The Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee has edited a thematic collection of Xi Jinping’s writings, On Poverty Reduction and Poverty Alleviation (《论减贫脱贫》). It contains 55 important manuscripts on poverty reduction and poverty alleviation from November 2012 to July 2026. An introduction published on 10 November 2026 presents the collection’s main pieces as follows. The points below are those given in that introduction, not the full texts.
“The people’s longing for a better life is our goal of struggle” is the main part of Xi’s remarks on 15 November 2012, when members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee met Chinese and foreign journalists. It says the people love life and look forward to better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory incomes, more reliable social security, a higher level of medical and health services, more comfortable housing, a more beautiful environment, and better growth, work and lives for their children. It states that the people’s longing for a better life is the goal of struggle, and that the Party must remain of one heart with the people, share their hardships and joys, and unite with them in struggle.
Remarks while inspecting poverty alleviation and development in Fuping County, Hebei, were made on 29 and 30 December 2012. They describe eliminating poverty, improving people’s livelihood and achieving common prosperity as an essential requirement of socialism, and say the most arduous task in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects lies in rural areas, especially poor areas. They call for greater awareness of the importance of the work, confidence, a correct approach, measures suited to local conditions, and for officials to shift their focus downward and study practical problems.
“Implement targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty elimination” draws on remarks from November 2013 to October 2015. It calls for both coordinated, common measures and a focus on extremely poor villages and households, with classified guidance and greater precision, effectiveness and sustainability. Targeted poverty alleviation is described as refined management of those receiving support, precise allocation of resources, and targeted assistance so that resources are used on the people and areas concerned.
“In finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, not one ethnic group can be left behind” draws on manuscripts from March 2014 to May 2020. It says there can be no nationwide moderate prosperity or modernization without that of ethnic minority areas, and calls for a targeted poverty alleviation mechanism that reaches the right points, roots and households so that ethnic minorities and ethnic areas achieve moderate prosperity and modernization together with the rest of the country.
“Letting the villagers live well is the Party’s abiding original aspiration and mission” draws on manuscripts from April 2014 to September 2021. It links the Party’s support to its original aspiration of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, says the people are the foundation of political power, and says agriculture, farmers and rural areas must never be neglected. It calls for speeding up the escape from poverty while promoting all-round rural revitalization and modernization.
The reply to villagers of Liangjiahe Village, Yanchuan County, Shaanxi, is dated 5 May 2014. It says whether moderate prosperity is achieved depends on rural people, expresses the wish that villagers and farmers across the country reach a moderately prosperous life sooner, and encourages practical work to make life more prosperous and the village more beautiful.
The written instruction on the first “Poverty Alleviation Day” was issued on 10 October 2014. It notes that China designated 17 October each year as Poverty Alleviation Day and, on the first such day that year, commended advanced collectives and individuals in social poverty alleviation and further arranged that work. It calls on the whole Party and society to form a strong joint force.
The speech at the symposium on shaking off poverty and becoming better off in the old revolutionary base areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia was delivered on 13 February 2015. It describes the old revolutionary base areas as the roots of the Party and the people’s army, and says helping their rural poor populations become better off and enter a moderately prosperous society with the rest of the country is an unshirkable responsibility. It requires clear goals, tasks, responsibilities and measures, and says funds must be used where they can address the roots of poverty.
The speech at the symposium of some provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on poverty alleviation and economic and social development in the 13th Five-Year Plan period was delivered on 18 June 2015. It calls the 13th Five-Year Plan the closing plan for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and identifies poverty alleviation as a shortcoming that must be made up. It sets out “six precisions”: the people supported, project arrangements, use of funds, measures reaching households, assignment of personnel to villages (including first secretaries), and the results of poverty elimination. It stresses Party leadership, the system’s capacity to concentrate resources on major tasks, and a responsibility system in which the central authorities coordinate, provinces take overall responsibility, and cities, prefectures and counties carry out the work, with work focused on contiguous poor areas, delivered to villages and households, and with Party and government principal leaders taking overall responsibility.
“Join hands to eliminate poverty and promote common development” is the keynote speech Xi gave on 16 October 2015 at the 2015 High-level Forum on Poverty Reduction and Development in Beijing. It describes eliminating poverty as still the greatest global challenge and calls for faster global poverty reduction, stronger cooperation, diversified and self-driven sustainable development, and a better international development environment, toward a community with a shared future for mankind without poverty and with common development.
