China poverty alleviation, raising standard of living

[JSCh]

Billionaire CEO of JD.com Named Head of Impoverished Village
Liu Qiangdong says he has always dreamed of being a government official, vows e-commerce will lift Hebei village out of poverty.

Fan Liya Nov 27, 2017

After being named honorary director of a small village in northern China, the head of one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies has vowed to lead its residents out of poverty.

JD.com’s founder and CEO, Liu Qiangdong — also known as Richard Liu — posted a photo of a business card bearing his new title to microblog platform Weibo on Friday. “Let me set a small target,” he wrote. “In five years, I will increase the average income of these families by a factor of 10. The whole village will be rid of poverty.”

Zhu Fenglong, the committee director of Pingshitou Village, in Hebei’s Fuping County, told Sixth Tone that Liu would attend the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday. In 2012, Fuping County was one of 592 counties whose average annual income was less than 1,300 yuan (then $206) to be targeted under China’s national poverty alleviation program. According to Zhu, there are 669 residents in Pingshitou Village, where annual incomes range from 3,000 to 7,000 yuan. (The government’s list of “key” poverty-stricken counties has not been updated or revised since 2012.)

Though the details of Liu’s plan to boost the local economy remain unclear, he said in the Weibo post that he would achieve his target by introducing the village to e-commerce. In September 2016, JD.com signed a poverty reduction deal with Fuping County that would allow villagers to market and sell their produce online. In Pingshitou Village, for example, apples are a major source of income, according to Zhu.

As people living in the countryside have gained access to the internet, e-commerce has been a boon for poverty relief in rural villages, which accommodated 43 million impoverished people as of 2016. In November 2016, a poverty alleviation leading group under the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced a goal of half of the country’s 832 poverty-stricken villages being served by rural e-commerce sites by 2020.

One of the most successful rural e-commerce initiatives to date is Rural Taobao, the countryside counterpart to Alibaba’s online shopping platforms, Taobao and Tmall. Launched in 2014, Rural Taobao hopes to bring e-commerce to 100,000 villages across China by 2019.

However, some critics claim that e-commerce does little to stimulate flagging rural economies. Yu Xueyi, a former Rural Taobao franchisee, wrote in a previous commentary for Sixth Tone: “Instead of helping farmers establish themselves in the market, [Alibaba] just wants to see countryside customers buy products that were too hard to get hold of before.”

Meanwhile, JD.com — Alibaba’s top competitor — isn’t lagging far behind. In recent years, the company has collaborated with impoverished villages to incorporate sellers into its own e-commerce platform. By the end of the second quarter of 2017, JD.com reported to have helped over 6,000 rural business owners from poor villages sell products on its online platforms.

Liu, for his part, has shown no lack of enthusiasm for his latest title. “I have finally realized a dream I’ve had since childhood,” he wrote on Weibo, referring to his lifelong aspiration to serve as a government official.

Calls to Liu’s office in Pingshitou Village went unanswered on Monday, and a PR representative for JD.com said she could not comment, as she was not familiar with the matter.

 

[TaiShang]

Billionaire CEO of JD.com Named Head of Impoverished Village
Liu Qiangdong says he has always dreamed of being a government official, vows e-commerce will lift Hebei village out of poverty.

Fan Liya Nov 27, 2017

After being named honorary director of a small village in northern China, the head of one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies has vowed to lead its residents out of poverty.

JD.com’s founder and CEO, Liu Qiangdong — also known as Richard Liu — posted a photo of a business card bearing his new title to microblog platform Weibo on Friday. “Let me set a small target,” he wrote. “In five years, I will increase the average income of these families by a factor of 10. The whole village will be rid of poverty.”

Zhu Fenglong, the committee director of Pingshitou Village, in Hebei’s Fuping County, told Sixth Tone that Liu would attend the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday. In 2012, Fuping County was one of 592 counties whose average annual income was less than 1,300 yuan (then $206) to be targeted under China’s national poverty alleviation program. According to Zhu, there are 669 residents in Pingshitou Village, where annual incomes range from 3,000 to 7,000 yuan. (The government’s list of “key” poverty-stricken counties has not been updated or revised since 2012.)

Though the details of Liu’s plan to boost the local economy remain unclear, he said in the Weibo post that he would achieve his target by introducing the village to e-commerce. In September 2016, JD.com signed a poverty reduction deal with Fuping County that would allow villagers to market and sell their produce online. In Pingshitou Village, for example, apples are a major source of income, according to Zhu.

As people living in the countryside have gained access to the internet, e-commerce has been a boon for poverty relief in rural villages, which accommodated 43 million impoverished people as of 2016. In November 2016, a poverty alleviation leading group under the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced a goal of half of the country’s 832 poverty-stricken villages being served by rural e-commerce sites by 2020.

