Research On Social Development In Xinjiang Oasis From The Perspective Of Poverty Control

Southern Xinjiang is located south of the Tianshan Mountains,north of the Kunlun Mountains,and east of the Pamir Plateau.Rivers originating from the Tianshan,Pamir Plateau,and Kunlun Mountains pass through the mountains and form a distribution of oases on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert.Zep County,located at the intersection of two rivers in the southwest of the southern Xinjiang oasis,belongs to a temperate continental climate.The soil contains a large amount of sand,and the water is dry,but the river can ensure basic irrigation.Therefore,the local agricultural economy has two important characteristics: one is a single production mode under the background of a small-scale peasant economy,and the other is an ecological background located in an oasis and arid area.The single mode of production means that the local oasis society heavily relies on agriculture and animal husbandry and is confined to small-scale planting and breeding,which leads to the long-term plight of a single source of income.The ecological background of the oasis arid zone refers to the fact that under natural conditions of drought,less rain,more people,and less land,economic development is always confined within a piece of oasis region,resulting in a closed state where the outside cannot connect and integrate into the economic block of the inland region,and the inside cannot integrate to establish the economic network of the oasis interval.The two basic characteristics of the oasis agricultural economy in Zep County are representative and typical of Southern Xinjiang.This paper takes Zep County,an oasis in southern Xinjiang,as a social perspective unit for analysis.Using first-hand data collected through field investigation methods such as ethnoanthropological participation observation and in-depth interviews,this paper presents the picture that presents its economic and social transformation and reveals the laws and logic behind it.Based on the theory of social transformation,the theory of development anthropology,and Marxist policy theory,this study focuses on the two major aspects of the modernization development of Zep Oasis under the background of targeted poverty alleviation,namely economic development and social reconstruction.The main focus of this study is on the process of agricultural economic transformation in Zep County.The transformation of rural society in Zep is mainly reflected at the micro-level in the modernization process,which is centered on the transfer of rural surplus labor force population,and in the change of the relationship between farmers and land.This change of land use constitutes the basis for the profound changes in rural society in Zep.The development of modern economy such as new business entities has loosened the relationship between farmers and land.With the deepening of rural marketization and under the guidance of the national targeted poverty alleviation policy,Zep rural has achieved a transition from a survival-oriented economy to a profit-oriented economy,through agricultural industrialization,diversified employment of farmers,the rapid flow of commodities,and other changes.Another aspect examined in this study is the process of social restructuring in Zep.Under the encouragement of the national targeted poverty alleviation policy,through top-down policy guidance and bottom-up cultural consciousness,the social structure and form of Zep society have been transformed into a new state.The rural outlook,social structure,and people’s behavior patterns,lifestyles,and value systems have undergone corresponding changes in the economic and social transformation.Compared with the economic and social transformation,the transformation of social organization structure is a weak link in the transformation,which is highlighted in the difficulty of connecting with modernization.The transformations of concepts have not been fully realized.It is found that the transition from a traditional agricultural economy to a market economy in Zep represents a shift from a subsistence-based to a development-oriented economy.The accompanying social restructuring is a transition from a mutually integrated construction structure to a mutually integrated generative structure,which this paper refers to as the Zep experience.’This model is the result of the agricultural and social transformation driven by the national targeted poverty alleviation policy,and it connects the oasis society with the larger information society outside.The success of the Zep experience is reflected in three main aspects.First,it leverages the power of the national targeted poverty alleviation policy to mobilize dynamic factors of social transformation,optimize resource allocation,and achieve optimal resource allocation at a larger scale.Second,it creates a non-agricultural economic development model that allows people to stay in their hometowns while pursuing economic opportunities beyond traditional rural society.Finally,Zep’s social transformation exhibits a unique phenomenon of cross-emergence,shifting between traditional and modern,and modern and traditional.The Zep experience still requires further strengthening,as the middle and high-end market share of agricultural products remains low.Another long-term problem is the interest linkage mechanism of joint development between emerging economic entities and poor villages and households.Once surplus agricultural labor force achieves non-agricultural employment,the issue of employment stability arises.Moreover,village and committee cadres rely heavily on visiting Hui-ju task forces for their work,which needs to be addressed.Finally,Zep needs to focus on challenges such as the implementation of the toilet revolution and farmers’ adaptation in its future development.Zep experience is a rural development strategy,which represents the oasis of southern Xinjiang’s exploration of rural social development,and Outlines a picture of the oasis of southern Xinjiang’s new countryside.Therefore,the significance of this study is to provide local experience for the study of oasis rural revitalization and new rural construction in southern Xinjiang.At the same time,it provides some basis for the improvement of the theory of social transformation of spatial difference in China and the interpretation of the practice of development intervention in the theory of development anthropology.