Push for spick and span villages intensifies

China plans to improve the rural environment, including waste and sewage processing, to provide a cleaner and better quality of life by 2020, according to a three-year action plan released on Monday.

Efforts to improve living conditions for rural residents have been ongoing for years, but the projects are not balanced, leaving some trapped in severe pollution and creating a problem for rural social and economic growth, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday.

"The plan aims to solve thorny issues gradually through coordinated sources and strengthened controls, and then let rural residents feel the improvements," an unnamed official from the commission in charge of the issues said.