One of the most successful rural e-commerce initiatives to date is Rural Taobao, the countryside counterpart to Alibaba’s online shopping platforms, Taobao and Tmall. Launched in 2014, Rural Taobao hopes to bring e-commerce to 100,000 villages across China by 2019.

However, some critics claim that e-commerce does little to stimulate flagging rural economies. Yu Xueyi, a former Rural Taobao franchisee, wrote in a previous commentary for Sixth Tone: “Instead of helping farmers establish themselves in the market, [Alibaba] just wants to see countryside customers buy products that were too hard to get hold of before.”

Meanwhile, JD.com — Alibaba’s top competitor — isn’t lagging far behind. In recent years, the company has collaborated with impoverished villages to incorporate sellers into its own e-commerce platform. By the end of the second quarter of 2017, JD.com reported to have helped over 6,000 rural business owners from poor villages sell products on its online platforms.

Liu, for his part, has shown no lack of enthusiasm for his latest title. “I have finally realized a dream I’ve had since childhood,” he wrote on Weibo, referring to his lifelong aspiration to serve as a government official.

Calls to Liu’s office in Pingshitou Village went unanswered on Monday, and a PR representative for JD.com said she could not comment, as she was not familiar with the matter.

Great example of national mobilization to eradicate poverty by 2020. If China puts its mind on something, that will be done.

 

[Dungeness]

Great example of national mobilization to eradicate poverty by 2020. If China puts its mind on something, that will be done.

One of the advantages of the "one party" system. They just cut the crap and get job done.

 

[TaiShang]

One of the advantages of the "one party" system. They just cut the crap and get job done.

'Yes, one party which has put single-mindedly as its ontological goal to rejuvenate a civilization nation from the long state of objectivity, and make it an agency again on the global stage.

 

[JSCh]

Across China: TCM crops help reduce poverty in China
Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-16 09:35:02|Editor: Yang Yi



CHONGQING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- By offering their lands to a herb planting cooperative, more than 400 farming households in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality have received a total of over 200,000 yuan (30,000 U.S. dollars) in dividends so far this year.

The farmers live in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County and are anticipating more dividends from the cooperative. They are looking forward to the money, and earning more, at the end of the year so that they can celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a history of thousands of years. Despite the controversy in western countries, it is very popular in China and is helping decrease poverty in southwest China.

Shizhu is a mountainous and poverty-stricken place, and more than 70 percent of its population are Tujia people, an ethnic minority in China.

In the village of Huangshan, where the farmers live, there is much poverty, and due to the terrain and poor land quality, there are few crops.

Young people usually leave the village to become migrant workers in cities, leaving the elderly and weak to stay in the village. This leads to a vicious cycle where more farmland is left uncultivated.

The Tujia people have long suffered from poverty.

"There aren't many electric appliances at my home. The old television was bought when I got married in 1995. It hasn't been changed for over twenty years," said Qin Tinglan, a villager.

However, since the beginning of the year there have been positive changes.

A professional TCM cooperative was started, which is closely connected with the TCM planting enterprise.

A total of 416 households provide 62 hectares of farmland for the planting of herbs, and the farmland has been evaluated by a third party on the basis of four classes of fertility. This land was converted into a 775,000-yuan share of the cooperative.

In addition, 500,000 yuan of funds from the village have also been invested as a share of the cooperative.

"Cultivated land is so scattered in the mountainous area. We have to collect them so as to attract enterprises to develop this place," said Huang Wanneng, deputy head of Daxie Township.

"To develop TCM planting and produce in the village was not a hasty decision," Huang said. "Experts came to the village and carried out several rounds of surveys and finally confirmed that Huangshan Village was able to plant herbs and develop the TCM industry."

"The environment, weather and vegetation coverage here are fit for herb planting. The quality of medicines produced here is leading in the country. Since my company has already had mature industrial chains and advanced technology, many large-scale pharmaceutical factories come to purchase our products," said He Zengfeng, president of the cooperative.

He said that so far they had planted and harvested Bai He (Lily Bulb), Jiang Huang (Turmeric) and Qian Hu (Hogfennel Root), which all have a stable market.

Pharmaceutical factories from Beijing, and provinces of Hebei, Anhui, Zhejiang and Sichuan have ordered many of the herbs.

After the cooperative was founded, householders gained a fixed income as their land would be given dividends every year depending on the fertility category of the land.

Moreover, the cooperative has created many jobs for local villagers. Those who cannot do heavy farm work can do other work, such as weeding, clearing insects and washing herbs. Each can be paid 60 to 100 yuan every day.

Ran Chongfang, 52, gave 5,000 square meters of land to the cooperative, which she also works for.

"We can get more than 20,000 yuan this year. Before we joined the cooperative, the highest income of my family was around 4,000 yuan a year," Ran said.

Qin Zongzhen, 68, also bought into and works in the cooperative. Her children left the village, and only her husband, who is very ill, lives with her in the village.

"We could make a living from the government's minimum living allowances. But now, we have TCM industry in our village and I have become a shareholder. Our family income is expected to increase," Qin said.

