Building on anti-poverty success, China turns to rural vitalization

A woman poses for a photo amid cole flowers in Longquan Village of Xiushui Township in Anzhou of Mianyang, southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 14, 2021. [Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing]

Building on its experience and success in the poverty fight, China is ready to take on a new challenge.

BEIJING -- From launching massive reforms to adopting targeted alleviation measures, China has explored a unique course to end extreme poverty and now that a complete victory has been secured, the country is rolling up its sleeves for a new mission to propel rural vitalization.

The world's largest developing country has achieved the complete eradication of extreme poverty, raising more than 770 million people out of poverty since its reform and opening up in the late 1970s.

According to the World Bank standard, this figure accounted for more than 70 percent of the global total over the same period, said a white paper released Tuesday by the State Council Information Office.

A report titled "Chinese Poverty Alleviation Studies: A Political Economy Perspective" released by New China Research, the think tank of Xinhua News Agency, has summarized foreign experts' views on the lessons the world can learn from China's success into the "Five Ds": Determined Leadership, Detailed Blueprint, Development Oriented, Data-based Governance and Decentralized Delivery.

Building on its experience and success in the poverty fight, China is ready to take on a new challenge.

"Removing the label of extreme poverty is not the end, but the beginning of a new life and a new journey," the white paper stressed, vowing to continue to consolidate the results of poverty elimination, dovetail new measures with rural vitalization, and pool more resources to energize the countryside.

In an important move to enable a smooth transition into rural vitalization, China in February unveiled a new government body -- the National Administration for Rural Vitalization -- to shift its policy focus to further boosting rural areas.

Aerial photo taken on June 18, 2019 shows a road on Banshan Mountain in Wuxiang County of north China's Shanxi Province. [Xinhua/Zhan Yan]

China will roll out more than 30 policies to ensure the resources leveraged for intensive poverty elimination are redirected toward an extensive drive for rural vitalization, Wang Zhengpu, head of the administration, told a press conference on Tuesday.

China is reviewing, adjusting, optimizing and improving existing support policies for poverty alleviation, said Wang, pledging to keep policies consistent and stable as part of efforts to prevent people from falling back into poverty.

Official data show that the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line were all lifted out of poverty over the past eight years. All of the 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 impoverished villages were also removed from the poverty list.

China's counties have been given a five-year grace period from the day they emerged from poverty, during which they will continue to enjoy the main support policies for poverty alleviation.

To prevent any relapses, China has put in place a long-term mechanism for dynamic monitoring of any trends indicating a return to poverty and regular checks on key groups, according to Wang.

Follow-up support will be strengthened for the relocated population, with targeted efforts to develop industries, create jobs and improve infrastructure and public services.

While ensuring those who emerged from poverty see no setbacks, the government work report this year has pledged to advance rural vitalization on all fronts and improve the new urbanization strategy during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

By 2035, China will have achieved basic socialist modernization. With decisive progress in rural vitalization by that time, agriculture and rural areas will be modernized and fundamentally restructured, according to the white paper.

The country will become a great modern socialist country in every dimension by 2050, realizing the Second Centenary Goal and fully vitalizing the countryside.

"At that time, China will have strong agriculture, a beautiful and vitalized countryside, and prosperous farmers, enjoying across-the-board progress in society and the economy, and thriving endeavors in every sector," the white paper said.