[Music] in 1935 a geographical dividing line was drawn diagonally across the map of china the line devised by a scholar is considered one of the most important discoveries in the study of chinese geography in the 20th century this geographical dividing line is known in international academic circles as the who lie [Music] when the who line was first adopted the area to its east which accounted for 43. 71 of china's total land area was inhabited by 94. 39 of the population the area to the west of the line with 56.
29 of the country's land area had just 5. 61 of china's total population at the time living standards to the west of the line were generally much lower than to the east china's sixth national census conducted in 2010 showed that the population ratio had barely changed as a result the huline became known as the immovable line eighty percent of china's rural poor live to the west of the who line some of the most challenging areas in china's battle against poverty are found here [Music] including tibet the four southern administrative districts of xinjiang and several autonomous prefectures in sichuan yunnan gansu and qinghai so this area naturally became the main battlefield in china's war on poverty on the morning of october the 16th 2015 the 2015 global poverty reduction and development forum was held at the great hall of the people in beijing at the event china made a key proposal we will eliminate poverty among all people living below the current poverty line in the next five years [Music] to achieve this goal the chinese government would implement a five-pronged strategy [Music] the country's rural poor would be helped out of poverty through the development of local industries [Music] relocation ecological restoration education and social security [Music] the complexity of the causes of poverty made it necessary to adopt diverse poverty alleviation methods [Music] on november the 29th 2011 the central conference on poverty alleviation was held in beijing the government set the new poverty threshold at 2 300 yuan this was above the international standard set by the world bank following the 18th cpc national congress in 2012 china's poverty alleviation effort entered a new stage as a result by 2019 the percentage of the population living in poverty had fallen from 10. 2 percent to 0.
6 with an average of over 10 million people being lifted out of poverty each year in this way china became the first country to realize one of the un millennium development goals and chinese wisdom could make a contribution to global governance on poverty reduction the target the chinese government set was that by the end of 2020 there would be no more rural people living below the poverty line and no more impoverished counties in june 2018 a company called wong fu embroidery from inner mongolia attended the milan international fashion week in italy subsequently it displayed its clothing products at the dubai autumn international trade fair 2018. the following year at the paris spring summer fashion week in september 2019 one of the most important events on the fashion industry calendar the company's patterned embroidery products created considerable interest among the international participants [Music] to finish your heart women these creations appearing on the world's leading fashion stages weren't the work of master craftsmen they were produced by a group of poor farmers in inner mongolia's horchin right middle banner located on the west side of the northern section of the who line close to a desert horchin right middle banner enjoys only about 300 millimeters of rainfall a year yet the evaporation rate is over 2000 millimeters as a result the whole area is arid in 2012 out of a total population of 240 000 in the banner around a quarter were living below the poverty line with the country implementing some major plans for alleviating poverty horchin right middle banner was encouraged to industrialize their unique traditional wong fu embroidery wong fu embroidery has a history of over 400 years the craft said to have been inherited from a mongolian king is still widely practiced [Music] in december 2016 with money from a poverty alleviation fund horchin right middle banner established a 1200 meter workshop to produce wong fu embroidery [Music] the tools and materials were supplied free of charge and experts were brought in to teach the embroidery skills bai jin ying a skilled wong fu embroiderer became the workshop's coach she oversees more than 600 poverty-stricken farmers and herders who work there full-time woman [Music] [Music] [Music] embroidery is traditionally regarded as the preserve of women but now a young man named darjeer is regarded as one of the most skilled embroiderers in inner mongolia initially after graduating from high school darjeer left home and joined his father doing itinerant work but he always struggled to earn a decent living however hard he and his father worked they remained desperately poor [Music] eventually darjeer returned to the village and joined the poverty alleviation workshop he studied hard and before long became a skilled embroiderer earning a good income he was able to lift his family out of poverty examples of dodgie's embroidery were shown at the fashion weeks in italy and france [Music] two years ago family was also living in poverty she was working as a waitress and laborer but due to a serious illness half her stomach had to be removed and she could no longer do heavy work without her income her family faced even deeper problems a focus of the embroidery workshop and other poverty alleviation projects is to help those living in extreme difficulties like darjeer mae wrong found work at a poverty alleviation workshop being clever and hardworking she became not only a skilled embroiderer but also a trainer [Music] mayrong's lively explanations enthralled the villagers and helped them master the practical skills [Music] with a view to modernizing itself the embroidery workshop established an association promoting college student entrepreneurship under it a product research and development center designs new patterns and the sales center solicits orders and works to broaden its e-commerce sales channels by combining design and manufacturing more closely and streamlining production supply and marketing the workshop was able to turn out the high quality products that appear in shenzhen and paris through a door-to-door service the workshop collects the products made by the poor households and sells them via its own sales channels records of the transactions are kept on a daily basis which are compiled into a monthly report [Music] there are around twenty thousand workers participating in the wong fu embroidery project in ho right middle banner