"Each household could have their income increased by at least 5,000 yuan this year, while the village collective can also gain nearly 50,000 yuan," Huang said.

"Developing the TCM industry in the village leads to a multi-win situation. Left-over lands are reused, impoverished households see their income increasing, left-behind elders have job opportunities, while the village collective has economic income," according to Huang.

 

[JSCh]

Ancient carpet craft brings villagers new opportunities
China Daily USA | Updated: 2017-12-16 02:55

A Uygur farmer picks roses in her field of roses in Hotan prefecture, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photos provided to China Daily.​

The art of carpet-making has been a part of Hotan prefecture's history for at least 2,000 years. Today, villagers are using the ancient craft to lift themselves out of poverty.

Sahipjamal Tursunniyaz, 30, learned traditional Hotan carpet-weaving from her mother when she was 18. But it was not until two months ago that she began to make silk carpets, a finer handicraft than the traditional rugs.

"I can earn 4,000 yuan ($600) for each square meter of handmade silk rug," Tursunniyaz said. Although it takes a month and a half to complete 1 sq m of silk carpet, the work has helped Tursunniyaz increase her income.

She weaves at a carpet factory in Hotan, in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Many other local women have also improved their living standards through rugmaking.

Abliz Metyusup, manager of Xinjiang Nakixwan Hand Carpet Development, said the gross output of his company last year reached more than 28 million yuan, providing employment for more than 600 women. Ten percent of its products are exported to Australia, Britain, the United States and Germany.

The company has also built three kindergartens for employees to provide free education for their children.

The prefecture has 157 carpet factories, providing 120,000 jobs. Women account for 95 percent of the workers.

A craftsperson displays traditional Hotan carpet weaving at an exhibition held in Urumqi, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo Provided to China Daily.​

Residents in Yaprak, a village in Hotan, are exploring an additional way to eliminate poverty with help from the local government.

Jelili Obulqasim, 58, has been growing roses for more than a decade. He earns a good living making and selling rose jam.

Unfortunately, he is an exception in his village. Out of a population of 1,700, more than 65 percent have annual incomes below 3,000 yuan.

Masim Qapar, the village Party chief, blames the poverty on a lack of arable land. She said everyone in the village grew roses 20 years ago. Today, villagers prefer to grow other crops just to have enough to eat.

At the beginning of this year, a group of officials and experts carried out surveys in the village and reaffirmed the feasibility of growing roses. In a tailored poverty-alleviation, plan they suggested planting wheat and roses at the same time.

"Since planting roses does not generate profits for the first two years, we encourage villagers to plant wheat and roses together. The harvested wheat can ensure basic livelihoods, while from the third year on, roses will bring profits so they don't need to plant wheat anymore," said He Wei, another village cadre member.

The roses will be used for making rose jam, a popular food in Hotan. They will also be processed into rose oil and related products, which are expected to be sold nationwide, He said.

Villagers from 300 households planted wheat by early October and planted rose seedlings provided by the local government in November.

The cadre said authorities will work with neighboring villages and factories to produce rose products and develop tourism by expanding farms to attract visitors from nearby cities.

Thanks to poverty-alleviation measures, the number of impoverished people in Xinjiang dropped from 2.6 million in 2013 to 1.2 million at the end of last year.

"We have the confidence and the methods to lift the remaining impoverished households out of poverty by 2020," Niu Xuexing, Party chief of Hotan, said during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

 

[TaiShang]

Across China: TCM crops help reduce poverty in China
Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-16 09:35:02|Editor: Yang Yi



CHONGQING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- By offering their lands to a herb planting cooperative, more than 400 farming households in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality have received a total of over 200,000 yuan (30,000 U.S. dollars) in dividends so far this year.

The farmers live in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County and are anticipating more dividends from the cooperative. They are looking forward to the money, and earning more, at the end of the year so that they can celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a history of thousands of years. Despite the controversy in western countries, it is very popular in China and is helping decrease poverty in southwest China.

Shizhu is a mountainous and poverty-stricken place, and more than 70 percent of its population are Tujia people, an ethnic minority in China.

In the village of Huangshan, where the farmers live, there is much poverty, and due to the terrain and poor land quality, there are few crops.

Young people usually leave the village to become migrant workers in cities, leaving the elderly and weak to stay in the village. This leads to a vicious cycle where more farmland is left uncultivated.

The Tujia people have long suffered from poverty.

"There aren't many electric appliances at my home. The old television was bought when I got married in 1995. It hasn't been changed for over twenty years," said Qin Tinglan, a villager.

However, since the beginning of the year there have been positive changes.

A professional TCM cooperative was started, which is closely connected with the TCM planting enterprise.

A total of 416 households provide 62 hectares of farmland for the planting of herbs, and the farmland has been evaluated by a third party on the basis of four classes of fertility. This land was converted into a 775,000-yuan share of the cooperative.

