Central China’s Lankao removed from the list of ‘impoverished counties’

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Lankao county in central China’s Henan Province has finally been removed from a list of “impoverished counties”, announced Henan’s Poverty Relief Office at a press conference on Monday in its capital city Zhengzhou.

There are nearly 600 counties across China listed as impoverished. According to a poverty exit mechanism adopted last April, a county is removed from the list when the number of residents living under the poverty line accounts for under two percent of its population (three percent for western regions).

Henan’s Poverty Relief Office announced Lankao county is removed the list of “impoverished counties” at a press conference on Monday in its capital city Zhengzhou, March 27, 2017. /CFP Photo

The Chinese government defines poverty as having an income of less than 2,800 yuan (about 400 US dollars) per year.

By the end of 2016, the proportion of people living under the poverty line in Lankao had fallen to 1.27 percent, lower than the national standard of two percent.

“Among the 592 impoverished counties across China, Lankao and Jinggangshan took the lead in poverty alleviation and have served as a role models for other areas,” said Zhang Jijing, director of Henan’s Poverty Relief Office.

Zhang Jijing, Henan’s Poverty Relief Office. /CFP Photo

“It’s not only an honor for Lankao people, but also for Henan people. Overcoming poverty is just a starting point and Lankao still faces challenges in achieving relative prosperity,” Zhang pointed out.

Lankao, located in the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, was registered on China's list of “impoverished counties” in 2002. One of Lankao's favorite sons is late county party secretary Jiao Yulu, whose work ethic and dedication to serving the people and fighting against poverty endeared him to many Lankao residents.

During the 1960s, the CPC launched a nationwide campaign to learn from Jiao's leadership at a time when the county was plagued by frequent waterlogging, sandstorms and soil salinization. Despite being laid low with liver cancer, Jiao was determined to get rid of the “three evils” in the county, and thus became a national hero.

Jiao Yulu /CFP Photo

China plans to lift all of its poor out of poverty by 2020, especially those who live in the nation's 128,000 impoverished villages and 832 impoverished counties, where poverty has become a regional issue. China has adopted a strategy of targeted poverty alleviation, meaning appropriate resources should be used on the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

In a government work report delivered at China's annual parliamentary sessions earlier this month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to carry out the strictest possible evaluations and assessments of poverty alleviation.

"Stern measures will be taken to address deception, falsification, and the manipulation of numbers in poverty elimination work," Li said.

China has lifted 700 million people out of poverty over the last 30 years, and despite the country's steady economic growth in recent decades, there were still 43.35 million people living in poverty at the end of last year.