Busting poverty - mission accomplished

A closer look at Xiao's story would help put such insights into proper perspective.

The red card on the main door of Xiao's home identifies his family as "a poverty-stricken household". It also explains the main cause of Xiao's poverty－his daughter's illness caused by uremia, a disease that requires a lot of money for treatment.

Those like Xiao, stricken by extreme penury, are identified with a red card, while yellow and blue cards denote successive levels of poverty.

Red cards signify people with no ability to work, like the old, the infirm and those who are past their prime due to illness or disability.

In Bashang, families such as Xiao's benefited from a special poverty-alleviation program supported by the local government's fiscal spending. Such families were supported financially to provide food and beverages to tourists who visit the area to spend a day in the way the Red Army had done here in the late 1920s.

This nostalgia-evoking niche tourism contributed a major part of Xiao's around 13,500 yuan ($2,005) income from January to June this year.

Similar incomes have helped his family to stay above the poverty line, up 74 percent from 2010－for five consecutive years now.

The income statement displayed on a wall in Xiao's home states that the annual per capita disposable income rose by about 19 percent during the five-year period to 2019.

"The busiest month is always August as it's part of the summer vacation. But for the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of tourists I serve could have reached around 800 this year," said Xiao.

But, due to the impact of the epidemic on China's economy, Xiao expects to serve fewer tourists this year.

As Xiao's family income rose over the years, his daughter received better treatment, medical insurance and healthcare services.

Xiao's improved life situation has much to do with Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision for a poverty-free China.

Xi had set this year-end as the deadline for all rural counties in China to eradicate extreme poverty.

The goal, which is well within China's grasp now, will enable the country to attain the poverty eradication target 10 years ahead of the schedule set out in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Xi reiterated the target in a speech via video at a high-level meeting in honor of the UN's 75th anniversary in September.

Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said in July that the number of rural poor people under China's current poverty line dropped from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 5.51 million by the end of 2019.

To achieve the poverty-alleviation goal, central and local governments have taken new measures to collect sufficient funds to ensure spending in key poverty-stricken areas.