China needs to make great efforts to improve the living environment in rural areas, Vice-Premier Wang Yang stressed at a conference in Guilin city, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Nov 5.

Wang emphasized that improving the living environment in rural areas is part of the efforts to narrow the gap and achieve coordinated development between urban and rural areas.

He called for other regions to learn from the success of areas like Guangxi, which made substantial progress in building clean and eco-friendly villages.

Wang said county-level governments should play a major role in making villages better places to live.