Poverty and Anti‐Poverty Programmes in Rural China Since the Mid‐1980s

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the characteristics of poverty in rural China, focussing on regional absolute poverty in particular. It comments on the different types of explanation put forward by researchers to account for the incidence and persistence of this type of poverty and argues that governmental anti‐poverty programmes must take more than economic factors into account if they are to be fully effective. There is discussion of existing governmental anti‐poverty practices and of the latest proposals for reform. The paper concludes by offering further suggestions for the future in respect of both anti‐poverty action and research.