State and Ministerial Policy News:
         On Mar 31, while hosting the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC), General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed requirements for the undertaking the advance of poverty alleviation, on the debriefing of assessing poverty-alleviation performance of provincial party committees and governments in 2016. It was stressed at the meeting that, in carrying forward poverty alleviation, people’s interests should be regarded as the top priority. Also, leading cadres at all levels should strengthen their sense of mission and responsibility for advancing the cause of poverty alleviation by consolidating the class foundation and the mass base of the Party as well as keeping the flesh-and-blood ties of the Party with the people.

Source: 163.com Mar 31, 2017

 

On Mar 20, Wang Yang, Vice Premier of the State Council, stressed on the 15th Plenary Session of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development held in Beijing that we should earnestly implement the overall plan to lift more than 10 million rural impoverished people out of poverty this year as stated in the “Report on the Work of the Government”. With a view to completing the task of poverty alleviation as scheduled, we should deepen targeted poverty alleviation, strive for problem-based approaches, focus on key points and difficult issues of poverty alleviation and advance the undertaking steadily.

Source: Xinhua News Agency Mar 21, 2017

 

 

The Ministry of Finance made amendment to the “Measures for the Management of Special Fiscal Fund for Poverty Alleviation” (No. 412 (2011), Agricultural Finance) and issued the “Measures for the Management of Special Central Fiscal Fund for Poverty Alleviation” (No. 8 (2007), Agricultural Finance) (referred to as the new “Measures” hereinafter), which would come into force on Mar 31, 2017. It is stipulated in the new “Measures” that the allocation of poverty-alleviation fund shall be open to the public.

Source: legaldaily.com.cn Mar 27, 2017

 

 

Local Poverty Alleviation News:

Jinggangshan City, Jiangxi Province: “Removing the cap” of poverty is not the ultimate goal. Having been reviewed and approved by the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Government of Jiangxi Province, Jinggangshan in Jiangxi announced a few days ago that it had “removed the cap” of poverty, ranking one of the first places to shake off poverty nationwide. Liu Hong, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Jinggangshan, showed that being a leading place to “remove the cap” of poverty was not the ultimate goal. They would focus on three key points successively—“taking the agricultural industry as the basis, centering on spiritual sustainability and prioritizing sustainable systems”, so as to ensure that impoverished people are lifted out of poverty in a steady and sustainable manner.

Source: China Economic Herald Mar 22, 2017

 

 

A few days ago, the Government of Hainan Province issued “Development Plan for Accelerating the Progress of Joining A Moderately Prosperous Society for the Disabled in Hainan Province during the ‘13th Five-Year Plan’ Period”, proposing that, by 2018, rural impoverished households with disabled members will be lifted out of poverty and, and by 2020, the living standard and quality of rural impoverished disabled people will be further improved. It is also stipulated in the “Plan” that the basic need for housing the disabled will be prioritized and the renovation of existing dilapidated houses of rural impoverished households with disabled members will be completed.

Source: Hainan Daily Mar 22, 2017

 

 

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will build 606 comprehensive cultural service centers for destitute villages. In order to advance the development of the grassroots service system of public culture, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will build 606 comprehensive cultural service centers in nine national destitute counties (districts) in the central and southern region. As one of the ten projects designed to improve people’s livelihood of Ningxia in 2017, the autonomous region will proceed by closely observing the “Seven ‘Ones’” standard, including one cultural square, one cultural activity room, one simple drama stage, one reading (e-reading) room, one set of cultural equipment, one set of broadcasting and displaying devices and one set of fitness facilities. Meanwhile, the region will earmark 250,000 yuan to every village for support.

