Tourism, Talent, Takings: Shanghai's Comprehensive Rural Revitalization Moves

Shanghai is poised to further boost its rural development with a basket of measures, ranging from tourism promotion and landscape improvement to talent cultivation and income enhancement, officials said today at a press conference.

The measures, which also include financial support for agro-businesses, development of green agriculture, and improvement of supply chains, are part of a high-profile document on the city's rural revitalization drive, which was released earlier this month.

According to the document, Shanghai will throw its weight behind the building and consolidation of a rural tourism industry, while creating a series of upmarket tourism projects.

Take the ongoing "Springtime in the Countryside" festival for example. With the theme of "Harmony, Blooms and Shared Joy," the two-month gala that was launched on March 15 will introduce interested tourists to 55 rustic routes across the city, along which local agricultural food with geographical indications are displayed and traded.

Comprehensive statistics about the festival are not available yet, but initial results from a couple of bucolic villages in suburban Qingpu District show that they have seen the number of daily visitor arrivals more than double compared with ordinary days, an official responsible for the city's agriculture and rural affairs told reporters at the press conference.

Indeed, as another official pointed out, agriculture needs to be redefined to mean more than just food production; it should also serve as a source of cultural and leisure interests for people.

An urban planning official said that Shanghai will further tap into its 6,000 years of cultural heritage, including agricultural tradition, in an effort to restore its green and blue ecosystems, making the countryside a more attractive place. Blue refers to water (rivers, lakes and wetlands, etc) and green refers to vegetation (forests, parks and rooftop plants, etc).

When it comes to talent cultivation, officials said students devoted to rural development should be able to learn in the fields so that they can feel the pleasure of agricultural work. Special curricula are also being considered, in which successful rural entrepreneurs will be invited to give lectures in class and inspire students to realize their value by pursuing entrepreneurship in agriculture.

As for farmers' income, official statistics show that the per capita disposable income of Shanghai's rural permanent residents reached 48,122 yuan (US$6,968) in 2025, up 5.4 percent over the same period in the previous year. The increase was 1.4 percentage points higher than that for the per capita disposable income of urban permanent residents. As a result, the income gap between rural and urban residents was further narrowed.

Officials said that further efforts will be made to enhance rural residents' income, including improving food supply chains, increasing land productivity per unit, and putting vacant homes to good use.

To help further develop green agriculture, blockchain technology will be used to improve traceability, accountability, and operational efficiency in agriculture – from production all the way to consumption, they suggested.

In other words, blockchain technology will help consumers to communicate directly with producers, thereby offering an example of how technology supports the development of high-quality agriculture.