We will promote the steady development of agriculture and a continuous increase in rural incomes. We will keep grain production stable; expand the total area sown with oilseed; increase supplies of important agricultural products in short supply; implement a large-scale effort to increase the production of grain, cotton, oilseed and sugar; standardize farming practices in horticulture, animal husbandry and aquaculture; and ensure the security of the "rice bag" (grain supply) and "vegetable basket" (non-staple food supply). We will continue to provide direct subsidies for grain producers, and increase general subsidies for purchasing agricultural supplies and subsidies for purchasing superior crop varieties and agricultural machinery and tools. The Central Government will allocate 133.5 billion yuan for this purpose, a year-on-year increase of 6.04 billion yuan. We will further raise minimum grain purchase prices. The minimum prices of early indica rice, middle-season and late indica rice and japonica rice will be raised by 3 yuan, 5 yuan and 10 yuan per 50 kilograms respectively, and the minimum price of wheat will be raised by 3 yuan per 50 kilograms. We will continue to implement the policy of purchasing and temporarily stockpiling major agricultural products, and give farmers more tangible benefits. We will increase fiscal support for major grain-producing, pork-producing and cattle farming counties. We will vigorously develop the processing industry for agricultural products, promote industrialization in agriculture, support the upgrading and renovation of wholesale markets and markets for farm produce, and promote closer linkage between production and the market. We will help rural residents find jobs or start their own businesses, and increase rural incomes through a variety of channels. We will intensify poverty alleviation and development and work tirelessly to eradicate poverty and backwardness so that rural residents can soon live a prosperous and happy life.

We will strengthen agricultural infrastructure. We will continue to give high priority in government spending to supporting agricultural and rural development. In the budget, our priority for fixed asset investment will be agricultural infrastructure and projects that improve the wellbeing of rural residents; and our priority for use of proceeds from the transfer of land-use rights will be developing agricultural land and building rural infrastructure. The Central Government plans to allocate 818.3 billion yuan for agriculture, farmers and rural areas, an increase of 93 billion yuan over last year, and local governments at all levels will also increase their investment. We will comprehensively implement the plan to increase grain production by 50 billion kilograms nationwide, with the emphasis on major grain-producing regions. Focusing on water conservancy, we will improve agricultural infrastructure, accelerate related upgrades of large and medium-sized irrigated areas, expand the area in which water-conserving irrigation methods are used, create high-grade cropland, and finish reinforcing dilapidated large, medium-sized and key small reservoirs. Focusing on breeding improved crop varieties, we will accelerate innovation in agricultural technology and the widespread adoption of scientific and technological advances, and carry out a major science and technology project to create new crop varieties using gene transfer technology. We will move forward with the construction of modern agriculture demonstration sites. We will accelerate the development of public services for extending agricultural technology, preventing and controlling animal and plant diseases, and providing quality oversight of agricultural products in townships, towns and regions.

We will deepen rural reform. We will uphold the basic rural operation system; quickly improve relevant laws, regulations and policies; and maintain existing land contract relationships over the long term. We will strengthen supervision of and services for the transfer of contracted land-use rights, and develop diverse large-scale farming operations on the basis of legal, voluntary, and compensated transfers of land-use rights. We will continue to carry out comprehensive rural reform, improve supporting policies for collective forests tenure reform, and launch the reform of state tree farms. We will continue to reform the basic system for the use of grasslands, develop specialized farmer cooperatives, improve the organization of agriculture, more quickly develop small rural financial institutions, actively promote micro-credit loans in rural areas, and improve rural financial services. We will also deepen reforms in township and town government departments.

We will balance promoting urbanization and building a new countryside. We will stick to the path of urbanization with Chinese characteristics. We will promote balanced development between towns and large, small and medium-sized cities; increase the overall carrying capacity of cities and towns; ensure that cities stimulate the development of surrounding rural areas; and promote positive interaction between urbanization and the building of a new countryside. We will strengthen county economies, improve infrastructure and environmental protection in county towns and hub towns, guide an orderly flow of nonagricultural industries and rural people to small towns, and encourage returned rural migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns. When developing urban and rural areas, we must adhere to the strictest possible systems for protecting arable land and economizing land use to genuinely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of farmers. We will carry out reform of the household registration system and relax requirements for household registration in towns and small and medium-sized cities. We will solve employment and living problems that rural migrant workers face in cities and towns in a planned and step-by-step manner, and gradually ensure that they receive the same treatment as urban residents in areas such as pay, children's education, healthcare, housing and social security. We will further increase spending on the development of rural production and living facilities, begin a new round of upgrades of rural power grids, expand the construction of rural methane facilities, provide safe drinking water to another 60 million rural people, carry out the project to build a clean countryside, and improve working and living conditions there. We will allow eligible workers who have left agricultural work to gradually become urban residents, and develop a beautiful rural environment where farmers can live a happy life.

4. Fully implementing the strategies of reinvigorating China through science and education and strengthening the nation through human resource development

Education, science and human resources are the cornerstones of national prosperity and rejuvenation, and are also at the core of overall national strength.

