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JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY  2021, Vol. 51 Issue (1): 36-50    DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.CN.33-6000/C.2020.06.083
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Human Capital Investment in Rural China: Policy Review and Outlook Based on Content Analysis of Central Document No. 1
Li Lili, Yu Jian, Zhang Zhonggen
China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

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Abstract  The key to realizing rural revitalization is to revitalize talents, which shows that investing in rural human capital is an important responsibility of the government. However, there is no domestic literature that systematically reviews the rural human capital investment policies. In addition, the existing studies on the guidance and recommendations for the government to promote rural human capital investment are not systematic, and they also lack comprehensive consideration of the staged background and the latest situation. In order to bridge these gaps in the literature, this study explores the evolution trends and major adjustments of China’s rural human capital investment policies, based on the “Central Document No.1” from 2004 to 2020, and proposes possible future policy trends, which will help enrich and expand research in this field from the perspective of policy analysis, and provide a reference for the government to make policy formulations. Specifically, our study innovatively uses the policy content analysis method that can simultaneously reflect policy breadth, policy intensity, and policy adjustments, conducting the analysis in terms of the number of policy items, the number of keywords, the content of keywords, the intensity of policy implementation, and financial support.Given the characteristics of rural China, the study constructs an analytical framework based on the modern human capital theory to carry out policy researches on rural human capital investment in the Central Document No.1. The basic way for the government to improve human capital in rural areas can be summarized in five aspects: medical and health care, formal education, vocational skills training, the return of migrants, and the introduction of professionals. In terms of time, the policy of “Agriculture, Rural areas, and Farmers” has undergone a phased transition from the construction of a new socialist countryside to a rural revitalization strategy over the past ten years. In view of this, the study divides the period of 2004-2020 into two periods, 2004-2012 and 2013-2020, as marked out by the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and compares the phased changes in the rural human capital investment policies.The study finds that the central government investment in rural human capital is generally increasing, and the policy content is gradually systematized, forming a development trend that promotes a balanced urban and rural development from top to bottom, and combines rural cultivation of internal talents with the introduction of external talents. In addition, this policy evolution can accurately reflect the development trends of human capital investment in rural China, and provide a correct ideological guidance and path reference for the development of rural human capital investment practices. However, the corresponding financial support investment has shown a downward trend. We also found that the key policy adjustments include strengthening the construction of rural medical talents, promoting urban and rural coordination of social medical insurance, comprehensively improving rural compulsory education, in-depth development of farmers’ vocational skills training, supporting migrant workers returning to their hometowns to start businesses, and accelerating the establishment of a rural talents introduction mechanism. In view of the above, we believe that China’s future rural human capital investment policies should focus on these aspects, including comprehensively promoting the integration of urban and rural residents’ medical insurance systems, accelerating the integration of urban and rural education, using information technology to enhance rural human capital, improving rural entrepreneurship and innovation support service systems, establishing a long-term mechanism for the introduction of rural talents, and strengthening the protection of rural human capital investment. Thus, the top-level design of rural human capital investment policies can meet the needs of current and future rural revitalization strategies.
Key wordsrural China      rural human capital      Central Document No.1      policy evolution      content analysis method     
Received: 08 June 2020     
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Li Lili
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Cite this article:   
Li Lili,Yu Jian,Zhang Zhonggen. Human Capital Investment in Rural China: Policy Review and Outlook Based on Content Analysis of Central Document No. 1[J]. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2021, 51(1): 36-50.
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https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.CN.33-6000/C.2020.06.083     OR     https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/Y2021/V51/I1/36
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