Giant strides taken to conquer poverty

Repairs speeded

In late June, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the country's top anti-poverty agency, urged local authorities to introduce aid for those left impoverished by the floods and to investigate how vulnerable people had been affected.

Officials were also sent to speed up repairs to damaged homes, roads, water conservation facilities and other projects designed to alleviate poverty.

As the floods receded in September, authorities quickly launched sales promotion campaigns for agricultural products, which are crucial to rural industries fostered by local governments in recent years to boost farmers' incomes.

As early as March, the central authorities called for improved efforts to "alleviate poverty through consumption". The move was aimed at tapping the wallets of urban consumers amid lackluster sales of rural produce triggered by disrupted supply chains.

This strategy took center stage in the aftermath of the flooding and other disasters, with the poor population in rural areas falling as economic activity resumed.

In September, the top anti-poverty agency and other departments launched a month-long sales promotion drive, targeting so-called poverty relief products.

Hong Tianyun, the agency's deputy director, later announced that produce worth 41.5 billion yuan had been sold from the start of September to Oct 17.

The sales volume for the first 10 months of the year was 227.6 billion yuan, official figures showed.