BEIJING– Poverty is one of the world’s most vexing problems. Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is the first goal in the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
China launched a monumental anti-poverty campaign on a scale unseen anywhere in the world in recent years.
In 2021, the country declared a « complete victory » in eradicating absolute poverty, which has lifted 800 million people out of absolute poverty, and met the poverty reduction target of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ahead of schedule.
China’s story is proof that developing countries can eliminate poverty, when there is the endurance, perseverance and striving spirit. If China can make it, other developing countries can make it too. This is what China’s battle against poverty says to the world.
A Fuxing bullet train runs on the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway during a trial operation in Shannan, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, June 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Chogo)
Zheng Changhao (3nd R), a local poverty alleviation official, leads children with his wife Wu Han (5th L) on a bridge in Wuying Village on the border between south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Jan. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Xiaobang)Medical workers tend to an infant at an intensive care unit (ICU) for infants at People’s Hospital of Tongxin County in Wuzhong City, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sept. 18, 2020. Tongxin County has continued to carry out medical assistance to ensure that the poor population has access to basic medical and health services and prevent illness-caused poverty. (Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)
A child has free lunch at a kindergarten in Congjiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Sept. 15, 2023. (Photo by Luo Jinglai/Xinhua)A villager promotes local products via livestreaming at the relocation site for poverty-stricken people in Huawu Village, Qianxi County of Bijie City, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, April 13, 2021. (Photo by Fan Hui/Xinhua)
Women work at a poverty relief workshop of a relocation site in Fugong County of Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Nov. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)
Tourists ride horses in a lavender field in Sigong Village, Huocheng County, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 14, 2023. The lavender planting bases here have helped promote local tourism and increase the income of local people. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)
Farmers pick tea leaves in Lianmeng Village of Pu’an County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Feb. 23, 2023. Pu’an County has tea gardens with an area of about 125,000 mu (about 8,333.3 hectares). Local farmers have benefited from the tea industry.(Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
A tourist takes photos at a tulip plantation in Donghuangtuo Town of Luannan County, north China’s Hebei Province, May 3, 2023. Donghuangtuo Town has been developing tulip planting industry so as to boost tourism and help increase the income of local people in recent years.(Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)
