Official data last year showed that more than 12 million people have returned to rural areas to start businesses, creating new industries and innovative business models.

Distinctive village industries across China, such as peony cultivation in East China's Shandong province, strawberry farming in Jiangsu province, also in East China, and apple orchards in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, are boosting rural incomes and diversifying local economies.

Last October, the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee reviewed and adopted the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the CPC for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development.

The document emphasized the need to accelerate agricultural and rural modernization, while taking concrete steps to advance all-around rural vitalization.

"While poverty alleviation has enabled farmers to 'stand on their own feet,' rural vitalization helps them thrive," said Zhang Wanjing, a researcher with the Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences, who previously spent two years serving as a village Party chief.

"The rural vitalization strategy is a fundamental plan that not only benefits hundreds of millions of farmers, but also contributes to the country's long-term development," Zhang noted.