A delegation of young people from the Taiwan region led by Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang, on Thursday morning paid a visit to Harbin City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, to participate in a cross-Strait youth ice and snow festival.
The festival, scheduled to take place from Dec 18 to 24 in Harbin and other cities in Heilongjiang, features a range of activities, including the screening and awarding of short videos created by young people from both sides of the Strait, alongside immersive winter sports experiences.
At the Sun Island scenic spot in Harbin, Ma, together with Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, picked up tools to experience snow sculpture making. Despite the chilling temperature, the beauty of the ice and snow and the warm welcome extended by the "Ice City" made the delegation members excited and eager to know more about the mainland.
"The scenery in north China is very beautiful, which is completely different from Taiwan. I want to have a travel across the three provinces in northeast China," said a young man from Taiwan.
This visit marks Ma Ying-jeou's third time leading a delegation of young people from Taiwan to visit the mainland in the past two years, and it is also the second time this year.
Taiwan youth delegation participates in ice and snow festival in Harbin
The all-around rural revitalization is crucial for both developed regions and those that have shaken off poverty, with new growth drivers emerging for rural areas, said an expert when interpreting the annual central rural work conference held in Beijing from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The conference emphasized the need to learn from and apply the experience from the Green Rural Revival Program to advance rural revitalization in all respects.
In June 2003, east China's Zhejiang Province launched the Green Rural Revival Program, which plans to renovate about 10,000 incorporated villages and transform about 1,000 central villages among them into examples of moderate prosperity in all respects.
Ye Xingqing, a senior researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said all-around rural revitalization can be comprehended from various dimensions.
First, the revitalization encompasses various aspects such as economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological development, along with Party building. Second, the measures to promote rural revitalization are also comprehensive, including revitalization in industries, organizations, talents, ecology, and culture, according to the expert.
"An important element of all-around rural revitalization is that, in terms of regions, both developed regions and those pulled out of poverty are faced with the new task of rural revitalization. Especially in regions lifted out of poverty, it is essential to align efforts to consolidate achievements in the battle against poverty with those to promote all-around rural revitalization," Ye said.
As the focus of work related to agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents shifts towards promoting all-around rural revitalization, a series of new changes has taken place in China's agriculture and rural areas in recent years, and new growth drivers for rural areas are gradually taking shape.
"This includes new business models, such as the use of digital and smart technologies to transform traditional industries, which many regions are embracing. There have also been new developments in boosting rural consumption and investment markets. For instance, in the first to third quarters of 2024, retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas have shown a growth rate surpassing that of urban areas," Ye said.
All-around rural revitalization vital for developed and previously impoverished regions: expert
