From Poverty To Prosperity: China’s Lessons For A Shared Future

On the rugged edges of the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai Province lies Deji village, once a community where poverty seemed permanent.
Once upon a time, harsh winters, scarce farmlands, and limited access to education and healthcare made survival in the enclave a daily struggle.
Today, Deji stands as a symbol of resilience, where families have traded despair for dignity and children run through schoolyards that once seemed like distant dreams.
The transformation of Deji reflects China’s 75-year journey from widespread deprivation to modernisation.
In 2020, the country declared the eradication of extreme poverty, lifting more than 800 million people out of hardship the largest poverty reduction achievement in history.
Behind the statistics are stories like Deji’s, where deliberate policies and local determination reshaped lives.
Qinghai Province, where Deji is located, was among the most challenging frontiers; known for its high altitude terrain and fragile ecosystems, it once ranked among China’s poorest regions.
Authorities introduced programmes that combined ecological conservation with new livelihood opportunities.
Families were relocated from uninhabitable mountain areas to settlements with housing, healthcare and schools.
New industries from yak dairy processing to eco-tourism and Thangka art created sustainable incomes.
A villager now managing a cooperative producing yak cheese recalled an experience.
“We used to survive on what little barley we could grow; winters were hard, and many families left in search of work.
“But today, our children study in modern classrooms, and we earn enough to save for the future,” he said.
Another villager, a carpenter, said his family had moved from struggle to comfort and that he now trains others.
“Poverty reduction here has become a holistic project not just raising incomes, but revitalising communities,” he said.
Wang Xuejun, Deputy Director of Qinghai’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the province had advanced what he called the “five revitalisations”: industry, talent, culture, ecology and community organisation.
These, he said, had transformed the plateau into a land of opportunity.
In Gonghe County, barren desert land was turned into “photovoltaic pastures.”
Solar panels generate clean energy while grass grows beneath, supporting herds of so-called “photovoltaic sheep” that combine renewable power with higher incomes.
In Huangyuan County, a canvas-bag cooperative created jobs for women who once had few opportunities.
Within two years, it became a thriving enterprise paying wages, generating taxes and even sharing dividends with the entire village.
Qinghai has also promoted organic yak and sheep farming, cold-water fish production and Thangka art as new sources of livelihood.
“The lesson,” Wang said, “is that rural revitalisation is not about imposing a model, but about unlocking local strengths, empowering people and balancing tradition with innovation.”
Similar stories can be found elsewhere.
In Maanshan Village, Jilin Province, targeted reforms and modern farming techniques transformed a once-struggling community.
A local leader, Zhang Zhangang, made a very apt submission.
“We learned to work with the land, not just on it,’’ he said.
Zhangang said that cooperatives and new technology raised yields and improved living standards.
By 2020, China had achieved the UN 2030 goal of ending extreme poverty a decade early.
That year, 98.99 million rural poor under the current standard were lifted out of poverty, and all 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages were removed from the poverty list.
Between 2013 and 2020, per capita disposable income in poor areas more than doubled. Rural regions gained universal access to paved roads, stable electricity, fibre-optic and 4G networks, education, healthcare and safe housing.
Key strategies included precision poverty alleviation, which identified the truly poor and tailored support such as industrial aid, relocation, ecological compensation and social security.
Analysts attribute the success to these strategies, strong political leadership and mass mobilisation.
More than 255,000 village work teams and over three million cadres were deployed to ensure “every household had a policy, every person received assistance.”
The process also mobilised businesses and social organisations.
The “Ten Thousand Enterprises Assist Ten Thousand Villages” initiative involved 110,000 companies supporting 126,000 villages.
Training programmes provided skills to more than 10 million people annually, boosting self-reliance and development capacity.
President Xi Jinping describes Chinese modernisation as “modernisation for all,” a people-centred approach that seeks harmony with nature, shared prosperity and peace as a global value.
It avoids growth benefiting only a few, ensuring that even remote communities share in prosperity.
For developing nations like Nigeria, this model offers lessons.
With its vast rural population and recurring farmer-herder conflicts, Nigeria could draw from China’s integrated policies that strengthen livelihoods while fostering peace.
As one Nigerian youth observer noted, “The villages model highlights the value of building policies around people, not just infrastructure.”
In Nigeria, the National Economic Summit Group recently provided insights on building rural economic resilience.
“There is the need for an increased focus on improving economic climate in rural areas by investing in micro- grids for electricity supply and feeder roads for access to markets,’’ the group said.
More so, the federal government, among other measures, recently unveiled a programme to directly support a minimum of 1,000 economically active people in each ward across Nigeria in order to reduce poverty at the grassroots level.
Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, said it was part of measures by the government to bolster economic elasticity from the rural level.
“Having stabilised the macro-economy, the next step is to drill development down to the lowest levels so that, in all 8,809 wards, we can stimulate economic activity that will generate employment, reduce poverty, enhance food security, and strengthen social protection,” Bagudu said.
China has shared its experience through the International Poverty Reduction Center in Beijing, Belt and Road projects, agricultural technology transfers and vocational training.
In Africa, including Nigeria, Chinese cooperation in infrastructure, rural electrification and the digital economy continues to shape development strategies.
China’s 75 years of poverty reduction stand not only as a national milestone but also as a global resource for building a fairer, more sustainable future.
From Deji Village to nationwide modernisation, analysts say the story proves that poverty eradication is achievable when people are placed at the centre of development.NAN