Delineation of Contiguous Poor Areas with Particular Difficulties

　　According to the unified deployment of the State Council, the Leading Group for the Preparation of the New Outline set up six work teams in June 2010 to respectively be responsible for the research of poverty line, the delineation of contiguous areas with particular difficulties, policy coordination, adjustment of key counties, social poverty alleviation and fund estimation. The main task of the Delineation Team of Contiguous Poor Area with Particular Difficulties (hereinafter referred to the Contiguous Poor Area Delineation Team) is: “to fully understand the distribution law of impoverished areas, systematically analyze the geological characteristics of various regions and scientifically delineate contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties in China to provide important support for the formulation of the poverty alleviation and development program for the next decade, aiming at effectively improving the relevance and effectiveness of China's anti-poverty work”. Wang Xinhua, Inspector of Department of Regional Economy of NDRC is the head of the Contiguous Poor Area Delineation Team, Hai Bo from Department of Development and Guidance of LGOP is the deputy head and the leading group members mainly include the relevant comrades of Department of Regional Economy of NDRC, Department of Development and Guidance of LGOP, State Statistics Bureau Household Survey Office and the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, CAAS, etc.

　　I.Basic information of the delineation work

　　On the stage of research and preparation, we carefully read the "Some Opinions on the In-depth Implementation of the Western Development Strategy" and a series of policy documents on accelerating the development of underdeveloped regions promulgated by the State Council in recent years, studied and analyzed the anti-poverty work documents and files printed since the 1980s and estimated the data closely related to the level of poverty of all county-level units across China announced since 2006. On August 11, 2010, the plenary session of the Leading Group for the Preparation of the New Outline approved the delineation standard of “weight assignment and preferential policies for border counties, autonomous counties and old revolutionary base counties with per capita net income of farmers, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita general budget revenue as the basic indicators”.  

　　On the stage of formulating the delineation plan, we mainly determined the guiding ideology, basic principles, classification methods and standards as well as the technical route for the delineation work. At the same time, we conducted several rounds of consultations with the relevant units on the names and coverage of the contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties, determined the names of the 11 contiguous areas except Tibet, three prefectures in South Xinjiang and the Tibetan regions in Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu, formulated the "Plan for the Delineation of Contiguous Poor Areas with Particular Difficulties" and submitted it to the drafting team. On January 5, 2011, the plan was submitted to Vice Premier Hui Liangyu by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development as the Guo Kai Ban Fa [2011] No. 4 Document. On February 9, Premier Wen Jiabao listened to the report concerning the drafting of the new outline and made clear requirements for the delineation of contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties. On March 2, the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development held a plenary meeting, approved the "Plan for the Delineation of Contiguous Poor Areas with Particular Difficulties" and required that “the LGOP and relevant departments should further refine the program and implement it after the issuance of the new outline”. In accordance with the requirements of the Leading Group for the Preparation of the New Outline, the Contiguous Poor Area Delineation Team made specific arrangements for the delineation work since March 2011.

　　On the modification stage, according to the instructions of Premier Wen Jiabao and the requirements of the meeting of the Leading Group, breaking the constraints of key counties for poverty alleviation and development, we ranked all the county-level administrative units in the central and western regions based on the average figure of 2007-2009 statistical data of western provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and developed the preliminary program for the delineation of contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties, covering 11 contiguous areas and 505 counties whose three indicators (per capita net income of farmers, per capita GDP and per capita general budget revenue) were all below the western average.

　　II.Delineation principles and methods                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

　　According to the guiding ideology and deployments of the "Plan for the Delineation of Contiguous Poor Areas with Particular Difficulties", on the basis of seeking opinions of parties concerned, the Contiguous Poor Area Delineation Team put forward the principles and methods for the delineation of contiguous poor areas with special difficulties. On September 1, 2010, the Leading Group for the Preparation of the New Outline approved these principles and methods.

　　(I) Delineation principles

1. Only contiguous poor areas are taken into account. In order to ensure the implementation of anti-poverty work in contiguous poor areas, in the delineation, we delineated the contiguous regions in the counties in deep poverty (hereinafter poor counties) connected geographically as a contiguous poor area, excluding dispersed poor counties.

2. Take a county as the unit. In order to clarify the implementation unit and responsibility undertaker of the poverty reduction planning for contiguous poor areas with special difficulties, we took a county as the unit in the delineation of contiguous poor areas and all the delineation indicators are statistical data of county-level administrative units, maintaining the integrity of the administrative division of county-level units in the contiguous areas. At the same time, one county cannot be covered by two contiguous areas.

3. Highlight key areas. In order to further clarify the main battlefield of poverty alleviation and development in the new decade and concentrate forces to solve key problems for poverty reduction, we focused on the western regions in the delineation of contiguous poor areas, also taking the central areas into consideration, excluding the eastern regions. At the same time, in the process of determining the delineation indicators, we gave priority to old revolutionary base areas, minority areas and border regions through weight assignment.

4. The contiguous poor areas should be interprovincial regions. In accordance with the principle of "government-led hierarchical accountability" and "highlighting key areas and providing classified guidance" determined by the poverty alleviation and development program for the new decade, the contiguous poor areas with special difficulties determined by the state are usually interprovincial regions. The contiguous poor areas with special difficulties within the province are delineated by the provincial government in principle. Meanwhile, Tibet, three prefectures in South Xinjiang and the Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu that enjoyed special support policies were directly included into the contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties.

　　（II）Delineation methods

　　Taking into account the accuracy and availability of the indicators of county’s social and economic development, in the delineation of contiguous poor areas, we took the county’s per capita net income of farmers, per capita general budget revenue and per capita GDP as the basic indicators and gave priority to old revolutionary base counties, minority areas and border counties through weight assignment. The delineation basis was the average figures of the processed 2007-2009 indicators.

　　After being reviewed and approved by the Leading Group, the Contiguous Poor Area Delineation Team delineated the contiguous poor areas with the western average figures of the three indicators as the basis: per capita local GDP of 13,539.5 Yuan; per capita general budget revenue of 599.7 Yuan and farmers’ per capita net income of 3642 Yuan.

　　III. Delineation results

　　Under the above principles and using the above-mentioned methods, except Tibet, three prefectures in South Xinjiang and the Tibetan regions in Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu (a total of 174 counties), 11 contiguous poor areas with special difficulties were delineated, namely: the Liupan Mountain area, the Qinba Mountain area, the Wuling Mountain area, the Wumeng Mountain area; rocky desertification areas in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi; mountainous border areas in Western Yunnan, the south of the Greater Khingan Mountains, the Yanshan Mountain-Taihang Mountain area, the Luliang Mountain area, the Dabie Mountain area and the Luoxiao Mountain area. 576 counties were covered by the delineation work and a total of 505 counties met the conditions.

　　The 505 counties cover a land area of 1.39 million square kilometers and have a population of 220 million, of which about 190 million are rural residents. Calculated according to 2007-2009 average, the counties' per capita GDP is 6,650 Yuan; per capita general budget revenue was 262 Yuan and per capita net income of farmers was 2,667 Yuan. 395 counties are key counties for poverty alleviation and development; 236 counties are old revolutionary base areas; 196 counties are minority areas and 28 counties are border counties; 476 counties are prone to geological disasters, 491 counties are prone to endemic diseases; and 269 counties are prohibited to be developed according to the National Plan for Development Priority Zones.