President Xi Jinping called for more efforts to boost the development of rural areas and promote more urban and rural integration.

Even if the number of people living in cities reaches 70 percent of the population, 400 million to 500 million people will still live in rural areas. Those regions must not become deserted and remain only as hometowns in people's memories, Xinhua News Agency quoted Xi as saying.

In 2012, about 52 percent of the Chinese population lived in urban areas, a 20 percent increase from the early 1980s, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.