CHANGSHA – The spokesman from the country’s top poverty reduction authority on Tuesday blamed the “foolish behavior” of a county government in Central China’s Hunan province for posting cheerful remarks about being named a State-level poverty-stricken area.

A picture posted online shows a huge screen with LED lights reading “Warm congratulations to Xinshao county for being successfully included in the country’s poverty-stricken areas, which will become the main battlefield for the country’s poverty alleviation work”.

The remarks, which have circulated online and sparked heated debate, ended with “an announcement by the Xinshao county Party committee and Xinshao government”.

The local government’s website also regarded being named a State-level poverty-stricken county as a piece of “marvelous news”, according to a screenshot on the People’s Daily website on Tuesday.

Hong Tianyun, spokesman of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, told China Daily on Tuesday that such recognition is not meant as an honor, but to put responsibility on local governments where the economy is less developed and farmers’ incomes lower than the national poverty threshold.

“We expect these governments to feel pressure and responsibility to help the people get rid of poverty and to boost local economic growth. Being called a poverty-stricken county is nothing worthy of pride,” said Hong, who also heads the poverty alleviation office’s policy and regulation division.

Xiao Kehan, a publicity official from the county government, told China Daily on Tuesday that both the poster and article have been “removed”, admitting that the wordings were inappropriate.

“I got mixed and muddled emotions after hearing this. On one hand, it can be a good thing if our local government uses the opportunity to create more favorable policies to pull people out of poverty. On the other hand, I feel ashamed to tell people I’m from a poor county,” said Huang Zhipeng, a 28-year-old native of Xinshao county.

“But it’s definitely not something we should brag about.”

Although it may sound absurd, some local governments feel happy about the naming as they can receive more investment and resources from the central government, posted netizen Zhaoming1108 at Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.

About 128 million people in rural China were counted as poor after the central government decided to raise its national poverty line in November. A rural resident is now deemed as poor with an annual income less than 2,300 yuan ($364) instead of 1,196 yuan, a threshold set in 2009.

The central government has allocated 27 billion yuan for poverty relief work in 505 counties in 11 poverty-stricken areas, Hong said.

“Generally speaking, the poverty reduction funds that every county receives range from 30 million yuan to 50 million yuan, and all the funds should be used in designated projects,” he stressed.

Feng Zhiwei in Changsha and Zheng Jinran in Beijing contributed to this story.

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Local govt brags of poverty