Battle Against Poverty

The battle against poverty () was a policy of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party to fight poverty.

It began at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at the end of October 2015. It aimed to solve the core problems of poor areas and poor people through targeted poverty alleviation within five years before the end of 2020.

History

On October 21, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping mentioned in a speech in London, the United Kingdom that "according to China's standards, there are still 70 million people in China who have not escaped poverty. According to the United Nations standards, there are still about 200 million people living below the poverty line in China." He proposed a plan to continue to reduce poverty. At the end of October 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CCP Central Committee reviewed and passed the "Proposal of the CCP Central Committee on Formulating the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development", which proposed the goals, tasks and requirements for the fight against poverty during the 13th five-year plan period.

From November 27 to 28, 2015, the Central Poverty Alleviation and Development Work Conference was held in Beijing, where Xi said that eliminating poverty, improving people's livelihood, and gradually achieving common prosperity are the essential requirements of socialism and an important mission of the CCP. He also required the whole country and the whole party to ensure that by 2020, all poor areas and poor people will enter a well-off society in an all-round way. On November 29 of the same year, the “Decision of the CCP Central Committee and the State Council on Winning the Battle Against Poverty” was issued, and various ministries and commissions subsequently detailed the decision:

From August 2015 to June 2016, China mobilized nearly 2 million people to carry out the "review of the file registration" work to ensure that the people who should be lifted out of poverty were lifted out of poverty in a timely manner and that the people who should be lifted out of poverty were given strong support. In November 2015, in order to prevent the occurrence of digital poverty alleviation and fraud in poverty alleviation work, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council established a strict assessment and evaluation system. The party and government leaders of the 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities with heavy poverty alleviation tasks signed a "Poverty Alleviation Responsibility Letter" with the central government, which was signed at all levels to the grassroots level in the form of a military order. At the end of December 2016, in his 2017 New Year's message, Xi Jinping called on everyone to "roll up their sleeves and work hard" and "win the battle against poverty." In February 2017, various parts of China conducted self-examination and self-correction of false poverty alleviation in 2016.

According to data from 2018, the number of people in poverty has decreased from 98.99 million in 2012 to 16.60 million in 2018, a total decrease of 82.39 million. The annual poverty reduction scale has been above 10 million for six consecutive years, and the poverty incidence rate has dropped from 10.2% to 1.7%. On March 5, 2019, Premier Li Keqiang proposed in the Government Work Report to fight a well-targeted battle against poverty. The focus will be on solving the outstanding problems faced in achieving Two No Worries and Three Guarantees, increasing the efforts to fight poverty in deep poverty areas such as the "three districts and three prefectures", and implementing protection measures for special poor people. In October 2019, the State Council established the National Poverty Alleviation Census Leading Group, with Vice Premier Hu Chunhua as the group leader, and Ning Jizhe, Gao Yu, Liu Yongfu, Guo Weimin, Luo Wen, and Cheng Lihua as deputy group leaders.

On November 23, 2020, the Guizhou Provincial People's Government announced that the last nine poor counties in the province had officially been removed from the title of "poor counties". Since then, all 832 national-level poor counties identified by the State Council of China were lifted out of poverty and removed from the title of poor counties, completing the national poverty alleviation goal.

On December 3, the Politburo Standing Committee held a meeting to listen to the summary and evaluation report on poverty alleviation. Xi stated at the meeting that "we have completed the poverty alleviation goals and tasks in the new era as scheduled." On February 25, 2021, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council held a national poverty alleviation summary and commendation meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. At the meeting, Xi declared that China's poverty alleviation battle had achieved "comprehensive victory". He said that under the current standards, 98.99 million rural poor people have all been lifted out of poverty, 832 poor counties have all been lifted out of poverty, 128,000 impoverished villages have all been removed from the list, regional overall poverty has been resolved, and the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty has been completed. On the same day, the Office of the Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development of the State Council officially changed its name to the National Rural Revitalization Bureau. However, China's poor counties are required to undergo a five-year transition period from the date of their poverty alleviation, and mechanisms to prevent relapse into poverty and the onset of poverty still need to be established and improved.

Special meetings

Xi Jinping held seven special meetings on the fight against poverty:

* On February 13, 2015, held a "Symposium on Poverty Alleviation and Prosperity in Old Revolutionary Base Areas" Yan'an, Shaanxi
* On June 18, 2015, held a symposium on "poverty alleviation in some provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and economic and social development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period" in Guiyang, Guizhou
* On July 20, 2016, held a "East-West Poverty Alleviation Cooperation Symposium" in Yinchuan, Ningxia
* On June 23, 2017, held a "Symposium on Poverty Alleviation in Deeply Poverty-stricken Areas" in Taiyuan, Shanxi
* On February 12, 2018, held a symposium on “Fighting a Precision Poverty Alleviation Campaign” in Chengdu, Sichuan.
* On April 16, 2019, held a symposium on "solving outstanding issues of 'two no worries and three guarantees'" in Chongqing
* On March 6, 2020, held a symposium on “Winning the decisive battle against poverty” in Beijing

Popular culture

At the end of March 2019, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Creation and Broadcasting of TV Dramas on Poverty Alleviation", requiring that from that day on, TV stations at all levels, especially satellite TV comprehensive channels, should increase their efforts in purchasing and scheduling TV dramas on poverty alleviation. At present, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has studied and determined 22 key TV dramas on poverty alleviation.

References

{{Xi Jinping

Campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party
Poverty activism
Poverty in China
Xi Jinping Thought