Bold policies see country optimistic of reducing number of poor to 'zero'.

Head held high: The head of a legendary ethnic Miao goddess statue is lifted at the construction site of the statue, in Jianhe County, Guizhou province, in April 2017. The county, located in the southeast of Wenshan Prefecture, was part of a Chinese pilot project to eradicate poverty.

The new China has completely changed the world's perception of its people from agrarian peasants on the verge of famine in the late 60s to the citizens of a new economic powerhouse in just a few decades.

The urban landscape in Beijing has been cleared for modern buildings -- many designed by world-renowned architects.

This year China has celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding the People's Republic of China, with a key message to let the world know it has the bold ambition of eradicating poverty by the end of 2020.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION SCHEME

In 2012, the Chinese government implemented a poverty alleviation project to improve people's living conditions and provide them with access to basics like accommodation, medical treatment and education, together with an efficient public transport system in remote areas. The government has focused on harnessing big data to provide all of its people with more integrated infrastructure.

Daily toil: A woman farms in front of a residential compound in Chenggong District of Kunming, Yunnan province.

According to government figures, the number of rural poor living on less than RMB2,300 (9,906 baht) a year registered with the government has fallen from 99 million in 2012 to 16.6 million in 2018. It plans to help at least another 10 million people in 330 poor areas out of poverty by the end of next year.

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Bangkok Post that the country's ultimate aim is for the total number of people recorded living in poverty to fall to zero by the end of 2020.

"What we have done is to raise and improve people's living conditions. We are proud to think that only China could achieve such a large-scale target," she said.

Zhang Liang of the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council said the government has taken big steps to make life better for low-income people in rural areas.

Both local to national committees have been set up to drive a policy which started with land reform, including creating modern state farms, separating farmland ownership rights, contract rights and management rights.

Under the plan, around 10 million more people living in remote, underdeveloped parts of the country will see their areas receive upgrades in infrastructure and services by the end of next year.

POVERTY REDUCTION SHOWCASE

A hill-tribe community in Nanyou village in Malipo township is a success story that showcases how local people have benefited from the poverty alleviation scheme. They have a new road to transport their farm products to the market and renovated-house assistance for good living.

Lu Shijun, 41-year village chief, said her life has changed utterly over the past decade.

"Ten years ago, we were starving with not enough food to eat. Our children couldn't go to school. But now, everything is getting better and we are trying to become more developed," she said.

Colourful crops: People walk past designs created using different varieties of rice in a paddy in Shenyang in China's northeast Liaoning province in June, 2017. Varieties of different coloured rice were used in the designs, which aim to promote tourism in the area and boost the income of local farmers.

Malipo County, located in the southeast of Wenshan Prefecture, was one of the pilot projects for the scheme. Due to its close proximity to Vietnam, promoting trade was the main method used to boost the local economy, helping halve the number of low-income people from 12.99% in 2017 to 6.26% in 2018.

Hu Shang Jian, director of the Poverty Alleviation Bureau of Malipo County, said the village is regarded as being on the brink of zero poverty due to strong assistance from the government, especially financial assistance packages.

The Chinese government has given RMB18,000-30,000 (77,500-129,000 baht) to locals based on their level of poverty to build or renovate their homes. Farmers can also borrow up to RMB50,000 interest-free to develop their businesses.

BEYOND GDP

Bi Jiyao, deputy president of the Macro Economic Institute, said the government has made human development the focus of its policy.

He said the government has implemented a social security safety net for the residents of these areas to ensure that no one is left behind.

train spotting: A high-speed train linking Shanghai and Kunming in Yunnan province is seen at a station in Anshun, Guizhou province, China.

"This is another year where we have focused on many aspects other than GDP. We are now transforming from high-speed growth to high-quality growth. We have still a high income gap between the east and west so that is where we will concentrate our efforts going forward," he said.

CHINA AND ASEAN

The Chinese government has also benefited from the China-Asean Free Trade Agreement signed in 2004 to increase its southern region's economic prosperity.

Yunnan province is regarded as China's gateway to Asean and South Asian countries. Thanks to increasing trade activities with its neighbours, the GDP in Yunnan rose to RMB1.78 trillion (7.75 trillion baht) in 2018, which is a year-on-year increase of 8.9%.

Economic of the far out region has been improved, especially after the high-speed train linking Shanghai and Kunming in Yunnan province started operating since the end of 2016.

Tea time: A worker plucks tea leaves at a plantation in Pancao village, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan province, China.

The Chinese government also cooperated with countries in Asean to develop three high-speed train routes starting from Kunming and branching out to cover Myanmar, Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia before terminating in Singapore.

Yang Shaocheng, chief of the Regional Cooperation Office of Yunnan Province, said trade promotion is the key to alleviating poverty in the province as there is a strong market for electronics, infrastructure and agriculture products in the Asean region.

"We have taken this great opportunity to promote more trade between China and Asean through a channel of bilateral and multilateral cooperation to strengthen investment policy," he said, adding that by this means the number of people living in poverty has fallen to 5.34% from 17.09% in 2014.

He also expressed his confidence that Yunnan is on course to eradicate poverty in 2020.