Poverty Alleviation in China’s Ethnic Areas through Economic Restructuring

Authors

Baorong Huang, Chinese Academy of Social SciencesFollow
Jijiao Zhang, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ChinaFollow

Abstract

Ethnic minority groups in south and southwestern China are mostly found in mountainous regions leading traditional livelihood and where poverty is widespread. To win the battle against poverty, economic restructuring through shifting from primary towards secondary and tertiary activities is seen as key to raise productivity and income levels. This paper examines the outcome of applying the functions of the “umbrella structure” in the Liannan Yao Autonomous County, in the north of Guangdong Province. These include state-owned enterprises playing the leadership role while providing “paternal protection” to public-private joint venture enterprises, and “friendly protection” to private enterprises. The study focuses on the characteristics of the typical functions and examines how they have brought in different categories of investments into the county and help to improve income in different stages of development. As this is an ethnic cultural area, eco-tourism in Liannan is considered to have great potential in contributing to poverty alleviation efforts.

Recommended Citation

Huang, Baorong and Zhang, Jijiao (2022) "Poverty Alleviation in China’s Ethnic Areas through Economic Restructuring," Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies: Vol. 11: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://mjcs.newera.edu.my/journal/vol11/iss1/2