diff --git a/.mailmap b/.mailmap
index 3938d93bf..53b5919f8 100644
--- a/.mailmap
+++ b/.mailmap
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ Jian Liao <jliao@alauda.io>
 Jian Liao <jliao@alauda.io> <liaojian@Dabllo.local>
 Ji'an Liu <anthonyliu@zju.edu.cn>
 Jie Zhang <iamkadisi@163.com>
+Jiongchi Yu <jiongchiyu@gmail.com>
 John Howard <github@lowenna.com>
 John Howard <github@lowenna.com> <john.howard@microsoft.com>
 John Howard <github@lowenna.com> <jhoward@microsoft.com>
diff --git a/releases/v1.7.0-beta.toml b/releases/v1.7.0-rc.toml
similarity index 97%
rename from releases/v1.7.0-beta.toml
rename to releases/v1.7.0-rc.toml
index 662687a85..0b72319a3 100644
--- a/releases/v1.7.0-beta.toml
+++ b/releases/v1.7.0-rc.toml
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ Some functionality in this release may be considered experimental or unstable, b
 This release still adheres to our backwards compability guarantees and users who do not use or enable new functionality should use this release with the same stability expectations.
 The previous 1.6 release has also become a long term stable release for users who prefer releases with mostly stability improvements and wish to wait a few releases for new functionality.
 
-_This is a beta release and includes some functionality which is not yet complete. While most APIs are finalized before merge, they are subject to change until the official release._
-
 ### Highlights
 
 #### Sandbox API _(experimental)_
@@ -47,7 +45,7 @@ See the [Transfer Docs](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/
 The Node Resource Interface is a common framework for plugging extensions into OCI-compatible container runtimes. It provides
 basic mechanisms for plugins to track the state of containers and to make limited changes to their configuration.
 
-This release introduces NRI v0.2.0 with an updated plugin interface to cover a wide range of use cases.
+This release introduces NRI v0.3.0 with an updated plugin interface to cover a wide range of use cases.
 
 See the [NRI Docs](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/NRI.md)
 
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index e19048163..f945c04ef 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ var (
 	Package = "github.com/containerd/containerd"
 
 	// Version holds the complete version number. Filled in at linking time.
-	Version = "1.7.0-beta.4+unknown"
+	Version = "1.7.0-rc.0+unknown"
 
 	// Revision is filled with the VCS (e.g. git) revision being used to build
 	// the program at linking time.