China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Photo exhibit at UN shows way out of poverty
Images of the poverty reduction that China has achieved are now showing at the United Nations.
An exhibition titled “Better Life, Dream Come True—Poverty Alleviation in China” is running at UN headquarters in New York this week.
Through more than 40 pictures, a 10-episode documentary video and detailed textual information, the exhibition tells the typical stories of China’s targeted poverty alleviation and explains President Xi Jinping’s idea of poverty alleviation. It also showcases China’s achievements in alleviating poverty and introduces China’s plans for global poverty reduction.
Visitors to the exhibition said the photos offer an opportunity to see how China came through in its efforts to eradicate poverty.
Durga Prasad Bhattarai, Nepal’s ambassador to the UN, wrote in the guestbook that the exhibition is a “very inspiring and thoughtful sharing of experience”.
Megan Gilgan, deputy chief of staff of UN Children’s Fund, said the photo of Chinese children learning how to wash their hands in school is her favorite and “very impressive”.
“We see China is dedicated to making sure schools are safe and healthy places for children. And this is important all over the world,” said Gilgan, adding that education is a very important part of poverty alleviation.
Gilgan said that China’s poverty alleviation efforts not only lift people out of income poverty, but out of multidimensional poverty.
“It’s not just people have money but they have access to schools, healthcare and they have all the things they need, they have strong families,” she said at the opening ceremony on Thursday. “Many of China’s experiences of how to do this on such a large scale so quickly is something that many countries could learn from.”
Forty years ago, China started reform and opening-up and put the focus on poverty alleviation. Since then, 700 million people have been lifted above the poverty line.
Following the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the Chinese government launched a “battle against poverty”, guided by the principle of targeted poverty reduction highlighted by President Xi Jinping.
Sun Zhijun, deputy minister of publicity department of China, who gave a keynote speech at the ceremony, pointed out that the poverty headcount ratio has since been reduced from 10.2 percent to 3.1 percent as of the end of 2017.
China has introduced effective poverty alleviation measures, such as resettlement, promotion of e-commerce and dedicated government support, he said.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Ma Zhaoxu said that China accounts for 70 percent of the total population lifted out of poverty worldwide.
“With the most people lifted out of poverty, China achieved a leading position in realizing the UN Millennium Development Goals and made an enormous contribution to poverty reduction across the world,” said Ma.
Amina J. Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the UN, said that with more than 800 million poor in the world, poverty reduction is a primary task in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“For more than three decades, China has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty,” she said. “As a long-term partner, the United Nations holds huge welcome to Chinese government and people towards further goals.”
Sun said China is ready to share its experiences in poverty reduction and work with people of other countries to build a global community with a shared future and make our world a better place.
“We hope this exhibition will help countries better understand China’s efforts in poverty alleviation; build a global consensus on poverty alleviation, thus to better promote the implementation of the UN 2030 sustainable development goals,” said Sun.
The exhibit is sponsored by the State Council Information Office, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN, and organized by Xinhua News Agency.
Officials of the UN, officials of permanent missions to the UN, and representatives of people from all walks of life attended the ceremony.