We will give high priority to education. For a country to become strong, it must first strengthen education. First-class education is a prerequisite for cultivating high-caliber personnel and building a great country. We will promptly begin to implement the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Program for Education Reform and Development. We will focus on the following five areas. First, we will advance education reform. We need to emancipate our minds, boldly make breakthroughs and innovations, encourage experimentation, and systematically reform school financing system, curricula, teaching methods and evaluation systems. We will continue to give top priority to cultivating the integrity of students and vigorously promote well-rounded education. We will explore school management and financing systems that are suitable for different types of education and the development of different talents, so that we can run schools better and turn out better graduates. We will encourage nongovernmental sectors to run schools in order to meet people's diverse demands for education. Second, we will promote the balanced development of compulsory education. On the basis of a rational allocation of resources, we will accelerate the renovation of junior secondary school buildings in the central and western regions. We will also accelerate implementation of the nationwide program for safe primary and secondary school buildings, and ensure that buildings, equipment and teaching staff in all schools reach established standards as soon as possible. We will provide multimedia distance-learning facilities for rural primary and secondary schools so that children living in the vast rural and remote areas have access to quality education resources. We will improve preschool education and develop special education schools. We will increase educational support for ethnic minorities and ethnic minority areas. Third, we will continue to strengthen vocational education. To help students find jobs, we will integrate education resources, improve teaching methods, and focus on improving students' employability and entrepreneurial abilities. Fourth, we will reform the management and admission systems of institutions of higher learning. We will give them more decision-making power, encourage them to adjust their majors and curricula to meet employment needs and the needs of economic and social development; more intimately integrate personnel training, scientific and technological innovation and academic development; inspire teachers to concentrate on education, and build high-level universities with their own distinctive features. We will develop a number of first-class universities that produce outstanding talents. The Central Government will increase support for the development of higher education in the central and western regions. Fifth, we will improve the teachers' qualifications. We will take a variety of measures to attract outstanding personnel to pursue a life-long career in education. We will focus on strengthening training for teachers and school principals of rural compulsory education schools, and encourage excellent teachers to teach in impoverished rural areas. We will intensify education to improve the professional ethics of our teachers, and enhance their sense of responsibility and mission. Hundreds of millions of families place their hopes for a better life on education, and education has a direct bearing on the quality of the nation and the future of the country. A country cannot become strong and prosperous if it does not make education universal and improve its quality. We must always keep this in mind.

We will vigorously develop science and technology. We need to earnestly implement the policy of independent innovation, and comprehensively build an innovative country. We need to accelerate the implementation of our major science and technology programs. We need to concentrate on making breakthroughs in key sciences and technologies that can drive the technological revolution forward and promote industrial invigoration, in major sciences and technologies related to public welfare and can improve people's health and the quality of their lives, and in strategic, high-tech fields that can enhance our country's international competitiveness and safeguard our national security. We will make farsighted arrangements for basic research and research in cutting-edge technologies in the fields of biology, nanoscience, quantum control, information networks, climate change, aerospace and oceanography. We will deepen the reform of science and technology management system; strive to bridge the gap between science and technology and the economy; promote the development of technological innovation system in which enterprises play the leading role, the market provides orientation, and the efforts of enterprises, universities and research institutes are integrated; and promote optimal allocation, open sharing, and highly efficient use of scientific and technological resources. We will vigorously implement intellectual property rights (IPRs) strategy and strengthen the creation, application and protection of IPRs. We will further arouse the creativity of scientists, engineers and all of society.

We will accelerate human resources development. Talented personnel are the primary resources. We need to develop all types of human resources in a coordinated and all-round way, with the focus on producing innovative scientists and engineers, and experts and professionals in key areas of economic and social development, and energetically attract high-caliber personnel from overseas. We will set up a mechanism for diversifying funding for personnel training, so that the government, nongovernmental bodies, employers and employees all do their part. We will make full use of the basic role of market forces in allocating human resources, strive to create an institutional environment conducive to bringing forth talented people in large numbers and tapping their full potential, and make our country rich in human resources.

5. Energetically promoting cultural progress

To develop the country and rejuvenate the nation, we must not only be economically strong, but more importantly, be culturally strong. Culture is the spirit and soul of a nation, and the determining factor of whether it is truly strong or not. It can profoundly affect the progress of a country's development and change the destiny of a nation. If we do not develop an advanced culture and improve the whole nation's cultural and ethical levels, we cannot truly modernize. Emancipating our minds, and reform and opening up embody the spirit of our times, and they have become an advanced cultural force driving social progress and have filled the Chinese nation with vigor and vitality.

