China shortens its list of poorest counties

DECADES OF WORK

Lankao has been poor throughout history, as wars as well as frequent sandstorms and floods left the area with nothing much but poor soil.

According to the county's annals, floods hit Lankao more than 90 times between 1644 and 1949, and over 60 villages were buried by sandstorms from the 1850s to 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded.

Dai was reluctant to admit he was a Lankao native when he was out doing business several years ago.

"I often claimed to be from the neighboring Kaifeng, as people would have asked 'Are locals still going out to beg?' if they heard that I was from Lankao," Dai recalled.

Efforts to cast off poverty have persisted since the founding of New China.

In the 1960s, Lankao suffered another natural calamity, resulting in years of crop failures. It was then when Jiao Yulu, who was later known as a national model cadre for his painstaking efforts in poverty-alleviation, came to work as Party secretary in Lankao in 1962.

Astonished by the miserable life of locals, Jiao worked tirelessly and devoted all his life to fighting the poor natural conditions in the county, even when diagnosed with liver cancer.

He led locals to plant trees and dig water channels to reduce the impact of disasters until his death in 1964 at the age of 42. His story was later made into a film that touched the whole country in 1990.

"CPC members have led Lankao's people to fight against poverty generation after generation, and the pressure of anti-poverty efforts has become a driver of economic growth," said current Lankao Party chief Cai.

NATIONAL INSPIRATION

Lankao is the second county to be removed from the list after Jinggangshan in eastern China's Jiangxi Province, which was eliminated from the list in late February.

The Chinese government has vowed to eradicate poverty by 2020. As of late February, there were 831 impoverished county-level regions across China, which are expected to eliminate poverty in the next four years.

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.

Li Heng, from the school of economics at Henan University, said Lankao's poverty reduction experience can inspire other economically backward areas to transition from outdated development modes to new, sustainable growth patterns.

Despite harsh natural conditions, locals have successfully boosted the economy by upgrading traditional farming and establishing higher value-added industries such as musical instrument manufacturing, which have reshaped local industry and fueled growth, said Li.

"A restructured regional economy with sustainable growth will help prevent local people from returning to poverty. The Lankao experience is a touchstone in China's battle against poverty," he said.