Research on anti-poverty efforts in China’s ethnic minority areas since the 1970s

Abstract Poverty remains a significant global challenge, despite ongoing efforts throughout history to address it. China’s fight against poverty, as part of global poverty governance efforts, has yielded valuable insights and examples for anti-poverty strategies, propelling changes within the global poverty governance system. This paper conducts a review of post-1978 anti-poverty research covering China’s ethnic minority regions, roughly dividing the research history into three distinct phases: 1978–2012, 2013–2020, and post-2020. The research findings at each stage are summarized in terms of research topics, perspectives, and paradigms. Based on these findings, the paper provides a forward-looking outlook on future research into anti-poverty efforts in China’s ethnic minority regions.