Completing a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects: The Key, Value and Prospect of Poverty Alleviation in China

This paper systematically summarizes the theory and practice of winning the battle against poverty as part of the goal of completing a moderately prosperous society in all respects in China. It also explains the characteristics of poverty governance in socialist China. Targeted poverty alleviation and poverty eradication have opened a new chapter in the history of poverty governance in China, and are the key to poverty eradication that enables the completion of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This needs to be fully understood and accurately grasped at the three levels of “accuracy,” “precision,” and “sustainability.” Effective institutional arrangements are the key to winning the battle against poverty in China. These include strengthening the Party to create a solid organizational network for poverty alleviation; developing industries to make poverty alleviation sustainable; alleviating poverty by promoting eco-environmental protection to ensure both ecological conservation and economic development; ensuring that the impoverished populations develop independently to prevent poverty being passed down from generation to generation; promoting the cooperation between the eastern and western regions to ensure they complement each other and develop together; and ensuring that the rich help the poor and they work together for common prosperity and finally realize greater poverty alleviation. China’s experience in targeted poverty alleviation can be summarized in six aspects: people-centered governance, pragmatic work style, effective institutional arrangements, strong economic development (growth) spillover effect, stimulation of endogenous power, and formation of a great poverty alleviation pattern. Following the attainment of the goal of completing a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China’s main tasks in the new 14th Five-Year Plan period are to consolidate and expand the results of poverty eradication, explore new mechanisms, review new experiences, and create a new phase of poverty alleviation.