Taizhou's Luqiao district, Xianjun county and Sanmen county were recently included in the program to transform Zhejiang province into a demonstration zone for common prosperity.

Luqiao and Xianju have been tasked with narrowing urban-rural gaps, while Sanmen will be responsible for delivering high standard public services that would be shared by all.

Luqiao has been striving to improve both collective and individual incomes in its rural areas.

Official statistics show that the total collective assets of villages in the district amounted to 7.74 billion yuan ($1.19 billion) in 2020, while their collective incomes stood at 1.18 billion yuan.

Luqiao was home to 63 commodity trading markets, among which 33 were run by villages, with a combined turnover of 45.2 billion yuan.

Xianju is renowned for planting waxberries, an industry that has been pivotal in boosting the income growth of local rural residents.

In 2020, the sales of fresh waxberries from Taizhou reached 850 million yuan, and the output value of the whole industry chain reached 2.2 billion yuan. The industry generated an additional income of 32,000 yuan for each household involved.

Xianju is currently home to more than 400 professional waxberry cooperatives and 21 large-scale wholesale markets. It also boasts a 10,000-ton waxberry deep processing production line with an annual capacity of nearly 40,000 tons.

Sanmen county is leading Taizhou in the reform of social support for the needy.

The county has set the goal of increasing the current minimum living security standard to 10,560 yuan. The figure is expected to increase to 13,000 yuan by 2025.

Minimum living security standard refers to the minimum amount of income considered necessary to make an adequate living.