In 70 years how did the New China eliminate extreme poverty?
China is noted for remarkable reductions in rural poverty and aims to eliminate it by 2020. Achieving this outcome requires identification of the remaining poor population and a strategy that effectively addresses the causes of their poverty. This article explores the ways in which China has converted itself from the poorest country in the world in 1949 to a country in which extreme poverty is on the verge of disappearance. It examines the roles of economic growth and a a targeted combination of traditional development-oriented policy for poverty counties, villages and regions with wider minimum life guarantees and welfare services. The conclusions draw on a 2017 survey of 4,626 rural households and 13,689 individuals in 628 counties to point to some of the characteristics of the contemporary rural population.