In the smart greenhouses of Shouguang City, Shandong Province, sensors monitor temperature and humidity in real time, networks remotely control irrigation and fertilization, and artificial intelligence is gradually being integrated into every stage of vegetable production; in front of the camera, livestream host Zhang Jing is selling local specialty agricultural products such as cream cucumbers and premium tomatoes to customers nationwide through online broadcasts.
From sensors in the fields to orders on mobile phones, and to a remote medical consultation, digital technology is being woven into more and more scenarios of rural production and daily life. Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the Digital Village High-Quality Development Action Plan (2026–2030), which sets out the goals, tasks, and implementation pathways for advancing digital village development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, aiming to accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas driven by informatization and promote comprehensive rural revitalization.
Smart Agriculture Activates New Momentum for Industry
Removing the lotus seed pod, peeling off the shell, taking out the lotus plumule, then quick-freezing for freshness and sealing into bags — the entire processing flow for a single white lotus seed takes less than ten minutes. In Toubi Town, Guangchang County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, digital technology has already entered multiple stages of the white lotus industry. Every day, 2,500 kilograms of quick-frozen fresh lotus seeds are shipped from here to destinations across the country. Relying on the visual management and control of digital cold storage, the local area has broken through the seasonal concentration of white lotus market supply and achieved stable year-round supply, with per-mu income increasing by more than 10%.
"We use ultra-low-temperature quick-freezing technology to lock in freshness, and through digital systems we precisely regulate gas composition and freezing temperature, fully preserving the unique soft, glutinous, fresh, and sweet flavor and nutritional components of Guangchang white lotus without adding any preservatives," introduced Chen Xiaowang, head of Guangchang County Zhenwang Agricultural Development Co., Ltd.
To further promote the digital development of agriculture, the Action Plan proposes accelerating the construction of smart agriculture, accelerating the organic integration of good farmland, good seeds, good machinery, good methods, and digitalization, focusing on key regions and key crop varieties, and integrating and promoting a batch of digital-intelligent solutions for large-scale yield improvement of major crops. At the same time, it calls for strengthening agricultural science and technology innovation, and achieving breakthroughs in key core technologies such as agricultural sensors, specialized chips, core algorithms, robots, and intelligent design breeding tools.
In the core production area of Anxi, Fujian Province, smart tea gardens are transforming a planting method that has lasted for thousands of years. IoT devices monitor soil moisture, light, and temperature in real time, enabling precise irrigation and scientific management. In the tea processing stage, informatized, digitalized, and intelligent Wuyi tea fine-processing production lines operate 24 hours a day, completing fully automated intelligent manufacturing from raw material intake to finished product. Digital technology is gradually permeating the entire process of agricultural production and operation.
Liu Chengyong, Party Secretary of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated that as digital technology deeply diffuses into the agricultural and rural sectors, revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading are becoming important drivers for developing new quality productive forces in agriculture, helping to build a modern agricultural system characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality.
Rural E-Commerce Smooths the Road from Village to City
The internet breaks down geographical barriers, connecting agricultural products with consumers. According to statistics, in 2025, rural online retail sales exceeded 3 trillion yuan, an increase of 67.6% compared to the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period. After consumers place orders, how can agricultural products be shipped out of villages in a timely manner? How are warehousing, logistics, and sales links connected? These issues affect the marketability of agricultural products.
To this end, the Action Plan proposes promoting the quality and efficiency improvement of rural e-commerce, advancing the "Internet Plus" project for agricultural products to leave villages and enter cities, and facilitating the smooth sale of agricultural products. It calls for optimizing the rural e-commerce circulation system, promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of county-level logistics distribution centers and township express delivery outlets, and, on the premise of ensuring safety, promoting low-altitude logistics on an as-needed and orderly basis. It also calls for strengthening the construction of village-level comprehensive delivery and logistics service stations.
Beside a rice field in Huangbao Village, Zhongchao Town, Liping County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, Yang Xiuyin, the resident first secretary, holds up a phone stand and points it at the camera to promote freshly harvested sweet potatoes. He follows farmers to the fields to harvest, uses the camera to record the entire process from digging to steaming the sweet potatoes, and then shares it through online platforms. "In the past, sweet potatoes that couldn't be sold were used to feed chickens and fish. Now they can be sold online for money — I never would have dared to imagine it," a villager remarked.
What digital technology connects is not only agricultural products, but also rural culture and tourism resources. The Action Plan proposes deepening the integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism, and carrying out digital enhancement initiatives for rural tourism and initiatives to upgrade "small yet beautiful" cultural and tourism formats in rural areas. Resources that were once hidden in the countryside will reach further through digital technology.
In Huangshan City, Anhui Province, the ancient villages of Xidi and Hongcun in southern Anhui have created dedicated digital archives for ancient buildings through digital documentation, preserving the architectural textures and human stories of the ancient villages, allowing thousand-year-old villages to continue to thrive. In Chudonggua Village, Santaishan De'ang Ethnic Township, Mangshi City, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, the craft of making sour tea has been recorded in a digital resource database, and VR technology is used to recreate the complete production process. An ancient building, a traditional craft — each becomes an object of digital display and dissemination, and digitalization gives rural resources more opportunities to be "seen."
Digital Dividends Enhance People's Well-Being
The changes brought by digital villages are not limited to fields and livestreaming rooms. For many rural residents, digital technology is making public services such as education, healthcare, and culture more convenient. The Action Plan proposes promoting the widespread application of digital education in rural areas, deepening the application of the national smart education platform for primary and secondary schools, and extending quality educational resources to rural and remote areas; promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence with rural education, encouraging qualified rural schools to deploy and apply intelligent education terminals, educational intelligent agents, and other tools, and advancing general AI education.
In Gansu, addressing the shortage of arts, foreign language, and other course resources in some rural schools, the "Digital Teaching Support" project connects university normal students with rural schools through online courses. The project targets rural schools in key national rural revitalization assistance counties such as Dongxiang Autonomous County and Jishishan Bao'an, Dongxiang, and Salar Autonomous County, offering courses in English, music, art, and other subjects. The "Digital Teaching Support" project has covered 341 primary and secondary schools across 18 counties and districts in the province, with a cumulative total of 504,600 student attendances.
The same is true in the healthcare sector. The Action Plan proposes enhancing rural digital health service capabilities. It calls for improving the telemedicine service network, especially in remote ethnic minority areas, and promoting the downward flow of quality medical resources. It also calls for optimizing the configuration of intelligent medical insurance terminals in rural areas, providing rural residents with quality and convenient medical insurance services.
In Urad Middle Banner, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, pastoral areas are vast, and in the past herders often had to travel long distances to see a doctor. Since last year, the local area has deployed grassland cloud medical vehicles equipped with diagnostic and treatment equipment and 5G remote diagnosis and treatment systems, which can connect online with experts from banner hospitals, allowing residents to enjoy high-level medical services at their doorstep.
From industry and daily life to grassroots governance, the application scenarios of digital technology continue to expand. Wang Jiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies, stated that China's digital villages are accelerating toward a high-quality development stage, and it is necessary to better empower the transformation and upgrading of rural production, daily life, and governance methods with digital technology, promote the basic modernization of rural living conditions, and continuously meet the new expectations of farmers for a better life.