The key to ending poverty and achieving prosperity lies in spiritual poverty alleviation

Since the launch of targeted poverty alleviation work, many officials have found during the process of poverty alleviation that poor households can roughly be divided into three types. One type already has the desire to escape poverty and become prosperous, but is hampered by an "unhelpful external environment" - lacking technology and conditions, unable to prosper. Another type does not lack ability, but simply waits and relies on others, is lazy and gluttonous, living each day in poverty with periods of comfort alternating with hardship. A third type has fallen into poverty due to illness or disaster, and has long given up any thought of escaping poverty. For the first type of poor household, one need only help them acquire technology and conditions, give their efforts to prosper a boost and add fuel to the fire - relying on their desire to prosper and their determination not to bow to difficulties, they can ultimately "the weak bird flies first" and go "from extreme poverty to prosperity." But for the latter two types of poverty, it is not possible to easily escape poverty and achieve prosperity through material assistance alone; what they need more is spiritual poverty alleviation.

Spiritual poverty typically manifests as resigning oneself to fate, being content with the status quo, and seeking pleasure while avoiding work. Compared with material poverty, spiritual poverty lacks not labor power or technical ability, but rather mental laziness and spiritual weakness. This kind of poverty is far more terrifying than material poverty, and also harder to eradicate. In our past poverty alleviation efforts, we focused only on material poverty alleviation, simply giving money and goods in a one-directional way. This approach "helps for a time, but cannot help for a lifetime." Once preferential policies are "weaned off," the likelihood of falling back into poverty is very high. Therefore, in the process of targeted poverty alleviation, we must not only focus on "helping them onto the horse" materially, but also "accompany them on a stretch of the journey" spiritually, making every effort to complete the last mile of spiritual poverty alleviation, and not letting any poor household fall behind.

No one does not want to live a good life; the difficulty is how to help these poor households build up the confidence and courage that they too can live a good life, and how to give them a hand and support them along the way when they are in difficulty. For these things, in addition to material giving, greater spiritual encouragement and guidance are essential. To root out the cancerous tumor of spiritual poverty and eliminate the parasites in their thinking, it is necessary to apply pressure both internally and externally, and exert effort in both directions. Internally, poor households themselves need to break free from lazy thinking and establish the ambition to escape poverty. Internal causes are the fundamental factor determining the development and change of things. Impoverished people are the main actors in escaping poverty and achieving prosperity, and whether they themselves have a firm willingness to escape poverty is the key to achieving it. If there is no willingness, or insufficient willingness, or weak willpower, then the driving force for escaping poverty and achieving prosperity will be insufficient. Even if external investment is enormous, it can only guarantee temporary escape from poverty, but cannot ensure long-term development. Only when poor households' thinking has changed and their concepts have been renewed will the methods and drive for prosperity naturally follow. Only then is there hope for escaping poverty and achieving prosperity, and only then can the purpose of poverty alleviation truly be realized. Externally, assisting officials need to strengthen guidance. "As long as the spirit does not slide, there are always more solutions than difficulties." Since most "spiritually poor households" find it very difficult to consciously establish the ambition to escape poverty on their own, and wanting to rely solely on poor households themselves to overcome their old habitual thinking is "harder than reaching the sky," therefore, in the process of poverty alleviation, it is necessary to "exert force" from the outside, fully leverage the close connection role of assisting officials, work hard, and actively guide them. Facing these "spiritually poor households," assisting officials must not have the mentality of fearing difficulty and worrying, letting them fend for themselves, and even less should they ignore them entirely. Instead, they should go deep into the psychology of poor households to "investigate thoroughly," through frequent "chatting about daily matters" and "discussing right and wrong," using a "microscope" to examine the tiny "germs" in poor households' psychology, and through constant "reasoning" and "clarifying matters," using "insecticide" to kill the "germs" in their psychology, slowly untie the knots in their thinking step by step, break through their psychological defenses, help poor households build confidence and fighting spirit to escape poverty, lead poor households to find the right path to escape poverty and achieve prosperity, help them walk out of the shadow of poverty as soon as possible, and live a happy life. (Wang Yingying)