Beautiful Village construction in Anji [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Anji county in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, the birthplace of Beautiful Village in China, in 2008 put forward the theory that a county's construction should be considered as a large-scale planned scenic area, with each village a unique scenic spot to build up and every house an artistic work to renovate.

A total of 187 villages in Anji included in the project were supposed to exemplify the concept that "every village is beautiful; every family has entrepreneurship, every place is in harmony and every villager is happy".

In 2015, a national standard, the 12-chapter Construction Guidelines of Beautiful Village, was drafted by the Anji county government to facilitate Beautiful Village construction on a more standardized path.