Despite severe weather challenges, farmers' per capita income in counties certified as "poor" by the State Council Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development (OPAD) rose almost 10 percent in the first three quarters. More importantly, the growth surpassed the national average for all rural residents.

The OPAD deserves compliment for such impressive achievement. Considering the very low bases of per capita income, high growth might not mean substantial improvements in local lives. Yet we must at the same time be aware of a basic truth - even this would not have been possible were it not for the increased government input in poverty relief. Nearly 20 billion yuan ($2.94 billion) has been earmarked in the passing year for aid programs, 3 billion more than in 2008.

OPAD sources made no mention of whether there was any change in the official figure of people defined as "poor". In its latest statement, the office said there are 40.07 million people living under the poverty line. That was the figure Premier Wen Jiabao gave, in March, in his report on government work.

We hope that means the scope of poverty did not enlarge in the past months. Given the anticipated 100-million increase in the global total of poor people, no change itself is something to celebrate.

Helping the 40.07 million out of poverty is a challenging task, said the OPAD. It indeed is. But we would rather see them paint the picture grimmer. We have no problem about the government's resolve or the country's progress in handling poverty. Yet we believe Premier Wen brought us closer to the truth when he told world leaders in Copenhagen that 150 million Chinese citizens are now struggling in poverty.

He was not presenting an almost-quadrupled figure to shirk responsibilities others trying to impose upon us. He just, for the first time, adopted the internationally accepted United Nations poverty line that is considerably higher than the domestic one, upon which the 40.07-million figure was based.

The official poverty line in China had been 785 yuan a year until the end of 2008. Even the current 1,196 yuan is dramatically lower than the $1.25-a-day UN standard. Considering the constantly and rapidly inflating cost of living in the country, 1,196 yuan is increasingly inadequate as subsistence guarantee. And it has a harmful side effect: Leaving the impression that we are no longer what we actually are. Such an illusion not only misleads outsiders, but our own people, including decision-makers.

There is an easy way out of this confusion, as long as we adopt the UN criterion at home. Besides facilitating international understanding of our true national conditions, it will serve as a constant reminder for our own policymakers.

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