In addition, 500,000 yuan of funds from the village have also been invested as a share of the cooperative.

"Cultivated land is so scattered in the mountainous area. We have to collect them so as to attract enterprises to develop this place," said Huang Wanneng, deputy head of Daxie Township.

"To develop TCM planting and produce in the village was not a hasty decision," Huang said. "Experts came to the village and carried out several rounds of surveys and finally confirmed that Huangshan Village was able to plant herbs and develop the TCM industry."

"The environment, weather and vegetation coverage here are fit for herb planting. The quality of medicines produced here is leading in the country. Since my company has already had mature industrial chains and advanced technology, many large-scale pharmaceutical factories come to purchase our products," said He Zengfeng, president of the cooperative.

He said that so far they had planted and harvested Bai He (Lily Bulb), Jiang Huang (Turmeric) and Qian Hu (Hogfennel Root), which all have a stable market.

Pharmaceutical factories from Beijing, and provinces of Hebei, Anhui, Zhejiang and Sichuan have ordered many of the herbs.

After the cooperative was founded, householders gained a fixed income as their land would be given dividends every year depending on the fertility category of the land.

Moreover, the cooperative has created many jobs for local villagers. Those who cannot do heavy farm work can do other work, such as weeding, clearing insects and washing herbs. Each can be paid 60 to 100 yuan every day.

Ran Chongfang, 52, gave 5,000 square meters of land to the cooperative, which she also works for.

"We can get more than 20,000 yuan this year. Before we joined the cooperative, the highest income of my family was around 4,000 yuan a year," Ran said.

Qin Zongzhen, 68, also bought into and works in the cooperative. Her children left the village, and only her husband, who is very ill, lives with her in the village.

"We could make a living from the government's minimum living allowances. But now, we have TCM industry in our village and I have become a shareholder. Our family income is expected to increase," Qin said.

"Each household could have their income increased by at least 5,000 yuan this year, while the village collective can also gain nearly 50,000 yuan," Huang said.

"Developing the TCM industry in the village leads to a multi-win situation. Left-over lands are reused, impoverished households see their income increasing, left-behind elders have job opportunities, while the village collective has economic income," according to Huang.

Recently I ordered a (number of) TCM toothpaste via JD from the Mainland .

 

[TaiShang]

Rural residents’ per capita disposable income reached $1,870 in 2016: census

(People's Daily Online) 15:34, December 15, 2017

The per capita disposable income of rural residents in China reached 12,363 yuan ($1,870) in 2016, up 47.4 percent compared to 2012, according to the Third National Agricultural Census released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Dec. 14.

The census revealed that rural residents’ living quality, sense of gain, and happiness all increased thanks to the country’s efforts in recent years.

The number of China’s agricultural business units had reached 2.04 million by the end of 2016, up 417.4 percent compared to 2006, and farmers’ professional cooperatives hit 910,000.

The census showed that water conservation was improved and the level of agricultural mechanization was promoted, both of which advance agricultural labor productivity and free farmers from heavy labor.

Perfect agricultural infrastructure is a fundamental guarantee for enhancing comprehensive agricultural production capacity, and an important symbol of modern agricultural development, Ning Jizhe, head of the bureau noted.

In addition, the census pointed out that China has made progress in improving basic social services in rural areas in recent years.

Villages with kindergartens and clinics across the country now account for 32.3 percent and 81.9 percent, respectively. About 44,000 agricultural business owners and 51,000 such units now sell their agricultural products online.

Housing conditions of rural residents have also been improved in recent years, the census disclosed.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/1215/c90000-9305081.html

 

[JSCh]

Researchers work to fill health-care gaps in China
Large-scale experiment focuses on improving outcomes for poorer patients

December 18, 2017

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard Professor Winnie Yip and Burke Fellow Jose Figueroa are working with researchers to improve health care in some of China's poorest regions.​

By Alvin Powell, Harvard Staff Writer


Harvard researchers have designed a system that aligns financial incentives for physicians and hospitals with key measures of performance, hoping to improve health care for millions of patients in some of China’s poorest regions.

The effort follows on the Chinese government’s 2009 health care overhaul, which more than tripled spending and implemented an insurance system aimed at ensuring access for 1.2 billion people. The reform made insurance universal and increased participation in the health care system, but without ensuring improvements in quality of care, said Winnie Yip, professor of the practice of international health policy and economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. To accomplish that goal, the government is working with a research team led by Yip on a large-scale experiment at county hospitals in the provinces of Guizhou and Ningxia.

The initiative — called APPROACH, for Analysis of Provider Payment Reforms on Advancing China’s Health — is being conducted in collaboration with provincial governments and with teams from Chinese universities. It seeks to alter a system whose incentives are “mal-aligned,” according to Jose Figueroa, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and part of the project team.

