Persistent efforts needed for China to root out poverty

By Digby Wren

Beyond Beijing, in the foothills and remote regions, in the tier four cities and in the towns, counties and villages across this vast country there are still millions of people needing basic services, infrastructure and education. Prior to the recent two sessions in Beijing, Xi Jinping made visits to a number of extremely poor villages and counties in Sichuan province where this author resides. Xi has experienced poverty first hand as a child, young cadre, provincial official and now as General Secretary and core of the party. It is little wonder then that the program of poverty alleviation is front and centre during the two sessions.

A woman harvests green peppers in Houshawa Village of Xinhe County, north China's Hebei Province, Nov. 5, 2017. Vegetable cooperatives were built in Houshawa Village in recent years, bringing more than 370 households out of poverty. [Photo: Xinhua]

Since 1949, China has transformed its governance, economy and, most importantly, elevated more than 700 million citizens out of poverty. In the last five years alone, China lifted another 68 million from poverty however, over 30 million Chinese continue to live below the national poverty line, a standard set in November 2011 of per capita annual income of 2,300 yuan. To continue China’s transformation into a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China’s leaders have articulated initiatives to apply the lessons learnt from past successes to renew poverty alleviation efforts by focusing on targeted and localized programs to extract another 10 million more people out of poverty this year. 

Liu Yongfu, the director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, detailed how China will allocate over USD$16.8 billion in funding for poverty alleviation work in 2018, an increase of over USD$3 billion over last year. One problem with the large sums being invested has been misconduct and corruption. Vice Finance Minister Hu Jinglin, has stated that in 2017 the government investigated and punished over 80,000 people for misconduct, fraudulent claims and or misappropriation of over USD$150 million across 28 provinces. However, other problems remain, the provision of physical infrastructure such as roads, clean water, sewerage treatment, internet connections and access to health and education delivery. Moreover, social and cultural habits including long term unemployment, alcoholism, unapproved and unsafe building practices and gaining community support slow the implementation of programs that are designed to retain and strengthen social and cultural cohesion in affected localities.

An undated photo shows a village school in Liangshan, Southern Sichuan.[Photo provided by Digby Wren]

Over the past eighteen years, in the small remote village of Liangshan in Sichuan’s mountainous south the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Badeng Nima and the dedicated staff of Sichuan Normal University, where I am based for my research, have been travelling frequently to establish primary schools and train teachers - who often have basic tertiary education - to develop connections with villagers that can guide socially and culturally aligned programs. Their efforts in remote Sichuan and Qinghai have reached a stage where it is now clear that to deliver economic benefits that focus on human dignity and harnessing existing social structures requires the integration of resources that generate pride in local industries, including arts and crafts, while respecting local architecture, protecting the environment and targeting the unique characteristics of each locality.

Coordinated efforts are now focusing on investment into eco-tourism, local industry based in cultural production and using a digital backbone to market and manage entrepreneurial efforts. Readers of this article may agree with the above however, tapping into government and private investment and expertise is still complicated and relies on individual efforts. One such effort was ‘The First Sichuan Country-Art Exhibition’ recently held at the spacious Chengdu Hong (red) Art Gallery. The husband and wife team of designer Yang Dongdong and publisher Zhuang Huishu curated the works into a sophisticated and contemporary exhibit harnessing audio-visual technology, lighting and soundscapes to create modified spaces that evoked the cultural production processes and accentuated the artistic, ethnic and artisanal craftsmanship of the mostly traditional works. Urban audiences in Chengdu attended in large numbers and the exhibition was extended for two weeks. 

Health and medical services is another critical area for poverty alleviation in China. Premier Li Keqiang’s work report emphasized the government’s commitment to a people-centered development philosophy designed to build a ‘healthy China’. Among the many new deputies attending the Two Sessions (over 75 percent of deputies are new) was Dr. Li Weimin, the president of West China School of Medicine in Sichuan. Dr. Li has submitted a plan to establish a ‘regional medical alliance’ composed of partnerships between first-class hospitals in China with hospitals in poor counties, towns, and autonomous regions across the country. Under a system called ‘tiered diagnosis’, patients are first treated in community health centers instead of having to make arduous journey’s to large cities for hospital visits. Hospital visits can be followed by recovery periods at community health centers. Dr. Li’s plan is a proactive means to direct more resources to health care by delegating simpler work to lower levels and by facilitating resource sharing between hospitals. Thus, the overall efficiency of the medical service system and level-based diagnosis and treatment are improved.

To establish a more sustainable mechanism that can eliminate poverty, programs such as Sichuan Normal University’s education and eco-tourism, Dr. Li’s medical resource sharing and Red Gallery’s Country Art exhibition need simplified access to financial resources, professional experts in medicine and dentistry, environment and tourism, architecture and engineering, computer software and hardware and a steady stream of educators and students in development studies, primary education and entrepreneurship. Leadership is not always about success, often ensuring a high quality of targeted work and continuity of the process is more important and leads to success. Although the recent political  sessions has provided the lead for poverty alleviation, incremental change led by dedicated individuals, while welcomed, will not blossom into sustainable vibrant local communities unless they are able to more easily harness the rich basket of resources promised by Beijing.

(Digby Wren is a visiting international relations scholar at Sichuan Normal University)