Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Rural Revitalization

(Adopted at the 28th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on April 29, 2021)

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Industrial Development

Chapter III Personnel Support

Chapter IV Cultural Prosperity

Chapter V Ecological Protection

Chapter VI Organization Building

Chapter VII Urban-Rural Integration

Chapter VIII Support Measures

Chapter IX Supervision and Inspection

Chapter X Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I

General Provisions

Article 1

This Law is enacted in order to thoroughly implement the strategy of rural revitalization, promote the comprehensive upgrading of agriculture, the comprehensive progress of rural areas and the well-rounded development of farmers, accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, and build a modern socialist country in all respects.

Article 2

This Law shall apply to the comprehensive implementation of the rural revitalization strategy; to the promotion of progress in industries, the workforce, culture, ecology and environment and the organizational structure in rural areas; and to the promotion of urban-rural integration.

The rural areas referred to in this Law are the geographical complexes with natural, social and economic characteristics and multiple functions of production, living, ecology and culture outside urban districts, including towns, townships, and villages.

Article 3

In promoting rural revitalization, coordinated efforts shall be made to promote rural economic, political, cultural, social, and eco-environmental progress and strengthen local organizations of the Communist Party of China in rural areas, and to give full play to the unique functions of rural areas in ensuring the supply of agricultural products and food security, protecting the ecological environment, and carrying forward and developing the outstanding traditional culture of the Chinese nation in accordance with the general requirements of making businesses thriving, environments eco-friendly, social etiquette and civility, governance effective and rural areas prosperous.

Article 4

The comprehensive implementation of the rural revitalization strategy shall uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China; carry out the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development; keep to the path of socialist rural revitalization with Chinese characteristics; promote common prosperity; and follow the following principles:

(1) to ensure the priorities in the development of agriculture and rural areas, the assignment of officials, the allocation of factors, financial input and public services; 

(2) to ensure the principal role of farmers, fully respect their will, protect their democratic rights and other legitimate rights and interests, mobilize their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, and safeguard their fundamental interests;

(3) to ensure harmony between man and nature; adopt a holistic approach to conserving mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands and to curbing encroachment by the sand; promote green development; and advance eco-environmental progress;

(4) to remain committed to reform and innovation, make sure that the market plays the decisive role in allocating resources and that the government plays a better role, promote the supply-side structural reform and high-quality development in agriculture, continue to release and develop rural productive forces, and stimulate the vitality of rural development; and

(5) to take local conditions into consideration, develop well-conceived plans, and proceed in a step-by-step manner; follow the law of rural village development; and promote development by category based on the history and culture, current state of development, locations, energy resources, and industrial bases of rural villages.

Article 5

The state shall consolidate and improve the two-tiered system of both unified and separate operations with household contract management as its basis and develop and expand rural collective economy.

Article 6

The state shall establish sound institutions, mechanisms, and policies for urban-rural integration; promote the orderly flows and equal exchanges of factors, and the balanced allocation of public resources between urban and rural areas; ensure that industry supports agriculture and that urban areas drive the development of rural areas; and foster a new relationship between industry and agriculture and between urban and rural areas characterized by mutual reinforcement, coordinated development, and common prosperity.

Article 7

The state shall follow the guidance of the core socialist values, promote the spirit of the Chinese nation and contemporary China, strengthen the protection of traditional culture excellence and improve public cultural services in rural areas, and vitalize rural culture.

The Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival falls on the Autumn Equinox each year.

Article 8

The state shall implement a food security strategy of self-reliance based on domestic production, ensured production capacity, moderate imports, and technological support; improve the usage of cultivated land and make better use of technology in grain production; take measures to continuously improve overall grain production capacity; build a national food security industry belt; improve food processing, distribution, and reserves; ensure basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute grain security; and ensure national food security.

The state shall improve grain processing, storage, and transportation standards; increase the efficiency of output and usage in grain processing; and promote food saving and loss reduction.

Article 9

The state shall establish a sound working mechanism for rural revitalization whereby the central government is responsible for overall planning, provincial-level governments assume principal responsibility, and city, county, and township governments are responsible for program implementation.

People's governments at all levels shall incorporate the promotion of rural revitalization into their economic and social development plans, and establish assessment and evaluation systems, annual report systems, and supervision and inspection systems for rural revitalization.

