Chongqing - Rural China is undergoing a quiet but steady transformation as incomes rise and new opportunities emerge beyond the fields. 

In the first half of 2025, Chongqing's rural residents reported an average disposable income of 11,845 yuan (about 1,658 USD), a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent. The pace was faster than the national average and ranked fifth nationwide. More importantly, the gap between urban and rural earnings continued to narrow, with the income ratio falling to 2.37:1 from 2.41:1 a year earlier.

The progress comes at a time of heightened uncertainty in the job market. To stabilize employment and ensure growth, Chongqing has introduced a package of measures designed to increase rural incomes. These include expanded training tailored to labor demand, subsidies for returning migrant workers, and labor-for-relief initiatives that create jobs through infrastructure and community projects. 

Over the past year, 184,000 rural residents in Chongqing secured employment closer to home, including 78,000 through labor-for-relief programs, lifting household incomes by an average of 13,000 yuan.

A villager is livestreaming sales from an okra field in Chongqing. (Photo/Visual Chongqing)

Amid these changes, individual stories illustrate how policy translates into real lives. In Chongqing Wuxi County's Changxing Village, a small factory workshop has become a stage for digital entrepreneurship. 

In a livestream at Hehang Footwear Co., 23-year-old Yao Zhongqing sold 4,000 yuan worth of handmade loofah cloth shoes in just two hours. The traditional footwear, made with the dried loofah gourd as a natural insole, is drawing fresh attention online.

Yao, a broadcasting graduate who long aspired to host online shows, was spotted earlier this year by local labor officials and her professors, who recommended her to Hehang Footwear. 

With their support, she entered a government-backed livestreaming incubation center that provides targeted training and job placements for rural workers, with specialized livestream training and technical support. By March, she had started her new role. Just four months later, she is earning more than 4,000 yuan a month—on par with many urban entry-level salaries.

"It matches my skills, the income is steady, and I can look after my family at the same time," Yao said. For policymakers, her story illustrates how rural revitalization is being powered not only by traditional industries but also by new digital platforms that connect villages to national markets.

In addition, Chongqing's broader push to revitalize rural property assets through a unified rural property rights trading platform, which recorded transactions of about 2.74 billion yuan in the first half of this year. For villagers, it means turning once-abandoned houses into a steady income stream. 

In Chongqing Beibei District's Renmin Village, farmer Zhang Yongcheng leased his 100-square-meter idle farmhouse to a local restaurateur who turned it into a combined garden hotpot and homestay business. Under the deal, Zhang secured more than 100,000 yuan in rent over eight years, while keeping a private room in the newly renovated property. 

“The share of property income among rural residents remains low,” said an official from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The city will push reforms to strengthen counties, towns, and villages, encouraging localities to explore resource contracting, property leasing, intermediary services, and asset participation to expand rural collective economies and raise farmers’ property income.

As Chongqing advances plans to expand employment support for small enterprises, build new labor brands, and create public welfare jobs for those unable to find work, rural families stand to benefit. When residents secure stable and meaningful employment, entire households gain security, fueling stronger momentum for rural revitalization.