Forgotten: A village unreached by China's poverty relief
- 5 years ago
In 2015, China launched a wide-ranging campaign meant to wipe out poverty across China in just five years. The programme was meant to lift the entire population above the poverty line, ensuring every family would have an annual income above 2,300 yuan (US$340) by 2020.
The national campaign has made some headway, with official statistics showing the number of rural poor has dropped from 82.39 million in 2012 to 16.6 million at the end of 2018, and another 10 million population on target to escape the poverty level in 2019.
But people of one village in Hebei province are among those waiting for poverty alleviation efforts to reach them. Xiaoguancheng had been earmarked to receive government support as part of the government campaign.
The South China Morning Post first visited the village in 2018, and when we returned a year later, we found little had changed and for some families, conditions had grown even worse.
The national campaign has made some headway, with official statistics showing the number of rural poor has dropped from 82.39 million in 2012 to 16.6 million at the end of 2018, and another 10 million population on target to escape the poverty level in 2019.
But people of one village in Hebei province are among those waiting for poverty alleviation efforts to reach them. Xiaoguancheng had been earmarked to receive government support as part of the government campaign.
The South China Morning Post first visited the village in 2018, and when we returned a year later, we found little had changed and for some families, conditions had grown even worse.