Top leaders urged greater efforts to combat poverty during visits to impoverished areas, in a move that analysts said reflects the leadership's resolve to achieve more balanced regional development.
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Local authorities should place more emphasis on helping people out of poverty, Party chief Xi Jinping said during a weekend visit to Fuping county in Hebei province.
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Policies designed to support agriculture, rural areas and alleviate poverty must be fully implemented, Xi said.
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Xi also called the embezzlement of poverty-alleviation funds an "intolerable crime".
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Xi arrived in Fuping after a journey of more than three hours from Beijing on Saturday afternoon in freezing weather.
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Nestled in steep mountains, Fuping is among China's most impoverished counties. It has an annual net per capita income of 2,400 yuan ($390). Most of the people who live there are farmers.
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Xi discussed incomes, food, education, and medical care as he visited the villages of Luotuowan and Gujiatai.
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Sitting on the kang, a heatable brick bed, of Tang Rongbin, Xi said the farmer should pay more attention to his grandson's schooling as education will help the next generation lead a better life.
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Xi also visited clinics and shops and talked with village officials.
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"The most arduous task facing China in completing the building of a moderately prosperous society is in rural areas, especially poverty-stricken regions," Xi said.
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Vice-Premier Li Keqiang visited rural areas in the Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Hubei province, on Saturday.
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Li made it to the mountainous villages after traveling on narrow and snowbound roads and talked to farmers about their immediate concerns.
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Impoverished areas are concentrated in the central and western regions, with a total population of 200 million, he said.
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"If we are to build a moderately prosperous society, getting the 200 million people out of poverty will be a major task. But we have the resolve and tenacity to accomplish this," he told the villagers as he trudged on a muddy field.
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Issues such as education, medical care and employment were also keenly discussed.
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When a farmer told Li about his happiness over the area's medical insurance, Li interrupted him by saying that he wanted to hear more about what annoyed him.
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Li called on the authorities of Enshi to develop local industries so that migrant workers will be able to find jobs in their hometowns.
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The top leaders have a tradition of visiting families and experiencing issues at the grassroots before the start of the new year.
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Their concern for people shows that the ruling Party is aiming to improve livelihoods in the less-developed regions, said Li Shi, a professor of wealth distribution at Beijing Normal University.
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There are still lots of problems, including inefficiency in the use of poverty-alleviation funds and unfairness in their distribution, Li Shi said.
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Authorities need to boost transparency, he said. "There are still lots of poor people and the income gap remains a tough problem for authorities."