"At present, there are various problems in traditional villages, such as population loss, decaying buildings, aging facilities and lack of information and funding," says Zheng Guozhen, vice-chairman of the China Cultural Relics Academy, adding that they especially lack development themes and projects that follow current trends and market demand.

The Discover Ancient Villages program is aimed at showing the rural beauty of nature, humanity and history and helping to speed up their development, Zheng says.

China has made historic achievements in eradicating absolute poverty. Next, the country will push forward rural vitalization in an all-around way, with a historic shift of focus in the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

Efforts must be made to promote the efficiency and quality of the agricultural sector, make rural areas suitable to live and work in and make sure that farmers are affluent, according to the country's annual central rural work conference in late December.

The country will speed up rural industry development to bring farmers more benefits, strengthen intellectual and moral standards, prevent and control pollution in rural areas, accelerate reform in key sectors in rural areas, prioritize rural infrastructure facility construction, facilitate integrated urban-rural development and improve rural governance.

It envisions a rural area featuring thriving businesses, an eco-friendly environment, social etiquette and civility, effective governance and a prosperous rural population.

Contact the writer at [email protected]