Wudang offers financial support to combat sudden poverty

Wudang district in Guiyang, the capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, recently established a poverty relief fund to prevent people from becoming poor or sinking back into poverty due to sudden hardships.

The fund is intended to help families who have financial difficulties due to a sudden decline in income or unexpected increase in expenditures related to education, housing and medical care, among other categories. The financial support will also help those who become disabled. 

Only those with a rural permanent residency permit, or hukou, and who were allowed to relocate to other places to fight against poverty, can apply for the fund. Their per capita disposable income should be lower than 1.5 times the national poverty alleviation standard to qualify.

District-level financial support is the primary source of the funding, consisting of donations made on National Poverty Alleviation Day (Oct 17) and individual and corporate donations.

The subsidy standards cover four categories: education, medical care, disasters and disability. 

Township poverty alleviation stations will take the lead in organizing funding applications, and village departments are responsible for implementation. Each application will be reviewed by village and township officials before being approved by district authorities. 

Local officials will make quarterly announcements after the funds are released.