Zhou Ying, dressed in a Miao costume, is from Xijiang Town of Leishan County in Guizhou Province. She watched the TV program broadcasting President Hu Jintao's report to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China together with her fellow villagers on October 15, according to a Xinhua News report.

"Our lives have changed dramatically in the past five years," the 29-year old woman told Xinhua.

Xijiang Town has more than 1,200 households, making it the biggest Miao village in the world. The traditional Miao houses in her town are built attached to mountains and set row upon row. The villagers earn their living from the soil. In the past their employment options were meager and limited because the local road was not very good.

But in 2002 the local government spent more than 13 million yuan constructing a new road, which, 36 kilometers long, started from Leishan County and ended at Xijiang Town. Guo Jianqiang, the Party chief of Xijiang Town, regarded the road as an important turning point for developing tourism and alleviating poverty.

"The per capita annual income in Xijiang Town in 2006 was 1,679 yuan, it has increased by two thirds as compared with five years ago," Guo said.

Zhou Ying's family farmed and earned less than 1,000 yuan per year prior to 2002. Life was difficult for them. Then Zhou began to operate a hostel and her annual income rose to more than 10,000 yuan. Zhou decided to build a three-story family style hostel last year; her renovated hostel received almost 300 tourists during the National holidays (which falls on October 1-7) alone. Zhou's household yearly income has jumped to almost 60,000 yuan by her own tourism efforts.

The changes of Xijiang Town epitomize the "rapid development" of the new era referred to in Hu's report.

The impoverished population in China's countryside has decreased from more than 250 million to less than 20 million over the past three decades, according to statistics.

"This signifies notable progress in alleviating poverty, which is unprecedented around the world," said Tang Min, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Development Research Foundation. Tang is very confident that the goal of eliminating poverty by 2020 included in the Hu's report could be realized.

A reasonable and orderly pattern of income distribution will be put in place by 2020, with middle-income people constituting the majority, and absolute poverty eliminated, said Hu in his report.

Professor Zheng Gongcheng with Renmin University of China, agreed that the goal was timely and would be realized. The true meaning of the harmonious social development lies in the fact that all citizens share the achievements of development. Poverty-relief programs should focus on increasing the middle income group, he said.

People with annual incomes of less than 683 yuan in China are currently regarded as "poor". About 30 economists suggested recently that the standard defining poverty be raised, allowing more people to be covered in poverty relief programs throughout China.

"The poverty threshold should change as the economy develops," Zheng said.

Tang believed that poverty alleviation work would become more difficult over time.

The impoverished population in China decreased to about 30 million in 2000, but only 7 to 8 million people got rid of poverty during the following six to seven years," Tan said. "Poverty relief work is still challenging because the remaining 20 million include people with physical and mental disabilities. Some of them are unable to work."

Tang thought that the government should invest more in helping these people. In the meantime, he stressed that the government input in education, training, employment and medical services should also be increased in poverty-stricken areas. "This will encourage young people to develop skills to eliminate poverty through their own efforts," he said. 

(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, October 19, 2007)