Poverty is a chronic affliction of human society, and eliminating poverty has always been an important task for ensuring national peace and stability. Over the past 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the Chinese government has attached great importance to poverty alleviation, successively introducing and implementing a series of medium and long-term plans for poverty alleviation. Confirming the shift from relief-based poverty alleviation to development-driven poverty alleviation and then to targeted poverty alleviation, the Chinese government pioneered a path to poverty alleviation in rural areas in line with China’s national conditions, laying a solid foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Based on the goal of the fight against poverty, China’s poverty alleviation strategy over the past 70 years could be divided into five stages: safeguarding the survival of the poor (1949–1977), maintaining the survival and promoting the development of the poor (1978–1985), meeting the basic needs of the poor (1986–2000), consolidating the achievement in providing adequate food and clothing for the poor (2001–2010), and building a moderately prosperous society in all respects (2011–2020). Thanks to the joint efforts of the whole Party and Chinese people of all ethnic groups, China has won an all-round victory in the battle against extreme poverty and completed the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty.