From “Blood Transfusion” to “Hematopoiesis”

The three of us spent a night discussing the anti-poverty modes of“blood transfusion” and “hematopoiesis.”

Yang Yao made adequate preparations before taking up the provisional post of deputy county chief. As the first Party chief, Chen Kehai was at the forefront of addressing issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Based on extensive reading about the rural research before being positioned to the countryside, in association with several months' practical experience, both have acquired a profound understanding of the issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, as well as poverty alleviation. Both were well armed for the poverty alleviation work in the rural areas.

Speaking of the previous anti-poverty mode of “flood irrigation,” Yang Yao said that such extensive poverty alleviation was an option against the historical backdrop, as opposed to “precise” poverty alleviation. In line with the poverty line defined by the World Bank, the poverty-stricken population in rural China made up 95.59% of the rural population in 1981. Almost everyone was impoverished, with insufficient food and clothing. It's a horrifying proportion. Moreover, the poverty-stricken people in rural China accounted for 38.29% of the poor population in the world.

Yang Yao is a writer born in 1975. His novels gave the readers a glimpse into his youthful memory. During his youth, the villages were largely a mess,the rural people suffered from the shortage of food and clothing, and the young people in rural China struggled hard. His works depict a general socio-economic situation of rural China in the 1980s.

It evoked my memory about the time. In the 1980s, thanks to the system of household contract responsibility implemented and the emancipation of the rural productive forces, the rural China showed a vibrant scene. One of the most obvious manifestations was the disappearance of hordes of beggars during the spring famine in the 1970s. The economy in the counties was underdeveloped at the time. Various agricultural conditions gave rise to uneven development, but the shortage of food and clothing remained to be a primary problem. It's common for people to rely on the relief fund. As a popular saying back then goes, “Lean against the wall with a cane in the hand and wait for the relief grain. People took it as good news for their county to be rated as poverty-stricken.” The economic development in the counties relied on the relief funds and projects from superior authorities. Some local officials felt desperate and said that they felt like beggars.

Having combed through the history of poverty alleviation, Kehai gained a better understanding. He said that the poverty alleviation or the fight against poverty is a part of the reform and opening up. In turn, the abject poverty in rural China became an important driver, or to say a key prompt, for the reform and opening up. In 1986, the State Council set up the Leading Group for Economic Development in Poverty-Stricken Areas and officially launched poverty alleviation, which marked the beginning of China's anti-poverty journey.

The poverty alleviation work went through three stages. In the first stage from 1986 to 2000, we strived to meet people's basic living needs. In the second stage from 2001 to 2010, the focus was to fight the multidimensional poverty in rural China. Specifically, it means to help the small number of needy people without enough to eat and wear reach that minimum standard of living, improve the basic production and living conditions in poverty-stricken areas, consolidate the achievements already made in addressing the food and clothing problem, improve the quality of life and comprehensive quality of the poverty-stricken people, and speed up the construction of infrastructure facilities in impoverished rural areas, and improve the ecoenvironment. This round of poverty alleviation was conducted in the mode of “flood irrigation,” with a view of improving the economic, social and cultural situation in the poverty-stricken areas.

Then, the third stage of “targeted” poverty alleviation is under way.

Kehai said that the main objective of poverty alleviation at each stage is related to the development and progress of the entire society. The current stage of targeted poverty alleviation constitutes an integral part of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It's worth mentioning that at all stages, the government body in charge of poverty alleviation is named“the office of poverty alleviation and development” at all levels from the county to the state, since poverty alleviation is the end while development is a means to the end. Both extensive and targeted poverty alleviation are development-oriented, which is a Chinese characteristic not shared by any other country in the world.

Therefore, “no one will be left behind in the targeted poverty alleviation and the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects,”continued Kehai. To this end, we need to answer the questions of “who to support, who and how to conduct poverty alleviation.”

He went on to say that, all three stages have been fruitful. To put it in the context of global poverty reduction, we can see that nearly all rural Chinese were impoverished in 1980, accounting for 38.29% of the world poor population. By 2002, however, the first stage of poverty alleviation halved the rural poor population in China to 48.8% of China's rural population and 23.39% of the world poor population. By 2012, the proportion of rural poor dropped further to 12.98% of Chinese rural population and 9.41% of the world poor population.

Now, let's talk about the specific population. From 1981 to 2012, the poor population decreased by 1,085,380,000 in the world and by 674,580,000 in China, about 62.15% of the global reduction, which is quite remarkable. China played a significant role in the global anti-poverty cause and made an outstanding contribution.

In Shanxi Province, more than 80% of the poor people concentrate in the loess gully area of the Lüliang Mountain in the west, the arid stony areas of the Taihang Mountain in the east, and the high and cold areas in the north. Shanxi Province is home to 58 very poor counties that are the main targets of national poverty alleviation and development work, including 36 ones at the national level and 22 at the provincial level. From north to south, the counties of Tianzhen, Guangling, Pianguan, Ningwu, Jingle, Xing, Lin, Shilou, Yonghe, and Daning are deeply impoverished. In the 1980s, there was a popular saying among the provincial officials, indicating the affluence of the area around the Fen River, the well-off state in the southeast, the poverty in Yanmen Pass, and dire poverty in Lüliang Mountain. Few people were willing to serve as an official in Yanmen Pass and Lüliang Mountain. Thirty years later, it's still the case.

