The Chinese government is waging a campaign to cut the country's ballooning prison population by promoting community correction as an alternative to jail.

"Community correction, especially with psychological counseling, should be promoted to better rehabilitate criminals," said Justice Minister Wu Aiying at a recent national conference, adding that it should be especially promoted in rural areas.

Wu said more than 72,000 convicted criminal had been sentenced to community correction, and the re-offending rate of the more than 20,000 who had served their sentences was less than one percent, far below the the average re-offending rate of six to eight percent.

China's prisons hold about 1.76 million inmates, according to official figures. The surging prison population puts a heavy strain on prison management.

Despite its popularity in the west, community correction was introduced to China only four years ago. It has expanded to cover 3,142 communities in 18 provincial-level regions.

Under a community correction sentence, the convict stays out of prison, but must undertake community services near their home.

Five types of offenders are eligible: people under surveillance, on parole, on probation, on temporary medical release, and those who are released but deprived of political rights.

Experts believe community correction effectively reforms criminals.

However, "public fear" is the biggest obstacle as released convicts are commonly perceived as violent and dangerous, experts say.