Rural input, government function, and new countryside construction performance in P.R. China

This paper tries to analyze the insufficiencies of the new countryside construction process and explore the advancing direction through assessing the rural input level, the rural government function as well as the new countryside construction performance of the 27 provinces (areas) of China in 2006. With the principal component analysis method, it evaluates the rural input level, rural government function and the new countryside construction performance of the 27 provinces (areas) of China objectively and synthetically. With the correlation analysis method, it studies the correlation among the above three aspects. With the cluster analysis method, it compares the status of those areas on the three aspects. According to the study, the following findings and conclusions are made: a) generally, the new countryside construction performances among different areas are equally developed, while middle provinces have done a little better than their counterparts of eastern and western China. b) There is a time lag of the payoff or output of the rural input, and the input level (here refers to the relative level) of Western China is higher than that of Eastern and Middle China. c) The government function in New Countryside Construction differentiates from area to area, and its stagnancy is rather evident. The government function of Middle areas is much more evident and efficient, while its western counterpart is relatively feeble. d) The rural input and the exertion of government function are complementary and restrictive to each other.