Striving for a Better Life for the People: China's Practical and Theoretical Innovations in Consolidating and Expanding Poverty Alleviation Achievement (Part 2)
Chapter Two: China's Practice in Consolidating and Expanding Poverty Alleviation Achievements
In today’s piece, we are briefing you on the second chapter of our report, “Striving for a Better Life for the People: China's Practical and Theoretical Innovations in Consolidating and Expanding Poverty Alleviation Achievement.” We would love to answer any questions you might have so be sure to drop a like, comment, and subscribe for more!
The five-year transitional period represents an institutional innovation in effectively linking the consolidation and expansion of poverty alleviation achievements with the advancement of rural revitalization. It has facilitated the shift of formerly impoverished regions from a moderately prosperous society toward shared prosperity. The fight against poverty resolved the challenge of absolute poverty and laid a solid foundation for comprehensive rural revitalization. Only by securing the gains already made can stable support be provided for rural revitalization; in turn, the full advancement of rural revitalization injects sustained momentum into poverty prevention. The two reinforce and depend on each other. The transitional period has ensured continuity of poverty reduction policies, stability of assistance, and sustainability of development. This has enabled formerly poor areas and populations to steadily progress toward the rural revitalization goals of thriving industries, livable environments, social civility, effective governance, and prosperous lives, thereby providing a robust foundation for advancing agricultural and rural modernization.
1. Mechanisms Guarding Against a Return to Poverty: Dynamic Monitoring and Targeted Support to Build a Protective Barrier
During the five-year transitional period, poverty alleviation regions in China established a regular mechanism to prevent a return to poverty, employing a stratified and categorized assistance system. For example, Guizhou Province created a dynamic monitoring and routine support mechanism for low-income populations, integrating 23 data categories across 14 departments, and linking provincial, municipal, county, and township levels. The system supports bidirectional verification and early-warning functions to prevent both omission and misidentification. In Qinglong County, Qianxinan Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou, 1,421 households (5,882 individuals) were identified for monitoring. With the help of effective support measures, the risk of relapse into poverty was eliminated for 909 households (3,816 individuals).
Preventing large-scale relapse into poverty depends on dynamic monitoring and precise interventions. In Shangnan County, Shaanxi Province, a three-tiered monitoring grid was established across the county, townships, and villages. Local "poverty prevention service windows" and hotlines were launched, and routine household visits, departmental screenings, and data cross-checks were conducted to identify and monitor at-risk groups promptly. Each household identified was promptly included in the monitoring scope and paired with a designated leader for one-on-one support, including tailored plans and timely implementation of assistance measures. The county monitored 935 households (3,025 individuals) in total, among which poverty risk was mitigated for 573 households (2,003 individuals), with no new cases of reversion to poverty across the county.
As of the end of November 2024, a cumulative total of 5.34 million individuals identified through poverty prevention monitoring nationwide had seen their risk of relapse into poverty effectively resolved. In 2024, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in counties that had been lifted out of poverty reached 17,522 yuan, marking a 6.9% increase year-on-year.
2. Infrastructure Upgrades to Bridge Gaps: Improved Connectivity and Integrated Urban-Rural Development Benefiting People's Livelihoods
To address infrastructure shortfalls, governments at all levels in China have continued to upgrade and modernize rural infrastructure. In Gansu Province, for instance, 22 out of 23 key counties designated for targeted support are now accessible by expressways; all villages in 19 counties have been connected with paved roads ahead of schedule; four counties have been recognized nationally as "Four-Good Rural Roads" demonstration counties; and the postal service now reaches 100% of administrative villages.
In Shangnan County, Shaanxi Province, significant efforts have been made to extend urban infrastructure and public services into rural areas. All administrative villages are connected by cement or asphalt roads. Safety hazards in self-built housing and risks from drinking water sourced from underground cisterns have been virtually eliminated. Express delivery services now reach every township, household electricity access is universal, fiber-optic broadband covers all administrative villages, and 128 villages or communities have built standardized clinics and senior activity centers.
Currently, all townships and administrative villages nationwide, where conditions mature, have been connected with paved roads. Over 90% of administrative villages have access to 5G services, rural tap water coverage has reached 94%, and more than 95% of administrative villages are served by courier delivery. The quality and availability of essential public services such as education, healthcare, and elderly care have continued to improve. By the end of 2024, approximately 75% of rural households were equipped with sanitary toilets, and over 90% of administrative villages had functioning systems for the collection and disposal of household waste, bringing about significant improvements in the rural living environment.
3. Stable Employment and Increased Income: Industrial Development Drives Job Expansion, Fostering Strong Momentum for Income Growth and Prosperity
Wage income remains the primary income source for households lifted out of poverty. The key to preventing a return to poverty lies in securing stable employment. Across China, local governments have made every effort to stabilize job markets and increase labor income among the rural population. In Gulang County, Gansu Province, authorities have vigorously promoted the development of factories to employ local labor by implementing preferential policies in terms of financial rewards and subsidies, tax support, and land supply. Various channels such as factories, family workshops, and cooperatives have facilitated employment for local residents in their vicinity. As a result, the per capita disposable income of farmers increased from 8,121 yuan in 2020 to 11,283 yuan in 2024.
Some regions are exploring new models of employment services to promote local employment for people lifted out of poverty. For instance, Yunnan Province is advancing the construction of a "four-in-one" grassroots public employment service system, accelerating the development of online gig marketplaces, and exploring the construction of a number of employment "Happiness Neighborhoods" catering to the service industry and the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. The province recorded 15.1418 million rural laborers in off-farm employment, of which 3.2628 million were laborers lifted out of poverty.