Article 10

The competent departments of agriculture and rural areas under the State Council shall be responsible for the coordination, macro-level guidance, supervision and inspection of the nationwide work of promoting rural revitalization. Other relevant departments under the State Council shall be responsible for the relevant work of promoting rural revitalization within their respective areas of responsibility.

The competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the coordination, guidance, supervision and inspection of the promotion of rural revitalization within their respective administrative regions. Other relevant departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the relevant promotion of rural revitalization within their respective areas of responsibility.

Article 11

People's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall take various forms to widely publicize the laws, regulations, and policies related to the promotion of rural revitalization, and encourage and support the participation of people’s groups, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions and other sectors of society in activities related to the promotion of rural revitalization.

Entities and individuals shall be honored and rewarded for their remarkable achievements in the promotion of rural revitalization in accordance with relevant state regulations.

Chapter II

Industrial Development

Article 12

The state shall improve the rural collective property rights system, enhance the vitality of the collective sector of the rural economy, maintain and increase the value of collective assets, and ensure that farmers benefit therefrom.

People's governments at all levels shall ensure that farmers assume the main responsibility; support and promote the integration of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas based on rural resources; promote the establishment of industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture; build a digital countryside; cultivate new industries and business forms and models and new types of agribusiness; and encourage small-scale farmers to become involved in modern agriculture.

Article 13

The state shall take measures to improve the layout of agricultural productivity; restructure agriculture; develop leading agro-industries with unique features; ensure the effective supply and quality of food and other important agricultural products; promote the cultivation of varieties, quality improvement, branding, and standardized production; open agriculture to foreign competition; improve the quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of agriculture.

The state shall secure the supply of major agricultural products; clarify targets to be secured based on different varieties of products; and build a scientific, reasonable, safe and efficient system for the supply of important agricultural products.

Article 14

The state shall establish a system for managing agricultural land by category, strictly protect arable land, restrict agricultural land from being used for construction, and from being used as forest land, garden land and other types of agricultural land. People’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government shall take measures to ensure that the total amount of arable land is not reduced and that the quality of arable land improves.

The state shall protect permanent basic farmland, create functional zones for grain production and major agricultural product protection areas, and build and protect high-grade farmland.

Local people's governments at all levels shall promote rural land consolidation and the scientific and safe use of agricultural land, and strengthen irrigation and water conservancy facilities and other infrastructure to improve agricultural production conditions.

Article 15

The state shall strengthen the protection and utilization of agricultural germplasm resources and the construction of germplasm resources banks; support the basic and cutting-edge research on breeding and applied breeding technology; tackle key technologies for breeding superior varieties of crops, livestock and poultry; encourage the industrial application of scientific and technological achievements in the seed industry and the promotion of improved varieties; establish and implement a national security review mechanism of the seed industry; and promote the high-quality development of the seed industry.

Article 16

The state shall take measures to strengthen agricultural technological innovation; cultivate innovators; build an innovation mechanism of bringing together enterprises, academia, and research institutes, with enterprises playing the leading role; strengthen the innovation capacity of higher education institutions, research institutions, and agricultural enterprises; establish innovation platforms; strengthen R&D of new varieties, new technologies, new equipment, and new products; strengthen the protection of agricultural intellectual property rights; promote innovation in the biological seed industry, intelligent agriculture, protected agriculture, agricultural product processing, and green agricultural inputs; build modern agricultural industrial technology systems; and promote innovation-driven development of agriculture and rural areas.

The state shall improve the systems for the review of agricultural research projects, the evaluation of personnel, and the protection of property rights for results; ensure investment in basic and nonprofit research in agricultural science and technology; and stimulate the enthusiasm of agricultural scientists and engineers for innovation.

Article 17

The state shall strengthen the promotion of agricultural technology; promote the establishment of incentives and benefit-sharing mechanisms conducive to the industrial application of agricultural science and technology results; and encourage enterprises, higher education institutions, vocational schools, scientific research institutions, science and technology social organizations, specialized farmer cooperatives, agricultural specialized commercial service organizations, and agricultural scientists and engineers to create new ways for spreading science and technology and provide agricultural technology promotion services.

