Beijing, China - Aug 17, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of news briefing of State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development in progress
2. Xia Gengsheng, member of State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, speaking at news briefing
3. Various of press
4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xia Gengsheng, member, State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development:
"From the number of 28 counties that applied for withdrawing themselves from the list of poverty-stricken regions in China to the number of 125 applying for the same so far this year, we can say that as a result of the efforts to solve hard problems in poverty alleviation over the past few years, China has begun to reap fruits from the fight against poverty, with remarkable acceleration of the pace in delisting counties as poverty-stricken regions nationwide."

Henan Province, central China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Lotus farm
6. Various of farmers working on lotus farm
7. Villagers sitting together in pavilion
8. Greenhouse
9. Various of farmers working in greenhouse
10. Red peppers
11. Farmers working
12. Aerial shot of farmland
13. Various of cattle farming
14. Various of women working in clothing factory
15. Various of women working in factory
16. Aerial shot of factories, residential buildings

Forty more counties that were listed as poverty-stricken regions in China have got rid of the poverty label so far this year following the removal of 28 counties from the poverty list in 2017, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development told a news briefing in Beijing on Friday.

The 40 counties in 11 provincial-level regions including northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, central China's Henan and Hunan provinces and southwest China's Sichuan Province have reached strict standards before their removal from the list of national-level poverty-stricken regions. Twenty-nine of them are old revolutionary base areas.

A county can be removed from the list if less than two percent of its population live below the poverty line, defined as a per capita annual income of 2,300 yuan (348 U.S. dollars) at the 2010 prices. In western regions, counties must have less than three percent of their people living in poverty to be qualified for removal from the list.

Another 85 counties in nine provincial-level regions that have applied for withdrawing themselves from the list are under thorough assessments, according to the office.

"From the number of 28 counties that applied for withdrawing themselves from the list of poverty-stricken regions in China to the number of 125 applying for the same so far this year, we can say that as a result of the efforts to solve hard problems in poverty alleviation over the past few years, China has begun to reap fruits from the fight against poverty, with remarkable acceleration of the pace in delisting counties as poverty-stricken regions nationwide," Xia Gengsheng, a member of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said at the news briefing.