Xi Jinping talks with villagers and cadres in Shibadong Village, central China's Hunan Province, Nov. 3, 2013. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)
by Xinhua writers Meng Na, Xu Lingui, Zhang Bowen
BEIJING, Oct. 17 -- China is making a final sprint to eliminate absolute poverty as it marked the seventh National Poverty Relief Day, also the 28th International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, on Saturday.
Leading this effort is President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.
The year 2020 was set by the Chinese leadership as the deadline to eradicate poverty. In early March, Xi convened a large televised symposium on poverty alleviation. There, he reiterated the deadline and vowed to lift the remaining 5 million-plus people out of poverty by the end of the year, despite the sudden strike of COVID-19.
In late September, Xi said China has "every confidence" of achieving the goal within the set time frame.
The nation will meet the poverty eradication target set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, Xi told the 75th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
In his latest instruction made public on Saturday, Xi said while the anti-poverty fight is in its final stretch, there should be no letting up until a complete victory has been secured.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Poverty has plagued China for thousands of years. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, especially the reform and opening up in 1978, the anti-poverty war led by the CPC had lifted over 700 million rural people out of poverty.
Xi assumed the historic responsibility of leading this fight, after he was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee at the first plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November 2012.
At that time, 98.99 million Chinese lived under the poverty line, earning a per capita annual income of less than 2,300 yuan, or about 1 U.S. dollar a day. The country entered what is known as the toughest phase of poverty reduction -- when the ratio of the impoverished falls to under 10 percent of a country's total population.
To meet the anti-poverty deadline, over 10 million people have to be lifted out of poverty every year. This equals about 1 million people every month or 20 people every minute.
About one month after taking the helm of the Party, Xi braved the winter cold to visit poor villagers in Hebei Province. Sitting down with them, Xi asked about their income, if they had sufficient food and enough quilts and coal to stay warm through the winter.