Article 18

The state encourages the R&D, popularization, and application of agricultural machinery and shall promote the full mechanization of the production of major crops; improve the equipment for protected agriculture, forestry and grassland, the livestock industry, fisheries and primary processing of agricultural products; promote the integration of agricultural machinery and agricultural technology as well as the integration of mechanization and information technology application; and bring mechanized production more in line with the development of cropland and bring the service mode more in line with appropriately-scaled agribusinesses.

The state encourages information technology application in agriculture and shall strengthen agricultural information monitoring and early warning and comprehensive services, and promote information technology application in agricultural production and operation.

Article 19

People's governments at all levels shall give full play to rural resources and ecological advantages, support the development of rural industries such as agriculture based on local resource advantages, farm-based recreation, modern agricultural products processing, rural handicrafts, green building materials, tourism related to the history of the Communist Party of China, rural tourism, health care, logistics, and e-commerce; guide new businesses toward rationally allocating production factors and integrating rural industries based on local resource advantages and specialized operation; support the development of leading areas producing local specialty agricultural products, modern agricultural industrial parks, agricultural science and technology parks, rural incubators, and key villages and towns offering farm-based recreation and rural tourism; coordinate the development of the markets in areas that produce, distribute, and sell agricultural products; strengthen key networks for the circulation of agricultural products and cold chain logistics systems; and encourage enterprises to obtain internationally accepted agricultural products certification and enhance the competitiveness of rural industries.

The development of rural industries shall be consistent with plans for China’s spatial planning, and requirements of industrial policy and environmental protection.

Article 20

People's governments at all levels shall improve support policies, strengthen guidance and services, provide support to people who are returning or moving to the countryside to start businesses and make innovations, and promote the development of rural industries and employment of farmers.

Article 21

People's governments at all levels shall establish sound mechanisms conducive to the steady growth of farmers' income, and encourage and support farmers to broaden the source of income to increase their income.

The state shall take measures to support rural collective economic organizations to develop; to provide production and life services for their members; and to protect the right of the members to receive income distribution from the collective business income.

The state supports specialized farmer cooperatives, family farms and agriculture-related enterprises, e-commerce enterprises, and agricultural specialized and commercial service organizations to establish mechanisms for integrating farmers’ interests into agricultural industry chains in a variety of ways, so that farmers share the value-added benefits of these chains.

Article 22

People's governments at all levels shall strengthen the planning and development of state-owned farms (and forest farms, pastures, and fishing grounds), promote their development of modern agriculture, and encourage them to play a leading and demonstrative role in agricultural and rural modernization.

Article 23

People's governments at all levels shall deepen the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives, encourage them to integrate farmers’ interests into them, improve the market operation mechanism, enhance services for farmers, and play their role as comprehensive cooperative economic organizations for agricultural services.

Chapter III

Personnel Support

Article 24

The state shall improve rural skilled personnel institutions and mechanisms, take measures to encourage and support all sectors of society to provide education and training, technical support, entrepreneurial guidance and other services to train local personnel, guide urban skilled personnel to work in rural areas, encourage professionals to serve rural areas, and develop skilled personnel team in agriculture and rural areas.

Article 25

People's governments at all levels shall strengthen the coordination of rural education, continue to improve the conditions of rural schools, support the development of internet-based distance education, improve the quality of basic education in rural areas, increase the training of rural teachers, implement publicly funded teacher education programs and other ways to attract graduates from higher education institutions to teach in rural areas, give preferential treatment to teachers who have been teaching in rural areas for a long time in terms of title granting, protect and improve rural teachers' benefits, and improve the level of education and the overall quality of rural teachers and rural education modernization.

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to strengthen the medical and health workforce in rural areas; support the county and rural medical and health personnel to participate in training and further studies; establish county and township professional development mechanisms; implement preferential treatment for medical and health personnel working in rural areas; encourage medical school graduates to work in rural areas; support physicians to practice in rural medical and health institutions, open rural clinics, and popularize medical and health knowledge; and improve rural medical and health service capacity.

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to cultivate agricultural scientists and engineers, business management executives, legal-service professionals, and social workers, strengthen the rural workforce and cultivate key workers in the cultural industry.

