Xinhua Insight: China works harder, smarter to relieve tough pockets of poverty

Drought-struck Dongxiang Autonomous County, high on the Loess Plateau of northwest China's Gansu Province, is one of the poorest and most isolated places in the country.

Around 300,000 people from the Dongxiang ethnic group are scattered in the county's withered mountain ravines.

Fifteen years ago, 17-year-old Ma Dawu couldn't bear the poverty and left Bulenggou Village, which lacked access to water, roads and electricity until two years ago.

"Bare hillsides and shabby adobe houses were all that I saw in the county," Ma recalled.

However, poverty reduction projects since 2013 have transformed his hometown. More than 50 village households have moved to new homes with running water and electricity, and roads connect them to the outside world.

Earlier this year, local officials and residents identified poor households across the county and entered their information into a database to design targeted poverty relief measures.

The local government provided the households 25 mu (about 1.7 hectares)of land -- enough space to raise around 3,000 sheep. It has also made 19 training courses available to teach them skills such as driving, raising poultry and electrowelding.

Ma decided to come back about a year ago, and now he is starting a farm with other villagers.

"I'll expand my business to agricultural and food processing in the future to help more villagers beat poverty," Ma said.

China's fight against poverty in Dongxiang started more than three decades ago, and relief work has accelerated since the United Nations highlighted poverty relief as a core mission in its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000.

China was the first developing country to meet the MDG target of reducing the impoverished population by half ahead of the 2015 deadline. China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty in the past 15 years, accounting for about 70 percent of those brought out of poverty worldwide.

Dongxiang is one of 592 impoverished counties in the country, most of which are located in central and western provinces such as Shanxi, Henan and Guizhou.

HARD NUTS TO CRACK

Despite remarkable progress, China still has more than 70 million people living under the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (376 U.S. dollars) in annual income.

China aims to lift all people out of poverty by 2020. This is a challenging task requiring a monthly poverty reduction goal of about one million people for the next five years, according to Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the country's top poverty reduction watchdog.

Though the government's poverty relief fund has nearly doubled in four years, the results have fallen below expectations: only 12.32 million people emerged from poverty last year, compared with 43.29 million in 2011.

"The remaining areas are all hard nuts to crack," Liu added.

Poor infrastructure has dragged down economic growth in some poverty-hit regions.

Another problem undermining the government's poverty relief efforts is widespread corruption of low-ranking officials and embezzlement of funds intended for agricultural development and poverty relief.

In the past two-and-a-half years, China's procuratorial agencies investigated 28,894 officials, most of whom were posted in rural areas at the township and village levels, for crimes related to agriculture and poverty relief, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

EFFORTS ON ALL FRONTS

To beat poverty, China has worked to improve infrastructure, develop industrial projects, mobilize private resources and ensure equal access to basic public services.

The central treasury has allocated a 46.1-billion-yuan fund for poverty relief from the central budget this year, up 8 percent from last year.

While infrastructure development in poor areas is mainly funded by government fiscal capital, many businesses, especially financial institutions, have offered to fund development projects to honor corporate social responsibility pledges, according to Wen Laicheng, a finance professor with Central University of Finance and Economics.

The government is looking to the Internet for new channels to help farmers sell produce via e-commerce sites to urban consumers.

"We are also considering setting up an online platform to match private funding with specific poverty relief needs," Liu said.

The government and aid groups are seeking new ways to draw public participation for the cause. In April, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation worked with the popular reality show "Running Man" to organize celebrities and donors to run on the Great Wall to raise money and awareness for poverty reduction.

China has worked closely with the international community to reduce poverty. Six poverty relief programs in China have been granted financial aid from the World Bank Group to help form and develop high-value-added agricultural industrial chains for farmers.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. That's traditional Chinese philosophy and it applies to current poverty reduction efforts," Wen said. Endit