The speech at the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development was delivered on 27 November 2015. It says lifting all rural poor people out of poverty is a landmark indicator for finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving the first centenary goal, and that the campaign had reached a final, difficult stage. It says the questions of whom to support, who should provide support, how to provide it and how people and counties should exit poverty must be resolved, including through a “five batches” project. The introduction does not list the five batches. It says the goal was for all poor areas and poor people to enter a moderately prosperous society by 2020.
The speech at the symposium on east-west poverty alleviation collaboration was delivered on 20 July 2016. It describes east-west collaboration and paired assistance as a long-term strategy for coordinated and common development and for the better-off helping those still behind. It identifies western regions, especially ethnic areas, border areas, old revolutionary base areas and contiguous extremely poor areas, as a shortcoming because poverty there is deep, costs are high and elimination is difficult. It says poverty alleviation must also foster knowledge, and that western regions must treat education as a long-term undertaking.
“Better advance targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty elimination, and ensure the goals are achieved on schedule” is the speech Xi gave on 21 February 2017 while presiding over the 39th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee. It calls lifting the rural poor out of poverty on schedule, removing the labels of all poor counties and resolving regional overall poverty a bottom-line task and a solemn commitment, and notes that the remaining areas and people were mostly those with weaker conditions and deeper poverty.
“Use assessment as a baton to ensure the quality of poverty alleviation” is an excerpt from Xi’s remarks on 23 March 2017, when a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee reviewed the report on the 2016 assessment of provincial Party committees and governments’ poverty alleviation and development work. It describes the assessment as a means of pressing for implementation and says results should be applied so that the assessment is more scientific and practical.
The speech at the symposium on poverty alleviation in deeply impoverished areas was delivered on 23 June 2017. It says the scale, intensity and impact of the campaign since the 18th CPC National Congress were unprecedented, and that deeply impoverished areas were the hardest part of an already hard fight. It calls for the targeted strategy, the management system of central coordination, provincial overall responsibility and city- and county-level implementation, overall responsibility by principal Party and government leaders, and a “three-in-one” pattern combining specialized, sectoral and social poverty alleviation.
“Resolutely win the battle against poverty” is part of the report to the 19th CPC National Congress on 18 October 2017. It says that, under China’s standards then in force, the rural poor should be lifted out of poverty by 2020, all poor counties should have their labels removed, and regional overall poverty should be resolved, with poverty that is genuinely eliminated.
“Fight the battle of targeted poverty elimination and follow a Chinese path of poverty reduction” is part of the speech at the Central Rural Work Conference on 28 December 2017. It describes targeted poverty elimination as the most decisive of the three critical battles identified in the 19th Congress report for finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It says quality should come first, assistance should be combined with fostering aspiration and knowledge, targets should not be raised level by level, work should not go beyond the stage of development, and formalism should be avoided.
The speech at the symposium on fighting the battle of targeted poverty elimination was delivered on 12 February 2018. It calls for a clear view of the difficulty of the remaining tasks and of prominent problems, and for priority to be given to the quality of poverty elimination, with a focus on deeply impoverished areas, precise work, fund management, conduct, training of officials and the motivation of the people concerned.
“The battle against poverty is a tough fight that must be won and fought well” is part of Xi’s remarks on 7 March 2019 while taking part in the deliberation of the Gansu delegation at the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress. It says only two years then remained before the 2020 target and that the work was at its most demanding, and that there should be no withdrawal without complete victory.
The speech at the symposium on solving prominent problems concerning the “two assurances and three guarantees” was delivered on 16 April 2019. It defines the basic requirement and core indicator as stably ensuring, by 2020, that the rural poor need not worry about food or clothing and have compulsory education, basic medical care and safe housing guaranteed. It says the foundation is knowing the true situation, and warns against slackening or slippage at the decisive stage.
“On making up shortcomings in finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects” is part of the speech at the fourth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission on 22 April 2019. It says decisive progress had been made but shortcomings remained. It calls for handling the relationships between overall and individual goals, absolute and relative standards, and quantitative analysis and qualitative judgment, and for completing poverty alleviation, addressing prominent pollution in key areas, advancing work on people’s livelihood and improving social-security provisions of last resort.
“Continue to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation and ensure that no large-scale return to or occurrence of poverty happens” draws on manuscripts from August 2019 to December 2024. It says getting out of poverty is the first step and must be followed by stability. It calls for monitoring and assistance to prevent a return to poverty, for linking comprehensive poverty elimination with rural revitalization, and for stronger internal drivers so that development can continue after poverty is eliminated.
The speech at the symposium on securing a decisive victory in the battle against poverty was delivered on 6 March 2020. It says the remaining difficulties were still formidable, that provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities had signed pledges that had to be honoured, and that the impact of the epidemic had to be overcome. It calls for stable policies, strict assessment, a census, and linking comprehensive poverty elimination with rural revitalization.
