China's revolutionary heartland casts off poverty

New houses in Shenshan village, Maoping township in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi province, can be seen in this photo taken on November 10, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua]

PRESSING TASK

Poverty alleviation remains a pressing task. The Chinese government has decided to eradicate poverty by 2020, the target year for China to become a "moderately prosperous" society.

According to official figures, China still had 55.75 million people living under the poverty line at the end of 2015. The government has said 10 million people were lifted out of poverty in 2016 and another 10 million will be this year. 

A national coordinated development strategy has contributed to poverty reduction in Hebei Province, whose counties bordering on Beijing and Tianjin were once described as a "poverty belt."

A villager carrying bamboo walks on a cement road in Tangjiayuan village, Mucun township in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi province, on December 20, 2016. Mucun is one of the most remote townships in Jinggangshan. Now all the villages there can be reached by paved roads. [Photo: Xinhua]

One million people emerged from poverty last year in Hebei, but about 2 million remain in miserable conditions. Another 700,000 should be freed from their shackles this year in Hebei through supplying agricultural products to those two rich neighbors. There are plans for a number of resorts in the province to accommodate city residents keen to spend their weekends in the mountains.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province plans to bring 1 million of its 3.5 million poor people above the poverty line in 2017.