Kal 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇬🇧🇺🇸🇨🇦🇪🇪🇳🇱🇵🇱🇯🇵🇮🇱🇵🇭

@gonglei89 Yeah sure… I was an engineer at GE

Israel intercepts Gaza flotilla near Crete and detains 175 activists bbc.in/3OCO1Lj

Israel intercepts Gaza flotilla near Crete and detains 175 activists bbc.in/3OCO1Lj

China declared the end of extreme poverty in early 2021 after one of the largest anti-poverty campaigns in human history. But some still seem to be asking: did it really happen? Recently, "China said it ended poverty. Did it?" by @WillLangley96 of the Financial Times, raised doubts about the authenticity and sustainability of China's poverty alleviation efforts, based on his interview in two counties of southwest China's Guizhou Province. Such doubts are not new. But when they are built on limited samples, unverified details, selectively presented anecdotes, and missing context, the report goes beyond differing perspectives and raises questions of validity. Since 2012, China has pursued a new phase of poverty alleviation through a combination of industrial development, labor mobility, transport and communication facility expansion, and health insurance subsidies. In late 2020, Guizhou, one of China's most impoverished provincial regions, announced that its last nine poor counties had been lifted out of poverty, marking the removal of all 832 registered poor counties in China. A transition period then followed, with continued monitoring and support for those lifted out of poverty and those at risk of slipping there. To better understand the claims made and stories told in this China poverty report, I conducted a careful review, cross-checking key details with colleagues and relevant authorities. The result is: a number of the article's core assertions rely on fragile evidence, and in some cases fail to meet basic standards of verification. Here's a point-by-point fact-check on the Financial Times report. The article opens with a portrait of how Yang Nai Yan Qing, in her 60s, lives a frugal life, claiming that her monthly living expenses are less than 200 yuan (29 USD). Apart from special occasions, such as the Spring Festival, when she "buys some meat if she can afford it", Yang "eats only mustard greens, cabbage and sweet potatoes, almost all of which she grows herself in a field a long walk uphill. " Through this narrative, the image of an elderly woman struggling in hardship and deserving sympathy, is gradually constructed. This week, however, when our colleague in Guizhou visited Yang in Guizhou's Congjiang County, a different picture emerged. Yang's home is a self-built, three-and-a-half-storey house, one of the larger residences in the village. The ground floor alone measures around 160 square meters. Her family is not impoverished, so the house was not government-provided, but built at their own expense about a decade ago. With her permission, my colleague took photographs of both the interior and exterior. Judge by yourself whether the portrayal of poverty holds up. Near her home stands a pagoda-like structure known as a drum tower, a distinctive feature of the Dong ethnic group (top right). It's like a community center, serving as a communal space for discussion, decision-making, festivals, and other collective activities. At its top sits a drum that functions as the village's traditional "information hub" and "alarm system": specific drumbeats are used to convey messages and mobilize villagers, before the advent of modern communication. Granny Yang recalled that around January 30 this year, a foreigner arrived at her home by car with a Chinese assistant. The man, supposedly Langley, did not identify himself as a journalist. Out of hospitality, she invited them inside for a chat. She did not understand the purpose of the visit and simply took Langley and his assistant as tourists; to this day, she still does not know what the Financial Times is. The size of Granny Yang's kitchen is spacious (bottom left)-larger, I should admit, than my own bedroom in Beijing. She showed her double-door refrigerator, which was well stocked with meat (bottom right). Perhaps, the Financial Times should consider interviewing me next time. She explained that she simply does not like eating meat. In the past, when life was more difficult, she could not afford it even if she wanted to, but now she can have it whenever she wishes. Yang, 63, and her husband, 68, each receive pensions of around 200 yuan (29 USD) per month. Her mother-in-law, who is over 90, receives both a pension and an additional allowance for the elderly. Altogether, the elderly members of the household have a stable monthly income of nearly 700 yuan (102 USD). Her son and daughter-in-law have stable jobs as a driver and a salesperson, respectively. The annual income of the household they live in together is close to 80,000 yuan (11,702 USD). Her daughter is operating a start-up. Her children also give her some pocket money each month. And, the family owns a private car. The FT also reported "many of her neighbours were relocated to newer apartment blocks downhill." However, my colleague has verified that there has been no unified resettlement in the village. The so-called new apartments are mostly self-built homes constructed by villagers in recent years. Granny Yang herself has also retained a traditional wooden house not far away, which has clear ethnic characteristics and is not in disrepair. Langley wrote that "she says her life has barely changed." We are not sure whether this reflects a communication gap, but judging from her diet storage and housing conditions, the changes have in fact been quite significant. Perhaps what has remained unchanged is her long-standing habit of frugality. To equate such a lifestyle directly with poverty risks oversimplifying a more complex reality and reinforcing a selective narrative. It's a compelling story, until you start checking the details. This is just part of my response. Will posting more today.