Last year, over 10 million people were lifted out of poverty in China. Is that a real figure, and what issues occurred during the work? To find answers to these questions, a tough inspection of the results of poverty reduction is being carried out in 22 western provinces and regions in China, cctv.com reported on Jan. 22.

The inspections are carried out by third-party independent organizations, cross-provincial inspection teams, and unannounced media groups.

Cross-provincial inspections will be carried out by members of the poverty alleviation and development work offices of the provinces, cities, and districts, as well as grassroots poverty alleviation staff.

For instance, Pu’er City in southwest China’s Yunnan province is inspected by officials with the housing and urban-rural development department, health and family planning commission, and the education department of northwest Shaanxi province.

An official with the housing and urban-rural development department of Shaanxi explains that people in Yunnan have much higher expectations on quality homes, because the place is frequently affected by earthquakes, and that’s why they’ve been selected to inspect Yunnan.

More than 1,500 professors and students from 20-plus universities and academic research institutions were chosen to act as third-party organizations. They are required to finish investigations on 20,000 rural households.

The inspection mechanism is always changing to guarantee fairness. For instance, a place to be inspected is set after a two-round selection, so that it will not be informed ahead of time to prepare for the inspection.

An official said the list of the villages to be inspected had once been disclosed ahead of time, giving some cadres time to assist poor households temporarily with the aim of getting through the inspection.

The unannounced media survey is new this year, adding more fairness to the inspection.

In 2016’s nationwide inspection, four prominent issues were found, including low-quality poverty alleviation results, untargeted assistance, and other issues.

In this year’s inspection, some farmers said they were not fully satisfied with the work of poverty-alleviation cadres.