‘China lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.’

Wrong.

China abandoned socialist economy. And the Chinese people lifted ourselves out of poverty.

What did the state do?

They kept people in poverty for decades through their fanatical socialist experiments, which they had to abandon due to abject and glaring failures.

I don’t remember anyone ‘lifting’ anyone out of poverty, in my family, my friends’ families, in countrysides, cities. The use of the word ‘lifting’ is a propagandistic language that gives agency and credit to the state, and treats the people of China as patients to an external cure. It also makes the PRC sound like a welfare state. Nothing is further from the truth.

So please part your way with the language of ‘lifting’. It is a false claim and frankly insulting to everyone in China over past decades who worked hard to improve the livelihood of their own and their families. There are plenty of much better words here.