Workers collect mushrooms in Daozhen County of Zunyi, southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County is one of the nine counties recently removed from the poverty list. In late October, Chen Maofu, a resident in Bianjiang Village in Yanhe, signed his name on a document certifying that his family had been lifted out of poverty.
"My two sons now work in Zhejiang Province, and are much better off than before," said Chen, noting that each of his five family members has an annual net income of over 10,000 yuan.
The standard of living of residents in Bianjiang stands in stark contrast to that in 2014, when there were 699 registered poor people.
"Poor transportation was the main reason that caused poverty in Bianjiang. The only way out of the village was a narrow footpath near the cliff of a mountain," Chen said.
As China intensified its efforts on poverty reduction over the past years, more roads were built linking the village with the outside world. Even the footpath leading to Chen's house was paved.
As a result of improved transportation, the fishing, chicken-raising and chrysanthemum industries began to prosper in the village, providing locals with increasing income.
With the elimination of absolute poverty this year, China will achieve the poverty reduction target of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.
Aerial photo taken on Oct. 1, 2020 shows a view of the Jianhe-Rongjiang expressway in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening up, more than 700 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, contributing more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has spoken highly of China's success in poverty reduction, calling the achievements "very strong."
