The main difficulties and problems for China in the 21st century in the field of poverty alleviation are as follows: First, though the income of the poverty-stricken people has been obviously improved, the current standard for poverty relief in China is very low. Second, restricted by unfavorable natural conditions, weak social insurance system and their own poor comprehensive ability, the people who now have enough to eat and wear may easily sink back into poverty. Third, although the development-oriented poverty reduction drive has greatly changed the poverty and backwardness of the vast impoverished rural areas, there has been no qualitative change either in the basic production and riving conditions of the poverty-stricken peasant households, or in the social, economic and cultural backwardness in those areas. Fourth, because of its large population, China will face employment pressure for a long period to come. This pressure is bound to adversely affect the employment of the impoverished population, so much so that many effective aid-the-poor measures will not play the roles they should play. Fifth, people who still do not have enough to eat and wear generally live in areas with adverse natural environments, a low level of social development and underdeveloped social services, where the contrast between input and result is very sharp.