China's top ten outstanding villages were selected at a national forum on rural communities construction, held in Dazhai Village, north China's Shanxi Province, Sunday.

On top of the list are Huaxi Village, dubbed the No. 1 village of China, in eastern Jiangsu Province, and Dazhai Village, a model village in the 1950s which sees rejuvenation through industrial development nowadays.

Also selected among the top ten are Xiaogang Village, forerunner of China's rural reform in Anhui Province, Huayuan Village of Zhejiang Province, which boosts economy through sciences and technology, and Jinshun Village of Jiangxi Province, which booms with tourism.

The others are Hancunhe Village in suburban Beijing, Nanjie Village in central Henan Province, Jiuxinghe Village in suburban Shanghai, Fubao Village of Yunnan Province, and Tengtou Village of Zhejiang Province.

All these villages are selected for their success in achieving economic booms through their typical ways to develop the local economy, according to the organizing committee of the Fifth National Forum on Rural Communities Construction.

Ten outstanding village heads were also named at the forum for their contributions to regional economic development. Villages led by the ten outstanding village heads all boast economic booms.

Currently, China has 680,000 villages headed by five million village officials.

The three-day national forum on rural communities construction is aimed to promote exchanges and cooperation among the rural areas in east, central and west China, according to the organizing committee.

The participants will also touch such topics as how to build industrialized villages with distinct characteristics and how rich villages join hands with poor ones in poverty reduction.

Some 200 experts and scholars of rural development and agriculture officials are also present at the forum which began on Saturday.

Founded in 2000, the forum is aimed at providing a platform for exchange of experience among the village heads throughout the country so as to increase the influence of the countryside on government policy making.

The participants in the current forum are expected to sign a "Dazhai Declaration," the first communique signed by China's village officials, when the forum concludes.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)