China’s fee-for-service health care system leads to inappropriate prescriptions, unnecessary tests, and longer-than-needed hospital stays, Figueroa said. And because not every procedure is covered, the system also drives up out-of-pocket expenses for patients.

In the experimental system, the public insurance program pays hospitals a prospective budget based on the county’s disease profile, with 30 percent withheld and paid at six-month intervals according to whether the hospital has met specific quality measures known to improve care for common health conditions. Figueroa is helping devise those measures as a Burke Fellow at the Harvard Global Health Institute.

The plan is being implemented at 50 hospitals in 28 counties, Yip said, and is part of a broader effort to improve care at different levels of the nation’s health care system.

“A major area of my research is concerned with how to use financing and provider payment to leverage delivery of more effective care,” Yip said. “In China, my work is always conducted in partnership with a team of China-based researchers and governments.”

Measures on which hospital payments are based include use of a standard surgical checklist and routine tests of blood oxygen levels in pneumonia patients.

Though the measures have been proven in a Western setting, it’s important during the pilot phase to ensure that they translate to rural Chinese hospitals, Figueroa said. Differences in standards and practices raise the chances of technical misunderstandings that can influence performance and reporting among local doctors, affecting results of the trial and the hospital’s subsequent payment.

“Before we start holding these hospitals accountable, we need to ensure we pick good enough measures that are true reflections of the quality of care that these hospitals are giving,” Figueroa said.

Another challenge, Yip said, is accurate and timely data collection. In addition, hospital managers have needed time to transition to a prospective budget payment system from fee-for-service. Changing minds and behavior is not easy, Yip said.

Pay-for-performance systems are controversial because of doubts over whether they actually improve care. In the U.S., pay-for-performance reforms in the Affordable Care Act have lowered readmission rates, but have been ineffective in other areas of care. The amount withheld — 1 percent to 3 percent — may be too small to drive change, Yip said.

The size of the Chinese experiment and the 30 percent withheld should provide significant incentives to alter behavior, she said. In addition, China’s strong central government both encourages experimentation and gives health care leaders the ability to scale up positive results and lessons learned.

“It’s really exciting because it’s very rare to have an opportunity to essentially design a health system,” Figueroa said. “The ability for scaling and dissemination is pretty incredible. Depending on the success of this program, it would be really cool to see it hopefully help other regions of China as well.”



Harvard researchers work to improve health care in China | Harvard Gazette

 

[terranMarine]

China is doing a splendid job eradicating extreme poverty. By 2020 - 2021 the target should be achieved. While poverty shall remain for quite a long time, there won't be extreme poverty. Can't say that about this so called supapowa.

 

[JSCh]

Across China: How guitars saved a poverty-stricken county
Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-22 21:10:26|Editor: pengying



GUIYANG, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Zheng Chuanjiu points to an electric guitar being assembled in his factory: "One in two of this type sold on international market is made here." It is an Ibanez, a famous Japanese brand.

The former farmer is now general manager of Zhunyi Shenqu Musical Instruments, a supplier of six of the top ten guitar brands in the world.

The company made close to half a million guitars last year.

"My storehouse is empty now as there were so many orders before Christmas," the 39-year-old entrepreneur said.

Surrounded by mountains, Zheng's factory covers an area of 50,000 square meters in Zheng'an County of Guizhou Province, one of the poorest regions in southwest China.

The local government has established an "International Guitar Garden" to accommodate 29 guitar manufacturers, hoping the industry can help reduce poverty in the county.

These companies produced a total of five million guitars last year, making Zheng'an one of the largest guitar production bases in the world.

Zheng's factory employs 600 workers, most of them are poor farmers from nearby villages.

"At first, people could hardly believe that guitars played by world-renowned artists were made by a group of farmers," Zheng said.

Zheng does not know how to play guitar, but he is familiar with the 186 working procedures in making one. He said it was the pressure of survival that "changed our hands" -- from planting crops to producing guitars.

In 1993, one of Zheng's brothers went to Guangzhou, a booming industrial and commerce hub 1,300 kilometers away from Zheng'an, to work in a guitar factory run by a Taiwanese. Later Zheng went there to work with his brother.

"My village was very poor. My family could not support me and my three brothers to complete middle school," he said.

The county had a severe drought in 1992. Hungry and thirsty villagers lined up overnight for drops of water seeping from karst rocks, Zheng recalls.

It was in the Guangzhou factory that Zheng and his brother learned the skills to produce guitars, musical instruments that only became popular in China in the early 1980s. Their excellent craftsmanship stunned their boss, who later promoted them to managerial positions.

The brothers opened a guitar factory of their own in 2007, and in 2008 they received an order of 300,000 guitars from Brazil's top brand, Tagima, at the Shanghai international guitar exhibition. Since then orders from foreign clients have never stopped.

"They choose us because the quality of our products is first-rate. We made a rule that a faulty guitar must always be smashed rather than sold at a lower price," he said.

