China's reform a paradigm in anti-poverty drive

Empowering China with 25-year-long rapid growth, China's reform and opening-up drive is acclaimed as the largest poverty reduction campaign ever launched in the world history, particularly in reducing its rural population in abject poverty, according to a World Bank report.

Statistics show that in 1978, just prior to the reform and opening-up, China had 250 million extremely poor people in its countryside who were inadequately fed and clothed, accounting for 30.7 percent of its total rural population.

But the number of rural extremely poor had declined to 29 million by the end of last year thanks to 25 years of unremitting efforts.

China's reform brought about the introduction of the household contract land responsibility system in rural areas, which has granted farmers with the land use right and the right to dispose surplus produce, greatly boosting farmers' production enthusiasm to produce more and hence earn more, said Yang Jianwen, director of the economic research institute of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, adding that in 1978 to 1985 alone, Chinese farmers' income increased by 1.69 times.

In east coastal regions like Shanghai and provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, a large number of private businesses and joint ventures have emerged along with China's reform, creating many job opportunities for local rural surplus labor force as well as farmers from China's relatively underdeveloped central and west areas.

"Families in poor regions have not only seen rising income, but learnt knowledge and work techniques by working in cities and towns," said Ding Chun, associate professor of the economic institute of the Shanghai Fudan University, "They have broadened their horizon and are more capable in self-development."

"It (working in cities and towns) is an important force for poverty alleviation in China", he said.

Dongguan, a medium-sized city with a 1.5 million population in south China's Guandong Province, has attracted nearly five million people outside to come to work, with the majority from the central and west regions.

In 2003, migrant workers in Dongguan remitted 14.24 billion yuan (1.71 billion US dollars) back home, with nearly 300 million yuan (36.1 million US dollars) going to Hechi in the neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a city that has over 100,000 people working in Dongguan.

A report by the Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development under China's State Council also points out that an increasing number of non-agricultural job opportunities have become a major way for Chinese farmers to lift themselves out of poverty.

China's migrant workers exceeded 110 million last year and income from labor services per farmer reached 514 yuan (61 US dollars). Service charges contributed 52.1 percent in farmers' net income rise per capita.

China has made great contributions to the world's poverty reduction cause in the past 20 years. China's large-scale and innovative poverty reduction campaign represents a paradigm for the world in alleviating poverty, said World Bank President James David Wolfensohn.

A study conducted by the renowned Chinese Qinghua University indicates that 75 percent of the world's poverty-stricken population who are out of poverty in the past two decades are due to China's reform and opening-up drive.

So far, China has achieved the goal outlined in the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations to reduce its 1990 poverty-stricken population by half.

At present, China is endeavoring to improve its social distribution system by setting up an effective transfer payment mechanism, which will help poor regions get more public financial support and narrow regional development gap.

In addition, the social security system, which has been under reform since 1990, is expanding from cities and some rural areas to the whole country to form a nationwide network, which will become a major means in China's poverty reduction.

Noting that the first twenty years of this century is a key period for China's endeavor to build a well-off society in an all-round way, Premier Wen Jiabao, who spoke at the Global Conference on Scaling Up Poverty Reduction held from May 26 to 27 in Shanghai, said China will try to help the small portion of its population who still live in abject poverty have access to adequate food and clothing at an early date in the next ten years.

In a policy statement issued Thursday, the Chinese government made further commitment that unremitting efforts will be made on poverty alleviation and development, so as to try to realize a well-off life for China's poor in 2020.

Source: Xinhua