On September 9, the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China held in Chengdu a press conference on Sichuan’s poverty alleviation. As Peng Qinghua, Secretary of Sichuan Provincial CPC Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress, introduced on the meeting, Sichuan is a province with large population, high GDP and abundant resources. Because of its large population, poor foundation, imbalance and underdevelopment, Sichuan is one of the provinces with the heaviest poverty relief burden and a main battlefield for poverty alleviation in China. At the end of 2013, the province had 6.25 million registered poor people, accounting for 7% of the country’s total poor population. Among the poorest “three regions and three prefectures” of China, Liangshan Prefecture, Ganzi Prefecture and Aba Prefecture belong to Sichuan. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Sichuan has been making unremitting efforts to carry out targeted poverty relief and alleviation closely around “two no-worries and three guarantees (i.e. rural poor people are free from worries over food and clothing and have access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing)”, and has made decisive achievements. The province’s registered poor population dropped from 6.25 million at the end of 2013 to 200,000 at the end of 2019, with an average annual reduction of more than 1 million. The incidence of poverty decreased from 9.6% to 0.3%. All Tibet-related poor counties in Ganzi, Aba and Liangshan have shaken off poverty. Sichuan has been comprehensively rated “good” for 4 consecutive years in the national poverty alleviation and development work assessment. The poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan have undergone earth-shaking changes.

　　First, from “fundamental food and clothing” to “adequate food and clothing”, the livelihood of poor people have been greatly changed. Through developing public service jobs, planting and cultivation industries, and outside employment, poor people with labor capacity have generally been employed, and now have a stable income; those without labor capacity enjoy a minimum living allowance, so that they have adequate food and clothing. Sichuan has vigorously promoted the construction of safe housing and safe drinking water projects. About 1.36 million poor people in the province have been relocated; 622,000 poor people have their dangerous houses rebuilt; 2,959,000 people have got access to “clean water “.

　　Second, from traffic block to connectivity, the infrastructure in poor areas has been greatly changed. The “Ziptrecks Transformed into Bridges” project was fully completed, so that more than 100,000 people bid farewell to travel on ziptrecks. And more than 110,000 kilometers of new/rebuilt rural roads were built, basically realizing “asphalt roads to each town, hardened roads to each village”. All qualified towns and villages have got access to coaches and express outlets. At the same time, a number of energy, communications and other infrastructure projects have been built. Now, even in the most remote villages, people can use electric lights, watch TV, make phone calls and surf the Internet.

　　Third, from lack of hospitals and schools to comprehensive security, the social undertakings in poor areas have been greatly changed. The whole province has basically established a three-level (county, town, village) medical and health service system, the coverage rate of serious illness treatment reaching 99.6%. The individual payment proportion of poor patients hospitalized in the territory of their county is controlled within 10%. Some life-threatening endemic and infectious diseases are effectively controlled. Efforts will be made to improve the conditions for running schools in poor areas, fully implementing 15 years of free education, “9+3” free vocational education and “one village, one nursery” in ethnic areas. Children from poor families can be fully exempted from tuition for kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, and even secondary vocational school for some.

　　Fourth, from lack of industries to boom of industries, the momentum of development in poor areas has been greatly changed. We focused on the development of characteristic and advantageous industries, implemented “one village, one product”, expanded the scale of planting and cultivation, improved product quality and extended the industrial chain. Now, every poor county has modern agricultural parks; every poor village has collective economy. The province has launched a total of 149 brands of high-quality agricultural products and 12 regional public brands. The province’s 88 poor counties last year achieved regional GDP of 955.79 billion yuan, 1.68 times that of 2013; the province’s poor households last year reached a per capita net income of 7,690 yuan, 2.81 times that of 2013.

　　Fifth, from outmoded conventions and customs to civilization and new trend, the spiritual outlook of the poor people has been greatly changed. Each village has formulated new village rules and regulations, advocating new wedding customs and simplified funerals, significantly reducing the burden on the masses. At the same time, we should firmly grasp education of gratitude and endeavor, guiding poor people to be grateful, self-reliant and hard-working so as to create a happy and beautiful life with diligence. The spiritual outlook of the poor people has changed significantly.

　　Peng Qinghua said, at present, Sichuan’s “two no-worries and three guarantees” task has been basically completed, and the final leak filling and ending work is being carried out. We are confident, determined and capable to sprint “the last 100 meters” before we win the final victory of the provincial poverty alleviation battle on schedule.