Abstract

This annual report has made deep analyses and elaborations about the actual conditions of China’s poverty problems,poverty alleviation policies, the practice of eliminating poverty to get rich,and some urgent problems about realizing targeted poverty alleviation strategies under the situation of finishing building a well-off society in an all-round way and implementing targeted poverty alleviation strategies.It is of great reference value to further advance the targeted poverty relief strategies and entirely cast off poverty to become better off both in the specific practice and ideology.

In the annual report,the first part attempts to reveal the real state of China’s poverty.The current situation of poverty alleviation in China is examined.Beginning with income poverty,rural poverty is investigated and the regional and population distribution of the rural poor are analyzed.Then it indicates that rural poverty is not only a matter of the low income but also concerns social welfare and other problems.In addition,as people’s poverty awareness is gradually deepening,poverty is not merely seen as a lack of income or consumption,but more as an understanding of the shortage of welfare.However,welfare is a multidimensional concept.Rural poverty shows its multiple dimensions as well,mainly reflecting in the infrastructure, housing conditions,culture and education,health care and so forth.In terms of the shortage of welfare,the report reveals the multidimensional questions about rural poverty.

Ethnic minorities,women,and children,especially women and children who are left behind in the ruralareas,and the disabled are the special poor groups in the subjects of China’s poverty alleviation.The report makes full inspection about the real difficulties of all kinds of special poor groups and analyzes their special troubles in income,education,health care and other aspects.From the related conditions that the report indicates,it is a rather complicated problem to help these special poor groups effectively get rid of poverty.This needs to aim at the special difficulties of every special group under different conditions and take pertinent,concrete,and proper measures about targeted poverty relief

The report further elaborates the complex situations and arduous tasks of achieving targeted poverty alleviation from the aspects of the polarization between the rich and the poor,the urban-ruralgap,and regional disparities. From what the report has revealed,the poverty problems are closely related to social differentiation and the gap between urban and rural areas and between regions,which are not only linked to the imbalance of economic development and mark eteconomy,but also associated with the poverty relief policies and measures of different regions.More importantly,whether the poverty problems can be effectively resolved is directly related to the relationships between the masses and the political party and the government,which may result in social conflicts.Thus targeted poverty alleviation is both asocial problem and apolitical issue.

The second part of the report expounds the poverty relief policies adopted by the central and local government at different historical stages.It emphasizes the strategic thoughts about targeted poverty alleviation of Xi Jinping since the18thNational Congress and discusses a series of institutions and policy arrangements about implementing targeted poverty alleviation of the central and local government.It is clear that since the18th National Congress,all the Party committees and governmental departments from the central to the local levels put poverty alleviation to an unprecedented height and indeed do everything possible to promote the implementation of the targeted poverty alleviation strategies.The institutional policies and concrete practice about poverty alleviation have both presented a new situation.

The third part of the report makes deep analyses about the problems in the current work of poverty alleviation.It is believed that the strategies about finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and implementing targeted poverty alleviation have formed the strong impetus to poverty relief in every place,in which the work of poverty alleviation has made great progress.However,there are still serious obstacles to the implementation of accurate poverty reduction strategies for various reasons.They are manifested as:grassroots governments and their power relationships have played the overall dominance on the poverty alleviation but the participation of social forces is very weak,and the subjectivity of impoverished groups and the endogenous development resources have not been fundamentally mobilized.To some extent,these problems make China’s poverty alleviation reduced to the structural predicament,which exactly leads to the more complicated problems of poverty eradication.Hence,whether the three problems are properly treated,addressed,and resolved are directly concerned with the concrete implementation and realization of the national anti-poverty strategies in the grassroots society,and also related to reconstructing the relationships and optimizing the structures between the power of grassroots government,social forces,and poor groups.

After indicating the forming reasons or existent origins of the above problems,the hazards are clarified further.It is shown that in China’s antipoverty practice,grassroots government’s overall dominance on poverty alleviation,and the absent or lacking participation of social forces and poor groups in the practice of eliminating poverty have led China’s grassroots antipoverty practice to the structural dilemma.This not only slacks the social benefits to a certain degree,but also seriously affects and restrains the ultimate realization of the strategic goals of national poverty alleviation,national interests,and the survival and development rights of the poor groups. Therefore,how to optimize thegovernance structure of poverty alleviation, how to step out of the structural predicament,and how to make poor groups become the largest beneficiary have become the problems that must be thought and dealt with in the current anti-poverty practice.In order to optimize the governance structure of the anti-poverty in the current grassroots, it is required to re-configure the combination of position,identity,role, function,and relationships between power and interests among the grassroots administrative power,social forces,and poor groups in the practice of poverty alleviation.And it also needs to realize the disinhibition of executive power,the manifestation of social forces in poverty alleviation,and remodeling of the subjectivity of poorgroups.

In the opinion of the author,it is more important to persist in and respect the subjectivity status of the poor groups in the practice of eliminating poverty,thus stepping towards an endogenous development pathc entered on the poor groups.The path focuses on the poor groups,highlights their subjectivity in the practice of getting rid of poverty,persistently regards antipoverty as the progress of expanding their chances and abilities of survival, cultivates their endogenous community organizational foundation,releases their development energy and development freedom,and finally realizes their subsistence and development rights.The three most important action subjects,namely poor groups,administrative power,and social forces,should keep mutual respect,equal conversation,and full cooperation,thus forming the strong power of anti-poverty so as to collaboratively deal with all kinds of problems of poor groups.Therefore,from centered on power to poor groups,from emphasizing materials to persons,from the exogenous development to the endogenous development,this path has transformed the past governance structure of poverty alleviation and could be considered as the new exploration of grassroots poverty relief.

There is an appendix about Anji Mode of getting rid of poverty in the green development,which could be regarded as the case study of this report.