By Liu Jingsong (刘金松)
Nation, page 10
Issue No. 554, Jan 30, 2012
Translated by Ma Zheng
Original Article: [Chinese]

This article is part of a special feature published in the run-up to the "two sessions," the EO looked at the challenges facing six of China's provincial party bosses. We have picked three of these provinces – Guangdong, Henan and Sichuan – to show the range of issues that China's politicians face in different parts of the country. To view the other two articles, click here.

The outline for the Central Plains Economic Region was approved early this year at Henan's annual meeting of lawmakers, the province's "two sessions," and the plan, which now has the status of a national strategy, will be put into operation this year.
 
Provincial party secretary Lu Zhangong has been a major force behind the plan, but his wish to promote a "new type of urbanization, industrialization and agricultural modernization" has been complicated by recent changes in the domestic and international economy.

The party boss wants to raise his province's urbanization rate to 50 percent over the next year, which means moving 2 million people off the land and into the towns and cities each year.

Henan, which has a population of 100 million, is one of China's main farming regions, producing a quarter of the country's wheat and a tenth of its grain.
 
Lu Zhangong is under pressure to raise farmers' income at the same time as guaranteeing grain production and his task is made more difficult by a shortage of land.

The province's urbanization and industrialization target requires it to convert almost 100,000 areas of agricultural land, which is more than double the area that the central government has approved.

In response, Lu is making full use of the State Council's support for the Central Plains Economic Region project, which gives provinces leeway with land allowances if they are developing towns and cities to accommodate an expanding population. Even so, if there's any missteps in Henan's handling of the land use issue, Lu Zhangong political career may suffer.