They have sent workers to learn management and manufacturer's experiences in Japan, Brazil and Europe.

"China's efforts for reform and opening up, as well as the desire to participate in globalization, provide an opportunity for fortune-seeking rural people to get out of mountains," said Deng Zhaotao, secretary of the Zheng'an committee of the Communist Party of China.

In 2012, Deng and Zheng'an government officials went to Guangzhou to persuade Zheng to move the production lines back to his hometown.

"The lack of industrial plants had prevented the county from becoming rich," Deng said.

In 2011, more than 125,000 people, or 19 percent of the county's total population, lived under the poverty line (per capital income of 2,300 yuan or about 320 U.S. dollars per year).

"We told them the county's natural environment, including temperature and humidity, were more suitable for guitar production. And the government would provide better loans, lands and services for them to expand production," Deng said.

Zheng decided to return to help the local people make money, just like he had.

Following the brothers, thousands of musical instrument production workers in other provinces went back.

"The government has helped solve the funding problem for my company," said 32-year-old farmer Zhao Shan, who set up a guitar factory in 2016. The company now sells 2,000 guitars online every day. Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in China, praised the company as a good example of the digital economy.

An expressway was opened in 2015 linking Zheng'an with the outside world. Zhao said Beijing customers could receive his guitars in three days.

"In Zheng'an, I can earn as much as in Wenzhou, a city 1,700 kilometers away from my hometown, where I used to work," said Ye Huan, 27, a female worker in Zheng's factory. "The most important thing is that I can go back home every day to take care of my two kids."

The Zheng'an government plans to build the largest guitar museum in the world and open guitar courses in every school.

"We hope that people worldwide who love guitars will one day visit our county and see it as a holy land," Deng said.

Wu Qi, the county head, said the guitar producers' success had liberated the minds of rural people who were once conservative.

"Now people believe miracles can be created anywhere, anytime in China, if we take advantage of the Party's strong leadership to serve the people who are so diligent and smart," he said.

​

 

[TaiShang]

CPC targets corruption in poverty alleviation projects
Xinhua, December 24, 2017

China's anti-graft chief pledged to crack down upon corruption and malpractice in poverty relief projects.

Zhao Leji, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks during his inspection tour to southeast China's Fujian Province from Thursday to Saturday.

Officials will face severe punishment for embezzlement and misuse of poverty relief funds, bribery and nepotism, Zhao said when visiting poverty-stricken families in a village of Ningde city.

He also urged local officials to curb bureaucracy and red tape and enhance leadership when implementing poverty relief projects.

Zhao reiterated the importance of punishing corrupt officials at lower ranks, particularly those who shelter and collude with local criminal organizations.

In Zhangzhou and Ningde cities, he talked with local discipline inspection officials to gather first-hand information on the progress of the supervisory system reform.

He urged local Party organizations to strengthen leadership over the reform to ensure a smooth transition, adding supervisory commissions at the county level must be empowered to step up supervision over local civil servants.

During the trip, he also presided over a symposium attended by central, provincial and local discipline inspection officials to hear their opinions on the supervision work.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2017-12/24/content_50158397.htm

 

[TaiShang]

Campaign to bolster fight on poverty
China Daily, December 30, 2017

China will formulate a three-year guideline on a national poverty reduction campaign and wage a war against corruption in the sector between 2018 and 2020, according to a national meeting that ended on Friday.


The year 2018 is a key year for fighting poverty, and improved measures are called for to win the "tough battle", said Vice Premier Wang Yang, who presided over the three-day meeting on poverty reduction and development.


He stressed the importance of focusing on areas and households severely hit by poverty, and said efforts should be focused on the most urgent issues facing the poor, so as to enhance their sense of fulfillment.


The vice premier also demanded prioritizing poor regions in the implementation of the rural vitalization strategy.


Wang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is head of the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development.


China has set a goal to complete the building of a "moderately prosperous society" in all respects by 2020, which requires the eradication of poverty.


To do that, China needs to bring more than 10 million people out of poverty every year.


A three-year guideline will be formulated to provide a continuous and stable policy environment to carry on the war against poverty, according to a media release of the meeting.


All provincial governments will have to sign letters of responsibility with the central government on their poverty-relief targets for 2018, and special poverty groups such as the elderly, disabled and those with serious illness will receive stronger assistance, the release said.


The CPC Central Committee has also decided to launch a three-year special campaign to crack down on corruption and bad working style in the poverty relief sector, according to the release.


Lei Ming, director of the Institute on Poverty Research at Peking University, said these measures show the central government's determination to eradicate poverty by 2020.


He said the campaign against corruption in the sector will enhance the capability of poverty relief staff so that good policy can be transformed into tangible benefits.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2017-12/30/content_50178756.htm

 

[TaiShang]

Targeted poverty alleviation II: Why “targeted”? What’s “precision”?

