The Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development ("MOHURD") has recently released the Circular on Directing and Supporting Design Services Towards the Rural Areas (the "Circular").
The Circular states that, with the focus on implementing tasks set out in the Three-Year Action Plan for Improving the Rural Living Environment, efforts will be made to instruct and inspire designers, specialized in such fields as the planning, construction, landscape, municipal public utilities and cultural planning, to provide their services in rural areas, aiming to greatly raise the level of rural planning and construction. To this end, the Circular sets out requirements in six aspects. The first is properly determining major tasks of making design services accessible in rural areas, in consideration of local actual situations. The second is exploring ways of forming organizations that will offer all-round and all-industry design services in rural areas. The third is arranging for and motivating design workforces from different sources to offer their services in rural areas. The fourth is promoting the form of countryside-oriented design services that will be jointly planned, developed, managed, evaluated and shared. The fifth is paying attention to hunting and cultivating rural craftsmen and other local adepts with particular skills. The sixth is developing the service platforms. In particular, the Circular clearly states that, design services oriented to rural areas shall include but be not limited to the planning and design of village construction, construction of facilities intended for treating garbage and sewage and the operation and maintenance thereof, design and construction of farmhouses, training of rural craftsmen, and the development of the long-term management mechanism.