China's Poverty Alleviation Policy: Trends and Challenges

Author: Wang Guoliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Since the reform and opening-up, China's poverty alleviation and development work has achieved remarkable achievements worldwide. By the end of 2004, the rural population in China without adequate food and clothing had decreased from 250 million in 1978 to 26.1 million, and the incidence of absolute poverty had dropped from 30% to 2.8%. The Global Poverty Alleviation Conference held in Shanghai in May 2004 highly praised the achievements of China's poverty alleviation and development work. In the 21st century, the role and importance of poverty alleviation and development have become even more prominent in the process of building a harmonious socialist society. However, due to the continuous changes in the international and domestic environment, China's poverty alleviation and development work at the current stage has encountered some new situations and issues, such as the slowdown in the reduction of the poverty population, the widening income gap between impoverished areas and rural areas across the country, as well as between impoverished farmers and farmers nationwide, and we are simultaneously facing the dual pressures of solving hunger and consolidating food security.