Poverty alleviation

Poverty alleviation has also been a priority for the central leadership since it took office in 2012.

In a recent report called Promoting a More Inclusive and Sustainable Development for China, the World Bank said the country can achieve more inclusive and sustainable development by the use of coordinated reforms across a broad range of areas that maximize the development impact and address the nation's developmental challenges.

The report highlighted China's "unprecedented achievements" in rapid economic growth and poverty alleviation, and said rapid growth has been made possible by a wide range of reforms that have transformed the country into a more open and market-based urbanized economy.

"China's remarkable progress in reducing extreme poverty has significantly contributed to the decline in global poverty," said Hoon Soh, World Bank program leader for economic policies for China.

However, more than 30 million people are still living in poverty, and the report noted that efforts to improve living standards will continue, and estimated that the rate of extreme poverty will fall below 1 percent this year.

It also said the growth in consumption among poor households shows that they have shared in the country's rising prosperity.

Sun, from the NDRC's economic institute, said although the income gap widened for a time, the low-income group has maintained earnings growth.

He added that in the past five years, more support has been given to people on low incomes. More important, the poverty alleviation campaign has focused on long-term goals by cultivating appropriate industries and providing impoverished people with training in certain skills, instead of simply providing subsidies, which is vital to building a fair and energetic society.