A view of the residential buildings in Xiaqi village, Fu'an, Fujian, on Jan 16, where former boat dwellers now reside. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Common prosperity goals

While their paths differed — from mountain villages to flood-hit townships and coastal fishing communities — the stories of Gao, Yang and Jiang reflect a shared logic behind China's poverty alleviation drive.

"That is, change did not happen overnight. It followed a clear direction: stabilize people's lives first, build infrastructure, develop industries suited to local conditions, and protect the environment that sustains long-term growth," said Cai Yanqi, an assistant research fellow at the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences.

According to Cai, principles articulated decades ago in Up and Out of Poverty gradually took shape not in slogans, but in roads built across mountains, forests restored on once-barren hills, and development opportunities passed on to the next generation.

In 2015, Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, sounded the bugle call to a nationwide battle against poverty at the National Conference on Development-driven Poverty Alleviation. "We should be determined, dedicate ourselves, and work hard towards the goal," he said.

Since the campaign began, Xi had visited each one of the 14 contiguous poor areas across the country and over 20 poverty-stricken villages, and sat in the homes of impoverished households to listen to their difficulties, suggestions, and needs, building up their confidence and determination, and their belief that they can work their way out of poverty.

On Feb 25, 2021, Xi declared at a national conference that China had secured a comprehensive victory in the fight against poverty, and completed the arduous task of eradicating extreme poverty, with all 98.99 million rural residents living below the poverty line lifted out of poverty.

"We must take concrete steps to consolidate and expand upon the outcomes of the fight against poverty as part of our effort to promote rural vitalization, so that the foundations of poverty eradication are more solid and the effects are more sustainable," he said.

Wang Sangui, dean of the China Anti-Poverty Research Institute at Renmin University of China, said the country's poverty alleviation experience shows that development must be built on both physical foundations and human motivation.

And this forward-looking thinking had been reflected in many of the poverty alleviation ideas and measures Xi proposed while working in Fujian, he said.