4. We bolstered the foundations of agricultural and rural development and made advances toward balanced development between urban and rural areas and between regions.

Throughout the year we vigorously developed modern agriculture, steadily promoted a new type of people-centered urbanization, optimized the spatial planning of economic development, and took new steps in balancing development between urban and rural areas and between different regions.

1) Agriculture and rural areas showed good development momentum.

Investment related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers was further increased, and the development of agricultural infrastructure was supported. We oversaw the orderly transfer of land operation rights, leading to the transfer of around 30% of contracted land-use rights in rural areas. We formulated an overall plan to control serious agricultural environmental pollution, guidelines on establishing demonstration zones for ecological conservation and improvement, a plan to reform state forestry farms, and guidelines on reforming state forestry areas. Total grain output grew for the 11th consecutive year, reaching 607 million metric tons. Production of agricultural and sideline products, including meat, eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables, and fish, remained stable. We guaranteed the provision of safe drinking water for over 66 million more rural residents, renovated dilapidated houses for 2.66 million rural households, and reduced the number of rural population living in poverty by 12.32 million.

2) A new type of urbanization was advanced in an active yet prudent way.

We issued and implemented a national plan on a new type of urbanization, and carried out supporting policies such as a plan to reform the household registration system and a scheme for fulfilling the three tasks, each concerning 100 million people: granting urban residency to around 100 million people who have moved to cities from rural areas, rebuilding run-down areas and "villages" inside cities where around 100 million people live, and guiding the process of urbanization of around 100 million rural residents in the central and western regions. Comprehensive trials for a new type of urbanization were launched in two provinces and 62 cities or towns. Standards for classifying cities based on their population were fine-tuned. The percentage of the population residing permanently in urban areas was 54.77%. The percentage of the population registered as permanent urban residents is estimated to have reached 36.7%.

3) Regional development became more balanced.

We accelerated the implementation of the "Three Major Strategies": the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road ("One Belt and One Road" strategy); the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; and the development of the Yangtze River economic belt. We finalized plans for advancing the "One Belt and One Road" strategy, steadily launching pragmatic cooperation in a wide range of areas. We completed the functional zoning of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and established the plan for its coordinated development, and made initial breakthroughs in three key areas of integrated transportation, environmental protection, and industrial upgrading and relocating. We issued and implemented guidelines on stimulating the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, which revolve around making use of the Yangtze's role as a golden waterway, and launched the plan to build an integrated multidimensional transportation corridor along the Yangtze River economic belt. A total of 33 key projects for the large-scale development of China's western region were launched, representing a total investment of 835.3 billion yuan; and a list of industries encouraged for development in the western region was released and put into effect. Guidelines concerning a number of major policies and measures to support the revitalization of northeast China in the near future were issued, and progress was made in the transformation of cities once dependent on resources that are now depleted. Continued efforts were made to establish the central region as a national integrated transport hub and as a center for production of grain, energy, and raw materials, and the development of modern equipment manufacturing and high-tech industries. The regions' developmental layout consisting of two east-west and two north-south economic belts was further improved. The economic transformation of the eastern region gained momentum, and continued to spur on the development of the Chinese economy. Increased economic support was provided for old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, poor areas, and especially contiguous areas with acute difficulties.