Since 17 may 2016, when general secretary xi jinping delivered a major speech at a symposium on the work of philosophy in the social sciences, china's agro-economics community has been usefully exploring the construction of an autonomous knowledge system for the disciplines of agro-forestry economic management. The institute of rural development of the chinese academy of social sciences has continued its work on the construction of an autonomous knowledge system for rural development, publishing educational materials on rural economics, the chinese yearbook of rural development sciences, etc. In fact, there are rural areas in the chinese undergraduate education system; in the postgraduate education system, rural development is one of the six disciplines in the field of agro-forestry economic management。
In the process of modernizing agriculture and rural areas in china, the basic availability of modern living conditions in rural areas is an important objective for the overall revitalization of rural areas towards 2035. To that end, china is carrying out a rich number of innovative practices in the areas of rural re-industrialization, the construction of new rural infrastructure and rural social governance. There is an urgent need to interpret scientifically the unique practical innovations of rural development in china. As secretary-general xi has pointed out, “the present-day china is undergoing the most extensive and profound social changes in our history, as well as the most ambitious and unique practical innovations in human history”. In this context, building an autonomous knowledge system for rural development in china is a necessary option。
I. Core elements for building an autonomous knowledge system for rural development in china
The secretary-general of xi stated: “the country's philosophy and social sciences can develop their own characteristics and advantages only if they take our country as a practical starting point for research and present a theoretical perspective that is fundamental and original, and build a system of disciplines, academic systems and linguistic systems of their own. This important assertion essentially reveals the core building blocks of an autonomous knowledge system and its underlying operating logic. In particular, the discipline system, the academic system and the speech system constitute the “three pillars” of an autonomous knowledge system. The system of disciplines answers the question “how knowledge is organized”, covering the layout of the disciplines, the structure of the disciplines and the structure of the classification, determining the boundaries and questions of the subject, and is the basis for the construction of an autonomous knowledge system. The academic system answers the question “how knowledge is produced”, focusing on conceptual innovation, theoretical generation and methodological application, which is a key hub for linking discipline systems to the linguistic systems and an intrinsic core that underpins their continued operation. Language systems answer the question “how knowledge is expressed and disseminated” and transform academic results into communicationable and communicative patterns of thought, through conceptual expressions, theoretical narratives and academic expressions, with a direct impact on the social impact and international visibility of the theoretical results (schizophrenia, 2019)。
The subject is a branch of science. If rural development science becomes a discipline, it is necessary to clarify the discipline system and the boundaries between rural development science and agro-forestry economic management and economics. Kanbur (2024), in the end of development economics, questioned: “is there a need for development economics to become more homogeneous with the general economics approach?” if chinese rural development science were to be considered as an independent academic system, it would be necessary to discuss the methodological aspects of rural development to respond to the question of how knowledge is produced. In the context of agricultural or development economics discourse, greater attention was paid to capital accumulation and technological advances in rural infrastructure development. New rural infrastructure, such as rural digital infrastructure, new energy recharge poles, and new topics such as social structural changes in the context of rural population ageing, agricultural innovation and development of new agricultural quality productivity, community participation in grass-roots governance, have not yet been systematized. A systematic study of the integration of these new issues into the discourse of rural development can go beyond previous discussions focusing solely on the income of rural residents, after all, the ultimate goal of rural development is to achieve human development. This is the key to building a rural development discourse。
It is worth noting that china has developed a series of original, systematic and practical experiences of governance in the process of modernization, continuing to break the existing hypothetical and logical boundaries of western theory. The experience gained in interpreting indigenous practice through western concepts, while highly rich, is difficult to translate into subjective theoretical results. The autonomous knowledge system is not a single language system. The essence of the language system is its effective implementation through the autonomous extraction of concepts, the construction of narratives, and international dissemination. The theoretical results, scientific ideas and practical experience of rural development in china have been externalized and disseminated. In this way, rural development science can truly “stand, spread and stay” in the international academic arena, contributing chinese wisdom and chinese programmes to global rural development。
On this basis, the education system, as a key mechanism for the stable transmission and continuous expansion of autonomous knowledge systems, constitutes an important element underpinning its functioning. The education system emphasizes how knowledge is systematically transmitted and shaped through curricula, development models and teaching processes. It is an institutionalized channel for the transformation of the discipline, academic and linguistic systems into talent development and the academic community. Through the education system, theoretical results, research paradigms and value orientations in autonomous knowledge systems are integrated into the teaching chain, linking “knowledge production” to “knowledge internalization”。
Ii. Key pathways for building an autonomous knowledge system for rural development in china
In the face of the many challenges of building an autonomous knowledge system for rural development in china, the following priorities should be pursued。
First, the reformulation of the evaluation system should be advanced. The misalignment and homogenization of the evaluation system is a core bottleneck to be breached in the development of disciplines. The value of “soft results” in rural development, such as policy advice, technology conversion and industrial planning, is seriously underestimated by over-quantitative, paper-oriented evaluation. This misalignment not only weakens the innovation of the discipline, but also diverts it from the fundamental requirement of “writing papers on the land of the homeland”. The evaluation system needs to be reconfigured to include “soft results” such as policy advice, technology transformation and industrial planning in the evaluation context, to direct discipline resources towards national strategic needs and to achieve value-driven discipline innovation。
Second, the discipline system needs to undergo a transition from “scientific fragmentation” to “cross-cutting integration” and from “western paradigm dependence” to “local problem orientation”. On the one hand, rural development science needs to break the boundaries of traditional disciplines and integrate actively with sociology, public administration, ecology, geography and aesthetics. On the other hand, academic research must be based on modern chinese rural practice, refining emblematic concepts, such as “precision pro-poor” “and american villages”, and promoting innovation in the dominant disciplines through the “nomic revolution” and avoiding simple western theories to interpret china's complex rural development practices。
Professor, dean, school of economic management, chinese agricultural university. Rural discovery transferred from: china rural economy, no. 6 of 2026