Chen Kehai continued to explain why the anti-poverty fight was made a top priority for the heads of the CPC departments and the government in Shanxi Province. There are 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas in China,mostly in western and southwestern China. Shanxi is the only province in northern China that has two contiguous poverty-stricken areas. That's why the poverty alleviation in Shanxi Province has been a national concern and the provincial governor, county chiefs and township heads are all under enormous pressure.

The question about why the areas of absolute poverty are contiguous triggered a lively discussion.

The reasons for absolute poverty abound. While visiting the impoverished households, we were told that they were impoverished because of their old age, incapability or lack of guanxi (personal networks).

They actually summed up the reasons for absolute poverty in rural China. In academic language, it's the lack of resources such as physical, material, monetary and social capital that led to poverty or hardships. This is a phenomenon of absolute poverty exemplified by the situation of Wang Sannü from Kelan County.

In the interview with us, Wang Sannü repeatedly expressed her gratitude to the government for the anti-poverty policies, saying that if it hadn't been for the policies and the government support, she and the two kids might soon have to beg for a living.

Liu Zhijie, director of the Shanxi Provincial Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, told us about the situation of Wang Sannü. He said with a sigh, “If they continued to stay in the village, it could only get worse for them.”

We're not ashamed of poverty. We feel sorry for it.

When the problem is associated with economic benefit, the case would become more complicated. The registration of poverty-stricken households concerns economic and tangible benefits, giving rise to contradictions and challenges in the precise identification of impoverished people.

He mentioned a slogan he saw in Dongzheng Village of Yonghe County. “If you are truly poverty-stricken, you'll receive genuine help from all. If you want to be registered as impoverished only to take advantage of poverty-alleviating policies, you will never get rich and scare away all possible candidates of daughters-in-law. If you work hard to get out of poverty, you'll soon live a well-off and honorable life.” The slogan is obviously intended to resolve the contradictions in the precise identification of poverty-stricken households. When it comes to personal benefits, the people would pursue maximum immediate benefits, which is understandable.

It reminded us of a matter that Director Liu Zhijie told us. In 2010, the provincial government began to dispense coal to peasants as a part of public welfare. Since it's dispensed with the household as the basic unit, the statistics showed hundreds of thousands of more households in the province than the previous record.

We noticed the situation during the interviews too. In Yangfang Village of Ningwu County, the record showed that there were 300 registered households. Upon the start of coal distribution, the number increased by over 90 to 392.

Kehai said that it's not their fault. We should solve relative poverty simultaneously with absolute poverty. Only in this way can we improve the efficiency of development-oriented poverty alleviation. Moreover, the eradication of absolute poverty is the precondition for the elimination of relative poverty.

The former poverty alleviation and development work was often referred to as the “flood-irrigation” or “blood-transfusion” mode while the precise poverty alleviation is intended to shift the approach of poverty alleviation from “blood transfusion” to “IV,” with the focus laid on improving the self-development ability and increasing motivation of the poor. In fact, this is a misunderstanding of the new round of the targeted poverty alleviation. For the impoverished people who have lost the ability to work or returned to poverty due to illness or education spending, it's nearly impossible for them to get out of poverty through improving self-development ability, and even if possible, there's quite a long way to go for them. Therefore, “blood transfusion” is an essential and feasible way to eliminate absolute poverty. Here, the “blood transfusion” means to help all those most in need.

This is an unprecedented and important step in the new round of targeted poverty alleviation and development, with a view to eradicating absolute poverty. As the world's second largest economy, China is capable of helping the relatively small number of people trapped in absolute poverty. Over the years, China has made a huge financial and social investment in this regard.

The government provides guaranteed support for old, weak, sick or disabled poor people who are unable to work. By 2017, there were 10,788 residents entitled to subsistence allowances and 2,358 to “Five Guarantees”(food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses) in Ningwu County.

Industrial support is provided to the poor with working ability. They are guided to buy shares of strong and profitable companies for relatively fixed asset income. In Ningwu County, 4,121 impoverished households with a population of 12,211 received industrial support by making stock investment in elephant breeding, PV power plants, Luning Coal Company, tourism companies, and others.

Jobs are created for strong, educated and young poor people. Under the guidance of the government, work opportunities are created through expanding corporate recruitment and setting up positions for public service and ecological forest protection, in a bid to help increase the wage income of poor households. In Ningwu County, 7,000-plus poor laborers have been employed in this way, among which 2,581 ones were employed under the guidance of government.

By 2017, the number of registered poverty-stricken villages in the county dropped from 251 to 148 and that of registered poverty-stricken households fell from 17,091 with a population of 40,415 to 8,454 with a population of 19,541.

The blood transfusion is followed by hematopoiesis to secure victory in the last mile of poverty alleviation. In a certain sense, the anti-poverty fight is an effort to seek public welfare and serve the people by taking concrete actions.