Change is only sustainable if it is driven by the people

As we start 2018, we draw ever closer to 2020, the year by which China's leadership has pledged to eradicate poverty.

Last year, I spent 35 days in Guhe, an impoverished village in Fuyang city, Anhui province. The experience made me realize that it will be anything but easy to fulfill that promise.

I had been sent to live in the village from late April to early June to see how people were working to ensure the success of the national poverty-relief plan.