In the late 1930s, when the generals and soldiers of the Communist Party of China (CPC) established a revolutionary base in Lyuliang in north China's Shanxi Province, they didn't know this mountain city would remain poor 80 years later.
Among the 13 counties in Lyuliang, 10 counties and 3,350 villages are still considered regions in "abject poverty."
With about 128,000 villages and over 40 million people in China still living in poverty, the country's fight against invaders and oppressors decades ago has now turned into a fight against poverty, as more than 120 CPC members have sacrificed their lives in the fight.
In the past 30 years, even with 700 million people lifted out of poverty, abject poverty remains one of China's top concerns.
It persists not only in areas around old revolutionary bases, but also in ethnic minority regions, border areas, and places with poor infrastructure, fragile environmental conditions and frequent natural disasters.
In late June, Chinese President Xi Jinping went to Lyuliang to visit poor families and talk with officials in charge of poverty alleviation work.
Xi called on the villagers to "roll up your sleeves and work harder, together with the CPC Central Committee."
A RACE AGAINST TIME
China has set 2020 as the target year to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society, which requires the eradication of poverty. The task has become more difficult and costly as the process approaches its end.
According to global experience, the most difficult phase in poverty eradication is when the population living in poverty accounts for less than 10 percent of the overall population.
As of the end of 2016, there were still 43.35 million people in China living below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (344.30 U.S. dollars) of annual income as constant with 2010 prices, accounting for about 3 percent of China's population.
To achieve the target in 2020, China needs to bring more than 10 million people out of poverty every year, meaning nearly one million people per month or 20 people per minute.
China is in a race with time, and President Xi has put himself on the front lines.
In December 2012, Xi was in Fuping County of Hebei Province, while in November 2013 he went to Huayuan County of Hunan Province, and in June 2015, he visited Zunyi County of Guizhou Province.
Lyuliang was the last stop of Xi's tour to the 14 poverty-stricken areas in China since becoming general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012.
He visited the poor, talked with local officials, studied the local conditions and reviewed the poverty-alleviation work.
It is fair to say that poverty reduction has been at the top of Xi's priority list in the past five years.
According to Xi, if rural China, particularly impoverished areas, is left behind, there will be no "moderately prosperous society."
MISSION A MUST
To win this fight against poverty, the CPC Central Committee has been leading Chinese people in the march toward victory in the battle against poverty since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.
As Xi said during his Lyuliang tour, the CPC must put people first and use socialism to concentrate resources and accomplish major tasks, including fighting poverty.
