Xi pays visit to grassroots officials and residents in Tianjin ahead of Spring Festival

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping visited primary-level officials and residents in Tianjin ahead of the Spring Festival. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, extended Chinese New Year greetings to the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese. Xi wished the Chinese people both at home and abroad good health, a happy family and good luck in the Year of the Dragon, and wished the motherland peace and prosperity.

From Feb. 1 to 2, Xi, accompanied by Chen Min'er, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, and Zhang Gong, mayor of Tianjin, inspected a village, a historic and cultural block and a revolutionary memorial museum, and brought the CPC Central Committee's care and best wishes to local officials and residents.

On the morning of Feb. 1, Xi arrived at Diliubu Village in Xinkou Township, Xiqing District as soon as he got off the train. In late July and early August last year, extremely heavy rain in north China caused floods in the Haihe River Basin that inundated much of the Dongdian flood storage and detention area in Tianjin. Xi was briefed on the damages the flood had caused to Tianjin as a whole and to Xiqing District. He walked into a greenhouse to check out the growth of vegetables, and asked farmers in detail about how their greenhouses were restored, vegetables were replanted, and about the sales of their vegetables. He gave local people credit for their rapid response, self-reliance and self-motivation, as they proactively organized production to help themselves and seized the time to grow vegetables in as many fields as possible when the flood had ever subsided. He thanked them for their hard work in adding more vegetable choices to urban residents.

Xi walked into the house of Du Honggang, a villager with four generations of his family living under one roof. Xi sat down with the family to learn about their life and calculated the financial losses the family had suffered from the flood and their revenue from post-flood production and the additional income from employment. Du told the general secretary that the family's more than 10 mu (about 0.67 hectares) of corn fields and vegetable patches were damaged by the flood, but with the help of the Party and the government, they were able to recover quickly, and their vegetable greenhouses, in particular, were swiftly repaired, allowing them to have a good harvest of vegetables in season. With the Spring Festival around the corner, the family has stocked up a satisfactory variety of festive items, and thanks to a series of cultural events arranged by the village, people are all in a cheerful mood. Quoting a Chinese idiom about national prosperity and social harmony, Xi noted that a country is prosperous only when its people live in peace, saying that the CPC Central Committee as well as Party committees and governments at all levels are concerned about everyone's safety and well-being at all times. He also expressed the hope for villagers to rebuild their homes and create a happy life with their own hands.

When the general secretary was ready to leave, villagers gathered closer to greet him. Xi waved to the crowd over and over again and said in an amiable tone that he was delighted to see that their production and life have mostly recovered, and they have a warm home through the winter.

"Since last year, other regions in our country have also been hit by natural disasters such as floods, typhoons, earthquakes, landslides, snow and ice storms. I have been concerned about them all," Xi said. Party committees and governments at all levels put the people first, and officials along with the general public united as one, and thus achieved major triumphs in their fight against the disasters, he said. "The Spring Festival is approaching, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, I would like to give best wishes to those people who were affected by the disasters, and to all the officials and those who have been working at the front for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction," Xi added. Party committees and governments at all levels must do an even better job in making meticulous arrangements for people's life and work in the disaster-affected areas, Xi said.

In the afternoon, Xi arrived at Tianjin's Ancient Culture Street. Walking along the street that has an air of antiquity, he stepped into several unique shops such as Guifaxiang 18th Street Mahua, Nut Products Zhang, Clay Figurine Zhang, and Yangliuqing New Year Painting, asking about categories and sales of their products, and the inheritance and development of traditional cultural heritages. He also talked with shop owners, employees, and residents around. He stressed that Party committees and governments at all levels must secure the production, distribution, and supply of essential consumer goods, ensuring that they are in abundance, great diversity, and sound quality. Then residents can be at ease to consume, and have a happy Spring Festival. Xi pointed out that Chinese modernization cannot be achieved without the inheritance and promotion of fine traditional culture, and Tianjin is a city with distinct characteristics and charm. It is necessary to protect and make good use of historical and cultural blocks so that they can add to the beauty of this modern metropolis.

