How to Clear the Obstacles on the Road to Poverty Alleviation

In the current battle against poverty that must be won, if superior policies are the pulling force and external assistance is the driving force, then the poor people's own aspiration to escape poverty is precisely an indispensable internal driving force.

The efforts over 37 years of reform and opening up have lifted more than 700 million rural poor people out of poverty, and this was first of all achieved by relying on a firm will to escape poverty and the tenacity of water dripping through stone. The poverty alleviation experience of countless regions proves: to escape poverty, the primary significance is not escaping material poverty, but escaping the “poverty” of consciousness and thinking. Only by first solving the poverty in the mind can a “weak bird take flight first” and “extreme poverty become prosperity”. As long as there is confidence, loess can turn into gold. As long as the spirit does not slide, there are always more solutions than difficulties.

Facing the last more than 70 million “poorest of the poor” and “most desperate of the desperate”, this “hard bone”, the urgent task is precisely to first remove the obstacle of “poverty in the mind”. In particular, the wait-and-see mentality of “waiting, depending and demanding”, the psychology of dependence and the utilitarian mindset still exist to varying degrees in many places today.

For example, being poor and short of ambition, and lacking the will to make progress. Some poor households, even after the higher authorities built them greenhouses, still wait for the government to buy seeds and machinery and supply fertilizer and technology, and even expect the government to do something as simple as changing a straw curtain. A township official once said that whenever relief and assistance items are distributed, some people “compare” with one another, and there appears the phenomenon of competing to be poor and comparing who is poorer, and “lying down as a low-income household”.

For example, outdated concepts and passive dependence. Some leaders of poor counties treat winning the label of “poverty-stricken county” as an honor and political achievement, showing it off everywhere, and even publishing “especially good news” on government websites. Wearing the “poverty-stricken county” label means several hundred million yuan or even more in fiscal transfer payments can be obtained, but if one only knows how to “show off poverty” and only waits for “relief”, how can one lead the people to escape poverty and become rich, and shed the label as soon as possible?

Another example is blocked thinking and a single method. Some officials lack in-depth investigation and research, cannot find the cause of the illness and cannot write a prescription. Facing new situations and new problems, they either only use old methods or copy others' experience without regard to reality. When asparagus prices are high, they demand that everyone grow asparagus, and when everyone rushes in and the market collapses, they switch to growing yams, and as a result whatever is grown loses money, farmers cannot earn money, and not only can they not escape poverty, they also lose confidence.

Poverty is not frightening; what is frightening is precisely this poverty of thought and thinking. The masses are the main body of escaping poverty and becoming rich. Only by solving the mental outlook, firming up confidence and actively striving, and stimulating the initiative, enthusiasm and creativity of officials and masses in poor areas, constantly emancipating the mind and actively exploring, can shortcomings be turned into strengths, disadvantages into advantages, and “extreme poverty” be able to become prosperity. Conversely, if poverty alleviation becomes a policy that supports lazy people, then even if a lot of effort and investment are spent to temporarily improve things, it cannot last, and it may even fall into the vicious cycle of “the poorer one is, the more one demands; the more one demands, the lazier one becomes; the lazier one becomes, the poorer one is”.

For poor people, poverty alleviation should first support aspiration. With aspiration, “blood transfusion” can have an effect, and “blood production” becomes possible. “Happiness is not a drizzle; it will not fall from the sky by itself.” To encourage people in poor areas to become rich through hard work and clever work, and to establish the concept of “being willing to work hard rather than suffer bitterly”, the best way is to let them see role models around them. Zhu Yanfu, former village party secretary of Zhangjiaquan Village, Yiyuan County, Shandong, lost both hands and both feet on the battlefield, yet still led the people to improve the mountains, control water and build farmland. He could walk on his knees, crawl, and even “roll”, but his spiritual world was never crushed by poverty. Such a person is precisely the spiritual resource that greatly strengthens the aspiration of poor people.

For the government, it is necessary not only to step out of the misunderstanding that “poverty alleviation equals relief and charity”, but also to support the masses in exploring and innovating poverty alleviation methods. It is necessary not only to help poor people relieve immediate worries, but also to think about the long term for them. What poor people lack most is culture and skills, so policies and knowledge should be sent to the countryside in a targeted way, and skills should be delivered to their doors, to enhance their ability to develop production and transfer employment; for poverty alleviation projects that poor people need, conditions should be created and development should be supported. Only in this way can the state of “leaning against the wall base to sunbathe, waiting for others to deliver moderate prosperity” be completely changed.

Without the aspiration to escape poverty, no matter how much poverty alleviation funding there is, it can only last for a while, not for long. Good policies and systems should not only solve the temporary difficulties of poor people, but also let them see the hope of standing firm through their own efforts. Good days are made through hard work; firmly remember this point, summon the fighting spirit and tenacity of water dripping through stone, and find the path of targeted poverty alleviation, and only then can this battle against poverty be won.