Xi sends Spring Festival greetings

President holds video meetings with ordinary people across the nation

President Xi Jinping sent his festive greetings on Wednesday to people throughout China ahead of Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, which falls on Sunday.

During meetings via video link with people from all walks of life in different regions of China, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, called for implementing the measures for epidemic prevention and control in the new stage of COVID-19 response and ensuring that people of all ethnic groups across the country spend a safe and happy festival.

Through the video link, Xi talked with and sent his greetings to members of the public from Beijing, and Heilongjiang, Fujian, Henan and Sichuan provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Among those participating in the meeting were medical workers in a hospital, senior citizens at a welfare home, workers at an outlying oilfield, travelers and staff members at a high-speed railway station, vendors and customers at a wholesale market, and people in an ethnic minority village.

Xi said that every year before Spring Festival, he usually goes to see the people at the grassroots level. "I would like to chat with them to see what difficulties they still have, hear what plans they have in the new year, and share with them the festive happiness," he said.

Xi said: "This year, I choose to use the video link to see more places. Despite the screen separating us, I can still feel the strong festive mood in different parts of the country, and feel your joy and happiness. My heart is always with the people of all ethnic groups of the country."