Qianshanxia Village in Huzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, is a typical village in the region south to Yangtze River. In the past, the village was surrounded by all kinds of litter; currently, after cleaning operations the front and back of the houses in the village are refreshing and open, and it is much more convenient for villagers to travel.

A villager collects junks from a river in Kaixiangong Village of Wujiang District in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Oct. 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)

This is the epitome of a three-year action plan to improve the living environment in Chinese rural areas.

"Improving the living environment in rural areas and building beautiful and livable villages are important tasks to implement the strategy of rural revitalization," said Li Weiguo, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Li added that at present, more than 95 percent of the villages across the country have carried out cleaning operations, and the domestic waste disposal system in rural areas covers more than 90 percent of administrative villages. The popularization rate of sanitary toilets in rural areas has increased from 48.6 percent in 2016 to more than 65 percent.

"Over the past two years, the environment in the village has become better and better, and our village has become a renowned 'natural oxygen bar'," said Wang Yu, secretary of the Party branch at Wangjiabao Village.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to renovate the living environment in rural areas, Wangjiabao Village in Yanqing district, Beijing, has built forest parks, Chinese herbal medicine plantations and recreational centers, along with a national cultural and tourism base for ecological rehabilitation.

"Many city people take advantage of the holiday to stay in our village for two or three days. They want to breathe in the fresh air, pick mushrooms and wild vegetables, and take a cloth tiger made in the village as a souvenir with them before leaving," said Gao Guizhi, a 48-year-old villager, who runs a residential accommodation.

Gao's 14 guest rooms received more than 2,000 tourists last year, with an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan (about $14,900).

"Today, a good ecological environment and sound infrastructure have become new advantages of rural development," said Yu Fawen, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Yu added that the substantial improvement in the living environment in rural areas has not only greatly improved the quality of life for villagers, but has also provided conditions for the development of new industries such as rural tourism, and effectively promoted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.