A villager picks hawthorn fruits in Cuijiazhuang Village of Yiyuan County in Zibo, east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 26, 2018. Areas of China suffering from extreme poverty have made faster progress in terms of poverty relief compared to the country's average pace in 2018, an official has said. The country has earnestly pushed ahead with poverty relief efforts in areas burdened by extreme poverty this year, said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. Central and local governments have rolled out policies to enhance support for such areas around the country, Liu said. "At present, related plans and tasks are going ahead as scheduled, with some having been completed in advance," he added. Next, China will tackle certain issues that keep people trapped in poverty, Liu said, citing measures including offering support for job hunting, providing public service jobs and ensuring social policy support for vulnerable groups. Since 1978, China has lifted 740 million people out of poverty, reducing the poverty headcount ratio by 94.4 percentage points. The country is committed to lifting the entire poor rural population out of poverty by 2020. (Xinhua/Zhao Dongshan)