ABSTRACT
Poverty remains an important issue in China. Though rural poverty has been tremendously reduced since 1978, it is still severe. So it is important to know how many poor there are in China and how the Chinese define and measure poverty. Knowledge of the distribution and characteristics of poverty can contribute to the development of strategies to overcome it. This chapter analyses poverty in China from a macro perspective. It discusses the definition of poverty, types of poverty and poverty measurement. The background of rural poverty, intersectoral poverty, interregional poverty, inequality and human deprivation in rural poverty in China are also introduced.
