In this picture taken on Sept 7, 2017, people relax on a street in a migrant village on the outskirts of Beijing. (NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP)
BEIJING - China has made remarkable progress in its poverty
alleviation work during the past five years, winning the toughest of the tough
battles.
GREAT STRIDES
"The number of people living below the
poverty line in China has been reduced by an average of 13 million each year
since 2012," Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of
Poverty Alleviation and Development, said at a press conference held by the
State Council Information Office Tuesday.
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After launching large-scale poverty relief programs in 1986, China lifted 6.39 million people out of poverty annually in the last 15 years of the 20th century
The country lifted 6.39
million people out of poverty annually in the last 15 years of the 20th century,
after launching large-scale poverty relief programs in 1986.
During the
first decade of this century, the population living below the poverty line
decreased by an annual average of 6.73 million.
Priorities such as
targeted poverty alleviation have also gained ground. But despite progress,
major difficulties still face people living in deep poverty.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping called for enhanced and solid efforts to win the battle
against poverty at a meeting held in Beijing Monday to honor people who have
made great contributions to poverty relief.
Although remarkable
progress has been made since the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central
Committee made a solemn promise to lift all rural people out of poverty by 2020,
Xi said, all-out efforts should be made toward poverty relief, as it is the
toughest of all battles.
Xi himself has completed more than 30 field
tours on poverty alleviation during past five years and hosted five
inter-provincial meetings at locations including
Fuping County in north China's
Hebei Province.
FUPING SAMPLE
At remote villages in the county,
locals experienced the changes following a visit by Xi Jinping in December 2012,
shortly after he was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
"The general secretary said during his tour to our village that he
would like us to get rid of poverty and become better off as soon as possible.
Today, I want to let him know that we've made it," said Gu Chenghu, a villager
from Gujiatai village in Fuping County, Hebei Province.
When Xi visited
Gujiatai village five years ago, Gu had nothing but a bunch of corn in his
shabby yard. He felt helpless to take care of his sick wife and son.
In
Luotuowan village, another village in Fuping County, 428 out of 608 villagers
were living in poverty when Xi visited there in 2012. In 2013, nearly half of
the residents of Fuping County were living in poverty.
Deep in the
Taihang Mountains, Fuping is one of the country's old revolutionary bases. It
has scarce fertile land, low levels of education and a high poverty rate.
During his 2012 trip to the county, Xi told officials to work hard to
help villagers in poverty live better lives as soon as possible.
In the
following four years, the country introduced 126 poverty alleviation and
development plans, including selecting more capable and suitable officials to
guide poverty relief work at different levels.
"We have selected a
group of officials in their 40s with rich work experience in rural areas and
appointed them to key posts in towns," said county party secretary Hao Guochi.
Officials were dispatched according to their abilities, according to
Hao. For example, officials with business savvy were sent to poverty-stricken
villages, while officials with specialized industrial knowledge were sent to
villages with an industrial base.
Thanks to their efforts, Gu and his
wife have gained access to social assistance programs and endowment insurance.
The family's income has also increased to more than 5,000 yuan (about 750 U.S.
dollars) from their farmland.
Gu is not the only who has pulled himself
out of poverty in Fuping. The county's registered impoverished population
dropped to 35,700 in 2016 from nearly 110,000 people in 2013.
INNOVATIVE
THINKING
For most villagers in Fuping, the obvious path out of poverty
they could imagine was through financial help from the government, which could
ease their burdens over a short period, but could never be a long-term solution.
Hopes of fundamental change came as local authorities realized the
importance of developing agricultural industries and encouraged villagers to
produce certain products and foster industries, including vegetable and fruit.
While villages are responsible for mass production, companies are
tasked with marketing and selling the products. In the process, the government
aided industry development by guiding funds to support growth and offering
agriculture insurance to create a sound security network for villagers.
READ MORE: China's poverty reduction 'model for economies in transition'
By the end of 2016, Fuping had built 3,000 greenhouses for growing mushrooms,
with the participation of more than 6,000 households. The per capita disposable
income of rural residents in Fuping has doubled to 6,542 yuan from 2012, higher
than the national average in poverty-hit areas.
Determined to win the
war against poverty, China has adopted various means to reduce poverty,
including e-commerce, financing, industry, relocation and improvement of
infrastructure.
The country is aiming to eradicate rural poverty by
2020 by lifting the remaining 55 million rural poor out of poverty, roughly 10
million each year.
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