Guizhou plans poverty-relief campaign

One of China's poorest provinces is planning a 2016 poverty-alleviation campaign that will include vocational training, developing better farmland, and relocating people from the most disadvantaged villages.

How to lift more residents from poverty is the hot topic at Guizhou's "two sessions," the meetings of the local legislature and political advisory body running from Monday to Sunday.

Sun Zhigang, acting governor of Guizhou, said the province will invest 18 billion yuan (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016 to relocate 300,000 people from 3,200 impoverished villages.

The government will help 100,000 people develop more fertile farmland, offer vocational training to more than 300,000 young rural adults, and recruit 10,000 people skilled in traditional local crafts to promote these art forms and ensure their survival.

Sun also promised that Guizhou will construct or expand 200 village kindergartens and 200 rural boarding schools in 2016, recruit more teachers, offer subsidies to poor students, and expand medical coverage for serious diseases. Endi