The tidy stack of school exercise books on the bed, which is where the girls study as well as sleep, quickly attracted the premier's attention. Li carefully turned the pages of the children's work. He then turned to the father.

"Your kids work very hard on their studies," he said. "It is important to support the children at school, as they are the hope for the family."

He then handed out a New Year gifts of "red envelopes", encouraging the children to study even harder in the new year.

Eliminating poverty in rural areas is seen as a difficult challenge in building a "moderately prosperous society" as set out by China in its 13th Five Year Plan period (2016-20).

By the end of 2014, China had 70.2 million people in rural areas below the poverty line.

Li Shi, a professor at the Business School of Beijing Normal University, said a lack of water is an important cause of poverty for regions in Northwest China.

It is vital to guarantee safe drinking water, he said, adding that a lack of water restricts agricultural development.

The efforts to lift Guyuan and other regions in Ningxia and Gansu province out of poverty started in the 1980s, the professor said.

Such efforts have already begun in the Guyuan area, and the Zhongzhuang Reservoir in Guyuan was the first stop of Premier Li's visit on Monday. The reservoir will help provide drinking water to 1.1 million people.