Rural residents get same voting power as urbanites

BEIJING - China's rural residents are enjoying the same voting rights as urban dwellers for the first time in ongoing elections for lawmakers at the county and township levels.

The new round of elections was launched when a two-day training session on elections started in Beijing on Friday.

During the elections, which are held every five years, more than 2 million lawmakers at the county and township levels are elected in more than 2,000 counties and 30,000 townships, according to China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.