The number of indigent Chinese with an annual net income of less than 637 yuan (US$77) increased by 800,000 people in 2003.

This is the first time that the number has increased since China adopted its reform and opening-up policies in the late 1970s.

And this happened in the same year that China's average gross domestic product per capita exceeded US$1,000 and its fiscal revenue reached 2 trillion yuan (US$241 billion).

It shows poverty-relief work is being disregarded.

Assisting about 30 million indigent people, although not a big portion compared with the total population, is the hardest part of the poverty-relief equation.

People in this group are either disabled and cannot work or living in extremely harsh conditions. For them, the current efforts are not very effective.

Development investment focuses on production and infrastructure construction but ignores the quality of human resources, such as education and public health.

Additionally, the yield of industrial projects in poverty-stricken areas is usually poor. Also, poverty-relief funds do not always reach their target recipients.

More harmful is the damage done to the environment.

Most of the poverty-stricken population live in underdeveloped frontier areas, especially in the western regions. The environment there has long been coming off second best.

The development of agricultural production does improve the income levels of local residents, yet it further deteriorates the ecological environment.

Once the environment cannot regenerate itself, the rate of deterioration increases - and the results of poverty-relief work evaporate. Thus, in some areas, the number of people returning to poverty outnumbers those who have managed to shuck it off.

Any kind of poverty-relief approach has benefits, as well as limitations. It means adjustments need to be made according to local conditions.

Relief should focus on reaching its target recipients, and enhancing investment in rural education, technical training and public health. For those living in areas with few resources, migration should be the way out.

(China Daily July 28, 2004)