The National Development and Reform Commission recently announced a pilot program for increasing rural and urban residents' incomes, which includes a special incentive plan and income surveillance program. In addition, an evaluation system for income distribution will be established, in order to deepen income distribution system reform.

Each province or region is to recommend one or two local areas to pilot the program. According to the official website of the development and reform commission in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, pilot programs to increase urban and rural residents' incomes have been carried out in the region since the beginning of April.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a document last year that aims to double urban and rural residents' incomes by 2020 from the levels in 2010.

The government is introducing preferential income distribution policies for seven key groups including technicians, new type of professional farmers, small and micro entrepreneurs, civil servants at the grassroots level and those rural laborers in poverty-stricken areas.

Mass entrepreneurship and innovation are to be further promoted in order to create more market space and employment, as well as a more open and fair mechanism and competition environment, and to expand the middle income group.