually a vicious cycle of reciprocal causation between "poverty" and "ignorance."
So, we must view the problem of education from the high vantage point of economic and social development strategy. Ningde today is often described in five words, "old, minority, remote, island, impoverished.'' In this reality, to build the soft environment urgently needed for opening up and developing the economy, we must make talent the most important part of our soft environment. "Who heeds the bill's bare height until some legend grows around the hill? Who cares how deep the stream before its fame is writ in country lore?" (1 Liu Yuxi (772-842), "The Scholar's Humble Dwelling," trans. James Black, The Open Court, no. 3 (1911): 187. Retrieved from: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ocj/vol1911/iss3/7. - Tr.)Thriving talent means thriving science and technology and a thriving economy. The economy relies on science and technology, which in turn depends on talent, and talent relies on education. Educational advancement, technological progress, and economic revitalization make up a complementary, sequential, and unified process, the foundation of which lies in education. An ancient Chinese saying is very insightful: "Respecting teachers and encouraging learning are the great foundation of a nation; promoting virtue and cultivating talent are the first service of the government.''(2 See Zhu Zhiyu, "Encouraging Action," in The Collected Works of Zhu Shunshui. A native of Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, Zhu Zhiyu (1600-1682) was a scholar and educator in the Ming and Qing dynasties.）We must adopt such a strategic viewpoint when considering problems, truly place education at the forefront, and strive to create a virtuous cycle in which education, science and technology, and the economy support and promote each other.
Some people say that our greatest challenge at present is insufficient financial strength to develop education. Of course we must acknowledge the weaknesses of Ningde, but we can't fail to develop education here just because our region is poor. Nor can we sit there and wait until the day we strike it rich to discuss education issues. Deng Xiaoping once said, "We should try every way to expand education, even if it means slowing down in other fields.''(3 Source of English translation: Deng Xiaoping, "Science and Technology Constitute a Primary Productive Force," in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol.3, trans. the Bureau for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin Under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1994), 270. - Tr.) We must therefore be willing to take some time, expend some energy, and invest some money to develop education. "It takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred years to cultivate people.''(4 See "On the Cultivation of Political Power" in Guanzi.) We can't have a "wait and see" attitude when it comes to education. Rather than arguing about whether we need better education in Ningde, we should get in gear to provide it.
With the wrong starting point, we will end up taking the wrong direction. This also applies to our work in education. As we develop education here in Ningde, it can only be based on the reality of this place.
We must be aware of at least three aspects of this reality. First, Ningde is a poor area, so education here is subject to financial constraints. Second, this area is primarily rural, so a large part of the education here should be rural-oriented. Third, education in Ningde is lagging behind in general, and many people here are illiterate. I believe that, if our education efforts are based on these three aspects of the reality, we will follow a path more in line with the needs of Ningde.
1. Balance the relationship between quantity and quality, and persist in the sustained, steady, and coordinated development of education. Since we have major financial constraints in education, we first need to follow basic national policies, create better conditions, increase investment, and ensure that the speed and scale of our efforts are both necessary and reasonable. We must also coordinate growth in quantity and adjustment in structure, and improve both access and quality. Our specific objective is to build an education system that integrates basic education, vocational and technical education, and adult education. Basic education is education in general cultural and scientific knowledge, and is the foundation of the entire education system. Although we talked a lot about basic education in the past, there is still not enough to go around, and we need to improve its quality. Vocational and technical education is for training a new generation of workers, as well as junior and mid-level technical personnel. As Lenin said in Raising the Productivity of Labor, "The most reliable way to improve the production quality of workers is universal access to vocational and technical knowledge among the people." Naturally, vocational and technical education must meet the needs of Ningde's local economic and social development. It must be closely linked with helping local farmers overcome poverty and achieve prosperity. In particular, vocational and technical education should focus on practice and not simply "farming on a blackboard." We must teach students practical skills enabling them to be production experts back at home. Adult education should focus on a broad range of on-the-job training to improve the skills and abilities required of employees. Adult education is not purely cultural and technical education, but rather a comprehensive political, cultural, technical, and management education to improve the intellectual, moral, scientific, and cultural quality of workers.
There is a serious shortage of education funding in Ningde because of financial constraints; this reality will not change much in the short term. For the sustained, stable, and coordinated development of education, we must complement state-sponsored education with non-government resources. This involves engaging all stakeholders, raising funds from multiple sources, and increasing investment in education. We need suitable policies and measures on the proportion of county budgets that go to education and how non-government resources can be leveraged. We should place special emphasis on improving the effectiveness of our limited education funding. Each penny of investment should produce five, ten, or even a hundred times the output.
2. Adapt education to the development of Ningde's rural economy. Ningde is primarily a rural area, and the education must "be imbued with rural flavor." Our goal is to have more workers who can use their knowledge to extricate themselves from poverty and achieve prosperity. For this purpose, we must integrate the development of basic, vocational and technical, and adult education. We should note in particular that, since the contract responsibility system began, family operations have been the primary mode of production in rural areas. Farmers urgently need practical technologies and techniques that help them make money soon, rather than whole sets of general theories. Skilled labor and junior to mid-level technical personnel are in popular demand for production and management. Some people may ask whether this is too pragmatic. No, it is not. What we are talking about is effectiveness. What we need is effective education for building rural socialism.
3. Focus on literacy work. We face the reality of a substantial illiteracy rate. Based on the 1985 census, 40.3% of the rural labor force in our prefecture was illiterate or semi-literate at the time. After several years of literacy work, this ratio may have declined, but probably not too much. It is worth noting that new illiterate people will continue to appear. Lenin said, "a Communist society cannot be built in an illiterate country.''(5 Source of English translation: Vladimir Lenin, "The Tasks of the Youth League"in Collected Works, vol.31 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1974), 296. - Tr.) Mass illiteracy means that many farmers can hardly acquire useful knowledge, technology, and management skills. As a result, they have very limited opportunities to achieve prosperity, while ignorant and backward customs sprout up and spread. Education in Ningde must therefore focus on literacy. Although this starting point is low, the work is essential. We cannot have an attitude that "things will be the same with or without literacy work," or that "it doesn't matter if we still have some illiterate people." We should celebrate this International literacy Year with concrete actions. To eliminate illiteracy, we need the spirit of the "Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains," increasing literacy bit by bit each year, and we'll accomplish something notable in a few years. Our literacy policy is to closely link literacy education with teaching practical skills and helping farmers prosper. Such a policy delivers immediate results — only when illiterate people understand why literacy is good for their own vital interests will they have the internal drive to learn to read.
