Rural residents start to feel urban buzz

Helping people to help themselves

YANG WANLI

By the end of last year, 43 million impoverished people were living in China's rural areas, after 55 million people were lifted above the poverty line between 2012 and last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

According to the State Council Leading Group Office for Poverty Alleviation and Development, from 2013 to 2016, the number of people living in poverty fell from 99 million to 43.36 million, and more than 10 million people will be lifted out of poverty this year.

Thirteen million people have been lifted above the poverty line in each of the past five years. From 1986 to 2000, the figure was about 6.4 million in total, while it was a combined 6.7 million from 2001 to 2010.

Among the country's 34 provincial regions, Guizhou is home to the largest poverty-stricken population.

Although it has raised living standards for nearly 7.8 million people in the past five years, 3.72 million people in the rural areas are still living below the official poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($345) in annual income, according to provincial government statistics.

Eradicating poverty in Guizhou is a "key concern" in China's effort to build a "moderately prosperous" society by 2020, said Sun Zhigang, Party chief of Guizhou.

Guizhou has also set its average annual economic growth target at around 10 percent as part of efforts to pull more than 3.7 million people out of poverty by 2020.

Guizhou's move is part of China's broader efforts to help 70 million people out of poverty by 2020.

Last year, 458,000 poor people in rural areas were resettled in places with better infrastructure and ecology.

About 752,000 residents will be relocated this year, moving from 3,603 mountain villages to relatively prosperous towns with better living conditions and economic opportunities.