China moves to rural vitalization with focus on grassroots governance

Rural vitalization is on top of China's political agenda since the country has declared a complete victory in its fight against absolute poverty.

The idea was also highlighted during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Sunday. He visited Maozhushan Village and Caiwan Town to inspect work on rural vitalization, grassroots governance and ecological protection.

Rural vitalization

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits a vineyard in Maozhushan Village, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2021. /Xinhua

In Maozhushan Village, President Xi visited a vineyard and learned about how the village, with the help of the grape industry, managed to get rid of poverty and march toward prosperity under the country's policy of targeted poverty alleviation.

The successful transition of the village is representative of China, which, through eight years of efforts, eradicated absolute poverty and now shifts its focus to rural vitalization.

Listed as the top priority of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP), rural vitalization is regarded as an effective measure to consolidate poverty alleviation achievements and pursue common prosperity while building a modern socialist country. While for villagers, rural vitalization means higher income, better facilities and improved living conditions.

During his visit, Xi put his focus on the grassroots governance in the village. He urged officials to enhance governance at the grass-root level to improve the efficiency of policy implementation and bring tangible benefits to the rural population.

Ecological protection

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the Lijiang River, April 25, 2021. /Xinhua

Ecological protection is another major area that Xi has been focusing on since his last visit to Guangxi in 2017.

Four years later, Xi paid a visit to the Lijiang River on Sunday afternoon to check efforts of ecological conservation of the river.

Xi took a boat to inspect the ecological conditions. He highlighted comprehensive governance of the river and urged officials to protect the ecological environment and avoid the old path of developing economy at the cost of the environment.

Hailed as one of the most beautiful rivers on Earth, the Lijiang River stretches more than 400 kilometers through scenic karst mountains, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

During his inspection tour of Caiwan Town in Quanzhou County, Guilin City, Xi also visited a memorial park dedicated to the Battle of the Xiangjiang River during the Long March in the 1930s, and laid a flower wreath to pay homage to the Red Army soldiers who died in the battle.

Editor: Wang Shixue