The city of Zibo is actually quite small and has been continuously affected by the issue of territorial encroachment brought about by the development of surrounding provincial capital cities. Many people say that Zibo is thriving because Shandong people are hospitable. However, if we look at it from another perspective, there are so many cities in Shandong, and even the neighboring city of Jinan is not thriving, only Zibo is. So, we need to go back to one phrase: serving the people.
In many places, serving the people is just a slogan and has not been put into practice. They don't know what it means to serve the people. They think that building a civilized city and having urban management supervise the night market economy, hindering its development, is serving the people. As a result, there is strong resentment among the people in some places, and some people have no way to seek justice. Serving the people has become an empty slogan for those in power, and in reality, they govern with incompetence and ignorance. The governments of some second to fourth-tier cities may even hire so-called experts from universities to guide the city's development. As a result, many cities rely solely on real estate for economic development and have no solution for innovation. This is what people often refer to as being single-minded. Therefore, in recent years, China's real estate prices have skyrocketed, and it is now difficult to put on the brakes. Even if they dare to put on the brakes, they cannot stop. If they stop, those who have bought houses will suffer losses, and those who have not bought houses will not buy. In short, regardless of whether they stop or not, many people will not buy. This is the paradoxical economy.
Zibo, on the other hand, does not have heavy industry or high technology, but it is thriving because it puts people first and serves the people. Officials do not have an air of authority, and law enforcement officers and the people are on the same page. Therefore, those who are close to the people gain their support, while those who lose the support of the people are definitely tyrannical. Many netizens have expressed their grievances that they have been holding in for many years. The Zibo government has gained the support of the people, and the ordinary people are willing to work with the government to build the city. Why are the ordinary people willing to do so? Because it is beneficial to them. The ordinary people simply want to live a stable and happy life, without great desires, because they understand their own capabilities. So, this recent success is not just about the popularity of barbecue itself, but rather the sense of closeness and warmth that the government has brought to the people. The ordinary people will always cooperate spontaneously and work from the bottom up to build a civilized city.
Recently, some places have started to imitate Zibo and promote night market economy and street stall economy. However, imitating the surface is not the key, but rather learning the essence in order to achieve the ultimate effect.
In China, in order to achieve common prosperity, there are still many things that need to be adjusted, such as financial chaos, banking chaos, and online financial chaos. Without rectifying these issues, dreaming of common prosperity is just wishful thinking. The fundamental financial problems have burdened 900-900 million out of the 1.4 billion people in China. If this group of people is not resolved, they may eventually fall back into poverty. Moreover, in China's mainland, after so many years of poverty alleviation, what has been alleviated is not poverty, but rather the sale of houses, allowing rural people to buy houses in the city. The officials are very clear about this calculation because once a person enters the city, the city's consumption data increases. They have to buy vegetables, oil, rice, salt, etc. The minimum annual consumption for one person is several tens of thousands, even for impoverished households. Therefore, these false poverty alleviation efforts will ultimately make these rural migrants even poorer.
To alleviate poverty, the first thing to solve is the industrial economy, such as rural agricultural economy and the development of green industries in rural areas. Solve the income problem of farmers. Once these problems are solved, then we can address the issue of resettlement for farmers in rural areas, such as renovating rural houses or constructing collective houses in rural areas. Instead of promoting urbanization and development in a big leap, which is harmful and unbeneficial in the long run. Therefore, the current leaders in China have short-sighted vision and only care about their own political achievements.
Therefore, the development of Zibo hopes to be studied and reflected upon by the entire society and its leaders.