Huge gains in agricultural efficiency have emancipated huge numbers of rural laborers from the land, thus laying the basis for the development of farmer-run township enterprises whose competitively priced goods and services sell well across China. They are involved in many sectors, e.g. industry, agricultural products processing, transportation and communications, construction, commerce and catering.

By 2004, 22.13 million township enterprises, with 138.66 million employees had generated 4,181.5 billion yuan in added value, a 13.9 percent increase over 2003.

Now the driving force behind the increase in farmers' income and rural economic development, township enterprises have created job opportunities for about 30 percent of rural laborers to date.