Rural development is high on our socialist modernization agenda. Rural development initiatives aim to increase production, conserve and protect ecosystems, and improve the living environment.

I. Rural development planning

We will coordinate the planning and development of towns and villages in counties while considering all relevant factors, including land use, industrial development, development of residential areas, improvement of the living environment, ecological conservation, disaster prevention and reduction, and conservation of cultural heritage. We will design sound layout plans for villages in counties, develop villages of different categories according to different local conditions, regulate the comprehensive improvement of land in the whole region, protect traditional villages, ethnic villages, and rural styles and features, and strictly prohibit the willful removal and merger of villages to build large communities or large-scale demolition and construction against the wishes of farmers. We will improve the layout of rural living spaces, strictly preserve the spaces for agricultural production and rural ecological conservation, and delineate suitable, restrained, and forbidden areas for breeding industry. We will also encourage areas to draw up practical village plans, where conditions permit.

II. Upgrading infrastructure and public services in rural areas

We will drive the integrated development of urban and rural areas by taking counties as the basic units, and enhance counties' capacity to provide comprehensive services and townships' functions to serve farmers. We will improve the mechanism for unified planning, development, management, and protection of urban and rural infrastructure, promote the extension of municipal utilities to suburban villages and large-scale central towns, improve rural infrastructure relating to water, electricity, roads, gas, postal communications, radio and television, and logistics, as well as the quality of rural housing construction. We will promote the adoption of the same standards for basic public services and the same systems in urban and rural areas; increase the provision of services in education, healthcare, old-age care, culture, and other fields in rural areas; promote the exchange and job rotation of teachers and doctors in counties; and encourage non-governmental actors to launch charitable initiatives in rural areas. We will improve farmers' literacy in science, technology, and culture, and promote the revitalization of rural talents.

III. Better living environment in rural areas

We will work on redeveloping the rural living environment, and steadily resolve outstanding environmental issues such as the "villages surrounded by garbage" and dirty and odorous water bodies in rural areas. We will promote the on-site sorting and recycling of household waste and steadily advance household sewage treatment in rural areas, while focusing on seats of township governments and central villages. We will promote the toilet revolution in line with local conditions, boost comprehensive improvement of rural water systems, and organize in-depth village cleaning and greening activities to make public spaces, courtyards, and houses in villages, as well as their surrounding areas clean and tidy.

Excerpt from: Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan （2021-2025）for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035 of the People's Republic of China

Source：http://tppckte.org.cn/2021-08/04/content_77671903.html