That some local governments try hard to seek the designation "poverty-stricken" is a slap in the face for the country's increasingly robust poverty-alleviation efforts.

Datong county, in North China's Shanxi province, shook off its poverty-stricken classification in 1996 - it was even designated an economically "better-off" county to show what had been achieved. However, after 16 years, it is celebrating the re-designation as a poverty-stricken county.

It may be completely justifiable for this particular county, where 75 percent of the residents have an income below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($360), to receive financial help and various preferential policies as a poverty-stricken area. The county has received much less financial aid than neighboring counties with the poverty-stricken label.