Premier sets sights on economic growth

Upon departing, he spotted a cornfield on a steep slope on the roadside. Climbing up the muddy slope, he grabbed a handful of soil.

"That's exactly the farmers' way, just like what we farmers do when checking our land," recalled villager Yang Fang.

Villagers cited access difficulties, stressful management and poor harvests as their biggest problems in cultivating the sloping fields. After discussing the matter with villagers, Li suggested turning the cultivated land into economic forests, relocating villagers to towns, and adjusting the local industrial structure. His proposal has been put on the State Council's agenda and a national work conference was held in Longfeng in March.

Li's profound understanding of agriculture impressed a villager, who recalled that when Li came to the paddy field, he instantly bent over to check how the rice grew and discussed with the villager how to increase the harvest and farmers' income.

Prior to this year's Spring Festival holiday, Li made an unplanned visit to the house of Gao Junping, a resident of a run-down area in north China's Baotou city. Surprised by the new visitor, Gao's grandson, who had been taking an afternoon nap, fled into a bedside closet half-naked.

As Li chatted with Gao on the bed, the young boy darted out and ducked under a quilt, exposing his buttocks to the camera. The unedited footage broadcast by China Central Television made a splash online, with netizens applauding Li's down-to-earth work style and the "cute and spontaneous" images.

Li later held a meeting with the shantytown's neighborhood committee. He remarked that China should not "build high-rises on the one side and keep slums on the other side" in the process of urbanization. He called for greater efforts to renovate the city's dilapidated areas and provide better houses for its residents. "This is an overarching issue concerning people's livelihoods that should be pushed ahead against all odds," he said.

During an inspection tour of Fenghuang county in Hunan province two years ago, Li was told a local girl named Long Guiju was too poor to go to college. Li said he hoped the local government could lend a hand, and he urged a thorough resolution of education-related difficulties. "We cannot only fulfill her own dream of going to college. Such problems should be discovered and resolved in an overall manner," he said.

During this year's NPC annual session, Li again raised the matter of access to university education when attending a panel discussion with NPC deputies from Hunan. He was told eight poor students received financial aid along with Long Guiju.

Li believes that as people's living standards rise, so does their demand for quality of life. He has attached great importance to promoting environmental protection, especially when it involves a threat to public health.

Responding to mounting complaints over worsening air pollution in some cities, Li called for the monitoring and release of PM2.5 (airborne fine particles measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter) data to be conducted nationwide at a conference on environmental protection held in December. As a result, China has adopted stricter air quality standards, and PM2.5 monitoring is now conducted in 113 cities.

Li brings modern managerial expertise when analyzing China's actual condition. He said the government should prioritize basic needs when providing social services, as well as build an all-inclusive security network.

Problem solver

To sidestep difficulties is not Li's style. He always tries to resolve conflicts with resolution, far-sightedness and systematic knowledge. Overseas media have deemed Li a master at resolving complicated difficulties.

Li said that in China's modernization drive, "we must have the resolution and confidence similar to scaling high peaks and also the courage, wisdom and perseverance similar to walking a tightrope."

Having nurtured a global vision, Li always views China's development against the background of international trends and pays attention to interregional development.

During a visit in December to Jiujiang, a port city along the Yangtze River in Jiangxi province, Li said that although coastal regions are important to the overall economy, the central inland regions also play a crucial role.