Source: xinhuanet.com Mar 22, 2017

 

 

Gansu entered into the fifth year of the “Double Connection” campaign, (where institution-destitute village connection and cadre-impoverished household connection is built for poverty alleviation), lifting 1.29 million people out of poverty on an annual basis. Since the “Double Connection” campaign was implemented in 2012, Gansu Province has seen that impoverished people drop from 8.42 million at the end of 2011 to 1.9349 million at the end of 2016, a decrease of 1.29 million annually on average. Accordingly, the poverty incidence of the province declined from 40.48% to 9.3%, down by 31.18 percentage points.

Source: gscn.com.cn Mar 23, 2017

 

 

Dongchuan District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, adopted several measures to advance the undertaking of poverty alleviation to forge ahead with remarkable results. In recent years, Dongchuan has adopted several measures to vigorously advance the undertaking of poverty alleviation, including identifying people registered in the poverty document accurately, the “1+10” policy, focusing on income increase and social security as well as building three battle lines. As a result, the district successfully completed the task of helping 17,111 people registered in the poverty document free from poverty in 2016.

Source: xinhuanet.com Mar 24, 2017

 

 

Hunan Province has set a clear target for this year’s relocation, planning to help 35,000 people shake off poverty through relocation. In 2017, Hunan Province strives to increase its per capita disposable income of relocated people by 11% and lift 35,000 people out of poverty through relocation, by accelerating the construction of the beautiful and richly-endowed reservoir area. At the same time, there are 38 reservoirs either in preparation or under construction. The province will invest one billion yuan into relocation to help 10,000 people get relocated.

Source: Hunan Daily Mar 24, 2017

 

Forging ahead with poverty alleviation through transportation, Henan Province will launch a batch of upgraded programs to upgrade and transform backward highways and 20 expressway construction. According to the basic thoughts of the “Plan for Poverty Alleviation Through Transportation of Henan Province during the ‘13th Five-Year Plan’ Period”, a transportation network featuring safe, convenient and expansive access to every village of the relocated sites on the beach area of the Yellow River will be built by 2019, to lead to the path of a moderately prosperous society for all destitute counties.

Source: henan.gov.cn Mar 24, 2016

 

 

Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, will ensure 80,100 people are lifted out of poverty in 2017 via poverty alleviation through agricultural industrialization. In 2016, Liaocheng implemented 576 projects of agricultural industrialization and 357 projects financed by the characteristic industry fund, thus lifting 49,800 people out of poverty. It will continue to forge ahead with a set of measures of poverty alleviation by making targeted efforts against the keys of poverty alleviation and prioritizing the role of agricultural industrialization in promoting the cause of poverty alleviation. In this way, it strives to achieve the target of lifting 80,100 people out of poverty.

Source: lcxw.cn Mar 27, 2017

 

 

A total of 608,000 students in Xinjiang will benefit from the 11 plans of poverty alleviation through education. Xinjiang will vigorously push forward poverty alleviation through education by implementing 11 plans in destitute areas, including the plans on student aid plan, the employment assistance and the ideological and political education supported by schools, to help 35 destitute counties and 608,000 poverty-stricken students registered in the poverty document fight against poverty with education.

Source: iyaxin.com Mar 27, 2017  

 

 

Chenzhou in Hunan generated a total of 5.8 billion yuan through developing leisure agriculture and helped 7,000 impoverished households shake off poverty. In 2016, Chenzhou advanced the rapid development of agricultural industrialization and leisure agriculture, boasting 1,780 leisure farms of all kinds and building 75 new farms above the three-star level, with 35,000 people engaged in leisure agriculture. The leisure agriculture industry has benefited 180,000 farm households, and accumulated the output value of 5.8 billion yuan, lifting 7,000 impoverished households out of poverty.

Source: czxww.cn Mar 27, 2017

 

 

Jiangxi Province outperformed the annual goal of poverty alleviation. In 2016, a total of 760,000 people in Jiangxi were lifted out of poverty, with the total impoverished population of the province reduced to 1.13 million. Accordingly, the poverty incidence dropped to 3.3%, down by 2.4 percentage points over the end of 2015. The rural per capita income in destitute areas amounted to 9,110 yuan. With the income growth rate of approximately 11%, the growth rate of farmers’ disposable income continued to be two percentage points higher than the average growth rate of the province. These results meant that the province outperformed the annual goal of poverty alleviation.