Article 26

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to strengthen vocational education and continuing education; organize agricultural skills training, training for people who are returning to the countryside to start businesses, and vocational skills training; and train high-caliber farmers who are educated, have technical knowledge, and are good at management, educate and let people to become personnel with practical skills, and innovation and entrepreneurship leaders in rural areas.

Article 27

People's governments at or above the county level and the education departments thereof shall guide and support higher education institutions and vocational schools to set up agriculture-related majors, increase the training of rural professionals, and encourage graduates of higher education institutions and vocational schools to find jobs and start their own businesses in rural areas.

Article 28

The state encourages the flow of urban skilled personnel to rural areas and shall establish sound mechanisms for personnel training cooperation and exchange between urban and rural areas, between regions, and between schools and localities.

People's governments at or above the county level shall establish incentive mechanisms to encourage various types of skilled personnel to participate in rural development, build platforms for social work and rural development volunteer services, and support and guide various types of personnel to serve rural revitalization in various ways.

Town and township people's governments, villagers' committees, and rural collective economic organizations shall provide necessary production and life services for people who are returning or moving to the countryside and various types of skilled personnel. Rural collective economic organizations may provide these personnel with relevant welfare benefits according to the actual situation.

Chapter IV

Cultural Prosperity

Article 29

People's governments at all levels shall organize campaigns to promote civility in the new era, redouble efforts to promote cultural-ethical progress in rural areas, and continuously enhance etiquette and civility in rural communities.

Article 30

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to enrich the cultural and sports life of farmers; advocate a scientific and healthy way of production and life; let village rules and regulations play an active role; popularize scientific knowledge; promote the change of customs; eliminate extravagance, waste and other outmoded conventions and customs; advocate filial piety, thrift, honesty and trustworthiness; promote gender equality; create model villages, towns, and families; nurture good folk customs, fine family traditions, and virtues in individuals; and build a model countryside.

Article 31

People's governments at all levels shall improve rural networks and service operation mechanisms for public cultural and sports facilities, encourage a variety of forms of popular cultural, sports, festival and folklore activities, and make full use of radio and television, audio-visual networks, books and newspapers to expand rural cultural services channels and provide convenient and accessible public cultural services.

People's governments at all levels shall support the creation of literary and artistic works on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and encourage the production of excellent works of literature and art reflecting the work and life of farmers and rural revitalization practices.

Article 32

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to protect agricultural cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage, explore the deep connotations of excellent agricultural culture, promote culture related to the history of the Communist Party of China, and draw upon and carry forward excellent traditional culture.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the protection of historically and culturally rich towns and villages, traditional villages, distinctive rural features, and villages with ethnic minority characteristics; monitor and evaluate the state of protection; and take measures to prevent and mitigate fires, floods, earthquakes and other disasters.

Article 33

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall remain committed to planning, guidance, and demonstration by example; develop agricultural culture exhibition areas with distinctive features and outstanding advantages and villages with cultural industry characteristics in a planned way; develop cultural and sports industries with rural characteristics; promote the revitalization of traditional arts and crafts in rural areas; actively promote the construction of smart radio, television and television stations in rural areas; and make the rural market for cultural products vibrant.

Chapter V

Ecological Protection

Article 34

The state shall improve the system for protecting key ecosystems and mechanisms for compensating for ecological conservation efforts, launch projects to protect and restore key ecosystems, strengthen rural ecological protection and environmental governance, green and beautify the rural environment, and make villages more beautiful.

Article 35

The state encourages and supports agricultural producers to use advanced planting and breeding techniques that conserve water, fertilizers, and pesticides, and shall promote the integration of planting with breeding and the integrated development of agricultural resources and give high priority to the development of ecological circular agriculture.

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to strengthen the prevention and control of agricultural pollution from non-point sources; promote the reduction of agricultural inputs, clean production, the recycling of waste, and eco-friendly industrial models; and guide the whole society toward a healthy, green way of work and life and a consumption model characterized by economy, moderate consumption, and low carbon.

Article 36

People's governments at all levels shall comprehensively improve land conditions and restore ecosystems; strengthen the protection and restoration of forests, grasslands, and wetlands; take integrated steps to control desertification, stony deserts, and soil erosion; and improve the ecological environment of rural areas.

