Shantytown renovation has always been a part of Premier Li Keqiang’s inspections.

From 2008 to 2016, the Chinese government has helped more than 80 million people move out of shantytowns.

“Shantytown renovation is an important project about livelihood and development,” Premier Li said at the beginning of this year on shantytown renovation tasks for 2017.

In the 2017 Government Work Report, Premier Li put forward a yearly target of renovating 6 million more houses in shantytowns, lifting nearly 20 million people out of poor conditions.

At a State Council executive meeting in May, tasks for shantytown renovation during 2018-20 were decided, aimed at renovating 15 million shantytown houses. Nearly 50 million people will benefit from it.

The shantytown renovation project is aimed at creating comfortable living conditions for people in poor conditions. It is a big thing that must be gone through with no matter how difficult it is.

— Visiting a shantytown in Baotou, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Feb 3, 2013

The Chinese government is determined to renovate all kinds of shantytowns that accommodate more than 10 million households. The efforts will not only break the dual structure of urban economy and rural economy within the city, but also lower the threshold for urbanization.

— Meeting with the press after the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing, March 17, 2013

We will strengthen management innovation and institutional development pertaining to urbanization. We will expand the rebuilding of shantytowns so that cities will take on a new look instead of having stretches of shantytowns existing side by side with high-rise buildings. We will make plans for urbanization in a coordinated way in accordance with national guidelines for developing a new type of urbanization.

— In the 2014 Government Work Report

Shantytown issue is an issue left over from history. It’s also an urban scar. As there still are many shantytowns across China, we will make persistent efforts and heal it at last.

— At a shantytown renovation project site in Xiyuzhuang community, Tianjin, Sept 11, 2014

Shantytown renovation is not just building new houses, but also creating a livable environment. Efforts should be made to ensure that new houses provide a comfortable and convenient living environment for residents.

— At a newly renovated residential community in Guiyang, Guizhou province, Feb 14, 2015

Shantytown renovation is what millions of families with housing difficulties lay their hopes on. It is a key part of the people-oriented new type of urbanization.

— In a written instruction to a national video conference on shantytown renovation, Oct 10, 2015

You see? Ordinary people are still living in such conditions. China still has a lot to do.

— In Xiaobeiguan shantytown in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, Jan 4, 2016

Shantytown reconstruction is an important livelihood project to pay off what the government owed to the people throughout history. It is also conducive to China’s new-type urbanization, as well as the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

— Inspecting a shantytown area in Jinan, Shandong province, April 21, 2017

Shantytowns are depressions in the city, so our task is to elevate them, and make our utmost efforts to provide new houses and new lives for you as soon as possible.

— Talking to residents of a shantytown area in Jinan, Shandong province, April 21, 2017

If there is a surplus after completion of renovation projects, the money should be invested in any follow-up construction.

— Inspecting a shantytown renovation project in Baoji city, Shaanxi province, July 11, 2017