Measures taken by Xiangshan county, Ningbo prove effective in enhancing the living environment in rural areas. [Photo/WeChat account: nbfb0574]

The Agriculture Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently unveiled 106 counties nationwide that have shown strong progress in improving the rural living environment.

Xiangshan county in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang, was among them. The county has launched a series of measures to enhance the living environment in rural areas.

Last year, the city completed 64 pilot projects for rural sewage treatment and promoted garbage sorting across 133 villages.

It also built 218 public toilets in villages and tourist attractions and hired a total of 1,692 cleaners and sanitation workers.

A long-term rural sanitation management model has been established in the county as well.

Last year, local authorities mobilized 300,000 villagers to participate in various cleaning activities and formulated evaluation standards for village cleanliness, which are used to evaluate local officials' performance in rural revitalization.

A supervision system has also been put in place that includes regular inspections by local villagers, government officials, and third-party enterprises.

Official data showed that the Xiangshan government invested a total of 320 million yuan ($46.3 million) into the improvement of the rural living environment in 2019.

Rural construction investments from villagers and enterprises in the region totaled more than one billion yuan.