China's anti-poverty campaign in photo comparisons

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- By removing all its national-level poverty-stricken counties from the list, China has made a major victory in fighting poverty. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), nearly 100 million rural residents bid farewell to absolute poverty since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012. This selection of before-and-after photos might shed light upon what improvements have taken place in the lives of people, especially those from ethnic minorities.

TOP LEFT (File photo taken by Shen Qiao): A farmer gets water from an artificial water storage pool in Cele County of Hotan Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the 1990s.

BOTTOM LEFT (Photo taken by Zhao Ge): Abdukerem Turdi, a villager from an officially registered poor household, shows home access to tap water in Qushou Village of Moyu County, Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, Nov. 21, 2019.

RIGHT (Photo taken by Zhao Ge): A local villager collects tap water diverted from an improved water conservancy project in Jambaz Township of Jiashi County in Xinjiang on June 8, 2020. (Xinhua)

TOP: Photo taken on June 15, 2013 shows the Loess Plateau in Zhang Junming's hometown Hongbaiyang Township in Pengyang County, Guyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region;

BOTTOM: Photo taken on June 22, 2015 shows a government-backed poverty-relief relocation site, where Zhang's family lives, in Yinchuan, Ningxia. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)

TOP: Ada Niuri (1st L) poses with his family members at their old residence in Abuluoha Village, Butuo County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 12, 2006.

BOTTOM: Ada Niuri (1st L), 38, poses for a group photo with his family members on Dec. 25, 2020.

Driven by nationwide anti-poverty efforts, great changes have taken place in Abuluoha, a leprosarium-turned mountain village inhabited by people of the Yi ethnic group. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

TOP: Photo taken in 2016 shows villager Wang Minghua posing with his old house in Baorui Village, Qiongzhong County, south China's Hainan Province.

BOTTOM: Photo taken on Dec. 17, 2020 by Zhang Liyun shows villager Wang Minghua (C) and his family members posing with their new home in Baorui Village. (Xinhua)

TOP: Li Guozhi poses in front of his old residence in Xiaoluoma, a poverty-stricken village in Nuoshuihe Township, Tongjiang County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 22, 2016. On the wall behind him, Li wrote down a motto in his fight against poverty: "Better strive than suffer".

BOTTOM: Li Guozhi poses in front of his new home at a relocation site in Xiaoluoma Village, April 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Kun)

LEFT: This file photo taken at a certain time before 1949 shows a Dulong resident climbing a cliff-side ladder in Dulongjiang Township of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

RIGHT: Photo taken by Hu Chao shows Dulong villager Li Yongming accompanying his grandmother Dang Na as they climb up cement steps to reap fodder grass from the mountains in Dulongjiang Township, Oct. 31, 2020. (Xinhua)

LEFT: Undated file photo shows a Dulong man, using a pair of machetes, giving haircut to a fellow villager in Dulongjiang Township of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

RIGHT: Photo taken by Hu Chao shows Dulong villager Ken Yinglin (front) getting a haircut at a barber shop in Kongdang Village of Dulongjiang Township, Oct. 31, 2020. (Xinhua)

TOP: Photo taken on July 21, 2017 with a drone shows old village houses in Pingliu Village of Baise, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

BOTTOM: Photo taken on Dec. 3, 2019 shows a poverty-relief resettlement site for villagers from Pingliu Village. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Combo photo shows Yunyang County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in 2000 (TOP, file photo provided by Chongqing Three Gorges Migrants Memorial) and on Aug. 4, 2020 (BOTTOM, photo taken by Huang Wei), respectively. (Xinhua)

TOP: Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2017 shows villager Yu Wanhe making a fire in his former residence in Jianliang Village of Du'an Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

BOTTOM: Photo taken on Aug. 19, 2020 shows Yu cooking a dish in the kitchen of his new house inside a poverty-relief resettlement site, in Sanzhiyang Town of Du'an County. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

TOP (undated file photo): Villagers read amid farm fields in Jiajiazhuang Village, Fenyang, north China's Shanxi Province;

BOTTOM (photo taken by Cao Yang): A view of a bookstore in Jiajiazhuang Village on July 16, 2020. (Xinhua)

TOP (undated file photo): The construction site for the Shenhai wetland park in Dongshentou Village of Shuocheng District, Shuozhou, north China's Shanxi Province;

BOTTOM (photo taken by Cao Yang): An aerial view of the wetland park after its construction on July 7, 2020. Dongshentou Village used to rely solely on agriculture to support its economy. The Shenhai wetland park is one of the local efforts to develop tourism and relieve poverty. (Xinhua)