Rural vitalization reaping bountiful harvest; farmer incomes up

China has made great strides in rural vitalization over the past five years, and the nation will take solid steps to promote more balanced development across the nation, the country's top economic regulator said on Wednesday.

Wu Xiao, director of the Department of Rural Economy at the National Development and Reform Commission, said the country has made considerable progress in promoting integrated urban-rural development and will make more efforts to narrow the gap between urban and rural development.

He said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday that outstanding loans to agriculture and rural areas stood at 47.1 trillion yuan ($6.5 trillion) as of the end of June this year, up 52.2 percent over the end of 2017.And outstanding inclusive loans to agriculture and rural areas reached 9.91 trillion yuan, 94.5 percent higher compared to end-2017.