Source: people.com.cn Mar 28, 2017

 

 

Shandong Province strives to lift 400 destitute villages out of poverty through tourism development in 2017. This year, Shandong will support 250 destitute villages to develop rural tourism and build 20 e-commerce-based demonstration villages for poverty alleviation through tourism development. In order to help 400 destitute villages shake off poverty through tourism development, the province will also advance poverty alleviation through relocation by adopting measures to conform to local conditions and helping the relocated villages on the beach of the Yellow River develop rural tourism, as well as providing tailored assistance.

Source: iqilu.com Mar 26, 2017

 

 

A total of 7,800 people and 1,994 households in Xiangzhou County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, were lifted out of poverty after being confirmed by themselves and the cadres in charge in 2016. Last year, Xiangzhou facilitated the project of poverty alleviation with financial means, by investing more than 80 million yuan into infrastructure construction and more than 21 million yuan into poverty alleviation through agricultural industrialization, and obtaining a loan totaling 20 million for poverty alleviation through agricultural industrialization from commercial banks with a deposit of 200 million yuan. As a result, 7,800 people and 1,994 households were lifted out of poverty after being confirmed by themselves and the cadres in charge. Also, the five villages lifted out of poverty reached the target of “Eleven Accesses and One Lower”, which refers to having access to characteristics industries, housing security, basic healthcare security, compulsory education, convenient transportation, drinking water, power, public service facility, televisions, collective income, the committee of the party branch and the self-governing committee with a poverty incidence lower than 3%.

Source: chinanews.com Mar 29, 2017

 

 

Public Poverty Alleviation and Charity News：

Hebei Province set the the campaign to provide free treatment to impoverished cataract patients in motion, limiting their possibility of becoming blind due to poverty. The charitable activity “Provide Free Treatment to Cataract Patients Registered in the Poverty Document—Charitable Poverty Alleviation Through Healthcare”, initiated by China Foundation for Disabled Persons was launched in Shijiazhuang. The free aid targeting at impoverished cataract patients in Hebei aims to reduce the financial burden of impoverished households and help poverty-stricken people avoid falling into or returning to poverty due to illness.

Source: chinanews.com Mar 29, 2017

 

 

       On Mar 26, the “8th Forum on the Theory and Policy of China’s Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Symposium on Deepening Targeted Poverty Alleviation”, hosted by the Publicity and Education Center for Poverty Alleviation, State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and organized by China Institute for Poverty Reduction, Beijing Normal University, was held in Beijing Normal University. Centering on such issues as deepening targeted poverty alleviation and transforming and upgrading strategies of poverty alleviation and development, experts were engaged in an in-depth discussion on the structural reform of the supply-side, how to improve the standard of targeted poverty alleviation, how to build and improve the long-term mechanism for targeted poverty alleviation, Xi Jinping’s strategic thoughts on poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation through party construction.

Source: f.china.com.cn Mar 29, 2017

 

 

 

On Mar 24, AliResearch released the “Research Report on Internet-based Poverty Alleviation by Alibaba (2016)”. According to the report, the online retail turnover of more than 280 national destitute counties on the Alibaba platform exceeded 10 million yuan in 2016. Among them, more than 40 destitute counties saw their online retail turnover exceed 100 million yuan. With more than 28 million active users in online shopping, the sum of online purchase in destitute counties amounted to 207.4 billion yuan.

Source: aliresearch.com Mar 29, 2017

 

 

Sponsor: International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC)

Organize：China Institute for Poverty Reduction, Beijing Normal University

Contact: Zhang Xiaoying 84419855

Email: zhangxiaoying@iprcc.org.cn