Zoom into China's integrated urban-rural development via rural road infrastructure

Rural roads, as a thoroughfare for the conveyance of traffic, contribute significantly to rural prosperity. By enabling the flow of factors between urban and rural areas, they serve as important engines propelling integrated urban-rural development.

In the past decade, China has built and upgraded over 2.5 million kilometers of rural roads, ensuring that all towns, townships and administrative villages where conditions allow are connected to paved roads as well as bus and postal services.

Photo taken on Aug. 27, 2024, shows a picturesque view of Pingshu village, Sansui county, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Jian)

To be specific, during the period, a total of 821 towns, townships and 70,600 administrative villages have been connected to paved roads; more than 1,000 towns and townships and over 50,000 administrative villages have joined the list with access to bus services; and over half of the administrative villages across the country have been accessible by bus services.

The interconnected rural roads promote the flow of factors between Chinese urban and rural areas, injecting vitality into all-round rural revitalization.

Fuping village in northwest China's Gansu province is a vivid example of China's rural road development. At an altitude of 2,100 meters, it is one of the most remote villages in Xinzhai township, Tanchang county, Longnan city. Surrounded by steep mountains and rugged roads, it was susceptible to landslides and road damage during heavy rains, even though a road had been built in 2017.

To address the problem, local transport authorities made great efforts in strengthening the landslide-prone slopes, repairing damaged sections, and reinforcing the roadbed.

"Transport has become much easier. In the past, I could only ride a motorcycle to these villages, but now I can drive a truck without any trouble and don't have to worry about blocked roads on rainy days," said Xu Zhijie, a local villager who has been working in e-commerce for over 10 years. He often travels between villages to collect agricultural products like pepper and mushrooms.

Recently, Xu's truck pulled up at farmer Yao Zhangwei's home. Handing a package of pepper to Xu, Yao could not hide his delight. "After years of selling pepper, I can finally wait for buyers to come to me instead of driving mules door-to-door to market my produce."

Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2024 shows a rural road under renovation in Panchong village, Digang township, Wuhu, east China's Anhui province. (People's Daily Online/Qian Ming)

Lately, Xu received a large order and delivered a truckload of pepper to the cities of Lanzhou and Zhangye in Gansu province. "This single order is worth about 100,000 yuan. With better roads, my business prospects are brighter than ever," said Xu.

Improved transport infrastructure and removed logistical bottlenecks have paved a "fast track" for the development of rural e-commerce.

China has built logistics nodes in all towns and townships, and expanded express delivery services to over 80 percent of villages. More than 1,500 county-level administrative units in the country have achieved the integration of rural passenger transport, freight transport, and mail delivery, handling over 900 million parcels during the first six months of this year. Last year, China's online retail sales of agricultural products reached 587.03 billion yuan ($80.5 billion), a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent.

Improved transport infrastructure is also driving the upgrading of rural industries.

In late autumn, a visit to Tuqiao township in Tongliang district, southwest China's Chongqing municipality, unveils a charming landscape: white-walled, black-tiled villages scattered among green hills, as if stepping into an ink painting.

"In the past, narrow and poorly maintained mountain roads made it hard to drive and reach scenic spots," said Qin Ke, Party head of Tuqiao township.

A few years ago, followed by the upgrading of a 13-kilometer road from Liuying village to Heshui village, a loop road was created in the west suburb of Tongling district, connecting scenic areas along the route, said Qin. The loop road was further extended into the mountains, linking fruit-growing bases across six villages to build a unique industrial cluster, Qin added.

Photo taken on Oct. 22, 2024 shows a rural road in Huazhai village, Huazhai township, Ganzhou district, Zhangye, northwest China's Gansu province. (People's Daily Online/Yang Xiao)

Now, Liuying village has become a popular destination for rural tourism. After the loop road was completed, farmer Chen Tianlong saw an opportunity and returned to the village. He planted 750 mu (50 hectares) of peach trees on Liuying Mountain, leading the way in eco-agriculture and agritourism.

"With better roads, more city dwellers are driving here. Our village is bustling with tourists during the peach blossom season," Chen said.

Thanks to the rural road development, local residents are embracing greater prosperity. In the first half of this year, Tuqiao township welcomed over 2 million tourist visits, generating 180 million yuan in tourism revenue. Sales of primary agricultural products exceeded 60 million yuan, and processed agricultural goods brought in over 100 million yuan. The per capita disposable income for rural residents in the township reached 27,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent.

The rural roads, while connecting beautiful scenery, have brought greater prosperity to industries and helped improve people's lives. By the end of 2023, 14.7 percent of villages in China had been engaged in leisure agriculture and rural tourism, hosting over 3 billion tourist visits that year.

In the first three quarters of this year, China has made more progress in the integrated development of rural industries, marked by increased profits from agricultural processing and emergence of new industries and business models. The per capita disposable income of Chinese rural residents has reached 16,740 yuan, a year-on-year growth of 6.3 percent in real terms after adjusting for inflation. The income ratio between urban and rural areas has narrowed to 2.46, down by 0.05 compared to the same period last year.