Yang Wenli (left) of Miao ethnic group makes Miao costumes with colleagues at a poverty-alleviation workshop in Huawu village, Qianxi county of Bijie, Southwest China's Guizhou Province. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to deliver a speech at a national commendation conference on Thursday at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing to honor contributors to the country's poverty alleviation work.
Through eight years of sustained work, China has lifted all rural poor people, under the current standard, out of extreme poverty, with 832 counties, 128,000 villages and nearly 100 million poor people shaking off poverty. Xi made the remarks while presiding over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in December 2020.
More than 1,980 individuals and over 1,500 collective units - organizations, institutions and companies - will be awarded on Thursday, according to a release from the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development on February 10.
Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will present awards and certificates to national honorary title recipients for their contributions to the country's poverty alleviation cause. Other role models in this regard will also be honored.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development awarded people who made special contributions to poverty alleviation every year.
In 2020, the commendation conference was held in October, with 99 individuals and 49 collective units awarded.
Villagers sort out just-harvested mushrooms at an edible fungus growing base at Minjiachang Village, Minxiao Township in Jiangkou county of Southwest China's Guizhou Province. Guizhou, which used to be a provincial-level region with the biggest population of poor people, has lifted more than 9 million people out of poverty since 2012. Photo:Xinhua
This year's commendation conference - which will award the largest number of contributors, is held against the backdrop of China's accomplishment of lifting all rural poor people out of poverty, analysts said, noting that the conference marks the phased victory of poverty alleviation work and it also hints that more efforts would be made to cement the achievements.
In four months, the CPC - a party that leads the country with the biggest population in the world - will embrace the 100th anniversary of its founding.
"China has made a miracle in human history of fighting against poverty. It not only turned common property into reality but also offers China's experience and patterns to countries across the globe which are still fighting against poverty," Cai Zhiqiang, a Beijing-based expert on Party building, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Lifting 100 million Chinese people from extreme poverty to enjoy a better life also sets an example for the world in paying more attention to impoverished people, Cai said, noting that although humans have entered into the modern era, millions of people are still living below the internationally recognized poverty line.
"It is humanity's shared responsibility to help these people," the expert said.