As the Lunar New Year holiday is around the corner, a nationwide event promoting China's rural tourism and products kicked off at the China National Arts & Crafts Museum in Beijing on Friday.

Co-sponsored by departments of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Rural Revitalization Administration, and the All-China Women's Federation, the event is jointly organized by China Cultural Media Group and China Media Group.

The event, featuring publicity campaigns, video exhibitions, and non-profit live-streaming sales, aims to give the public an overview of the beautiful scenery of China's rural areas and inspire them to purchase quality agricultural products for Spring Festival celebrations, according to the organizers. This would help increase the income of farmers, meet people's material and cultural needs during the festival, and enable both rural and urban residents to enjoy the fruit of China's rural revitalization.

A medley of agricultural products such as tea, honey, and dried sea food, as well as handicrafts, including paper cuts, huamo, or decorated steamed buns, embroidered handbags, and shadow play paraphernalia, were on display at the launch ceremony.

128 hand-picked rural tourism routes covering all Chinese provinces were rolled out at the ceremony and are now available on the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The routes feature folk customs, festivities, snow views and ice sports, local delicacies, and family-friendly tours during the Spring Festival holiday.

At the ceremony, video calls were made with three villages – Dazhai village in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the Jingzhu village in Chongqing municipality, and the Xilinguole League in Inner Mongolia autonomous region – to showcase their tourism resources, agricultural products, and local specialties.

The event organizers also teamed up with hospitality industry associations, media outlets, online travel agencies, social media platforms, e-commerce platforms, and navigations apps, to plan activities and develop products to engage the public with rural tourism and products, online and offline.