China Focus: China seeks best practice in poverty relief

As the world's largest developing country, it is no surprise that China is still home to a large number of poor people, but the country is making every effort to help them.

Just over 70 million people live below the poverty line in China. That means an annual income under 2,300 yuan (about 370 U.S. dollars). Even in China's countryside, in underdeveloped western and central areas, a dollar a day does not go far. Just over 7 percent of the rural population is officially poor.

Dragging 70 million out of poverty will be no mean feat. The issue is not just one of government policy, but the task relies on every official at every level genuinely caring about the hardship that people are suffering, Liu Yongfu, head of the State Council leading group on poverty alleviation, told Xinhua in an interview.

China's economic miracle has seen living conditions improve dramatically over the past 30 or so years, with more than 700 million people lifted out of poverty between 1978 and 2014, making China the first country to meet the United Nations' target of halving its poverty stricken population.

Despite these successes, poverty remains a tough issue, impacting on every aspect of life, particularly health and education. It's not just money these people live without. Bad roads, electricity shortages, ramshackle residences along with second-rate education and medical services, are singled out by Liu as major predicaments of the poor in China.

In 2014, 430,000 experienced government officials were sent in 125,000 teams to impoverished villages and have become "champions" of poverty fighting, he said.

Last year, the central treasury spent 43.3 billion yuan on poverty relief, compared with 22.2 billion in 2010. Though the poverty relief fund has nearly doubled in four years, the effects are far below expectations: only 12 million people crept over the official poverty line last year, compared with 43 million in 2011.

It is time to use this money to improve rural roads and homes, to build better public services and to give small loans to new businesses. Funds have been previously provided to poor areas to develop specific sectors including tourism and solar panel manufacturing, Liu said.

Beyond short-term programs, the government is thinking about long-term benefits. Free vocational education and training will be provided for 2 million young people in poor areas each year. They will be expected to acquire a practical skill or technique in two or three years, Liu said.

China plans "precision" (targeted) poverty alleviation, providing different help to people with different problems. A database of all poor people established in 2014 will make targeted poverty relief possible, Liu said.

"Poverty alleviation used to be on a 'one-size-fits-all' basis, which meant that everyone with an income below a certain level would enjoy the same subsidies and allowances," he said.

Wang Sangui, a poverty relief specialist at Beijing's Renmin University, believes that effective poverty relief relies on precisely identifying particularly needy groups.

"If the 43.3 billion yuan spent last year was evenly distributed among the 70 million people in poverty, the average amount of 1.7 yuan a day would have been unlikely to improve anyone's situation," said Wang.

China wants an "all-round well-off" society by 2020, a goal which includes specific requirements in GDP, income per capita, college enrollment rates and the number of doctors per 1,000 people.

The hardest work needs to done in rural areas, especially the impoverished ones, President Xi Jinping told a symposium in southwest China's Guizhou Province, the country's poorest, earlier this month. Endi