Relocation of Poor Populations from Inhospitable Areas

Housing	Ÿ Around 35,000 concentrated resettlement areas comprising over 2.66 million units of housing were established, covering 210 million square meters, with a per capita living area of 20.8 square meters.
Support Facilities	Ÿ We built, renovated, or enlarged more than 6,100 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens, over 12,000 hospitals and community health centers, over 3,400 elderly care facilities, and over 40,000 cultural activity venues.
Employment	Ÿ 92% of workers relocated from inhospitable areas secured new employment. Ÿ At least one member in every relocated family with the capacity to work secured a job.
Urban and Rural Resettlement	Ÿ We settled more than 5 million people in urban resettlement areas, and the percentage of people settled in urban areas exceeded 90% in some provinces in the southwest. Ÿ We settled 4.6 million people in rural resettlement areas, and a number of concentrated resettlement areas that have played an exemplary role in promoting rural revitalization emerged across the country.

2) We achieved the current-stage objectives for pollution prevention and control.

We made steady progress in promoting energy conservation and emissions reduction, and saw a continued decline in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP. The share of non-fossil fuels in the total energy consumption reached 15.9%.

We pushed ahead with the campaign to keep our skies blue, our waters clear, and our land pollution-free. We continued to comprehensively address air pollution in key areas during autumn and winter, launched initiatives to prevent and control ozone (O₃) pollution in summer, and moved forward with the adoption of clean energy sources for winter heating in northern China in an active yet prudent manner. We steadily advanced upgrading in the steel industry in order to achieve ultra-low emissions. We curbed pollution caused by diesel trucks, and continued to bring about a shift in freight transportation from highways to railways and waterways. As a result of these efforts, air quality of cities at and above the prefectural level was good or excellent for 87% of the year.

We accelerated work to improve the quality of key water basins of major rivers and lakes, including the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, along with water quality in key sea areas such as the Bohai Sea. We stepped up protection of drinking water sources and the treatment of black, malodorous water bodies in urban areas. The proportion of surface water with a quality rating of Grade III or higher stood at 83.4% while the proportion of that lower than Grade V dropped to 0.6%. As the nationwide water conservation campaign unfolded, water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP is estimated to have fallen by 1.9%.

  We worked to ensure that cropland and other plots of land that have been polluted are utilized in a safe manner. We continued to control pollution in agriculture and rural areas and carried out comprehensive trials for building waste-free cities. We made solid progress in recycling sewage, addressing plastic pollution, and disposing of medical waste. We stepped up the building of resource recycling centers and centers for the comprehensive use of massive solid waste, and essentially achieved the goal of zero solid waste imports. We accelerated the establishment of a modern environmental governance system, and ensured that the emissions permit system covers all fixed pollution sources in the country.

  We took strong measures to develop national ecological conservation pilot zones. We strengthened the protection and restoration of ecosystems, moved forward with large-scale afforestation, and stepped up environmental protection in the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang river sources, the Qilian Mountains area, and other key areas through comprehensive measures. We enhanced our ability to protect and manage major ecosystems, including the prevention and fighting of forest and grassland fires and the conservation of wetlands. We intensified oversight of ecological conservation red lines. We developed green industry demonstration centers and promoted advanced green technologies.

  As an important participant and a leading nation in global climate governance, we proactively responded to climate change and raised the targets for the intended nationally determined contribution. We allocated quotas for trading carbon emission rights for the first compliance cycle of the national market.

3) We achieved excellent results in forestalling and defusing major risks.

We took prudent steps to defuse local government debt risks, continued to push forward structural deleveraging, and resolutely checked increases in hidden local government debt.

We promptly dealt with a number of major financial risks. All types of high-risk financial institutions were managed in an orderly manner. Shadow banking risks were kept in check, targeted efforts to defuse particular risks proved effective, and steps were taken to effectively prevent and control risks related to internet finance. We gradually developed diverse mechanisms for handling bond defaults, and put in place a framework for the coordinated regulation of systemically important financial institutions, financial holding companies, and financial infrastructures. Initial progress was achieved in efforts to forestall and defuse major financial risks, and the operations of the financial market were stable and orderly.

We ensured the stable supply of important materials, key spare parts, core components, and key software, thus maintaining the stability of the industrial and supply chains.

4. We promoted innovation-driven development, and further boosted China’s strengths in science and technology.

We intensified innovation, and consolidated its core role in China’s modernization drive. Nationwide spending on R&D reached 2.4% of GDP, and the contribution made by advances in science and technology is estimated to account for 60.2% of economic growth.

1) China’s innovation capacity was enhanced.

We saw a constant stream of significant scientific and technological advances throughout the year. The successful completion of the Chang’e-5 mission marked China’s first extra-terrestrial sample collection. We saw the successful launch of the Tianwen-1 probe—China’s first mission to Mars. The Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) officially began operation, and the Beidou-3 global navigation satellite system officially became operational. The quantum computer prototype Jiuzhang was successfully developed, and the deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe descended to a depth of more than 10,000 meters.

