China has begun ambitious plans to end extreme poverty in the country by the end of 2020. Although well-intentioned at first glance, the campaign’s integrity has been called into question.

Aiming to end extreme poverty by 2021, the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary, President Xi Jinping has launched mass relocations of entire villages in rural southwest China. Over 6,600 members of the Yi ethnic minority group have already been uprooted to custom-built towns commissioned by China’s government. 

According to Sichuan province’s party secretary Peng Qinghua, about 80 billion yuan, equivalent to $12 billion, has already been spent to relocate 1.4 million residents. The freshly built towns consist of almost 400,000 homes and approximately 70,000 miles of roads. 

These mass relocations seem to contradict Jinping’s original strategy of “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” that he announced in 2013, which in theory would focus on helping individual families through an organized registration system. Now the Communist Party has changed its plan, announcing that ending extreme poverty is  impossible without targeting entire communities. 

Since millions of rural residents have already been uprooted, many are concerned that the Chinese Communist Party may have a hidden agenda. Specifically, residents fear that mass relocations are intended to force out minority groups to consolidate power among the Han population, China’s predominant ethnic group. The move has come with lifestyle changes for residents, many of whom have received  jobs such as babysitting and plantation labor in China’s metropolitan areas. There exists a generational disagreement among residents as well. Older residents have expressed dissatisfaction with such sudden shifts in land ownership and daily routines, while the younger generation seems somewhat more open to the changes. 

Part of the government’s funding has focused on upholding the Yi language of Nuosu with support for TV shows, local newspapers and bilingual programs. 

This action by the government toward the Yi minority contradicts its previous statements made in favor of entirely erasing minority languages. For instance, the government judged that the language of the Uyghurs is “out of step” and should be replaced with Mandarin. 

The government keeps no secret that its poverty reduction initiative intends to promote fundamental social change. Lin Shucheng, party boss for the rural Liangshan prefecture, states that mass relocations are aimed at dissolving what he calls “outdated habits,” such as poor personal hygiene and immoderate dowries. 

Although the campaign has been successful at eliminating extreme poverty, the government’s authoritarian measures and contradictory mandates keep residents wary of the future.