Why China Has Achieved a Complete Victory in Poverty Alleviation and Elimination

Poverty has always been a major problem facing the development of all countries, and poverty alleviation and elimination have therefore become an arduous task to be accomplished by the international community. There are many conditions for building a comprehensively prosperous society; eliminating absolute poverty is the most basic among them. Without advancing poverty alleviation and elimination in rural areas where the impoverished population is concentrated, building a moderately prosperous society in all respects would be impossible. On February 25, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping declared at the National Poverty Alleviation Summary and Commendation Conference held in Beijing that China’s battle against poverty had achieved a complete victory.

贫困始终是各国发展面临的重大问题，减贫脱贫因此成为国际社会有待完成的艰巨任务。建设全面繁荣的社会有很多条件，消除绝对贫困是其中最基本的条件。如果没有在贫困人口集中的农村地区推进减贫脱贫，全面建设小康社会便无从谈起。2021年2月25日，习近平总书记在北京举行的全国脱贫攻坚总结表彰大会上宣布中国的脱贫攻坚战取得了全面胜利。

Poverty alleviation and elimination have been a long-term strategic priority for China, and China has continuously explored and advanced along the path of poverty elimination. Since reform and opening up, on a national scale, the Chinese government has adopted large-scale development-oriented poverty alleviation, implementing a series of medium- and long-term projects in a planned and organized manner, including the National Seven-Year Priority Poverty Alleviation Program (1994–2000) [1]1 The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) was China’s national economic and social development blueprint for that period, during which the government intensified targeted poverty alleviation efforts. and two editions of the Outline of Development-Oriented Poverty Alleviation for China’s Rural Areas (2001–2010, 2011–2020). Especially in the past few years, China has waged the world’s largest and most intensive battle against poverty, achieving breakthrough accomplishments on the road to poverty alleviation and elimination.

减贫脱贫是中国长期坚持的战略重点，中国在脱贫道路上不断摸索前行。改革开放以来，在全国范围，中国政府采取了大规模的开发式扶贫，有计划、有组织地实施了一系列中长期项目，包括《国家八七扶贫攻坚计划》（1994—2000年）、两版《中国农村扶贫开发纲要》（2001—2010年，2011—2020年）等。特别是在过去数年间，中国开展世界规模最大、力度最强的脱贫攻坚战，并在减贫脱贫道路上取得了突破性成就。

The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have formulated a basic roadmap for China’s development, comprehensively deepening reform and opening up, including advancing reforms to the rural land system. Chinese leaders have pledged to eliminate the problems of not having enough to eat or wear, and to ensure that compulsory education, basic medical care, and housing security are guaranteed. Over more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China has successfully lifted 770 million rural impoverished people out of poverty.

中国共产党和中国政府制定出中国发展的基本路线图，全面深化改革开放，包括推进农村土地制度改革等。中国领导人承诺消除吃不饱和穿不暖的问题，并让义务教育、基本医疗、住房安全有保障。改革开放40多年来，中国已成功让7.7亿农村贫困人口摆脱贫困。

In February 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly declared that, under China’s current standard, all 98.99 million rural impoverished people had been lifted out of poverty, all 832 impoverished counties had been removed from the poverty list, and all 128,000 impoverished villages had been delisted. General Secretary Xi Jinping led the Chinese people in forging a Chinese-path poverty alleviation approach, giving birth to a theory of poverty alleviation with Chinese characteristics. This achievement aligns with the development content of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically “to end extreme poverty by 2030 and bring all people’s lives up to a basic standard,” meaning China has achieved this poverty alleviation goal ten years ahead of schedule, contributing over 70% to global poverty reduction. The World Bank, in its *Systematic Country Diagnostic for China* report, praised China’s “unprecedented achievements” in rapid economic growth and poverty reduction. UN Secretary-General António Guterres even commented that China is the country that has made the greatest contribution to global poverty reduction over the past decade.

2021年2月，习近平总书记庄严宣告，在中国现行标准下，9899万农村贫困人口全部脱贫，832个贫困县全部摘帽，12.8万个贫困村全部出列。习近平总书记领导中国人民开辟了中国式扶贫道路，孕育出中国特色反贫困理论。该成就契合联合国2030年可持续发展议程中“到2030年消除极端贫困、让所有人的生活达到基本标准”的发展内容，这意味着中国提前10年实现了这一减贫目标，对世界减贫贡献率超过70%。世界银行在《中国系统性国别诊断》报告中，称赞中国在经济快速增长和减少贫困方面取得了“史无前例的成就”。联合国秘书长古特雷斯更是评价道，中国是过去10年中为全球减贫作出最大贡献的国家。

How did China achieve this complete victory? In November 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping, during an inspection in Xiangxi, western Hunan in central China, first proposed the important concept of “targeted poverty alleviation.” [2] Subsequently, the Chinese leadership formulated specific, measurable, and time-bound goals based on this—to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020. This strategic concept became the decisive weapon for the Communist Party of China to lead the Chinese people to victory in the battle against poverty.

中国是如何取得这一全面胜利的呢？2013年11月，习近平总书记到中国中部的湖南湘西考察，首次提出“精准扶贫”的重要思想。随后，中国领导层据此制定出了具体的、可衡量的和有时限的目标——到2020年消除绝对贫困。这一战略思想成为中国共产党领导中国人民打赢脱贫攻坚战的制胜法宝。

By the end of 2020, China had cumulatively selected and dispatched over 3 million cadres to work in villages, becoming the main force fighting on the front line of poverty alleviation. During the period from 2016 to 2020, i.e., the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China invested a total of approximately 600 billion yuan in various types of funds to build centralized resettlement housing for people relocated from inhospitable areas.

