Photo taken on Aug. 19, 2020 shows a view of Sanhe Village in Songxian County, central China's Henan Province. Stylish residences, impressive paintings on walls and modern homestays and hotels are in sight when tourists walk around in Sanhe Village. It is difficult for them to imagine that this village, located in mountainous area, was once deeply impoverished. In 2016, as a native, Feng Yake went back to his hometown for entrepreneurship. Learning art for years, he is fully aware of the value and potential of the village. "As an art major, I taught students painting. Art students need a good place to practice and sketch, and the views here make Sanhe a superb training base for art students." Feng started a four-floor hotel for art students, and his "art business" has been in full bloom. His experience motivated other villagers. With the support from local government, villagers improved infrastructure and renovated their houses through resettlement. A total of 25 new homestays and hotels have been built, and over 70 art studios have cooperated with Sanhe. Now, Sanhe has been a tourist complex for art students featuring painting and sketching, studying and training, with an annual income about 4 million yuan (578,000 U.S. dollars). In 2018, Sanhe Village has shaken off poverty. Photo:Xinhua

Pictures featuring a nicely decorated apartment released by the Pingxiang government in East China's Jiangxi Province on WeChat have stirred debate among netizens. The article documented the local officials' visit to a poverty-stricken family, drawing backfire over whether these families were in genuine need of poverty alleviation. 

According to the screenshot, the family received the officials, along with the management committee of the Pingxiang economic development zone, in a lavishly decorated apartment, where a white-leather sofa set and marble floor tiles could be seen. 

The pictures soon caught the attention of netizens, with one saying, "It seems that they are way better-off than us. Their sofa is bigger and their furniture is fancier in general than mine."

Meanwhile, the Global Times reporters found that the article in question had been removed from the WeChat account as of press time. Media reported on Sunday that the article was about Li Jinlin, the Party chief of the Pingxiang economic development zone, visiting the family, as well as other households in the Tianzhong and Santian villages on Wednesday, and talking with them to learn about their needs and giving further instructions on future poverty-relief work.

According to the media, the families that received Li were registered low-income households in the region.

Facing the online pressure, Cui Chuanpeng, a vice mayor of Pingxiang, told media that it is not only the appearance of an apartment that can be used to judge if a household is suffering from poverty.

Cui explained that while some households may have spent the government demolition compensation on home renovations, they were still in low-come situations due to diseases, disabilities and other challenges.

Other staff with the management committee told media that such "lavish" furniture could have been purchased with the removal compensation, but that it is not common to see such styles in local poverty-stricken households.

However, these explanations failed to ease netizens' doubts. Some wrote online, "Why not use the money for medical treatment and other problems if they are really suffering from disease?" Some asked whether benefits had changed hands between government officials and these families amid the poverty-alleviation campaign. 

Others suggested that owners of the fancy houses be removed from the poverty-stricken list.

The discussion under the hashtag "lavish furniture seen in low-income family in Pingxiang" had gained some 130 million views as of press time.

A total of  172 households made up of 672 residents were registered as poverty-stricken in the Pingxiang economic development zone, and by the end of 2018, they had all been lifted from poverty, reducing the local poverty occurrence rate from 0.42 percent to zero, Shanghai-based news website ThePaper.cn reported, citing officials with the management committee.

The report said that owners of the pictured residence are among those who had been lifted out of poverty.

Chen Haihui, an official with the poverty-relief department of the Pingxiang economic development zone, said that there is a buffer period after households are lifted out of the poverty, and related policies could be still available for them to ensure they stay out of poverty.

Observers of China's poverty-relief campaign told the Global Times on Sunday that there should be a deeper government inspection into the case to find out if the household in question had really made it out of poverty, or if this is just a show where officials pose about their achievements. 

Adjustments of policies favoring poverty-stricken households should be made based on the actual situation, and only by doing this can precision poverty-relief be achieved, they said.

In a notice in April, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee said that "the problems of formalism and excessive bureaucracy should be resolutely addressed, and poverty-alleviation only through data and dishonest data should be prevented."

Despite the adverse impact caused by COVID-19, China steadily pushed ahead with efforts to fight poverty in the first half of the year. 

A total of 2.85 million people in 52 key poverty-stricken counties have returned to work, and 22 provincial-level regions in central and west China have relocated around 4.79 million poor people through creating public welfare jobs, according to data from the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development in early August.

Global Times