Since 1980, over 680 million people living in extreme poverty in China have improved their lives. With these changes, China has decreased the overall percentage of the impoverished population from 84% to less than 10% . China has contributed more than any other country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the world’s rate of extreme poverty, and even managed to do so five years earlier than expected. This goal was achieved primarily because China opened up to global trade, thereby allowing private businesses and capitalism to thrive. In a world where the traditional form of combating poverty is through charity and aid, using business as a tool to help the poor is still viewed by some as merely a ploy to rip them off. However, research shows that global businesses can, in fact, change the world, one community at a time.