到2020年底，中国累计选派了300多万名干部驻村工作，成为奋战在扶贫一线的主力军。2016年至2020年即“十三五”规划期间，中国累计投入各类资金约6000亿元，为易地扶贫搬迁群众建设集中安置住房。

Reviewing the key process from the concept of targeted poverty alleviation to its implementation, the execution of multiple measures—such as industrial support, relocation from inhospitable areas, ecological compensation, development of education, and social security as a safety net—as well as the institutional safeguards of seven systems—including registration, policy, investment, assistance, social mobilization, multi-channel and all-round supervision, and evaluation—all played irreplaceable and important roles.

回顾中国精准扶贫从思想到实践的关键过程，产业扶持、易地搬迁、生态补偿、发展教育、社会保障兜底等多种办法的落实执行，以及登记、政策、投资、援助、社会动员、多渠道和全方位的监督、评估等7个体系的制度保障都发挥了不可替代的重要作用。

In fact, China’s rural population was the first to feel the changes brought by economic reform. Specifically, government departments at all levels

事实上，中国的农村人口最先感受到经济改革带来的变化。具体而言，中国的各级政府部门千方百计帮助农民提高农产品的产量并促进销售，从而增加广大农民的实际收入。中国有句话叫“要致富，先修路”，这已成为中国扶贫工作的一项重要策略。政府通过对当地资源的开发利用，帮助贫困地区改善各类基础设施，交通的改善使民众有机会进入市场，并获得更好的医疗和教育服务。因此，大量投资基础设施建设，成为扶贫工作的重要组成部分。

In China’s poverty alleviation efforts, tourism, which can create a large number of employment opportunities, has become a highly effective industry, greatly promoting the development of China’s rural areas, especially in backward regions where traditional economic activities are difficult to carry out. To this end, the government has strengthened policy support and encouraged the development of eco-friendly tourism. Taking forest tourism, which helps people in remote areas escape poverty, as an example, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period [1]1 The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) was China’s national economic and social development blueprint for that period, during which the government intensified targeted poverty alleviation efforts., 1.475 million registered poor people in China increased their income through forest tourism, with an average annual household income increase of approximately 5,500 yuan.

在中国的扶贫事业中，能够创造大量就业机会的旅游业成为效益突出的产业，极大推动了中国农村地区的发展，特别是在传统经济活动难以开展的落后地区。为此，政府加强政策支持，鼓励发展生态友好型旅游业。以帮助偏远地区民众实现脱贫的森林旅游为例，“十三五”期间，中国有147.5万建档立卡贫困人口通过森林旅游实现增收，年户均增收约5500元。

Today’s China is like a train racing on solid tracks, moving rapidly in a clear direction at an astonishing speed. What attracts even more attention from the outside world is that China is using high technology to promote poverty alleviation, such as using drones to spray pesticides and providing sales channels for farmers through e-commerce platforms. The rise of the internet has triggered major changes in the consumption habits of the Chinese people and has also brought huge opportunities for the development of China’s rural areas. The phenomenon of using live-streaming platforms to help rural areas escape poverty is not uncommon, becoming a typical case of China’s innovative poverty alleviation methods.

当下的中国如同一列在坚实轨道上奔驰的火车，以惊人的速度朝着明确的方向快速行驶。更吸引外界关注的是，中国正在利用高科技促进减贫，如使用无人机喷洒农药、通过电商平台为农民提供销售渠道等。互联网的兴起引发中国民众消费习惯的重大改变，也为中国农村地区发展带来巨大的机遇，通过直播平台助力农村脱贫的现象屡见不鲜，成为中国创新减贫方式的典型案例。

Achieving such remarkable progress in poverty alleviation in such a short period of time, there is no doubt that China has made historic achievements in eliminating absolute poverty. Currently, the global economy is severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, while China’s epidemic has been well controlled, and the economy is stabilizing and accelerating its recovery.

在如此短的时间内取得如此显著的减贫进展，毫无疑问，中国在消除绝对贫困方面取得了历史性成就。当前，全球经济饱受新冠肺炎疫情的影响，中国的疫情已经得到良好控制，经济也趋向稳定，正在加速恢复。

In the view of some Western critics, completely eradicating poverty and achieving resilient development in a country with a population of 1.4 billion seems overly optimistic or unlikely. However, this is precisely the task China must accomplish, because the fundamental purpose of socialism is to achieve common prosperity for the people. Chinese Communists and government cadres at all levels, guided by a people-centered ideology, have worked together to make outstanding contributions to poverty eradication. If other countries want to take poverty seriously and end it, they can learn from China’s poverty alleviation experience and model and apply it with innovation.

在西方某些批评者看来，在一个拥有14亿人口的国家，彻底消除贫困和实现韧性发展似乎都过于乐观或不太可能。然而，这就是中国必须完成的任务，因为社会主义的根本目的是实现人民共同富裕。中国共产党人和各级政府干部在以人为本的思想指导下，齐心协力为消除贫困作出了卓越贡献。如果其他国家想认真对待并结束贫困，那么可以借鉴中国的减贫经验和模式并加以创新运用。

(The author is a senior researcher at the Belt and Road Research Center of Daffodil International University, Bangladesh; the translators are Zhu Rui, Langjia Zeren, and Zhang Jinling from the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Research Center for Marxism and European Civilization at the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系孟加拉国水仙花国际大学“一带一路”研究中心高级研究员；译者系中国社会科学院习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心，中国社会科学院欧洲研究所马克思主义与欧洲文明研究中心朱锐、郎加泽仁、张金岭）

Online editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