Emerging rural industries have also provided new channels for income growth. In many regions, farmers have harnessed e-commerce platforms to market agricultural products nationwide. Mobile phones have become "new farming tools," livestreaming a "new form of farm work," and data a "new agricultural input." Activities like countryside dining, homestays, and rural sightseeing have become popular vacation choices, allowing many formerly poor households to secure what are called "golden rice bowls." For instance, in Zhaojue County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the county integrated its scenic villages of Cliff Village, Sanhe, and Huopu into a unified rural tourism strategy, achieving a total tourism revenue of 770 million yuan in 2024. Cliff Village alone hosted over 30,000 tourists, generating 922,300 yuan in tourism income, alongside an additional 550,000 yuan from olive and navel orange production. The village collective earned 150,000 yuan in revenue, and the per capita income of residents reached 19,600 yuan. According to Ministry of Commerce data, China's rural online retail sales reached 2.56 trillion yuan in 2024, a 6.4% year-on-year increase; online sales of agricultural products grew by 15.8%.
By the first quarter of 2025, the total number of rural workers from formerly impoverished households in employment nationwide reached 30.898 million. Since the beginning of the transitional period, the 160 key counties designated to receive rural revitalization assistance have maintained stable employment scales exceeding 6 million persons annually, surpassing national targets for four consecutive years.
4. Industrial Vitalization: Distinctive and Integrated Clustered Development Benefiting Farmers to Increase Income and Efficiency
Specialty industries have continued to grow, steadily increasing the income of local people. Leveraging the Guangdong–Guangxi collaboration platform, Lizhou Yao Township in Tianlin County, Guangxi, has established 24 smart greenhouses cultivating Shine Muscat grapes. Complementary facilities, including homestays, rice-field libraries, and family-friendly recreational areas, are part of an integrated agri-cultural-tourism demonstration project. Through refined mechanisms linking and benefiting local farmers, villagers participate in these prosperity initiatives via land transfers and nearby employment. During peak farming seasons, about 300 farmer workdays are logged annually, generating an average income increase of 3,000 yuan per person per month. In 2024, grape cultivation yielded a production value of 3.5 million yuan. Over the past three years, collective income across nine participating villages increased by a cumulative 973,000 yuan. With a strong focus on specialty products and integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, Tianlin County has achieved a 98.1% coverage rate of specialty products. Per capita disposable income for rural residents rose from 14,921 yuan in 2021 to 18,692 yuan in 2024.
Similarly, Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi has capitalized on its karst world heritage landscape and natural resources to expand its ecological tourism, silk cocoon and textile, timber processing, and clean energy sectors. By 2024, the county’s GDP reached 10.852 billion yuan, marking a 77.43% increase compared to 2020, the year it was officially lifted out of poverty.
Yuanzhou District in Guyuan City, Ningxia, has leveraged its unique cool-climate conditions to build a national hub for cool-season vegetables, with exports to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and other markets. The full industry chain now boasts a value of 3 billion yuan, supporting 24,000 jobs and increasing income by an average of 15,000 yuan per person.
By the end of 2024, all 160 national key counties designated to receive rural revitalization assistance during the five-year transitional period had developed two to three leading industries each, with combined output exceeding 300 billion yuan.
5. Ensuring a Robust Safety Net: Policy Alignment with Social Security to Guarantee Basic Livelihoods
Across China, local governments have established and refined dynamic monitoring mechanisms to better integrate poverty prevention measures with regular assistance policies for rural low-income populations. All eligible individuals have been incorporated into routine support programs. For those without the capacity to work, comprehensive social security mechanisms have been implemented to secure the basic living standards, ensuring that all eligible individuals receive the support they need and their basic living needs are met.
Guizhou Province's Wangmo County was once a severely impoverished county with a weak foundation in education. To address this shortcoming, higher-level authorities coordinated supportive initiatives, including volunteer teaching groups from Jiangxi, countywide teacher training rotations, and team-based assistance programs, to steadily strengthen the teaching workforce. The number of teachers with associate senior or full senior professional titles rose from 553 in 2020 to 797 in 2024. That year, more than 2,300 students achieved qualifying scores for undergraduate university admission, raising the admission rate to 70%.
Since the beginning of the transitional period, Zeku County in Qinghai Province has improved school infrastructure in rural areas, invested in teacher development, provided full educational support for students from formerly poor households, and delivered in-home teaching to ensure no child dropped out of compulsory education. In addition, the county also implemented precise efforts to expand medical insurance coverage, continuously increasing the scope of medical insurance. From 2021 to 2024, the medical insurance participation rate of the rural population in the entire county remained above 98%.
Yunnan Province has focused on securing five key poverty alleviation outcomes: education, healthcare, housing safety, drinking water safety, and bottom-line social security guarantee. Through a three-year health services initiative, hospitalization expenses within policy coverage for formerly poor populations are now reimbursed at over 90%, with a 99% treatment rate for 36 major illnesses. A separate three-year initiative addressed rural water supply issues for 2.57 million people relying on cisterns, supplementary cistern systems, or emergency drought relief deliveries. The province’s rural minimum living standards rose from 4,770 yuan per person per year in 2021 to 6,400 yuan in 2024. As of the end of 2024, 2.322 million people were covered by rural minimum subsistence allowances, including 1.2874 million formerly poor individuals and 471,500 under monitoring.
Chapter 3-5: To be Continued…
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Chinese governance is a world record. That is if the article is true. It is not my belief that this article is true, for belief is irrelevant in relation to concrete evidence both ancient and and topical that many years of my travels,, investigations, meetings and studies reveal is plentifully in support of this probability.. I am happy to bet my life on it by avidly witnessing to this end in my original cultural sphere. .
Congratulations to all of zhong.