Article 37

People's governments at all levels shall establish mechanisms whereby the government, village-level organizations, enterprises, and farmers achieve shared growth through discussion and collaboration; comprehensively improve rural water systems; promote sanitary toilets and simple and convenient garbage sorting in light of local conditions; treat rural garbage and sewage; strengthen rural barrier-free facilities; encourage and support the use of clean energy and renewable energy; and continue to improve the rural living environment.

Article 38 

The state shall establish a sound management system for the quality and safety of rural housing construction and a related system of technical standards and establish a mechanism for ensuring safe housing for rural low-income groups. Construction of rural housing shall avoid disaster-prone areas and come in line with the earthquake, flood control and other basic safety requirements.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall improve rural housing construction management and services, strengthen the planning and control of new rural housing, and strictly prohibit the illegal occupation of arable land for housing construction; encourage rural housing design to reflect regional, ethnic and local characteristics; encourage rural housing construction using new construction techniques and eco-friendly building materials; and guide farmers to build livable houses that are modern in function, safe in structure, economical in cost, environmentally friendly and in harmony with the rural environment.

Article 39 

The state shall exercise strict control over agricultural inputs and take measures to prohibit or limit the use of highly or moderately toxic or highly residual pesticides and veterinary drugs. Producers or traders of agricultural products shall not use state-banned pesticides, veterinary drugs or other toxic or harmful substances, and shall not use agricultural inputs such as pesticides, veterinary drugs, fertilizers, and feed additives in excess of dose or range in violation of the quality and safety standards for agricultural products and the relevant state regulations.

Article 40 

The state shall implement systems for conserving and restoring croplands and keeping croplands fallow and for regeneration of grasslands, forests, rivers, and lakes. People's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments thereof shall delimit the time and areas for restricted or prohibited fishing in rivers, lakes, and seas in accordance with the law and may delimit areas for prohibited or restricted exploitation of groundwater in light of the groundwater overdraft situation.

The illegal relocation of industries and enterprises that pollute the environment and damage the ecology to rural areas shall be prohibited. The illegal transfer of urban garbage, industrial solid waste, and urban sewage that has not met the standards of treatment to agriculture and rural areas shall be prohibited. It is forbidden to discharge into agricultural land sewage and sludge with excessive content of heavy metals or other toxic and harmful substances, as well as dredged sediment, tailings, and slags that may cause soil pollution. It is prohibited to use toxic and hazardous waste as fertilizers or for field building and land reclamation.

Local people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments thereof shall take measures to promote the recycling and treatment of packaging wastes of used agricultural inputs such as plastic sheeting for agricultural use and pesticides, encourage efforts to recycle resources from livestock and poultry waste and crop straw, and strictly control bait-casting cage culture in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and coastal sea areas.

Chapter VI

Organization Building

Article 41

Efforts shall be made to establish a sound law- and technology-based system for modern rural social governance under which Communist Party of China committees exercise leadership, the government assumes responsibility, democratic consultation is held, nongovernmental actors provide assistance, and the public get involved, as well as a rural social governance model which combines self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue; and ensure that rural areas enjoy good governance and are full of vitality, harmony and order.

Local people's governments at all levels shall strengthen the social management and service capacity of town and township people's governments and build towns and townships into rural governance centers, rural service centers, and rural economic centers.

Article 42 

The rural primary-level organizations of the Communist Party of China shall play an overall leadership role in accordance with the Constitution of Communist Party of China and the relevant regulations. Villagers' committees and rural collective economic organizations shall implement villagers' self-governance, develop collective enterprises, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of farmers under the leadership of the town and township committees and village organizations of the Communist Party of China and be subject to the supervision of villagers.

Article 43

The state shall establish sound mechanisms for the training, assignment, appointment, and management of agricultural and rural work officials, select excellent officials for agricultural and rural work, take measures to improve the ability and competence of agricultural and rural officials, ensure that rural primary-level officials receive their due benefits, and improve the ranks of agricultural and rural work officials who understand agriculture and love the countryside and farmers.

Article 44 

Local people's governments at all levels shall build simple and efficient community-level management systems, set up scientific town and township institutions, strengthen the training of rural officials, improve rural community-level service systems, and strengthen the foundation of rural governance.