among them are some who come from its 2895 registered poor households before the workshop was set up they had nothing to do some spent all their time at the mahjong table now these former mahjong experts have become masters of the art of embroidery [Music] it's march the 26th 2019 and everyone is happy because it's payday they never dreamed in the past that one day they'd be earning tens of thousands of yen with just the needle and thread fortune right middle banner has been developing a number of local industries using various economic development models with the aim of lifting people out of poverty as a matter of urgency in 2013 there were 67 000 poverty-stricken people in the banner by the end of 2018 they had all been lifted out of poverty [Music] [Music] dalian in southwest china is a key battleground in the war on poverty and a place where officials face their biggest challenge xiaohan a graduate of southwest xiaotong university came to work at the zhao county tobacco monopoly bureau in liangshan yi autonomous prefecture in february 2015. eight months later he was sent to a poor village in dalian to lead the poverty alleviation [Music] he was raised by his mother she was worried that he wouldn't adapt to rural [Music] life [Music] here on october the 30th 2015 xiaohan arrived in jiabanada village in jiaozi county to take up the post of first secretary after assessing the situation he resolved not to leave until the village was lifted out of poverty [Music] [Music] on his first morning xiaohan set off at dawn to visit the village's poor households eventually he decided that what the village needed was roads to make it more accessible [Music] [Music] [Music] know in the course of four years shaohan matured from carefree urban youth to village head managing the labor supplies and other affairs for hundreds of people [Music] through hard work he succeeded in transforming the village [Music] [Music] foreign xiaohan's achievements in jiaba nada village reveal a unique feature of china's success in alleviating poverty the system can mobilize millions of cadres to go to poor villages and lead the work they are the core leadership force in the poverty alleviation drive [Music] han chung located on the east side of the lowest plateau in shanxi province is 70 mountainous arid for most of the year the concentrated rainfall in summer often causes serious soil erosion hmong ego is the most remote village among the mountains of northwest hanchang ten years ago the villagers here were living in mud houses [Music] the rugged mountain path leading to the county town was so narrow that two tricycles couldn't pass each other as one of the poorest villages in the area mongi go became a key target of the poverty alleviation effort the authorities decided that to help the villagers escape poverty and achieve prosperity as soon as possible policies and measures should be directed at supporting the development of the pepper industry in 2015 the year when the global poverty reduction and development forum was held in beijing a pepper cooperative was established in mongi go organic pepper gardens covering 200 hectares were established the introduction of various new techniques made management more efficient the quality of the pepper was significantly improved with the result that it could command a higher price on the market foreign foreign on september the 27th 2017 a rural collective economic organization registration certificate was issued to the mongi go village cooperative by the hanchang economic management bureau 161 people in the village became shareholders under the terms of the cooperatives regulations part of the profits would be distributed equitably among the partners and part reinvested of the money earned by the co-operative 49 is shared among the farmers and 51 percent is invested in its management and sustainable development based on its success monkey go established its own pepper brand mung chang zhao is not a member of the cooperative but he and his wife still contract 40 acres in the village to grow peppers who in the past lacked adequate food and clothing are now well fed and well clothed with a house in the town and a place of work in the countryside they are enjoying life more than ever before many of china's poorest villages are located in mountainous areas one such is leojai village in wulong mountain township shanxi province in 2011 out of 700 people in lyojai 249 or 36 were registered as poor [Music] in its fight against poverty the village in the hollow of a mountain has made use of various preferential policies and channels of government financing to develop an industry that is suited to the local conditions [Music] in 2012 village secretary chung yu-jun began studying greenhouse cultivation she built a greenhouse and her vegetables earned a decent profit that year the ojai today has 88 spring and autumn greenhouses 10 winter greenhouses and 10 fruit and flower sheds [Music] industrial innovation is reaping huge rewards on land that once yielded little [Music] with active government support leojai has diversified its business today it cultivates cash crops such as walnut trees and medicinal herbs on more than three hundred acres of once barren slopes and gullies [Music] cheng-yu-jun has also encouraged the villagers to learn new farming techniques and to develop industries based on chicken and sheep farming in december 2016 lyojai village was officially listed as having been lifted out of poverty by 2018 per capita income which had been 1000 yuan in 2010 had risen to 6 000 yuan on october the 17th 2018 cheung yu jun secretary of loji village received a national award for poverty alleviation in beijing [Music] has now moved into a new home the village has broad and flat paved roads a solar power station a nursing home a health center a library an activity center and a basketball court just as remarkable has been the transformation of people's outlook on life coaching right middle banner had a severe desertification problem mung ego village on the lowest plateau faced serious soil erosion and yojai village was trapped in the mountain depths all three places are located in areas of extreme poverty which have been key targets of the poverty alleviation campaign in these places local industries are now flourishing their successful examples have served to encourage more support for the nationwide poverty alleviation effort promoting industries that are suited to the local condition injects vitality into poverty-stricken areas life for entire families is transformed as they prosper and enjoy greater comfort [Music] however a major problem impeding development in remote poverty stricken areas has been the difficulty of delivering goods promptly to the wider market now