Dai, Lahu and Wa Autonomous County, in Pu’er City, abbreviated as Menglian County, is home to a large number of people living in poverty.

Since 2014, Menglian County has invested a total of RMB 4.048 billion for poverty alleviation. By the end of 2018, 33 poverty-stricken villages, housing 8,144 households with 29,242 individuals, had been taken out of poverty. At the same time, the number of poverty-stricken people has decreased to 1,302 living in 519 households, with the poverty rate dropping from 31% at the end of 2013 to 1.32%.