For 72-year-old Shao Zhiyi, a farmer from Zhitang village in Quzhou, his lackadaisical stubbornness in demolishing the unregistered and nonconforming steel shed in his backyard shifted overnight, after a live video conference broadcast throughout Quzhou depicted the scenic and futuristic changes coming to the local countryside.

"Sorry for my previous unwillingness, and you are welcome to help dismantle the shed anytime so as to ensure the village will be a picturesque place," Shao wrote in a note to the village head even before the conference concluded on June 10.

The next morning, Shao pulled down the 5-square-meter shed with the help of his fellow villagers.

"The yard got neater, and I was so relieved," he said.

The change in Shao's yard is just one of thousands that have occurred in Quzhou, a prefecture-level city in west Zhejiang province. 

Since 2003 - when then Party chief of Zhejiang Xi Jinping launched the Green Rural Revival Program, with ecological development at its core - face-lift changes have taken place throughout Zhejiang, transforming the once-polluted rural area into green miracles acknowledged at the global stage.

"We've been focusing on the upgrading of rural houses and comprehensive ecosystem improvements of small towns in building the countryside of Quzhou," said Xu Wenguang, Party chief of Quzhou. Xu added that half of the city's 2.6 million people live in small towns, and Quzhou was the first in the province to adopt small town eco-rectification.

China has recently launched a pilot demonstration of rural governance and the establishment of demonstration villages and towns in rural governance, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

As part of the program, 100 county-level areas throughout the country will be chosen to explore replicable practices in rural governance. In addition, 100 townships and 1,000 villages will be selected as good examples in rural governance.

Zhang Tianzuo, director of the rural cooperative economic guidance department of the ministry, said local governments are encouraged to actively innovate and take bold actions to form replicable practices.