CHINESE PROVINCE CLAIMS IT HAS ONLY 17 POOR PEOPLE

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s obsession with eradicating poverty in China by the end of this year has apparently heeded by at least one province in a country that officially has a population of 1.4 billion people.

In January 2020, the Jiangsu province announced that only 17 out of its 80 million residents were living in poverty, surprising not only Xi but provincial leaders who have vainly tried to generate jobs as industrialization of the coastal provinces caused mass migration and reduced the number of rural workers.

The announcement, reported wiseGEEK on August 21, 2020, has been derided in cyberspace and in official circles, especially now that China’s economy, which is largely export-dependent, sank by 6.8% in the first quarter alone.

“The province has claimed that 2.54 million people had been lifted out of poverty in the past four years, even when using 6,000 yuan ($863) in annual income as the poverty line. Although the 6,000 yuan standard is equivalent to just $2.40 a day, this is actually far higher than China's de facto national poverty line, which is only 2,300 yuan ($331.) Regardless of Jiangsu's mind-boggling figures, China's poverty eradication goal is likely to be put on hold, as the effects of COVID-19 have slowed down China's growth,” wiseGEEK explained. Independent studies showed that up to 300 million Chinese are poor.