The Chinese government states that, by the end of 2020, China will have built a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. This will be the end of absolute poverty: the Chinese people will bid farewell to decades of living in squalor and hunger. This will be also a starting point, when China will enter a new stage of development. The post-2020 period, as people call it, will bring forth new goals, new development, new ideas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made poverty alleviation work in China more complex. How will this massive disruption affect China's goal of building of a moderately prosperous society by the end of 2020. Closer to China speaks with Wei Houkai, Director of Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to Wei Houkai, though the pandemic has certainly disrupted society, China is still confident that poverty can be eradicated, thus completing the construction of a moderately prosperous society by the end of 2020.

Supply chains reliant on migrant workers were hit hard by Covid-19. Sales of fresh agricultural products and new agricultural operations suffered more heavily. During pandemics, it is difficult for migrant workers to find jobs, but since the outbreak of this pandemic, central and local authorities have enacted multiple protective measures.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security built a platform offering "point-to-point" services for migrant workers. For instance, the local governments of Sichuan and Hunan provinces transported local workers to Guangzhou for work. When the pandemic broke out, farming in some poorer regions was delayed, but it has gradually caught up. Tourism in rural areas is another sector that has been hit hard. Though tourism in rural areas has not fully resumed yet, things have been back on track since the National Day holiday in October.