On the streets, drums and music were clanging, dragon dance and lion dance performances were lively. People cheered enthusiastically when they saw the general secretary coming. Xi walked closer to everyone and extended New Year greetings to the people of Tianjin and the people of all ethnic groups in China. Xi said that seeing local residents and tourists beaming when they enjoyed traditional folk performances, he felt the thick flavor of the New Year. Noticing the coming lunar year is the Year of the Dragon, Xi said that in Chinese culture, the dragon has multiple connotations, such as courage and endeavor, infinite vitality, good luck, etc., and carries people's good wishes for and visions of the future. He said that everyone should have confidence in the coming year and live a better life. During the Spring Festival, local governments may organize more cultural activities that are popular with the people, so as to make the festival more festive and cheerful.

On the morning of Feb. 2, Xi visited the Peking-Tianjin Campaign Memorial Museum. From time to time, he stopped to look at the exhibits and communicated with everyone, stressing that the history of Chinese revolutionary war should be studied. He said that we should cherish what have been hard won, carry forward the revolutionary tradition, strengthen the spirit of struggle, and have the courage to overcome all kinds of difficulties and obstacles on the road ahead.

On the afternoon of Feb. 2, Xi was briefed on the work of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee and the Tianjin municipal government, and affirmed the achievements the city has made in various aspects of its work. He expressed the hope that Tianjin, under the strategic guidance of the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, focuses on economic development as the central task and high-quality development as the primary mission, actively forges ahead to build itself into a socialist and modern metropolis and writes its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi noted that Tianjin, as an advanced manufacturing, research and development base, should give full play to its advantages such as its rich scientific and educational resources, and strive to take the lead in developing new productive forces. He called on the city to attach equal importance to scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, strengthen the building of parks for sci-tech innovation, further integrate the digital economy with the real economy, and promote the high-end, smart and green development of its manufacturing sector. He also called on Tianjin to strengthen its coordination with Beijing on sci-tech innovation and the integration of industrial systems, so as to jointly build world-class advanced manufacturing clusters.

Xi stressed that reform and opening up are the key source of momentum for the development of all causes. He called on Tianjin to conscientiously summarize how its reform measures were implemented, and make plans for implementing new measures in accordance with the new developments in situations and missions, so as to ensure that the reform is more accurate, targeted and effective. It is particularly important to achieve greater progress in improving the systems underpinning the market economy, working unswervingly both to consolidate and develop the public sector and to encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector, developing new systems for a higher-level open economy at a faster pace, advancing regional integration, and innovating the systems and institutions for improving Beijing-Tianjin integrated development.

Xi pointed out that culture should serve to enlighten and bring tangible benefits to people, grace a city, promote industries of a city, and provide a city with its unique characteristics. These are supposed to be what a city is meant to achieve when it endeavors to inherit and develop its urban culture, as well as foster and nourish its urban civility. Tianjin should extensively explore its historical and cultural resources, and strengthen the protection of historical, cultural, and revolutionary heritage. In addition, it should improve the modern systems for cultural industries, and markets and public cultural services, and create distinctive and profound cultural brands, so as to demonstrate the modern features of Tianjin.

Xi stressed that it is a major task to advance the modernization of urban governance in order to build a modern metropolis. Tianjin should materialize the principle that cities should be built by the people and for the people, and make it a top priority to ensure that people live and work in peace and contentment. The supply of basic public services should be gradually expanded, and work should be done to secure the basic living needs of the disadvantaged, and to constantly increase people's sense of gain. It is imperative to adhere to the development path that brings out the full potential of a city. The way of urban governance should be innovated and the construction of a resilient and safe city should be reinforced. Proactive measures should be taken to initiate urban renewal projects to increase development potential, optimize development space, and continually improve business form, functionality, and quality of the urban environment.

Xi pointed out that since the theoretical study program for the whole Party to study and implement the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is coming to an end, it is imperative to establish a long-term mechanism to consolidate and expand what has been achieved in the study program. Leadership teams and leading officials at all levels should have a correct understanding of what it means to perform well and continuously combat pointless formalities to reduce burdens on community-level officials. It is essential to guide Party members and officials to dedicate themselves to work and make all efforts to promote the solid implementation of the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee.

In the end, Xi stressed that as the Spring Festival approaches, Party committees and governments at all levels should attach great importance to people's well-being and security, ensure the supply of essential necessities and energy, and maintain social harmony and stability so that people can have a joyful and peaceful Spring Festival.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, accompanied Xi on the inspection tour.

Li Ganjie, He Weidong, He Lifeng and leading officials from relevant central Party and government departments accompanied him on part of the inspection tour.