Article 45 

Town and township people's governments shall guide and support the standardization and institutionalization of rural primary-level people's organizations for self-governance, improve the democratic decision-making mechanism of villagers' committees and the system for making village affairs transparent, and enhance villagers' capabilities for self-management, self-education, self-service, and self-supervision.

Article 46 

People's governments at all levels shall guide and support rural collective economic organizations to play a role in managing collective assets in accordance with the law, rationally developing collective resources, and serving members of collectives, and ensure the independent operation of rural collective economic organizations.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall support the development of specialized farmer cooperatives, family farms, agribusinesses and other business entities, and improve the commercial service system for agriculture and rural areas.

Article 47 

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall take measures to strengthen community-level people's organizations, support, standardize and guide the development of rural social organizations, and ensure that community-level people's organizations and rural social organizations rally, contact and serve the people.

Article 48 

Local people's governments at all levels shall strengthen the teams of community-level law enforcement officers. Town and township people's governments are encouraged to make legal advisers and public lawyers available as needed. The establishment of public legal service centers shall be encouraged in villagers’ committees where possible. In-depth publicity and education on the rule of law and people's mediation shall be carried out. Mechanisms for the mediation and resolution of rural conflicts and disputes shall be improved. Rural areas shall be made more law-based.

Article 49 

Local people's governments at all levels shall improve the crime prevention and control system, strengthen rural police work, and work to make the countryside safer; and improve the rural public safety system by strengthening accountability for rural public health, workplace safety, disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, emergency rescue, emergency broadcasting, food, medicine, traffic, and fire.

Chapter VII

Urban-Rural Integration

Article 50

People's governments at all levels shall coordinate the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and the new urbanization strategy, work out overall plans for urban and rural development; make scientific and orderly arrangements for ecological areas, agricultural areas, and urban areas; improve the layout of urban and rural industrial development, infrastructure, and public service facilities; gradually improve the system of basic public services that provides universal coverage, benefits all, and integrates urban and rural areas; accelerate urban-rural integration at the county level; and make agriculture more high-quality and efficient, villages more comfortable places for people to live and work in, and farmers more prosperous and affluent.

Article 51 

People's governments at the county level and town and township people's governments shall improve the layout of rural development in their administrative regions; arrange the layout of villages in light of local conditions in accordance with the principle of respecting the will of farmers, making life and work more convenient for the people, and maintaining the functions and characteristics of rural areas; draw up village plans in accordance with the law; develop villages by category and in an orderly manner; strictly regulate the removal and merger of villages; and strictly prohibit the removal and merger of villages against the will of farmers or in violation of legal procedures.

Article 52

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall coordinate the planning, construction, management and maintenance of urban and rural roads and garbage and sewage treatment, water, electricity, and gas supply, logistics, passenger transport, information and communications, radio and television, fire, disaster prevention and mitigation and other public infrastructure and new infrastructure; promote the connectivity of urban and rural infrastructure; address the energy needs of rural development; ensure safe drinking water in rural areas; and meet the production and living needs of farmers.

Article 53 

The state shall develop rural social programs and weigh public education, health care, social security and other resources toward rural areas; improve the basic public services in rural areas; and further equalize access to basic public services in urban and rural areas.

The state shall improve rural people-friendly service systems, make public services in rural areas more digital and intelligent, support the improvement of village-level integrated service facilities and integrated information platforms, foster service institutions and service social organizations, improve service operation mechanisms, promote the effective coordination between public services and self-services, and improve work and life services.

Article 54 

The state shall improve the unified urban and rural social security system, establish sound social security mechanisms, and support villages to improve social security management services; and establish sound mechanisms for setting standards on benefits for rural and non-working urban residents under the basic old-age insurance scheme and allowing for regular adjustment of their basic pension benefits, to ensure that the standards on benefits for rural and non-working urban residents under the basic old-age insurance scheme gradually improve with economic and social development.

The state supports farmers to participate in the basic old-age insurance scheme and basic medical insurance system for rural and non-working urban residents in accordance with the regulations, and encourages workers in flexible employment and working for agricultural industrialization where conditions permit to participate in the basic old-age insurance scheme, the basic medical insurance system for urban workers and other social insurance schemes.

