Poverty means far more than simply not having enough money far minimal survivalneeds. It means the "denial of opportunities and choices most basic to humandevelopment-to lead a Iong, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard ofltvmg, freedom, dlgnity, self-esteem and respect from others." Therefore, poverty affects alt aspects of the nations life. It affects the environment,health, education, housing, nutrition and agriculture to name but a few areas. Poverty is a complex phenomenon and persistent, hard to solve. The Government ofChinas efforts to stimulate economic growth have focused mainly on the productivity ofits enormous rural population since 1978. Today, the growth of chinas economy is goingyear by year very fast. In addition, China has complied an impressive record in reducinghuman poverty aver the last four and half decades through the adoption of a broadprogram of rural economic reforms. Broad participation in the subsequent reform- driveneconomic growth, together with a "welt-funded national reduction program" havebrought about a tremendous reduction in the rural absolute poverty. Despite Chinas strong and sustained economic growth, poverty is still widespread,especially in remote astral areas. In this paper, we analyze the poverty issue and its determinants based on evidencefrom Hubei Province. As a large province, we use a case study of two villages namedZhou Long and Liu Xiang at HongAn County. This research is divided into four parts; we first explain the concept of poverty,secondly we describe and analyze chinas rural poverty by focusing on its generalcharacteristics, review its poverty strategies and its impacts, thirdly, talk about poverty inrural Hubei Province and give examples of two villages mentioned above. Finally weconclude and give some recommendations. Analyzing the poverty issues in the villages of Zhou Long and Liu Xiang, wenotice that farming and somehow family business are the major sources of householdincome. For these poor peasants household there is a higher percentage of farming andfamily business, and lower percentage of non-family business. But there is a paradox inthese two villages; we notice that there is a high proportion of the male adult who hasworked outside. Therefore, the amount of labor wage and business income shoulddefinitely influence positively the situation of these poor people. Meanwhile, there is avery obvious correlation among educational level of the farmers, their average annualhousehold income and occurrence rate of poverty. The families spent lot of money forsupporting child education, but they have big problems to contribute because theirincome cant cover all the schooling expenses, because they have to satisfy other basicneeds such as food health and their income is too limited. As consequence, many childrenhave a little chance to attend school. Geographic conditions in this area are an obstaclefor economic development. These conditions make villagers difficult to access toexchange of commodities and to obtain technology information somehow. Finally,among villagers investigated, the general health of farmers was found to be seriousbecause some are confined unable to work for several months, therefore, people suffering from serious illness have effect on their farming activities and their business. Chinas major concern is the disparity between rural an urban, and between East andWest. Improving the quality of life and reducing poverty in rural society are thegovernment priorities. Raising rural Living standards is likely to require efforts on anumber of fronts: relieving the financial burdens on farmers; stimulating farmersentrepreneurial spirit through incentives, improving land use and labor efficiency...Key wards: China, poverty, rural, farmers, villages.