By Song Xiongwei, associate Professor, department of politics, China National School of Administration; cartoon drawing by Chi Ying

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday made an inspection tour at the city of Zhangjiakou in north China's Hebei Province, where he inspected an impoverished village, meeting with poor families, discussing how they could shake off poverty.

How to obtain drinking water? When was the TV set purchased? How many TV programs can they watch? What festival activities have been arranged during the Spring Festival? Xi Jinping asked such questions to local villagers, demonstrating the CPC Central Committee’s highest concern for the people's well-being.

In Xi’s televised 2017 New Year speech, he said lifting tens of millions of rural people out of poverty was his top priority: Whether they could have enough food to eat, whether they could solve their housing problem, and whether they could enjoy a decent New Year and the Spring Festival?

Xi’s Zhangjiakou visit has been his fifth tour to poor families prior to the Chinese lunar New Year since he was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China or top Party chief in November 2012.

Shortly after his assumption of office, Xi visited impoverished families in Fuping county on Taihang Mountains, Hebei province on December 29-30, 2013. It took a 300km drive to the county from the capital. Ever since then, Xi has almost visited all 14 concentrated poverty-stricken areas nationwide.

During his tour in Zhangjiakou, Xi stressed that fighting poverty is a fundamental task to build a well-off society. He urged practical actions to help the poverty-stricken population. By the end of 2015, China still had 55.75 million people living in poverty.

Poverty relief is high on China's 2016-2020 agenda, it is believed the CPC Central Committee's commitment can ensure that the goal to lift everybody out of poverty could be realized by 2020.

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