The state shall integrate the urban and rural systems of subsistence allowances; improve social assistance to people such as those who face financial difficulties and live on living allowances; strengthen the care services to children, women, and the elderly left behind in rural areas, as well as people with disabilities and children in difficulty; and support the development of rural public-interest elder care services and mutual-aid elderly care.

Article 55

The state shall promote the formation of an urban and rural human resources market that features equal competition and is unified, well-regulated and orderly; and flesh out the public service system for employment and business startups featuring equal access for both urban and rural areas.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall take measures to ensure that farmers, who have stable employment and living in cities and towns, settle in urban areas in a voluntary and orderly way; shall not have farmers withdraw their rights to contractual management of land, their rights to use house sites or their right to share collective income as conditions for urban settlement; and shall ensure that rural residents who have obtained permanent urban residence and their families have access to basic urban public services.

The state encourages private investors to develop projects for the benefit of farmers in rural areas, and encourages urban residents to visit rural areas for tourism, leisure, vacation, health or retirement purposes provided they do not damage the ecological environment therein or damage the legitimate rights and interests of rural collective economic organizations and the members thereof.

Article 56 

People's governments at or above the county level shall take measures to promote the coordinated development of urban and rural industries, improve incentive mechanisms to help and support farmers on the basis of guaranteeing the principal status of farmers, diversify the rural economy and develop a complete agricultural industrial chain.

Article 57 

People's governments at all levels and the relevant departments thereof shall take measures to encourage farmers to work in cities; fully ensure equal employment opportunity and equal pay for equal work for both urban and rural workers; and ensure the payment of salaries and social security rights and interests of migrant workers in accordance with the law.

Chapter VIII

Support Measures

Article 58 

The state shall establish a sound agricultural support and protection system and implement a system of financial support for the rural revitalization strategy. People's governments at or above the county level shall give high priority to financial support for rural revitalization to ensure that the intensity and total amount of such support continue to increase in line with the goals and tasks of rural revitalization.

People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may issue government bonds in accordance with the law for the construction of modern agricultural facilities and rural development.

People's governments at all levels shall improve the long-term mechanism for the integration of funds related to agriculture, strengthen the supervision and management of financial funds, fully implement performance-based budget management, and improve the efficiency of the use of financial funds.

Article 59 

People's governments at all levels shall take measures to enhance the endogenous development capacity of areas that have cast off poverty, establish a long-term mechanism to help low-income rural residents and less developed areas, and continue to promote the development of areas that have emerged from poverty; and put in place sound mechanisms for dynamic monitoring, early warning and assistance for groups who are liable to return to or fall into poverty, and ensure that the progress made in poverty alleviation is effectively linked to rural revitalization.

The state shall increase support for old revolutionary bases, areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities, and border areas in implementing the rural revitalization strategy.

Article 60 

The state shall build a new system of agricultural subsidy policies oriented to high-quality green development in accordance with the principle of increasing total subsidies, improving existing subsidies and raising the performance of subsidies.

Article 61 

People's governments at all levels should mostly direct proceeds from land use rights transfers at agriculture and rural areas; adjust and improve the scope of use of such proceeds in accordance with the relevant state regulations, improve the proportion of these proceeds used for agricultural and rural purposes, with a focus on developing high-standard cropland, improving irrigation and water conservancy, upgrading the modern seed industry, ensuring rural water supply, improving the rural living environment, comprehensively refining rural land, protecting arable land and permanent basic cropland, developing village public facilities and keeping them maintained, improving rural education, developing rural culture, promoting rural cultural-ethical progress, as well as on launching projects directly related to agriculture and rural areas to protect or restore the ecosystems of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands, and deserts, and providing poverty-relief employment programs.

Article 62 

The relevant special funds and funds established by people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the support for rural revitalization in accordance with the regulations.

The state shall support the establishment of market-oriented rural revitalization funds which shall focus on supporting rural industrial development and public infrastructure development.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall improve the business environment in rural areas, encourage the creation of new investment and financing methods, and guide private investors to invest in rural areas.

Article 63 

The state shall use a combination of financial and monetary policies and measures to improve the governmental financing guarantee mechanism, refine the mortgage guarantee rights of rural assets in accordance with the law, and improve and strengthen financial support and services for rural revitalization.

Government-funded agricultural credit guarantee institutions shall mainly serve the operators engaged in agricultural production or directly related to agricultural production.

