Tourists stand beside a monument to Communist partisans in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province, China. (Photo : Twitter)
Jinggangshan, recognized as the "heartland" of China's ruling Communist Party (CPC), announced on Sunday that it has been officially removed from the list of impoverished areas of the country.
Nestled in east China's Jiangxi Province, Jinggangshan was home to the CPC's first revolutionary headquarters in 1927. Today, its residents that live under the poverty line make up 1.6 percent of the total population, lower than the national standard of 2 percent, according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency citing government data.
Jinggangshan's poor population currently stands at 1,417, a sharp drop from 16,394 in 2014. The average income of poor families has also grown from 2,600 yuan ($378) to over 4,500 yuan.
The city government attributed the success to China's war on poverty campaign, which helped people start their own business, find jobs, and move into quality homes as well as provide better rural infrastructure and a social safety net to disadvantaged citizens.
The government has also encouraged poor people to be part of Jinggangshan's key industries, such as tea, bamboo, fruit processing, and aquaculture.
China's burgeoning e-commerce industry was also credited for assisting Jinggangshan's 18 townships to reach buyers beyond the mountains.
"Over 17,000 parcels, worth some 1.6 million yuan, have been sent since this e-commerce service center opened over a year ago," said Huang Xiaohua, head of the e-commerce service center in Huang'ao Township.
Jinggangshan has also capitalized on its fame as the homeland of the Communist revolution, with more than 13 million people visiting the city last year.
Bashang, one of Jinggangshan's many villages, has attracted more than 40,000 participants alone in its one-day program to experience the life of the Red Army in 2016, according to Xinhua.
The Chinese government is pushing a campaign to eradicate poverty by 2020, the target year for China to become a "moderately prosperous" society.
According to official government data, China still has 55.75 million people living under the poverty line at the end of 2015.
