Echoing the call from the central government to build a new socialist countryside, the government of Lanshan District of Linyi in East China's Shandong Province launched a programme to encourage local women to participate in the movement.

With the theme "building a new hometown," the programme aims to strengthen interactive co-operation between urban and rural areas, therefore helping boost the rural economy.

Various groups of female volunteers in the city were accordingly organized to help women in rural areas to become affluent.

"The volunteers try to establish sisterly ties with their counterparts in the countryside and provide them with projects and financial assistance. They also seek job opportunities for them and provide them with instant market information," said Chen Hailing, vice-chairwoman of a local women's organization at the project-launching ceremony.

Li Feng, in Tanzhuang Village, together with three other female villagers, received 6,000 breeder hens donated by the volunteer group of the Zaogoutou Township Local Taxation Station at the ceremony.

"I am really grateful to have so many breeder hens," Li said excitedly.

In addition, Linyi Fenghua Breeding Poultry Economic Co-operation, a women's economic co-operation organization in the district, also gave the rural women strong back-up by selling them breeder hens at a preferential price and providing them with a one-stop service for free, including free feed and free epidemic prevention.

The local government continues to blaze new trails to build the new socialist countryside, which has been written into its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

The central government seeks to promote rural development with the programme of "building a socialist new countryside," which aims to improve agricultural production, ethos, living standards, appearance and public administration in the rural areas.