South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region reduced the needy
population, whose yearly income is below four hundred yuan (US$50),
from 1.5 million to 860,000 during the past five years.
At the on-going fourth session of Guangxi's tenth People's
Congress, regional chairman Lu Bing said apart from the 640,000
people who were lifted from the poverty line, Guangxi also helped
raise the earnings of 3.24 million people with low incomes.
The official said Guangxi kept increasing its investment in
poverty-stricken areas during the past five years.
The infrastructure construction in the autonomous region has
contributed greatly to the poverty alleviation.
Lu said Guangxi built 41,200 kilometers of roads connecting the
poverty-stricken villages and 760,000 methane-generating pits for
the villagers.
With the five-year efforts, the average yearly income of the
people in Guangxi's 28 key poverty-reduction counties kept
increasing by 6 percent every year, reaching more than 1,600 yuan
(US$200).
The official said Guangxi will lift all its population above the
national poverty line, with an annual income of not more than 400
yuan, by 2010.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2006)