The city of Huaihua, nicknamed the "City of Cranes", was always expected to fly up high just like the crane. However, for a long period of time, the city was deeply trapped in poverty, and the crane was thus"chained" in the deep Wuling Mountain. 

"For me, poverty alleviation is as heavy as a mountain on my shoulder", said Li Hui, mayor of Huaihua. From this we can see how serious the poverty in Huaihua was, and how difficult it could be to achieve poverty alleviation. The newly planned Wuling Mountain Area For poverty alleviation covered 71 counties and townships, including the 13 counties and townships of Huaihua. With nearly 880,000impoverished population, nearly one in every six people in Huaihua Was impoverished, and thus Huaihua became the area with the largest impoverished population in the Wuling Mountain Area. 

"We should find an ultimate solution to this dilemma, not just a makeshift one!" said Li Hui, who firmly believed that poverty alleviationwas the priority of Huaihua. 

In 2012, the prefectural government of Huaihua initiated a"three year action plan for priority poverty alleviation", which aimedto actively implement state policies on poverty alleviation, target atthe extremely impoverished population, tackle extreme poverty, liftimpoverished villages out of poverty as per their individual needs, makesure each and every single person is covered； to get a clear view of thepoverty situation, find an ultimate solution to the problem, and developagriculture and industry, so as to eventually eradicate poverty.