The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has set 12 tasks for serving the people in 1999.

The 12 tasks embrace lifting 1million hillfolk out of poverty; building roads between villages; broadcasting and television to all villages; solving drinking water for the dryland areas; unfolding culture and education for ethnic people; improving and consummating medical care in the rural areas; retooling power grid system in the rural areas; pushing on with ecological engineering construction in the rural areas; building storehouses for grain reserves; and speeding up construction of affordable houses for rural residents.

Over the past 11 months, most of these tasks have been fulfilled. Water and power have been brought to the remote hilly areas. Data show that 587 village-level roads have been built totaling over 6000 km in Baise alone. Over 2300 village-level roads have been completed in the whole region totaling 16000 km. Erection of 2 million sq m of houses was planned and 80% of the project has been finished. More than 900 million yuan has been pumped into the compulsory education project and 600 out of a total of 821 school buildings are under construction and 2690 needy higher education students have received subsidies.

The Guangxi leaders have been much concerned about food and clothing for the poor. Over 80000 government functionaries have been sent to the poverty-stricken villages to make investigations for solving their food-clothing problems. The percentage of people still in the impoverished state diminished from 44.63% of the total population in the region in 1985 to 6% in 1998. This year, one million people have been lifted out of poverty, leaving the impoverished population in the province to less then 4%. .