A special “investigation and compensation” action focusing on key links of the poverty eradication drive is being carried out in Xiji county, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, as part of the efforts to lift the county out of poverty.

As the only county that has not yet been lifted out of poverty in the autonomous region, Xiji county had 4,340 people from 1,575 households living under the poverty line by the end of 2019, accounting for 23 percent of the region's population.

Since March 7 of this year, Xiji county has investigated 237 poor villages, 58 non-poor villages and eight communities, in a bid to achieve the goal of eliminating all problems and winning the battle against poverty with high quality.

The Party committee office of Wangmin township often has its lights on in the middle of the night, as Mao Zhaoping, the Party secretary, is busy sorting out materials. During the day, he investigates households in the village, while at night, he sorts out the relevant information.

Over the course of a month, Mao has visited more than 100 villagers, focusing on the hidden dangers related to the housing of poor households.

Xiji county’s “inspection and compensation” plan is clear. It will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on poverty alleviation and make up for losses, tighten loopholes in poverty alleviation standards, eradicate shortcomings in public services, infrastructure, grass-roots governance and rural construction, and overcome the weaknesses in the development of poor villages and households and in the implementation of the work.

Xiji county will implement reforms after comprehensively carrying out research and judging the situation.

In view of the problems that were discovered during the investigation, Wang Xuejun, Party chief of Xiji county, said, “In accordance with the principle of 'what is lacking is made up for', we will implement the policy of 'one record for one family, and one policy for one individual' to provide accurate assistance".

By mid-April, Xiji county had completed all inspections and rectified 70 percent of the problems.