this problem has largely been solved the combination of a convenient and comprehensive transport system and developed information network has created an e-commerce system extending across the whole country her fung county in the wooling mountains area of hubei province is a traditional tea growing region however the mountains and valleys once prevented its products from reaching the external market [Music] they grew tea but couldn't sell it today though e-commerce is helping to ease the poverty here tsai hong jiao's family was registered as living below the poverty line he used to earn very little from his tea garden now e-commerce has transformed him into a high-income entrepreneur [Music] foreign [Music] used e-commerce channels to promote his tea through the successful integration of production and marketing he was able to lift his family out of poverty across her fung county 167 offices part of an e-commerce logistics system have been established to serve 205 villages they provide comprehensive and timely sales services for poor households producing local specialties the traditional production techniques have been upgraded and as a result the farmers can now charge a higher price for their tea [Music] the e-commerce network now covers every key county identified in the nationwide poverty alleviation campaign however lack of funds remains a major problem for poor areas in developing local industries [Music] to address the shortfall the central government has stepped up its support every year has seen an increase in the allocation of special funds from the central provincial municipal and prefectural governments as well as small loans to support poverty alleviation the main purpose of these funds is encouraging poverty-stricken areas to help themselves and stimulating the self-motivation of the impoverished people [Music] the main purpose of these funds is encouraging poverty-stricken areas to help themselves and stimulating the self-motivation of the impoverished people mount taimou in ningdae fujian province is considered the most beautiful mountain on china's southeast coast chershie village located in the depths of this mountain is an example of the historical process of poverty alleviation maturing from fun transfusion to self-help in early 1984 wang xiao ju based journalist conducted an investigation in churchi subsequently he sent a letter to people's daily describing the severe poverty in the village he wrote about farmers who were living below the poverty line in broken thatched cottages halfway up a mountain and who had no hope of things getting better [Music] jesus [Music] 1984 wang xiaoju's letter accompanied by a commentary appeared on the front page of people's daily the letter titled poor mountain village hopes to implement special policies to treat the poor and get rich aroused considerable concern within the government in september that year the cpc central committee and the state council published the notice on assisting poor areas to change their appearance as soon as possible the document heralded a nationwide large-scale poverty alleviation campaign by the end of the 1980s as the poverty alleviation campaign made progress the poor households living among the mountains and in a dozen inaccessible villages in the area had moved to churchi together they developed a number of tourism and ecological agricultural projects centered on the mount taimou scenic area in recent years village has been receiving more than 200 000 visitors annually tourism alone earns each household tens of thousands of yen on average the per capita net income of the farmers has increased from 166 yen in 1984 to over 20 000 yuan in 2019 many young migrant workers have returned to start their own businesses college graduate do ying came back home after giving up a job in the city he founded a tea processing factory using a million yuan in venture capital he managed to raise the business is keeping them very busy they process the white tea during the day and deal with orders at night has been named a national pilot village for poverty alleviation through tourism it has also been acclaimed as the most beautiful leisure village in china cherche village's three decades-long experience reflects the transformation of poverty alleviation in china from fund transfusion to self-help [Music] in helping themselves villagers have discovered that the key is to develop industries that are suited to the local conditions [Music] nujiang prefecture in yunnan province lies on the west side of the who line at its southernmost end here most of the villages are scattered among rolling mountains and deep ravines [Music] late at night songs can be heard from the headman hers house in urdu village the music mingles with the distant sound of the new jiang river and the wind from the gaoligong mountains [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] the villagers have just made an important decision they have agreed to move to a new residential district at the foot of the mountains the government plans to complete the relocation soon they are singing in anticipation of a promising future there are 19 families in erdoga village living on top of a mountain at over 2000 metres above sea level the working and living conditions are extremely poor it takes eight hours to reach the village from the mountain's foot [Music] for such remote places as erdoga village getting rid of poverty in situ would require huge investment instead it makes more sense to relocate the whole village and cut off the route of poverty at source it takes the poverty alleviation team the entire day to reach head man hers home in erdoga as soon as they arrive they gather the heads of the households to discuss how the relocation will proceed in the ma uh river settlement on the new jiang river rows of bright spacious apartments await the arrival of the impoverished villagers from erdoga uh to uh [Music] river settlement can accommodate more than 600 relocated families however finding them jobs is a challenge the government is working to solve the problem it has also introduced special policies to ensure that their incomes are increased [Music] meanwhile a hospital schools and other public service facilities have been built which are gradually being equipped [Music] [Music] in the past two years relocating poor households has been the number one project in new jiang prefecture's poverty alleviation drive in the past two years relocating poor households has been the number one project in nujang prefecture's poverty alleviation drive located on the southern margins of the yunnan guajillo plateau donglan county in guangxi zhuang autonomous prefecture is an area of caste topography where cultivated land is extremely scarce in 2016 23.