By CGTN's Close to China
2018-01-11

China has lifted over 700 million people out of poverty, the greatest anti-poverty accomplishment in world history. But still there are about 40 million people living in extreme poverty; some are intractably poor, usually due to geographic isolation or personal hardship.

How does the central government organize such a massive initiative? Why has General Secretary Xi Jinping of the CPC Central Committee made poverty alleviation a signature priority of his leadership? What are the challenges, the obstacles? Which organizations are involved? How does China plan to eliminate extreme poverty in three years? How then to make China’s poverty reduction campaign sustainable? And don't forget: How reliable is the data? When we follow poverty reduction, that’s getting Closer To China.

How to elevate officials’ spirits when performing poverty alleviation tasks?

To carry out targeted poverty alleviation, about 800,000 officials have been sent to the frontline on poverty-relief missions, working on the very local level. These villages are very poor and the officials need to work in them one by one. To motivate officials, from county or provincial level, to go down to the poorest levels and work with individuals in difficult physical circumstances is by no means easy.

Robert Lawrence Kuhn asked Wu Guobao, director of the Center for Poverty Studies at CASS, about how to motivate and elevate officials’ spirits when they're performing poverty alleviation tasks.

Sun Tongan, a discipline inspecting official of Linxi County, Hebei Province, is asking information about the implementation of poverty alleviation policies, Dec. 26, 2017. /CGTN Photo

“Over years of learning lessons from others, say, by referring to experiences of the development programs in China designed by the World Bank, we have already developed measures to monitor, examine and evaluate the work of staff working in poor villages. It includes three aspects."

"First, at the county and township levels, we set up systems of support for poverty alleviation management departments. For example, the cadres will keep records of their daily work in the village, such as what activities they have performed, etc. And then report to the township and county."

"Second, superior officials will inspect the villages from time to time, and ask the aid recipients about the performance of the cadre working in village. The questions go like this: Is he visiting the poor households every day? And what problems is he working on? Such a conversation is also carried out with village cadres."

"Third, the recipients' satisfaction is a very important indicator in China’s poverty alleviation. That is to say, if the poor are not satisfied with the cadres assigned there to help, they cannot be lifted out of poverty because their problems cannot be effectively solved. Therefore, with multiple sources of information, we can evaluate the performance of our cadres and staff in an objective and reliable manner.”

Why is targeted poverty alleviation the highest national priority?

To "continue to implement targeted poverty reduction and alleviation measures" and to "ensure that by 2020, all rural residents living below the current poverty line will have been lifted out of poverty" were emphasized by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his report to the 19th Party Congress. The fight against poverty is a human fight and every country throughout history has been concerned with poverty.

Why then is the anti-poverty campaign in China, the so-called “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” program, so important that General Secretary Xi has made it the top national priority? Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, shared his views with Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

A CPC member is building roads with villagers in Baoshang Village, Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, July 12, 2017. /CGTN Photo

“To enable everyone to lead a happy life is a common desire of all human beings. To reduce poverty is a daunting task for all countries, especially the underdeveloped ones. But this task is of special importance to China."

"Why? China is the most populous country in the world, whose development lagged behind for a long time, and whose impoverished population is relatively large. Since the founding of New China, the CPC and the Chinese government have tried to eradicate poverty by developing the socialist system. And we have partially achieved the goal."

"Entering the new era, China will fulfill its Chinese Dream and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, but it must not leave the poor behind. Before the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China had a total of nearly 100 million poor people. The number of poor people recognized by the Chinese government numbered 99.89 million at the end of 2012 – that’s a population larger than all but a few countries."

"So the reason China attaches such great importance to poverty alleviation has to do with, first, our national conditions, and second, our task of building a comprehensively well-off society. Undeniably, the workstyle and characteristics of the leader has also played a role.”

What is General Secretary Xi’s new dimension for poverty alleviation?

China launched large-scale poverty relief programs in 1986. In the same year, 32-year-old Xi Jinping was working in Zhengding County in Hebei Province, serving as deputy county party secretary at the grassroots level. Two years later, Xi became secretary of the prefectural party committee in Ningde, Fujian Province. Some of his speeches and articles from this period were published in his book “Up and Out of Poverty”.

As Xi writes, “I worked hard during the two years in Ningde Prefecture, along with the people and Party Members there. I always felt a sense of unease. Poverty alleviation is an immense undertaking that requires the efforts of several generations."

Over the next 24 years, this county official worked his way up to China’s presidency, and brought his dream of poverty reduction to the center of China’s political life. What is it about Xi Jinping Thought that gives a new dimension to poverty alleviation in China? Robert Lawrence Kuhn spoke with Huang Chengwei, director of the General National Poverty Alleviation Publicity and Education Center at LGOP, about this.

General Secretary Xi Jinping is greeting the villagers of Yangling, Guyuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, July 18, 2016. /CGTN Photo

Huang said that when Xi Jinping took office as CPC General Secretary at the 18th CPC National Congress, many fundamental changes took place. "The most prominent ones are reflected in his series of new opinions and ideas on poverty alleviation, which altogether form his strategic thinking on poverty alleviation."

