Since the beginning of this year, Chinese state media have emphasized more than ten times on “firmly holding the bottom line of preventing a large-scale return to poverty”. Statements related to this have been repeatedly appearing in publications such as People’s Daily and Qiushi, which are considered high-frequency policy terms. Scholars believe that the issue of poverty among the Chinese people is worsening.
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping stated in the “20th National Congress” report that they have “completed the historic mission of poverty alleviation and the comprehensive construction of a moderately prosperous society, achieving the first centennial goal.” Since 2025, the central state media and authoritative publications of the Communist Party of China have repeatedly emphasized in public reports the importance of “firmly holding the bottom line of preventing a large-scale return to poverty”. The repeated use of this phrase in different contexts and articles from People’s Daily to Qiushi magazine indicates that “preventing a return to poverty” has been elevated to the primary political task of rural revitalization efforts.
Mr. Li, a retired scholar from Renmin University of China, stated in an interview with Dajiyuan that there are still large numbers of impoverished people in mountainous regions such as Guizhou, Gansu, and Yunnan, where local residents’ children cannot attend school and may not even have decent clothing. Previously referred to as “campaign-style poverty alleviation,” individuals within this group have returned to poverty after such movements. He commented that, “The more the authorities emphasize something, the more serious the problem tends to be.”
Mr. Feng, a scholar at Beijing University of Technology who has long studied rural social structures, mentioned in an interview that according to the official definition of the Communist Party of China, “a large-scale return to poverty” refers to widespread overall regression. However, at the level of individual households, a return to poverty has quietly happened. He noted, “Perhaps you won’t see it in the statistical numbers, but in villages in the northwest region, farmers receive only a little over a hundred yuan in pension per month, and the media never reports on their living conditions. The emphasis on holding the line against a large-scale return to poverty from official sources indicates an exacerbation of poverty.”
According to preliminary statistics by reporters, the official Communist Party media People’s Daily has mentioned “firmly holding the bottom line of preventing a large-scale return to poverty” at least four times from February to August this year. This includes coverage of a meeting in Jiangxi Gan County held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Communist Party of China on February 18, local revisits and research articles on June 3, editorial notes on July 25, and policy interpretations on August 18. Qiushi magazine and its website have published multiple commentaries in January, February, and May, repeatedly emphasizing the need to “hold the line against a return to poverty”. Additionally, this phrase has appeared multiple times in the “Theory People’s Net” and various local deployment conference news releases.
Statistics show that as of this year, this statement has been repeatedly emphasized in at least over ten central-level party media reports and commentaries, forming an effect of a “high-frequency term” for the year. The prevalence of this slogan in party media reports is very high and is uncommon in narratives on rural policies in recent years.
Political scientist Mr. Feng stated that in recent years, the decline in agricultural product prices in mainland China has led to a decrease in farmers’ income; the employment of rural migrant workers in cities is unstable, with wage growth stagnating; coupled with increased medical and education expenses, some families may fall back below the poverty line with just one sudden illness or unforeseen expense.
He further added, “The official emphasis on ‘holding the line’ is more of a political commitment, but for the people, the risk of returning to poverty is an ongoing issue that is accelerating.”
According to the original plan of the Communist Party of China, there was a five-year transition period between poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, ending in 2025. This year is the final year of this transition period, hence “prevent a return to poverty” is seen as the most important bottom line task. Policies require local governments to establish normalized monitoring and assistance mechanisms and include marginalized families and groups facing sudden difficulties on the “monitoring targets” list.
Mr. Feng, who studies the rural situation in China, stated that there are numerous challenges at the grassroots level, including tight financial resources and heavy local government debts. Recently, financial reports from several prefecture-level cities have shown high local debt pressures, requiring temporary crisis resolutions through so-called “debt restructuring”. Another issue is the precision of policy implementation.
He told reporters, “Some households have reflected that difficult families outside the monitoring list find it hard to receive assistance; while some groups included in the list face delayed relief funds due to lengthy review processes. I heard in Tongzi County, Guizhou, that subsidies for subsistence households are being deducted.”
On August 6, the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Communist Party of China claimed that by the end of June, they had assisted over 6.8 million monitoring targets, stabilizing the elimination of the risk of a return to poverty and providing employment for 32.83 million people nationwide. Over the past five years, various regions and departments have intensified their efforts, strengthened policy support, and firmly held the bottom line of preventing a large-scale return to poverty.
However, a grassroots worker named Lao Liu from Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province told reporters that the local population of impoverished people is rapidly increasing: “The rate of increase is very fast, we have to report every quarter on who is returning to poverty, and we have to ensure ‘zero large-scale return to poverty’. The political pressure on grassroots leadership is immense, and failing to complete the mission will result in being labeled with a black hat.”
Lao Liu solemnly stated that it is impossible for Chinese farmers to lift themselves out of poverty within five years through mere campaigns. “I’ve noticed that in many places, in order to complete poverty alleviation tasks, a lot of manpower and resources are spent on filling out various forms and designing monitoring poverty apps for personal gain.”
On November 21, 2023, the Shanxi Government Procurement Network released the “Announcement of the Results of the Prevention of Return to Poverty Monitoring Information Project in Shanxi Province”, showing that the Rural Revitalization Bureau of the province spent 8.59 million yuan to purchase a monitoring information project to prevent a return to poverty. This lavish purchase of the “return to poverty monitoring system” drew criticism. Some netizens sarcastically commented that such spending under false pretenses should be awarded the “Innovation Award”.
Beijing scholar Mr. Li told reporters that the phrase “firmly holding the bottom line of preventing a large-scale return to poverty” has appeared more than ten times in major party media headlines or important commentary articles within just half a year, making it a symbolic slogan for rural policies in 2025. This repeated occurrence is not coincidental but a sign that concerns from the higher-ups about the economic plight at the grassroots level are intensifying; more importantly, it has been shaped as a political footnote to Xi Jinping’s so-called “comprehensive construction of a moderately prosperous society” historic mission.