The past three decades have seen tremendous changes in the lives of Chinese farmers.

The central government also began subsidies to encourage farmers to grow grain.

1978 saw the initial land ownership reform. It drew on the experience of dozens of farmers' experiments with the land contracting system. The result was the Household Contract Responsibility System became national policy. Farmers were given 30-year contracts under which they could independently plan production, management and sales. This enabled the majority of farmers to have adequate food and clothing.

In 2006, tax reform put an end to the agriculture tax, a heavy burden weighing on farmers for thousands of years.

The central government also began subsidies to encourage farmers to grow grain. And other efforts, like reducing rural education fees in 2007, have helped promote the urbanization of the countryside.

And with the problem of food and clothing basically solved, rural reform turned to the deepening rural-urban divide.

A State Council report shows that the average rural income rose 9.5 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 1985. But it was accompanied by the biggest income gap since reform and opening up began 30 years ago.

During the same period, income for the average city dweller was three-and-a-third times more than for rural residents. The income disparity amounted to nearly 10 thousand yuan per year.

Many experts attribute the paradox to the dualistic structure which divided rural and urban production and resource mobility. The institution bound farmers to their land and deepened the rural-urban gap not only in income, but also in education, medical care and welfare.

In recent years, the government has expanded investment in agriculture and adopted measures to raise farmers' income by reducing taxes and providing subsidies.

In 2007, the central government initiated pilot reform in two rural experimental zones in Chongqing and Chengdu. The government explored ways to provide services in employment, education and social security equal to those available to urban dwellers.

But more action is needed to give farmers flexibility by making it easier to lease or transfer the land use rights. Experts say it would promote large-scale agri-business and accelerate the urbanization process, two big steps in China's rural reform.

(CCTV October 13, 2008)