"Xi Jinping’s strategic thinking on poverty alleviation and the development of poor regions specifies that poverty alleviation and development is the essential requirement of socialism and the most daunting task in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects."

"It also covers the ideas of precision, science-based, and content-based poverty alleviation, as well as the ideas of institutional advantages, the building of a community of shared destiny for human beings free from poverty. This has offered a new meaning to poverty alleviation and development in China’s new era, and is a legacy of past leaders’ thoughts on poverty alleviation."

"At the recently concluded 19th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping also made new plans for our path ahead. At the critical stage towards building a moderately prosperous society in all respects－for the coming 30 years－clear guidelines were presented to promote the country’s modernization and address problems in poor households and regions so as to catalyze common prosperity. I believe such guidance is not only beneficial for China’s fight against poverty, but also valuable for the world, as it represents the China Plan with the pooled wisdom of China.”

https://news.cgtn.com/news/344d444d78677a6333566d54/share_p.html

***

President Xi has already registered himself as one of the greatest statesman and philosopher of public governance in history of China.

 

[TaiShang]

Rural roads important to poverty-relief in China
Xinhua, January 15, 2018

On an ordinary winter's day, hundreds of workers packed tonnes of navel oranges into boxes, taped them up and loaded them onto trucks in southern Jiangxi Province.

It was their busiest time of year after the fruit ripened in November.

"Yesterday I sent a batch to Urumqi, and soon I will send two batches to Heilongjiang Province more than 3,000 kilometers away," said Li Feng, a worker in an e-commerce park in Anyuan County in southern Jiangxi.

"We have a maximum order of 7,000 batches a day. When orders flood in on e-commerce promotion days, we have to rush to the farmers' home to buy more oranges," said Jia Longfei, another worker of the park.

"It was only in the last two years that the remote county has been transformed into a busy logistics base for the oranges," said Qiu Hongbin, director of the county poverty-relief office.

Since 2016, the county government, which deemed roads-building as essential to the development of the county, has spent 391 million yuan (about 46 million dollars) to renovate and build over 330 kilometers of rural roads.

"After the rural roads were upgraded, the average logistics costs have been cut by about a third. Lowered costs helped the fruits sell well," Qiu said.

Located in east China, Jiangxi is mainly an agricultural province. Half of its population of 45 million live in rural areas.

In the last five years, the provincial government has spent 41 billion yuan (about 6.2 billion U.S. dollars) on rural roads. Authorities said better rural roads had reduced travel time, facilitated trade and allowed more movement of people and goods.

In the next three years, the province aims to upgrade and build 12,000 kilometers of rural roads.

Nationwide, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for more efforts on the construction, maintenance and operation of rural roads as part of the country's battle against poverty. China aims to lift all people from poverty by 2020 to create a "moderately prosperous society."

"Efforts should be made to build good roads in rural areas and maintain them to ensure a better quality of life for farmers and accelerate agricultural modernization," Xi said in December.

In the past five years, China has seen 1.28 million km of rural roads built or renovated, with 99.24 percent of townships and 98.34 percent of villages connected by asphalt or cement roads.

Xi's call has created fresh action on rural roads and mobilized action from ministerial and local authorities.

Last Friday, China's Ministry of Transport convened a meeting on rural roads. Minister Li Xiaopeng demanded ministry staff to make plans on rural roads development for the next three years, and focus on building roads for regions with entrenched poverty.

Li also demanded the ministry to pressure local authorities to meet targets and to provide technical guidance.

Experts said rural roads would help eliminate physical isolation and help people escape the poverty trap. They will also boost social and economic integration, and bring isolated members closer to local decision-making.

For years, poor infrastructure has impeded development in several mountainous areas in Yunnan province, whose main population are ethnic groups perennially troubled by poverty.

Resident He Lepao, 33, blamed the muddy roads as the reason he dropped out of school at third grade.

Living in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, He had to travel for hours from his home to the seat of the village committee about eight kilometers away. Road conditions were bad for the village of only 221 people.

"It was even impossible for an SUV to drive to my home during the rain season. I had to use tire chains for my motorcycle," He said.

Government funds came and cement was applied on the muddy eight kilometers in December.

"Finally I don't have to use the tire chains any more," He said.

"All-season roads bring more exchanges with the outside world for people living in remote areas. They also bring health, education and information services to them," said Zeng Kaijun, an official with the Yunnan provincial department of transport.

In building the roads, attention has been called to maintenance and operation.

Provincial governments such as Jiangxi have earmarked government funds for maintenance of the road and contracted companies to provide a stable work force for the job.

"It is not enough to simply build rural roads. Maintenance of the roads requires double the efforts of building. It is a long-term task requiring consistent efforts," said Wang Bingqin, deputy director of Wuyuan County in Jiangxi.