1. The New Era: Decisive Progress in the Fight Against Poverty

In this new era, China has achieved the best results in its history of poverty reduction. Since the 18th National Congress of CPC, the number of rural poor across the country has fallen by 68.53 million. By the end of 2017, the number of rural impoverished people dropped from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 30.46 million, which corresponds to a reduction of 70%. And the incidence of poverty dropped from 10.2% at the end of 2012 to 3.1%, a cumulative decrease of 7.1 percentage points. The annual average number of people lifted out of poverty stands at 13.7 million, more than twice that between 1994 and 2010. The per capita income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas increases by an average of 10.7% per year. From 2013 to 2017, the per capita disposable income of people living in impoverished rural areas nominally increased by 12.4% every year, meaning a de facto increase of 10.4% after adjusting for inflation – a rate 2.5 percentage points higher than the average growth rate in rural regions nationwide. In 2017, the per capita disposable income in rural poverty-stricken areas was 69.8% of in the rural average across China –7.7 percentage points higher than that in 2012 – indicating a narrowing gap. Rural households living in reinforced concrete or brick-concrete-structured houses accounted for 57.1%, nearly all the natural villages had access to power supply, and 98.2% of administrative villages had telephone access. The number of poverty-stricken counties fell for the first time, with 28 impoverished counties getting rid of the designation in 2016.

Figure 1 Residents in Jinggangshan City celebrate for being the first in the country to shake off poverty and greet the happy new life.

In the new era of war on poverty, China has accelerated the development of its poverty-stricken regions, where industries with advantages and local features are rapidly advancing, thanks to poverty alleviation projects aimed at developing the tourism, photovoltaic and e-commerce industries. The impoverished regions have seen a wide range of industries quickly emerging from scratch and then evolving into established sectors. Poverty reduction projects – which promote ecological protection, relocate people with land failing to provide subsistence to help them escape poverty, and turn marginal farmlands into forests – have significantly improved the ecological environment in poverty-stricken areas and laid the foundation for the organic unity of ecological protection and poverty eradication. The unprecedentedly extensive and intensive relief efforts have apparently improved agricultural infrastructure and public services in poverty-stricken rural areas. With targeted poverty reduction measures in place that accurately identify, help, manage, and deregister the poor population, impoverished regions' self-governance and management levels have been greatly enhanced.