An aerial view of Tengtou village in Fenghua district, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on April 9. The village is known for its ecological development. [Photo/IC]

Zhejiang province unveiled its first batch of 94 provincial-level key villages for 2026 at a meeting on rural cluster development in Fenghua district, Ningbo, on May 8.

The province also released a list outlining the resources and needs of village clusters built around provincial-level key villages, as it seeks to attract operators, projects, and talent.

Matou village in Qiucun town, Fenghua district, is among the newly selected villages. It is part of the Haiyun Yuge cluster, which includes Matou, a village with a history of more than 1,000 years, and Taokeng, a pet-themed village.

The cluster has 6.8 kilometers of coastline, as well as historic houses, reservoirs, and other resources. It is looking for professional rural operation teams, new projects, and young talent to enrich local tourism and consumption offerings.

Zhejiang began exploring rural cluster development in 2018. Since last year, the province has launched three batches of 320 provincial-level key village clusters, supporting development in 5,364 surrounding villages.

Data show that 75 percent of the clusters focus on specialty agriculture, 90 percent have introduced rural operations, and 96 percent have established benefit-sharing mechanisms. Within the clusters, 60 percent of administrative villages have connected infrastructure, and 96 percent now give residents access to essential daily services within about 20 minutes.

Some gaps remain. This year, Zhejiang included the renovation and upgrading of 10,000 rural public parking spaces in its provincial tasks. The province is directing new rural parking facilities toward clustered areas first, while adding public electric-vehicle charging facilities.