Over the past year, we vigorously developed non-profit cultural programs, sped up the reform of cultural management system, improved the system of public cultural services, stimulated the rapid growth of our culture industry, brought prosperity to the culture market, and effectively expanded domestic demand. In this year, we need to pay greater attention to and vigorously promote cultural progress. We will draw upon and carry forward the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, draw on and make use of other countries' cultural achievements, and build a spiritual home shared by the whole Chinese nation. Our government needs to better carry out its responsibility for developing non-profit cultural programs and ensure that the people's basic demands are met and that their rights and interests are protected. We will give high priority to the grassroots, especially rural areas and the central and western regions while developing cultural infrastructure and allocating public cultural resources; make admission to more art galleries, libraries, cultural centers and museums free; and enrich people's intellectual and cultural activities. We will continue to reform the cultural management system, support non-profit cultural programs, develop the culture industry, encourage cultural innovation, foster leading cultural enterprises, and produce more healthy and inspirational cultural works to meet the diverse cultural needs of our people. We will promote the development of philosophy, the social sciences, radio, television, film, the press, publishing and archives; make literary and artistic creation flourish; and strengthen the protection of our cultural relics and intangible cultural heritage. We will vigorously develop cultural exchanges with foreign countries, and make Chinese culture more influential internationally. We will energetically develop recreational sports, launch an extensive exercise campaign for the general public, and improve the people's health. The Chinese nation can not only create economic miracles but also make brilliant new cultural achievements.

6. Vigorously ensuring and improving people's wellbeing, and promoting social harmony and progress

Improving people's wellbeing is the fundamental goal of economic development. We can ensure that there is sustained impetus for economic development, a solid foundation for social progress, and lasting stability for the country only by working hard to ensure and improve people's wellbeing.

We will do everything in our power to increase employment. This is the top priority in our work of ensuring and improving people's wellbeing. This year the employment situation will still be serious, and we cannot slacken our efforts in the slightest. We need to continue to implement a proactive employment policy. The Central Government will allocate 43.3 billion yuan to stimulate employment. Emphasis will be given to helping college graduates, rural migrant workers, people experiencing employment difficulty, and demobilized military personnel find jobs. The "five-four-three" employment support policies, originally scheduled to expire in 2009, will be extended for another year. [These policies allow qualified enterprises to postpone their payments of five types of social security contributions; reduce urban workers' contributions to four types of insurance funds, namely medical insurance, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and maternity insurance; and continue three types of subsidized, enterprise-based job training programs—notes added by the translator] We will increase policy support and employment guidance to encourage college graduates to take community-level jobs in urban and rural areas, and jobs in the central and western regions and in small and medium-sized enterprises. We will expand channels for seeking employment and starting businesses. We will encourage different forms of flexible employment, including starting businesses and finding jobs independently. We will also encourage job growth through the creation of new businesses. We will establish a sound mechanism for stimulating employment through public investment. We will continue to strengthen vocational training, with the focus on increasing the employability of rural migrant workers and new members of the workforce in urban and rural areas. We will improve the career service system, strengthen coordination and cooperation between labor-exporting and labor-importing regions, and guide the orderly flow of workers, especially rural migrant workers. We will accelerate the development of a unified and standardized human resources market. We will safeguard the lawful rights and interests of workers and establish harmonious labor relations. We will work tirelessly to create more job opportunities and to enable workers to tap their full potential and find suitable jobs.

We will move faster to improve the social security system for both urban and rural residents. We will steadily move forward with the pilot program for a new old-age insurance system for rural residents by expanding it to 23 percent of China's counties. We will act more quickly to solve longstanding problems, including the lack of basic old-age pensions for retirees of collectively owned enterprises that do not participate in group pension programs. Workers' compensation will be extended to all of the 1.3 million workers injured in previous jobs who are not receiving benefits. We will work to extend social security coverage to rural migrant workers. We will strengthen our work on urban and rural subsistence allowances, gradually increase allowances, and ensure that they are managed in a manner that reflects changing conditions and that everyone who is entitled to such allowances receives them. We will work harder to build the social security and social services system for people with a disability, further implement policies for assisting and supporting them, and create a better environment for them to participate in social activities on an equal footing. We will increase basic old-age pensions for enterprise retirees by 10 percent. Governments at all levels need to spend more on social security, and the Central Government will appropriate 318.5 billion yuan for this purpose. We will increase the country's social security funds through multiple channels and strengthen oversight and supervision to maintain and increase their value. We will encourage and support the development of charities. We will move faster to build a better social safety net to provide basic security to people and free them from worries.

We will reform the income distribution system. A rational income distribution system is an important manifestation of social fairness and justice. We will not only make the "pie" of social wealth bigger by developing the economy, but also distribute it well on the basis of a rational income distribution system. We need to uphold and improve the system in which distribution according to work is dominant and multiple forms of distribution coexist, give due consideration to efficiency and fairness, and take the path to common prosperity. First, we will promptly formulate policies and measures to adjust the distribution of national income, and gradually increase the individuals' share of national income and labor's share of total income in initial income distribution. We will strengthen the role of fiscal and taxation policies in adjusting income distribution and redistribution. We will create conditions for more people to earn income from property. Second, we will deepen the reform of the income distribution system of monopoly industries. We will improve the policy of dual control over total payroll and wage in these industries. We will set strict standards for the income of executives, especially senior ones, of state-owned enterprises and financial institutions, and improve related oversight and supervision rules. Third, we will further standardize the pattern of income distribution. We will protect legitimate income; regulate excessively high income; ban illegal income; gradually form a transparent, fair and rational pattern of income distribution; and resolutely reverse the widening income gap.