  We opened a number of national laboratories, accelerated the deployment and implementation of major projects for the Sci-Tech Innovation 2030 Agenda involving next-generation artificial intelligence (AI), quantum communications and computing, and brain science and brain-inspired research, and fully participated in international Big Science programs such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project.

  We accelerated the development of innovation platforms. We advanced the establishment of a number of high-level national industrial innovation centers, engineering research centers, technology innovation centers, manufacturing innovation centers, and enterprise technology centers in strategically important fields such as next-generation information technology, biomedicine, and new energy. We accelerated the construction of national large research infrastructures such as the High Energy Photon Source, the Hard X-Ray Free-Electron Laser, and the China Environment for Network Innovations.

2) We strove to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

We implemented the open competition mechanism for selecting the best candidates to lead research projects, and actively explored and improved a new system for mobilizing the nation to make technological breakthroughs under the socialist market economy. We worked faster to deal with technological bottlenecks.We strengthened the leading role played by enterprises in innovation, encouraged enterprises to increase spending on R&D, and supported enterprises in carrying out R&D in technology together with research institutes and upstream and downstream enterprises, while we made constant innovations in support mechanisms.

3) New industries and new forms of business developed despite challenges.

We undertook projects to develop China’s strategic emerging industry clusters, drove forward the construction of civil-space infrastructure, steadily advanced the construction of new types of infrastructure including 5G, data centers, and the industrial internet, and promoted the orderly development of the integrated circuit industry.

  We promoted industrial upgrading through the utilization of digital and smart technologies, pressed ahead with the building of national pilot zones for the innovative development of the digital economy, and carried out the digital transformation partnership campaign, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) digitalization campaign, and the initiatives for cultivating new forms of business in the digital economy, involving more micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in cloud-based big data and AI initiatives. We continued the digitalization of traditional industries and put more effort into fighting poverty through the promotion of e-commerce.

4) We accelerated the development of innovation hubs in key areas.

We achieved early successes in developing Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into international centers for science and technology innovation, made a great leap in the construction of comprehensive national science centers, and continued the development of industrial innovation hubs. We accelerated the development of national innovation demonstration zones and national new- and high-tech industry development parks, thereby further improving the coordinated distribution of productive and innovative forces.

5) We continued to establish a new environment for innovation, business startups, and creativity.

We applied the third batch of 20 practices developed in pilot reforms for making innovations across the board. We held the 2020 National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week both online and offline, and made plans for building a third group of innovation and business startup demonstration centers. We carried out demonstration programs in the social services sector for job creation via business startups. We further implemented the policy of guaranteeing loans for business startups. In 2020, we saw an average net increase of 41,000 market entities per day, of which 13,000 were enterprises.

5. We firmly pursued the strategy of expanding domestic demand, and facilitated the faster development of a strong domestic market.

We worked hard to maintain dynamic circulation in order to ensure that market supply meets demand. We tapped into and unlocked the demand potential of the domestic market, and steadily stimulated domestic demand as a driver of economic growth.

1) Consumption played a more fundamental role.

We supported the leading role of new forms and models of business in accelerating the development of new types of consumption. We worked faster to develop a number of cities into international consumption centers. We oversaw the careful implementation of pilot and demonstration schemes to boost the consumption of information goods and services and spending in the cultural and tourism sectors. We improved the quality and expanded the scale of consumption in elderly care and childcare services, and moved forward with comprehensive demonstrations for introducing e-commerce into rural areas.

We both stabilized and expanded the purchase of automobiles and spending on other big-ticket items. We boosted consumption in the catering sector, and further unleashed the consumption potential of rural areas. We stepped up the building of a recycling system for old home appliances to boost purchases of new home appliances. In 2020, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 39.2 trillion yuan, and total online retail sales nationwide reached 11.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.9%. Sales of goods online increased by 14.8% and accounted for 24.9% of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

2) Greater play was given to the key role of investment.

We issued the guidelines on promoting high-quality infrastructure development and the guidelines on accelerating the development of intra-city (suburban) railways for metropolitan areas. We invested more in new infrastructure and new urbanization initiatives and major projects, and began the construction of a number of major projects including the Chengdu-Lhasa Railway.

We sped up releasing the central budgetary investment plan for local governments and improved the structure of investment at pace, pooling more resources to accomplish major, challenging, and urgent national goals. We prioritized public health and other weak areas exposed during the Covid-19 response while emphasizing the development of railways, highways, waterways, airports, and major water conservancy projects, as well as key science, technology, and energy infrastructure. We also gave precedence to the renovation of old residential communities in cities.

We expanded the usage scope for local government special bonds in order to support the construction of major national strategic projects. We successfully implemented the long-term mechanism for opening projects to private capital, and welcomed private investment in major projects. We also launched real estate investment trusts (REITs) trials for infrastructure in order to release the value of idle assets. We deepened reform of the investment approval system, actively explored an investment project commitment system, and made steady progress on ensuring that multiple approval procedures can be initiated, reviewed, and completed simultaneously. The fixed-asset investment for the year (excluding investment by rural households) rose by 2.9%, thus significantly contributing to economic recovery and growth.