China works to build new countryside

China's rural economy has entered a new stage after renewed efforts to accelerate the development of rural areas, a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report said.

As the Communist Party of China moves to build a new countryside, a mechanism aimed at long-term social and economic development in rural areas has been put in place, said the report, published on the bureau's website.

The bureau said that since the Party convened the 16th National Congress in 2002, the country has strengthened the role of agriculture in the national economy by raising farming capacity.