Opinion

Continued commitment to advance the all-round revitalization of rural areas

China unveiled its "No 1 central document" for 2026 recently, the 14th such document since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). It outlines plans to advance agricultural and rural modernization and to promote all-around rural vitalization. As the first policy statement released by China's central authorities each year, the document is seen as an indicator of policy priorities. It is imperative to safeguard national food security, continue to consolidate and expand the achievements in poverty alleviation, strive to build agriculture into a modern pillar sector, basically ensure modern living conditions in rural areas, and enable farmers to enjoy more prosperous and better lives, the document said.

China has made remarkable achievements in agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents in 2025. With total grain output and yield per unit reaching new highs, income gap between urban and rural residents narrowed, China has consolidated and expanded the achievement in poverty alleviation, steadily advanced rural construction, and deepened rural reforms. By strengthening the foundation and safeguarding bottom lines, and driving progress through reform and innovation, the annual targets for the sector were successfully accomplished.

The document called for efforts to shore up weak links in agriculture and rural areas, and secure faster progress in building up China's strength in agriculture over the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30). In a complex international environment, where uncertainties and unpredictable factors are on the increase, it is vital to ensure food security to boost confidence in confronting various challenges. Accelerating agricultural modernization creates broader space for smoothing the flow between industrial and agricultural sectors, and between urban and rural areas. Improving the income of hundreds of millions of residents also paves the way for common prosperity. It can be said that the further modernization progresses, the more essential it becomes to reinforce the foundation of agriculture and rural development.

For the present and the period ahead, the overarching focus of work related to agriculture and rural development is advancing all-round rural revitalization. From this perspective, the work arrangements in this year's document, like those of last year and the year before, demonstrate a consistent and practical policy approach. It features clearer priorities and more focused tasks. For instance, the country will work to strengthen comprehensive regulation of hog production capacity and to consolidate the relief outcomes achieved in the beef and dairy cattle industries, so as to improve the quality and efficiency of the "vegetable basket" industry. Regarding enhancing the effectiveness of agricultural technological innovation, it highlights expanding the application scenarios for drones, the internet of things, robots, and similar technologies.

Policy

1. Guidelines to build the low-altitude economy standard system (2025) was released recently by the State Administration for Market Regulation, in collaboration with nine other departments including the office of the central air traffic management committee. Focusing on five core areas- low-altitude aircraft, low-altitude infrastructure, low-altitude air traffic management, safety supervision, and application scenarios, the guidelines aim to establish a four-dimensional integration standard system.

2. A special plan to boost consumption during the Spring Festival period was released recently by nine departments including the Ministry of Commerce, aiming to provide consumers with high-quality experience in food, lodging, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment activities. According to the plan, local governments are encouraged to increase subsidies for consumer goods trade-in programs during Spring Festival and enhance support for offline retails.

Data

1. The China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing released the latest data showing that in 2025, China's cold chain logistics demand reached 381.4 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.50 percent; the total revenue of cold chain logistics amounted to RMB 556.71 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.84 percent. Cold chain logistics operations maintained steady growth, with the market scale continuing to expand.

2. By the end of 2025, the total assets of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly administered by the central government exceeded 95 trillion yuan. In 2025, they achieved a total profit of RMB 2.5 trillion, completed fixed-asset investments of RMB 5.1 trillion, and paid RMB 2.5 trillion in taxes and fees.

3. In 2025, China's imports and exports with Central and Eastern European countries amounted to RMB 1,088.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.5 percent, marking 10 consecutive years of growth. In terms of exports, mechanical and electrical products accounted for nearly 70 percent, with electric vehicle exports growing by 79.2 percent. On the import side, dairy products and aircraft parts grew by 32.9 percent and 71.3 percent, respectively.

4. China's electronic information manufacturing sector achieved rapid growth in 2025, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The value-added industrial output of major companies in the sector rose 10.6 percent year on year in 2025. This growth rate was 4.7 percentage points higher than the country's overall industrial output and 1.2 percentage points higher than that of the high-tech manufacturing sector.

5. According to the National Energy Administration, by the end of 2025, China's installed capacity of new energy storage grew by 84 percent compared with the end of 2024 and surged more than 40 times compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, achieving leapfrog development.

6. China's software industry saw a rapid expansion in 2025, reporting double-digit growth in terms of revenues. The total revenues of the sector soared 13.2 percent year on year to more than RMB 15.48 trillion (about USD 2.22 trillion) last year. The sub-sector of information technology services raked in RMB 10.64 trillion of revenues in 2025, up 14.7 percent year on year, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

7. The latest data from the State Taxation Administration shows that in 2025, the shopping experience for inbound tourism continued to improve. The number of overseas tourists processing tax refunds increased by 305 percent year-on-year, while the sales of tax-refunded goods and the amount of tax refunds both grew by 95.9 percent and 95.8 percent, respectively.

8. China's shipbuilding industry maintained the world's largest market share in terms of three major indicators for the 16th consecutive year in 2025, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The country's shipbuilding output, new orders and holding orders accounted for 56.1 percent, 69 percent, and 66.8 percent of the global market share, respectively.

9. Data from the China Electricity Council shows that in 2025, newly added electricity generation from wind, solar, and biomass accounted for 97.1 percent of the newly added electricity consumption in China, becoming the main contributor to the growth in electricity consumption. The capacity of green electricity continued to strengthen, accelerating the transition to low-carbon energy.

10. The latest data from the China National Light Industry Council reveals that in 2025, the added value of large-scale light industry enterprises in China increased by 5.3 percent year-on-year, achieving operating revenue of RMB 23 trillion. The operating revenue profit margin stood at 6.04 percent, which was 0.73 percentage points higher than that of large-scale industrial enterprises and 1.34 percentage points higher than that of the manufacturing sector.