On April 26, the 2025 Tongzhou Kaicao Festival series of urban activities officially opened in Beijing's city sub-center. This year's festival, themed "Kaicao Connects the World, Opening Brings Bliss," features an academic discussion session for the first time. The opening ceremony also unveiled a series of achievements, including the Grand Canal Rural Revitalization Index. Executive Vice Dean Zhu Xinkai of Renmin University of China attended the event.

In 2024, the research team led by Zhu Xinkai released China's first Rural Revitalization Index, which has sparked strong reactions across society. The index closely aligns with President Xi Jinping's call to "mobilize the entire Party and society to promote rural revitalization," benchmarks against the overarching goal of "basically achieving modernization in agriculture and rural areas," and focuses on the grand vision of "strong agriculture, beautiful countryside, and prosperous farmers." Based on extensive surveys in multiple provinces, the team organized domestic and international experts for joint research, proposing a multi-dimensional index system that systematically evaluates the level and potential of rural revitalization at provincial, municipal, and county levels, along with case studies of regional examples. This lays an important data foundation for building an independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences in the field of rural revitalization and producing leading academic achievements.

The Grand Canal Rural Revitalization Index is the first rural revitalization index based on the banks of a river basin. Under the strategic background of promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, the contemporary value of the Grand Canal has shifted from a single focus on agricultural production and cultural heritage to a multidimensional composite system that integrates empowerment across the entire agricultural industry chain, reconfiguration of rural space, and cultivation of farmers 'cultural identity. This system plays a crucial role in advancing comprehensive rural revitalization. Over three years, the China Institute of Rural Revitalization at Renmin University of China and the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development have developed a three-tier rural revitalization index for the Grand Canal region, covering provincial, municipal, and county levels. This initiative represents an academic exploration and applied practice of Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the field of rural revitalization, featuring three key characteristics: "attempting to use a unified evaluation framework to provide quantitative references for the progress of rural revitalization,"  "systematically researching and setting target values for rural revitalization by 2035," and "conducting independent third-party evaluations based on publicly available data."

The project leader, Associate Professor Chen Chuanbo from the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, released the research findings on rural revitalization in the Grand Canal Basin. The study shows that the level of rural revitalization in provincial administrative regions within the Grand Canal Basin leads the national average. In 2022, the average rural revitalization index for provincial administrative regions in the Grand Canal Basin was 83.5, significantly higher than the national average of 72.5. Among the top 5 provincial administrative regions in the national rural revitalization index, four are from the Grand Canal Basin, demonstrating a leading and exemplary role, steadily advancing toward the goal of "making decisive progress in rural revitalization and basically achieving modernization of agriculture and rural areas" by 2035. The average index for prefecture-level cities and counties in the Grand Canal Basin is notably higher than the national average.

The release of the "Grand Canal Basin Rural Revitalization Index" is one of the series of urban activities for the Tongzhou Kaicao Festival in 2025. It is co-organized by the China Institute of Rural Revitalization at Renmin University of China, the Tongzhou Campus Management Department, and the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. Together, they aim to inject new momentum into the construction of Beijing's city sub-center and the high-quality development of the capital, contributing to the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas and the building of a strong agricultural country.