Feb 28-March 3, 1994: Seven-Year Priority Poverty Alleviation Program (1994-2000) proposed

From Feb 28 through March 3, 1994, the State Council held a national work conference on poverty alleviation and development, and decided to implement the Seven-Year Priority Poverty Alleviation Program (a program designed to lift 80 million people out of absolute poverty in the period of seven years from 1994 to 2000).

Since then, China's development-oriented poverty-relief work entered the stage of tackling the key problems.

The Seven-Year Priority Poverty Alleviation Program clearly stipulated that China should concentrate human, material and financial resources, mobilize the forces of all walks of life in society and work hard to basically solve the problem of food and clothing of the rural needy by the end of 2000.

It was the first action program for development-oriented poverty reduction with clear and definite objectives, targets, measures and a time limit.