A two-day brainstorming session on trends and challenges in "urban-rural integration" in Haikou left me with more questions than answers.

To me, the catch-phrase means bridging the economic divide between cities and villages, and urban residents and farmers. In fact, many scholars identify it as the key to a new round of rural reforms in the coming 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). The goal of such integration is to ensure that China takes another step toward modernization.

Modernization has been a key development goal ever since New China was founded nearly 61 years ago. For the founding fathers of the People's Republic, it constituted industrialization, mechanization of agriculture, military modernization and advancement in science and technology that was on par with international developments.

For common people, what modernization means has changed with the times. In the early days of New China, living in a multi-storied apartment building with electricity and telephone was many a person's dream of a modern life. Not surprisingly, even 12 years ago, landlines only linked 10 percent of the country.

These days, however, industrialization has gained momentum, with China becoming the largest manufacturer and almost the second largest economy in the world. As a result, the definition of modernization has expanded to include per capita share of the GDP, the level of urbanization, among others.

After all, every leading economy in the world has gone through a period of urbanization. Today, people engaged in agriculture in the US account for only 3 percent of its population. In Japan, only 5 percent of the people are engaged in farming.

According to Peng Sen, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, if some 10 million people are added to the urban population every year between 2011 and 2015, and if these new urban residents consume as much as the current urban average, these people alone could help increase China's total domestic consumption by 100 billion yuan.

Every new urban resident can generate investment of around 100,000 yuan in fixed assets, Peng says. Following from this calculation, the incremental urban population could generate nearly a trillion yuan in fixed assets investment over the next five years.

No wonder urbanization seems to top the agenda of many local governments in China. Pilot projects to "urbanize" rural villages are on in full swing. Under these projects, many farmers have moved into multi-storied, high-rise apartments, condominiums or even stand-alone houses, with electricity, telephone lines, gas and often running water fully-installed.

Officials and scholars at the forum, however, revealed that the "urbanization" drive has at the same time created a lot of problems. Many farmers, who have lost their land due to the local governments grabbing their collective land for urban expansion or "swapping" their land-use rights for such schemes as a "new countryside", have not been given the same health, social safety and pension benefits as their city cousins.

Moreover, many have become angry after witnessing their land value rising, yet not receiving a single penny as additional payback.

No longer able to make full use of their farming skills, they find it difficult to get a decent job in cities.

Meanwhile, they see their living expenses rising, as they no longer have their own little patch of farmland to grow vegetables and raise livestock to supplement their own kitchens.

Above all, many villages with centuries-old histories are fast disappearing, giving way to the sprawling urban centers. Often, farmers are the victims of this process, not the beneficiaries.

Clearly, there are no simple solutions to all these problems. Giving the farmers full health, educational and other social benefits seems fair, but city dwellers fear it will tax the cities' resources and ultimately detract from their own welfare.

We must work hard to find solutions to the problems arising from urbanization.

Modernization is a worthy goal, but not if it means sacrificing our rural heritage, the basis of Chinese culture and society, which has continued without disruption for more than 5,000 years.

The author is a senior editor at China Daily. She can be reached at lixing@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 08/13/2010 page9)