China, Europe and the Netherlands: Opportunity Is Knocking at Our Doors

076 
  Apr. 2015
cial Department within the Agricultural Bank of China 
have greatly increased its ability to support agriculture. 
At the same time, new forms of agriculture organiza-
tions have grown rapidly since 2006. As of end-2014, 
these included 1171 newly-started village and township 
banks, with total assets of 727.9 billion RMB. These 
reforms have enabled greatly increased diversification 
in the rural financial institutions system, and improved 
rural financial supply.
In addition to the centrally-led reforms to rural cred-
it organizations, over the past decade, a number of local 
government and financial institutions have proactively 
sought to reform financial governance, innovate in 
financial products and services, and develop the rural 
financial environment, amongst others, gaining a wide 
range of experience and new methods in the process.
Admittedly, the rural financial reform process has 
not all been plain sailing, and there remain weaknesses 
in many areas. Learning from successful experience 
and analyzing weak areas will provide an invaluable 
reference for China’s further rural financial reforms.
With this in mind, The Boao Review, the official 
journal of the Boao Forum for Asia, asked me to lead 
the writing of a research report on the topic of “Review 
of a decade of Chinese rural financial reform, and pros-
pects for the future”, which will be published during 
the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2015. 
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ 
Institute of Finance and Banking and I immediately set 
in motion the necessary research work. 
I believe that the report showcases two salient fea-
tures:
The first is its powerful focus on fact. The report 
systematically reviews the development process, main 
achievements and remaining problems of this round of 
rural financial reform. Specifically, the report summa-
rizes a number of illustrative reforms and innovative 
methods which emerged during this round of rural 
financial reform, providing the report with a strong 
practical relevance and reference.
The second is its solid data foundation. Thanks to 
the concerted efforts and cooperation provided by 
associated bodies, the research team performed large-
scale questionnaire surveys on the effectiveness of Chi-
na’s rural financial reform in Hainan, Jiangsu, Shanxi 
and Zhejiang, and received more than 1000 completed 
questionnaires from agricultural businesses and farm-
ers. On the basis of the first-hand data obtained using 
this questionnaire, the report provides a detailed analy-
sis both of the effectiveness of this round of rural finan-
cial reform, and any remaining issues. This provides 
us with a better understanding, both in qualitative and 
quantitative terms, of the efficiency of the last decade 
of rural financial reform, as well as the future direction 
to be taken. This feature also differentiates this report 
from previous research.
This article is also the preface to the 
Rural Financial Development Report 2015, 
with the title provided by the editor.
Development
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Apr. 2015 
  077 
WWW.BOAOREVIEW.COM
04/2015
C U L T U R E
04/2015
Handic
rafts Along the
 Mekong
 
River Basin 
Burmese Lacquer W
are and Puppets
Laos Sa Paper and Brocade
Cambodia’
s Sandstone Sculptures
Thai Pra Kruang
Vietnamese W
ooden Carvings
By Nyainqên
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078 
  Apr. 2015
Photo Story
A famous puppetry performance in the northern Myanmar city of Mandalay
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Apr. 2015 
  079 
WWW.BOAOREVIEW.COM
O
n a brown, sun-baked ridge in the plateaus of Qinghai and 
Tibet, dazzled by the brilliant light reflected off a white pa-
goda, my good friend Bazan clutched a fabulous Tsa Tsa 
(a miniature molded clay figure), his eyes full of care and concern: 
“This is a  handmade Tibetan treasure, I hope it will travel with you, 
and always bless you with peace and happiness.”
In Saigon, there is a bustling night market in front of the 
hotel where I’m staying, and its warm, welcoming lights outline 
the lanky form of my local friend Hongkuang. He hands me a 
wooden puppet with pigtails, its hands bearing a fan and bells, 
and uses his halting but heartfelt English to exhort me: “Don’t 
forget our water puppet shows, and don’t forget me. I hope this 
little wooden master of ceremonies will bring you happiness!”
The Tibetan plateau and Saigon – two so apparently dispa-
rate locations, one in China’s far west, the other on the south-
ern tip of Vietnam, but both bound together, at opposite ends 
of a single river. From its source at Yushu, in Qinghai province, 
the Zhaqu flows to Chamdo in Tibet, where it merges with the 
Ongqu River to form the Lancang river. The river then heads 
south across China’s border into Yunnan, where it becomes 
the Mekong River, flowing through the spectacular vistas of 
a number of Southeast Asian nations before completing its 
4880-kilometer journey in Saigon, Vietnam, and the em-
brace of the open sea.
The Mekong proper is about 2,800 km in length, and flows 
through five countries—Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos 
and Vietnam—as well as a variety of ethnic and regional cul-
tures, which have expanded and developed with the passage of 
the river. My obsession with arts and crafts, driven by the care 
and concern lavished on me in the Qinghai-Tibet highlands, has 
taken me along the length of the Mekong over a period of ten 
years, from its source until it reaches into the sea, looking along 
the way for treasures, brought to life by time and a pair of hu-
man hands. Individually, they may merely reflect the artisan’s 
skills, aesthetic and heritage, but as a whole, they embody the 
developments and change in the region’s history, culture, art 
and folklore.
Handicrafts Along the 
Mekong River Basin 
By Nyainqên
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