From the ashes of extreme poverty to blue skies and booming villages, discover how China lifted = hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty. When Jason arrived in Beijing in 2012, he saw beggars, coal-filled air, trash-filled rivers, and villages without plumbing. By 2020, the skies were blue, the rivers clean, and extreme poverty had been eradicated across the world's most populous nation. Skeptical of headlines, Smith spent years traveling to every province of China, including dozens of the poorest villages. In this honest, firsthand account, he takes you deep into the villages, towns, and cities where the transformation happened, not through dry statistics, but through the people, places, and stories he witnessed. Take an insider's tour.

• • Tour Tibetan towns and villages
  • Remote Xinjiang villages turned walnut orchards and scenic attractions under solar-powered desert reclamation
  • Guizhou's Miao villages, Yunnan's Shangri-La
  • Urban success stories in Beijing, Wuhan, Kashgar, and coastal fourth-tier cities like Longkou
  You'll meet dumpling makers descended from imperial chefs, former subsistence farmers turned guesthouse operators, and communities that went from outhouses to solar-paneled homes in under a decade. Along the way, Smith examines the strategies that transformed China. This is firsthand on-the-ground reporting from a Western journalist who has lived in China for over a decade, crisscrossing the country and asking the important questions. Whether you're curious about China's rise, interested in global development models, or love authentic travel stories, China's War on Poverty delivers a rare, hopeful look at one of the most remarkable achievements of our time.