Backbone of the nation bears load

Since China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978, more than 850 million people have been lifted out of poverty, according to the World Bank.

From 2012 to 2019, the number of poverty-stricken people in China dropped from nearly 99 million to 5.5 million, and the proportion of the population in poverty fell from 10.2 percent to 0.6 percent over that time.

Shabbir says the unprecedented achievement means that millions of China's hitherto intractably poor－especially those living in remote mountain villages－have been lifted out of poverty since 2012.

On Dec 3, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said China has achieved its goal of poverty reduction as planned, and had lifted nearly 100 million people out of poverty in the past eight years. In February, he announced China's "complete victory" in its fight against absolute poverty.

In 2019, the poverty line was set at 3,218 yuan ($490) per person a year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The figure is subject to adjustment as the country's price levels change. A decade ago the level was set at 2,300 yuan.

"Now, in 2021, even though the pandemic has impacted all walks of life severely, the CPC is still determined that its poverty-alleviation goal will not be thwarted," Shabbir says.