With ancient temples, old alleys and caravansaries, Shaxi in Jianchuan county, Yunnan province, has become a tourist hot spot. (YANG ZHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY)

Authorities in Southwest China's Yunnan province have issued guidelines on launching a "beautiful counties" project.

In the next three years, 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) will be raised to help build a batch of beautiful counties with distinctive features, good functions and good environment, according to the guidelines.

A total of 21 key areas to be improved have been mentioned in the guidelines, including the toilet revolution, public facility building and preserving cultural heritage.

This year, about 20 qualified "beautiful counties" will be selected, while about 40 will be selected in 2020 and 2022 respectively.