In July 2026 Friends of Socialist China was invited by the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) to send a delegate to attend a conference in Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (in north west China), on the topic of ‘Path to Modernisation: Takeaways from China’s Theory and Practice of Poverty Alleviation’. Political representatives, alongside members of think tanks, NGOs, and international media from more than 55 countries attended the conference and related field visits in areas around China, to study the historic achievements of the poverty alleviation programmes and consider what lessons could be learned for application in other parts of the world.
David Peat, Secretary of Friends of Socialist China Britain Committee, recounts his experiences in several articles, and highlights how the Communist Party of China (CPC) sees ongoing poverty alleviation efforts as a revolutionary practice for the New Era, and a continuation of the resoluteness and commitment that was evident from its earliest days, including through the struggles of the ‘Long March’, whose 90th anniversary is celebrated this year.
The first article below details site visits in Gansu, which demonstrate the reality of China’s ongoing commitment to poverty alleviation in both theory and practice, including ensuring hard-won victories are upheld.
As far back as the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) Gansu, in China’s north west, was considered one of the poorest areas in the country. In the 1980s, United Nations experts had inspected the region and (somewhat pessimistically but tellingly) declared it as “uninhabitable” for humans. As such, it has long been known as one of the biggest challenges for China’s poverty alleviation programme and therefore received particular focus in the most acute period of ‘targeted poverty alleviation’ (officially adopted in 2014). Extremely dedicated local and national CPC cadres, working in cooperation with locals, collaborated across a variety of projects to achieve enormous improvements in living conditions for the residents of the area. The purpose of our delegation was to undertake field visits to see these projects for ourselves, their current status, and hear directly from the participants of the process, allowing us to witness the reality of China’s achievement of eliminating absolute poverty in Gansu. By seeing for ourselves how China’s model of poverty alleviation is borne out in reality, and moreover how its gains are being protected from ‘backsliding’, we were able to consider which lessons can be learnt for development around the world. In the last article in this series there will be more detail on the theoretical foundation and practical policies underpinning the poverty alleviation programme, as well as its history. In this article, and the next, the real-world practical examples inspected by the delegation will be described in order to firstly present the on-the-ground reality of this truly massive undertaking.
As part of the targeted poverty alleviation programme, 75 poverty-stricken counties in Gansu province were identified. One such designated area was Dongxiang Autonomous County, which was visited by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, when it was still primarily a collection of mud huts, without internal plumbing or decent road access. President Xi visited the village of Bulengguo in this county, notorious for its poverty, whose somewhat ominous name which, literally translated, means “village on the edge of a cliff.” Following Xi’s advice and encouragement, the locals, together with prefectural-level support, relocated the village to a more hospitable part of the county. The newly-built properties had proper amenities and access, which went some way to fulfilling a number of the criteria needed to raise a county and its population out of poverty-stricken status, including improved medical and educational facilities for the residents. Our delegation was invited to visit the site of the old village, now a museum, and contrast it with the more modern properties in which the villagers were now living, as well as chatting with the locals about their experiences. A local news report, including interviews with some of the delegates can be seen here.
However, infrastructural and housing improvements alone are not sufficient to raise an individual or a community out of absolute poverty status, and other considerations, such as income levels also need to be considered. Another aspect of targeted poverty alleviation is to arrange support for local industries and enterprises, to ensure locals are able to sustainably secure a higher income. In this region, working in tandem with the basic infrastructural improvements, and after researching what local resources could be brought to bear to help build a sustainable way of life, it was determined that the Bulengguo Animal Husbandry Farmers Professional Cooperative would be a suitable recipient of the ‘paired-assistance’ model. In this model, primary support is given to local cooperatives and enterprises by large, established corporations and/or state-owned enterprises (SOEs) (in this case, the large petroleum and gas state SOE, Sinopec) which, like all large corporations in China, has CPC delegates as part of its management. This is an example of how China utilises the socialist market system to achieve sustained and qualitative improvements to the living conditions of its citizens. This project was just one of 240 that Sinopec had supported in the region, across infrastructure, education, and industrial sectors. Moreover, various of these enterprises were designed to specifically support groups requiring extra and more tailored assistance, such as ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and the elderly.
For a long time, the local breed of sheep was only known in the province and immediate environs, but the establishment of more modern ranches, economies of scale through better distribution (including through e-commerce), and support to research and develop more product ranges, has increased the dynamism and capabilities of the cooperative, and raised the profile of Dongxiang Hand-reared Sheep to national status, securing market buy-in for their wider range of products. This success has allowed for the cooperative to attract more locals—now 25 households invest and share profits, and it has provided employment for over ten villagers nearby. Together, these improvements had resulted in average annual per capita income in the district reaching 13,120 yuan at the end of 2025 (eight times that of 2012).
Following the inspection tours, our delegation was invited to hear directly from the villagers about their experience and had the opportunity to ask questions. Ma Zhong Chu, 81, spoke of the enormous improvements in the quality of life he had seen over many decades, but most particularly in the last 15 years. Jiang Ying spoke of how the increase in vocational opportunities had given her and the other women of the village more freedom to determine their own lives. A younger villager spoke of how he had been a migrant worker but had returned to his village upon hearing of the improvements taking place, adding that now he is an active member of the sheep rearing cooperative.
Following the success of the targeted poverty alleviation project and therefore the elimination of absolute poverty within China (which was declared in 2021), a five-year period of consolidation was embarked on, to ensure the progress made was sustainable, and that none of those raised out of absolute poverty fell back into that status (and moreover, supporting the drive towards the next key developmental goals with deadlines in 2035 and 2049). A variety of causes, from individual to natural and systemic issues could cause such a backsliding and as such various measures have been put in place to catch them before they cause problems.
Our delegation had the opportunity to inspect the local government offices and its ‘Gansu One-click report’ system (甘肃一键报贫 / 甘肃防返贫监测信息系统) which was established to allow citizens, their families, their neighbours and so on to report any issues affecting their individual and communal living conditions, which could potentially cause them to return to poverty. This facility can be used to report maintenance or medical issues, crop failures or issues around employment, among other things. It can be accessed simply through common electronic portals to which all citizens have easy access. Initial responses are guaranteed within 48 hours and typically result in an in-person visit from a CPC cadre to help take the necessary action.
As with the targeted poverty alleviation programme, China’s experience has shown that access to up-to-date, accurate data about the real-life conditions of its citizens is essential to being able to provide tailored interventions to ensure that any problems are solved in a prompt, sustainable and effective manner. However, whereas initial stages of targeted poverty alleviation required large-scale screening across entire regions, this application allows for more dynamic and responsive data-driven interventions to be deployed efficiently. Gansu’s model has been recognised nationally as particularly effective and so it has been rolled out in other areas where it matches local conditions. The system is undergoing continual, iterative improvements and AI-assisted algorithms are being put into place to improve sorting and allocation mechanisms.
The few days our delegation spent in Gansu were a fascinating and inspiring time. Seeing vibrant local cooperatives, lively, modernised villages and tech-assisted welfare systems allowed one to see how this former “uninhabitable” land in China’s remote northwest had been transformed, through the hard work of its people, guided by the Party’s leadership in its world-historic poverty alleviation programme.
Our trip continued to nearby Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which will be covered in the next part of this series of articles.
