Concern from Xi touches delegates

Pan Kegang, the head of the village of Huamao in Guizhou province, was thrilled to share changes in his hometown with General Secretary Xi Jinping face to face on Thursday.

"When I presented him a photo in which our village is filled with beautiful scenery thanks to poverty relief efforts and shook hands with him, I felt so excited," said Pan, a delegate to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Xi is general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

Xi applauded poverty alleviation through tourism in the village after seeing the photo and asked Pan to continue with measures to make sure the development is sustainable.

Other delegates from Guizhou showed their excitement from meeting and talking with Xi, who attended a panel discussion with them on Thursday.

Xi was elected in April as a delegate to the 19th National Congress from Guizhou. The mountainous province is a main battlefield in poverty alleviation because of its large number of poor people.

Huang Junqiong, a primary schoolteacher in the Guizhou township of Jianggu, told Xi during the discussion that children in her school have been provided dormitories and nutritious food.

"It means they don't need to get up early and spend a long time getting to school," she said.

"I was so moved hearing Xi say students in villages should enjoy the same high-quality education as those in cities," she said. "I'm encouraged, because I know he cares about us and pays a lot of attention to rural education."

Zhong Jing, a doctor in the village of Longhe, said this week was her fourth time interacting with Xi.

"Still, I was excited because I could talk to him about new developments in medical care in rural areas, such as how Chinese traditional medicine has been adopted as a part of treatment," Zhong said.

"Xi specifically asked me how much villagers pay in medical insurance a year, and whether the villagers' living environment has changed. The questions made me realize that there is still much work for me to do in rural medical care," she said.

Zhong shared her plans on youth cultivation with Xi, "because grassroots work in all areas, including medical care, needs support from young talent", she added.

Yu Liufen, a Party chief in the village of Yanbo, said Xi asked her a lot of questions after she spoke about how she helped villagers escape poverty by developing the ham and liquor industries.

"The general secretary asked me whether transportation in my hometown had changed, which struck me. In the past, it took me four or five days to reach Beijing because of poor transportation, but this time I only spent five hours on high-speed rail and flying," she said.

All the delegates expressed their approval of the report delivered by Xi at the congress's opening session on Wednesday, saying they will make greater efforts in poverty reduction.