The concept of Targeted Poverty Alleviation () was first raised by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to combat poverty in China. In 2020, China eliminated absolute poverty, as defined by the World Bank criteria.
Targeted poverty alleviation plays into China's poverty alleviation strategy, and is to contribute to the Party's century goal of "comprehensively building a "moderately prosperous society" that is the first objective of Xi Jinping's agenda of the Four Comprehensives. In his speeches, Xi Jinping emphasizes that without solving the poverty problem in rural areas, China cannot become a moderately prosperous society.
The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy was officially adopted by the Chinese government in 2014. Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, said in his government report in March 2014, "local governments need to merge poverty alleviation resources….and take targeted measures to ensure that assistance reaches poverty-stricken villages and households."
Background
From 2002 to 2012, the administration of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao introduced poverty alleviation measures via direct cash transfers to poorer regions and poorer people. Cash transfers were directed by the central government with eligibility determined by provincial or city/county level governments. Poor regions were defined based on GDP per capita, income per capita, and local government revenue per capita. Poor people were defined by household income per capita and employability.
In November 2011, then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced that China was raising the poverty line from RMB 1274 to 2300 (per capita net income). More than 128 million Chinese were living under that line, which meant they could only spend 1 US dollar per day.
The World Bank's international poverty line was $1.90 US dollars per person, per day in 2011 purchasing power parity (PPP).
In 2015, the central government of China revised the poverty line, ruling that people with an annual income of less than 2800 RMB (400 US dollars per year or 1,10 US dollars per day) were in absolute poverty.
Battle against poverty
In 2015, the government of the People's Republic of China initiated the "Decisions of the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council on Winning the Battle of Poverty Eradication" with the aim to lift 70 million of the rural population above the poverty line until 2020. Consequently, the PRC endeavors to bring one million people per month and 30,000 people per day out of impoverishment.
The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy functions as a high-profile political campaign with leading groups on poverty alleviation established at all administrative levels. The campaign is accompanied by a book collecting General Secretary Xi Jinping's quotes on poverty alleviation published by the CCP. The campaign-based approach is a common mechanism in Chinese politics in order to achieve highly prioritized political objectives within limited time.
For the respective campaign, a significant amount of financial resources has been pooled: For 2019, the Chinese government has allocated 91 billion RMB (approximately US$13 billion) to poverty alleviation funds. Additionally, the China Development Bank has pledged 400 billion RMB (approximately US$57 billion) for the combat of poverty. Besides through the remarkable financial commitment, the PRC also mobilizes large parts of the political system as well as of the private sector to achieve its objective of poverty alleviation.
National poverty registration system In January 2014, the State Council of China published the "Opinions on Innovative Mechanisms to Promote Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development". In order to find the "real poor" and "really alleviate poverty" the state planned a national database (jiandang lika) where every poor household (instead of county) is registered, where their progress can be tracked and where they can be "managed dynamically". By 2019, the system registered data of 128,000 villages and 290,000 households. It identified Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan as the most poverty-stricken areas.
Decisions of the on Winning the Battle of Poverty Eradication In November 2015, the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development adopted the "Decisions of the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council on Winning the Battle of Poverty Eradication", emphasizing the urgency of poverty alleviation in China. The guiding principles of the Decisions are the following:
1) The Four Modernizations of former core leader Deng Xiaoping;
2) The Theory of Three Represents ();
3) Hu Jintao's concept of scientific development, including economic production, cultural development and political consensus;
4) The spirit of the series of keynote speeches by General Secretary Xi Jinping around the Four Comprehensives:
Comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society; Comprehensively deepening the reform; Comprehensively governing the nation according to law; Comprehensively and strictly governing the Party.
The Decisions develop several goals: They aim to solve Two No Worries and Three Guarantees. Furthermore, for 2020, the per capita average of rural farmers is targeted above the national average. In order to achieve these goals, the government implements several strategies such as resettlement and industrial development of impoverished rural areas.
The 13th Five-Year Plan for Poverty Alleviation In December 2016, the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the "13th Five-Year Plan for Poverty Alleviation", proposing to adhere to the combination of targeted assistance and overall regional development, and to promote the implementation of a number of poverty alleviation projects.
