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Prof. Justin Lin Yifu: Hotan Sets New Model for Common Prosperity and Ethnic Unity

Mar 05-2023   



As a member of the delegation of the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council, Prof. Justin Lin Yifu visited Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in February 2023 and gave a speech in a symposium. He was delighted that a proposal made eight years ago has borne remarkable fruition: that of developing labor-intensive manufacturing industries to eradicate poverty and promote ethnic unity. Prof. Lin is Honorary Dean of the NSD and Dean of both Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development and Institute of New Structural Economics.

 

Eight years ago, Hotan Prefecture was fighting the toughest poverty eradication battle in China, with per capita GDP being the lowest of 334 prefectures and cities in China, or less than 1/5 of the national average and even lower than those of Vietnam and Cambodia. Prof. Lin and his colleagues from the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council conducted field research and offered relevant advice to assist the development of Hotan, which had only 0.8 mu in per capita farmland and was nearly cut off from the domestic and international markets due to poor infrastructure.

 

Prof. Lin and his colleagues advised riding on some important trends, including the relocation of labor-intensive industries from eastern China and the improvement in infrastructure thanks to Xinjiang’s status as a hub on the Belt and Road initiative. In 2015, many of Xinjiang’s middle and high school graduates couldn’t find jobs in cities and had to return to their villages. Prof. Lin and his colleagues proposed establishing industrial parks and attract labor-intensive factories to move in, with the goal of creating 100,000 manufacturing jobs and even more service ones. With the efforts of local officials and people, impressive results have been achieved.

 

Prof. Lin also noticed that Hotan Prefecture is embracing a new development opportunity as its various mines have drawn in investors. He stressed the importance of putting part of the resource earnings into savings for rainy days, as well as using resource-related tax incomes to support the development of non-resource industries so that more employment will be generated.

 

As for labor-intensive industries, he said that some bellwether enterprises should be established and the overall goal is for the industries to develop into clusters. In this way, local entrepreneurship will be stimulated and efficiency and productivity gains will be achieved.

 

Prof. Lin also shared ideas for developing local agriculture and providing government-funded housing to mid- and low-income groups. The latter, inspired by the Singapore scheme, is a way to explore new models for common prosperity.

Prof. Justin Lin Yifu: Hotan Sets New Model for Common Prosperity and Ethnic Unity

Mar 05-2023   



As a member of the delegation of the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council, Prof. Justin Lin Yifu visited Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in February 2023 and gave a speech in a symposium. He was delighted that a proposal made eight years ago has borne remarkable fruition: that of developing labor-intensive manufacturing industries to eradicate poverty and promote ethnic unity. Prof. Lin is Honorary Dean of the NSD and Dean of both Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development and Institute of New Structural Economics.

 

Eight years ago, Hotan Prefecture was fighting the toughest poverty eradication battle in China, with per capita GDP being the lowest of 334 prefectures and cities in China, or less than 1/5 of the national average and even lower than those of Vietnam and Cambodia. Prof. Lin and his colleagues from the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council conducted field research and offered relevant advice to assist the development of Hotan, which had only 0.8 mu in per capita farmland and was nearly cut off from the domestic and international markets due to poor infrastructure.

 

Prof. Lin and his colleagues advised riding on some important trends, including the relocation of labor-intensive industries from eastern China and the improvement in infrastructure thanks to Xinjiang’s status as a hub on the Belt and Road initiative. In 2015, many of Xinjiang’s middle and high school graduates couldn’t find jobs in cities and had to return to their villages. Prof. Lin and his colleagues proposed establishing industrial parks and attract labor-intensive factories to move in, with the goal of creating 100,000 manufacturing jobs and even more service ones. With the efforts of local officials and people, impressive results have been achieved.

 

Prof. Lin also noticed that Hotan Prefecture is embracing a new development opportunity as its various mines have drawn in investors. He stressed the importance of putting part of the resource earnings into savings for rainy days, as well as using resource-related tax incomes to support the development of non-resource industries so that more employment will be generated.

 

As for labor-intensive industries, he said that some bellwether enterprises should be established and the overall goal is for the industries to develop into clusters. In this way, local entrepreneurship will be stimulated and efficiency and productivity gains will be achieved.

 

Prof. Lin also shared ideas for developing local agriculture and providing government-funded housing to mid- and low-income groups. The latter, inspired by the Singapore scheme, is a way to explore new models for common prosperity.