Over the past eight years, some 100 million people in rural China have emerged from poverty, a sign of economic progress trumpeted by President Xi Jinping. Xi launched an initiative after taking power in 2012 that has helped China beat the 2030 target for eliminating extreme poverty set by the World Bank. The People’s Daily, official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), called the elimination of poverty a “Giant screen shows CCTV state media broadcast of Chinese President Xi Jinping, at a shopping complex in Beijing, March 2, 2021.Shifting standards Beijing continues to use This aerial view shows people shopping for groceries at a farmers’ market in Jishou, in central China’s Hunan province.Doubts raised The money flows through China’s Rural Subsistence Allowance System based on an application, its review and approval, and distribution of funds, a process that moves through China’s three basic levels of rural governance — village to township to county. Rural households apply for subsidies by providing township officials with household registration, disability documents and endorsement from their village governments. The paperwork goes to grassroots level administrative offices such as department of civil affairs. Township officials review the applications and submit them to county-level government officials for approval. If approved, an applicant’s money is dispersed on a monthly basis to a designated account in a rural bank or credit union, which does not charge management fees. Each recipient receives an allowance card that works like a debit card, allowing cash withdrawal as needed. Temporary or one-time living subsidies — such as those granted for holidays — are paid to households in full if all requirements are met. Huang Xiaomin, a rights activist in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, told VOA Mandarin that, in some places, records used by Xi and other top officials can be inflated. In Sichuan province, for example, many residents of Heshu town in Peng’an county appear to have received social security and health care benefits. But, the activist said, the reality is different because several people in one family share the money that arrives as a cash payment or bank transfer. According to Huang, the one-month minimum living allowance for one person is about $42 to $56. When shared among four or five family members of one household, each person got about $11, he said. “It’s definitely not enough to get out of poverty. But under pressure from the government, [unless the poor people] sign their names to claim everyone has got the full amount, they won’t get any money,” he told VOA’s Mandarin Service “So there’s definitely adulteration.”Maintaining stability   Xi’s messaging Thursday contrasts with a statement by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last May. “There are over 600 million people whose monthly income is barely 1,000 yuan (USD $140), not enough to rent a room in Chinese cities,” he said at his annual press conference. Xia Ming, professor of political science at the City University of New York, said he now expects CCP loyalists to parrot Xi’s questionable claims about the success of China’s poverty alleviation efforts, and possibly work to generate supporting evidence.   “Because Xi Jinping wants to focus on poverty alleviation as his core work, of course officials at all levels and propaganda departments would desperately try to put feathers in his cap,” he said. Before Thursday’s ceremony, several Chinese state news outlets described poverty alleviation as “an epic picture of China’s anti-poverty campaign.” Wu Qiang, former lecturer in the political department at Tsinghua University, told VOA that Xi’s declaration shows he has nothing else to highlight in his eight years in power. He said declaring the end of poverty is a way to maintain stability in the face of income inequality. In the past, anti-poverty campaigns in China, such as increased spending on rural schools and health care, sought to close the gap between a visible minority that had profited from economic reform and the majority of people who had not, according to the Associated Press. “In the market economy, China’s rich and poor are divided to an unprecedented extent,” said Wu. “…Xi’s efforts to alleviate poverty are in fact for political security and the need for stability. Xi’s publicity is in fact to show other Party leaders that he has the ability to solve the urgent problems of instability through poverty alleviation and prevent the potential impact on the Party.”  Adrianna Zhang and Jing Zhang of VOA Mandarin contributed to this report. 
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