Article 64

The state shall improve multilevel capital markets, promote equity financing of agriculture-related enterprises through multiple channels, develop and regulate the bond market, and promote the use of a variety of ways to finance agriculture-related enterprises; and enrich the varieties of agricultural products futures, and ensure that the futures market discovers prices and diversify risks.

Article 65

The state shall establish a sound multilevel and sustainable system of rural financial services that offer extensive coverage, improve the assessment and evaluation mechanism of financial support for rural revitalization, promote the development of rural inclusive finance, and encourage financial institutions to allocate more resources to key areas and weak links of rural development in accordance with the law.

Policy-oriented state financial institutions shall provide credit support and other financial services for rural revitalization within the scopes of business thereof, and increase their support for rural revitalization.

Commercial banks shall create new products and service models, expand the coverage of basic financial services, increase the scale of credit to farmers and agribusinesses, and provide financial services for rural revitalization based on the functional positioning and business advantages thereof.

Rural commercial banks, rural cooperative banks, rural credit cooperatives and other small and medium-sized rural financial institutions shall mainly serve local agriculture, rural areas, and farmers and direct a bulk of their new loanable funds in the year at local agricultural and rural development.

Article 66 

The state shall establish sound multilevel agricultural insurance systems, improve the policy-related agricultural insurance system, encourage commercial insurance companies to carry out agricultural insurance business, and support farmers and agribusinesses to carry out mutual insurance in accordance with the law.

People's governments at or above the county level shall grant premium subsidies and use other measures to support insurance agencies to appropriately increase the variety of insurance, expand agricultural insurance coverage, and promote the development of agricultural insurance.

Article 67 

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall promote economical and intensive use of land, improve land use efficiency, take measures to make efficient use of existing rural land for construction in accordance with the law, activate rural land resources, and improve the mechanism for new land for construction in rural areas to meet the reasonable demand of rural industries, public service facilities and rural residences for land.

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall guarantee land for rural industries; weigh land-use quotas for construction land toward rural development; in allocating new cultivated land quotas at the county level, give high priority to offsetting land quotas for construction needed for the development of rural industries, and explore flexible and diversified new ways of land supply.

Owners of legally registered collective-owned land designated for business-related construction, which is determined by spatial planning to be used for industrial, commercial and other business purposes, may refer such land to entities or individuals for use by means of transfer or lease in accordance with the law, and high priority shall be given to using such land for the development of collective enterprises and rural industries.

Chapter IX

Supervision and Inspection

Article 68 

The state shall adopt a goal accountability system for the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and an assessment and evaluation system for its implementation. People's governments at a higher level shall assess the completion of the objectives of the people’s governments at the next lower level in implementing the rural revitalization strategy. The assessment results shall be taken as an important element in the comprehensive assessment and evaluation of local people's governments and their leaders.

Article 69

The relevant departments of the State Council and people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government shall establish systems of indicators and statistics that objectively reflect the progress of rural revitalization. Local people’s governments at or above the county level shall evaluate the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy within the administrative regions thereof.

Article 70 

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall report to people's congresses or their standing committees at the same level on the promotion of rural revitalization. Town and township people's governments shall report to people's congresses at the same level on the promotion of rural revitalization.

Article 71 

Local people's governments at all levels shall report annually to people's governments at the next higher level on the promotion of rural revitalization.

People's governments at or above the county level shall regularly supervise and inspect the work of people's governments at the next lower level in promoting rural revitalization.

Article 72 

Departments of development and reform, finance, agriculture and rural affairs, and audit of people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with their respective duties, supervise the implementation of the mechanism for giving high priority to the investment in agriculture and rural areas and the use and performance of rural revitalization funds.

Article 73 

People's governments at all levels and the relevant departments thereof that fail to perform or incorrectly perform their duties in promoting rural revitalization shall be held accountable in accordance with laws and regulations and relevant state regulations, and the person directly in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be sanctioned in accordance with the law.

Violation of laws and regulations on agricultural product quality and safety, eco-environmental protection, and land management shall be punished by relevant competent departments in accordance with the law. Where it constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be borne in accordance with the law.

Chapter X

Supplementary Provisions

Article 74 

This Law shall come into force on June 1, 2021.