This Day, That Year

Item from March 14, 1989, in China Daily: Rural workers at the Yanhua Electrical Appliance Factory assemble rotaries for ceiling fans.

The enterprise in Shunde county, Guangdong province, also produces microwave ovens for export.

Despite tremendous difficulties, lingering problems and years of stagnation, China's rural economy is expected to revive this year, thanks to bigger investment from the central and local governments and the continuous development of rural industry.

Poverty alleviation has always been one of the major challenges for the world's second-largest economy.

Although 12 million rural residents were lifted out of poverty last year, more than 43 million Chinese are still living below the poverty line, or making less than 2,300 yuan ($335) a year.

The central government has vowed to lift the entire nation out of poverty by 2020.

Last year, the State Council, China's Cabinet, rolled out a targeted poverty alleviation plan to promote forestry, tourism and e-commerce in poverty-stricken areas.

The plan will help increase farmer income and diversify the local economy.

In 2014, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group launched its own initiative to reduce poverty. The initiative, called the Rural Taobao, provides e-commerce access to millions. With an investment of $1.6 billion, the company has established thousands of Taobao centers across China.

They enable villagers with little or no access to the internet to sell farm produce to customers nationwide using Alibaba's platforms.