“The major victory in poverty alleviation has laid a solid foundation for achieving the first centenary goal” gives the main points of Xi’s remarks on 3 December 2020, when a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee heard a report summing up and assessing poverty alleviation. It says that since the 18th CPC National Congress the campaign was placed in a prominent position in governance, that many original measures were taken, and that the largest and most intensive poverty-alleviation campaign in human history was carried out, with the goals and tasks of the new era completed on schedule.
“Do a good job in effectively linking the consolidation and expansion of poverty-alleviation achievements with rural revitalization” is part of the speech at the Central Rural Work Conference on 28 December 2020. It describes comprehensively advancing rural revitalization as a historic shift in the focus of work on agriculture, rural areas and farmers. It says the CPC Central Committee decided that, after the poverty-alleviation goals were completed, counties that had escaped poverty would have a five-year transition period from the date they did so, during which the main assistance policies would remain generally stable and be adjusted item by item toward a steady shift to rural revitalization. It warns against announcing comprehensive poverty elimination on one side while large-scale poverty returned on the other.
The speech at the national meeting to sum up and commend the fight against poverty was delivered on 25 February 2021. It solemnly declares that China had won a complete victory in the battle against poverty, that regional overall poverty had been resolved, and that the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty had been completed. It attributes the results to Party leadership, a spirit of self-reliance and hard work, the material foundation built since the founding of the People’s Republic and especially since reform and opening up, persistence from one leadership term to the next, and the united efforts of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups. It says China had formed a path and theory of poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics and a spirit of poverty alleviation summarized as unity from top to bottom, committing the best forces, being precise and pragmatic, pioneering and innovating, tackling difficulties, and living up to the people. It says removal of the poverty label is a starting point, not an end, and that promoting common prosperity for all the people must be given a more important place on the new journey.
“Bring regular assistance under the overall implementation of the rural revitalization strategy” draws on speeches from April 2021 to July 2026. It calls for greater support for key counties receiving assistance under national rural revitalization, a regular assistance mechanism for low-income people and underdeveloped areas, continued precise assistance, and holding the line against large-scale return to or occurrence of poverty.
“Solidly promote common prosperity” is part of the speech at the 10th meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission on 17 August 2021. It says common prosperity is an essential requirement of socialism, that winning the battle against poverty and finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects created favourable conditions, and that the stage of solidly promoting common prosperity had arrived.
“Comprehensively advance rural revitalization” is part of the report to the 20th CPC National Congress on 16 October 2022. It says the most arduous and heaviest tasks in building a modern socialist country in all respects remain in rural areas, and calls for giving priority to agricultural and rural development, building up China’s strength in agriculture, developing distinctive rural industries, broadening channels for farmers to increase income, and strengthening the internal drive of areas and people that have escaped poverty.
“Consolidating and expanding poverty-alleviation achievements is the bottom-line task in comprehensively advancing rural revitalization” is part of the speech at the Central Rural Work Conference on 23 December 2022. It calls for using the monitoring and early-warning mechanism against a return to poverty, connecting assistance policies and measures, preventing whole villages or townships from returning to poverty, and planning institutional arrangements after the transition period, including alignment between anti-return policies and regular assistance for the rural low-income population and study of a regular assistance mechanism for underdeveloped areas.
“Common prosperity for all the people is an essential feature of Chinese modernization” is part of the speech on 7 February 2023 at a study session for newly elected members and alternate members of the Central Committee and principal officials at provincial and ministerial level on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress. It says modernization featuring common prosperity for all distinguishes Chinese modernization from Western modernization, and that winning the battle against poverty since the 18th CPC National Congress lifted nearly 100 million rural poor people out of poverty. It says the “cake” should be made larger and also divided better, polarization should be prevented, and common prosperity is a long-term task.
“Build a just world of common development and turn a good vision into reality” is the main part of Xi’s remarks on “fighting hunger and poverty” at the first session of the 19th G20 Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 18 November 2024. It says China’s development is an important part of common global development and that China’s experience shows poverty in developing countries can be solved. It describes China as a member of the Global South, a long-term partner of developing countries, and a supporter of global development.
“Solid steps toward common prosperity for all the people are an overall requirement guiding economic and social development in the 15th Five-Year Plan period” is part of the explanation Xi gave on 20 October 2025, at the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, of the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. It says Chinese modernization is modernization of common prosperity for all the people, and that the draft recommendations highlight, in their guiding thinking, solid steps toward that goal as an overall requirement for the period.
Original article: https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34445733
