Work for relief is a rural poverty alleviation policy. The state arranges to invest in the construction of rural small-scale infrastructure projects with work as relief, and poor farmers participate in the construction of work as relief projects, get remuneration for their services and directly increase their income.
Work-for-relief began on 1984. At that time, in order to help poor areas change their appearance, the state used part of the stored grain, cotton cloth and middle and low-grade industrial products to build infrastructure in some poor counties, which opened the prelude to work instead of relief. By 1996, the financial poverty alleviation funds have changed from physical objects to physical objects; 1998, through the national debt funds to support the implementation of work instead of relief.