China's rural revitalization drive has transformed villages across the country, with many turning on a new look due to comprehensive progress made over the years.
The country lifted nearly 100 million people out of destitution, officially eliminating absolute poverty -- based on a national poverty line of 2,300 yuan per person per year at the 2010 price level -- at the end of 2020.
Five years on, a range of policy measures have been rolled out to maintain the long-term sustainability of this historical achievement with the efforts to revitalize rural areas.
The government has made heavy investments in formerly impoverished areas in the southwestern provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to improve transportation infrastructure, public services like clean water supply, education and public health services, and to strengthen environmental protection.
"The environment around our homes is much cleaner. Now more than 100,000 birds are coming to our Caohai Lake for wintering every year. See, even I bought a camera to take pictures of the birds at any moment. Our living standards are going higher and higher," said Wu Guangrong, a villager of Caohai Town in Weining County of Guizhou Province.
Yan Dongquan, director of the department of rural development promotion under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the government has set up a full mechanism for rural development.
"During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), we have established and improved rural development mechanisms, strengthened the management of task lists and project pools, making significant progress and remarkable results in the rural development initiative. We have made a successful start in building livable, business-friendly, harmonious and beautiful rural areas," said Yan.
In October, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a key meeting and adopted a economic and social development blueprint for the coming five years. The document emphasizes the need to accelerate agricultural and rural modernization and take solid steps to advance rural revitalization.
It also urges that policies aimed at strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, and enriching rural areas should yield more substantial outcomes.
Yan said in the future, the country will make continuous efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of rural construction and achieve solid progress in rural revitalization.
Rural revitalization drive transforms Chinese villages