The "tough battle" against poverty In October 2017, Xi urged "all-out" efforts to fight the "tough battle" against poverty. Two months later a statement was issued after the Central Economic Work Conference which also targeted poverty alleviation as one of three "tough battles" to win on the following three years, along with major risk control and pollution prevention.
Significant measures were applied to reach the goal. Banks were encouraged to give microloans to farmers. Rural cooperatives were set up in many places allowing farmers to put together their resources to raise production.
"Guiding Opinions on the Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Battle against Poverty" In August 2018, the CCP Central Committee issued "Guiding Opinions on the Three Year Action Plan to Win the Battle against Poverty". The opinions emphasize three major objectives for the last three years of the battle:
1) consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation;
2) ensure that there are no more poverty-stricken counties and raise the per capita income of the rural population;
3) establish and enhance basic public services in rural areas.
Targeted Poverty Alleviation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic In a speech in March 2020 on the 'Symposium on the decisive battle and decisive victory in the fight to get rid of poverty', Xi Jinping stated that the CCP's goal to lift all of the PRC's population out of poverty until 2020 was still within reach – even with increased obstacles due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Xi also emphasized that the achievement of this goal in 2020 would not mean an end to the party's efforts. A transitional period and enhanced control mechanisms might have to be put in place to prevent unsustainable poverty alleviation and to expose fake poverty alleviation ( ).
This sentiment is also reflected in Li Keqiang's statement during a press conference in the course of the 13th National People's Congress in May 2020. Li also spoke about the increased difficulties posed to the CCP's commitment for 2020. But he also stated that with increased efforts by all government levels and the deployment of security and rescue funds, getting rid of poverty within 2020 was still the unchanged goal for the CCP.
Results In 2020, China eliminated absolute poverty, as defined by the World Bank criteria. Along with China having become an upper-middle income country, this outcome met the first of the country's Two Centenaries goals.
Academic Bingqin Li writes that the campaign has increased overall political trust in China.
Political actors and structures
Xi Jinping Poverty alleviation has been one of Xi Jinping's priorities. The CCP set 2020 as the year that the country should wipe out poverty and become a moderately prosperous society or xiaokang. Xi has said that "no one should be left behind on the road towards xiaokang."
China's official media reports that Xi has toured dozens of impoverished villages since he took office as CCP general secretary in 2012, "sharing his rich experience in poverty eradication work and putting himself on the front lines of the war on poverty." In November 2013, he paid an inspection visit to Xiangxi, Hunan province in central China. During his tour to Shibadong village in Xiangxi, Xi asked the local government to take measures to "keep track of every household and individual in poverty to verify that their treatment is having the desired effect."
Party-state institutions The party-state's poverty alleviation strategy is implemented on all administrative levels. At the central level, it is led by two main institutional bodies: the State Council's Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development ( guó wù yuàn fú pín kāi fā lǐng dǎo xiǎo zǔ) led by PRC Vice Premier Hu Chunhua represents the main state institution mandated with poverty alleviation. Within the organization of the CCP, there exists an additional Central Rural Work Leading Group that also oversees poverty alleviation in the Chinese countryside. This group is led by PRC Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Changfu. The two leading groups have their counterparts at all administrative levels down to the township level.
State mechanisms of policy implementation The PRC uses several mechanisms in order to implement the centralized poverty alleviation strategy effectively.
Vertical political integration and horizontal political integration Vertical political integration, (tiao tiao ) is used in order to link governmental instances vertically to higher instances at the center. In that manner, the higher scales pass down the central policy. The lower scales, such as localities, enjoy self-governing rights and are free to develop their own strategies to achieve poverty alleviation. Horizontal political integration (kuai kuai ) is used to include various governmental sectors. Cross-system leading groups exist which consist of the leaders of all relevant departments such as the ones in charge of party affairs, finance, education, transportation, the armed police as well as the discipline inspection commission.
Pairing-up The nationwide classification of "poor" households is achieved through a national registration system which enables local officials to collect data from each individual person, household and village. Each household that has been designated as poor, is assigned a cadre who serves as a personal advisor in the household's poverty alleviation. Once considered poor, households have a "targeted support contact card" () hung on their doors, which records the name of their cadre and the amount of subsidies the household is receiving.
Monitoring and evaluation