Why does Xi care about two rare cat species?

-- During a deliberation at the annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) on March 7, Kong Qingju, an NPC deputy from Northwest China's Qinghai province, showed photos of two big cats -- a snow leopard and a Chinese desert cat -- to President Xi Jinping.

-- Xi has stressed concrete efforts to give priority to ecology, promote high-quality development and create a high-quality life.

-- After recent years of intensive restoration efforts, the populations of snow leopards, Tibetan wild donkeys, white-lipped deer and alpine musk deer have been expanding as the quality of their habitats was significantly improved.

XINING - Photos of two cute big cats from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shown during the annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) attracted many fans.

During a deliberation at the session on March 7, Kong Qingju, an NPC deputy from Northwest China's Qinghai province, showed photos of the two cats -- a snow leopard and a Chinese desert cat -- to President Xi Jinping.

"Rare species that we rarely saw before are now showing up," said Kong, an education official in Menyuan Hui autonomous county, Qinghai, who grew up at the foot of the Qilian Mountains. Now, local farmers turn to tourism, environment-friendly farming, husbandry or special agricultural industries which have raised their incomes.

The two kinds of rare cats are both on the country's top protection list and also "star species" in the Qilian Mountains National Park.