Hu visits revolutionary base before Lunar New Year

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-26 09:03

JINGGANGSHAN, Jiangxi Province - Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the eastern province of Jiangxi on Saturday and Sunday, calling on revolutionary veterans, model workers and farmers ahead of the Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday for family gatherings.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) talks with revolutionary veterans, their descendants, and local work models in Jinggangshan City, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 25, 2009, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday for family gatherings.[Xinhua]

It was the sixth year in a row that the president spent the holiday outside Beijing with ordinary citizens.

Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited veterans who had served in the Red Army and people in the city of Jinggangshan.

Jinggangshan was a famous revolutionary base where Mao Zedong led the Red Army to fight against his enemies during wartime.

During Hu's visit to Huangyangjie, a famous battlefield near Jinggangshan, and a revolution museum in the city, Hu called on local work models, veterans and their descendants, and inquired about their livelihood.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) grinds soybean to make bean curd as he visits a farmer named Wu Jianzhong and his family in a village of Xiaping Township, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 25, 2009, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday for family gatherings.[Xinhua]

He said the veterans fought alongside the CPC and Chairman Mao, and had made outstanding contributions to China's revolution.

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The work models had also offered remarkable service in building Jinggangshan city, he said.

"The Party and the people will never forget your contributions, " Hu said.

Hu said currently the Party and all ethnic groups in China were striving to maintain a steady and relatively fast economic development and build a well-off society.

The country should learn from the Jinggangshan people in dealing with the difficult situation, and turn the current challenges into opportunities for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Hu said.

At a supermarket, Hu was glad to see that the food price remained stable and the business was good. Dozens of shoppers applauded the president, and a little boy kissed Hu on the face.

Hu urged the supermarket employees to provide a variety of goods at affordable prices while safeguarding their quality, to make contributions to the country's plan to boost domestic consumption.

At an electric power plant in Jinggangshan, Hu extended regards to employees at their posts during the holiday.

"People cannot do without electricity for a moment. I hope you will do the best to guarantee the electricity supply during the Spring Festival," Hu said to the employees in the plant.

During his trip to Jinggangshan, Hu also paid a visit to a farmer named Wu Jianzhong and his family in a village of Xiaping Township.

Wu told the president that his farmhouse-travel business was going well and his family income in the past year exceeded 140,000 yuan (about 20,000 U.S. dollars).

In Wu's house, the president helped with frying chestnuts and grinding soybean to make bean curd.

"I came to Jinggangshan in 1993. Now after 16 years, I am so happy that the revolutionary base has a new and better appearance and its people are living better lives," Hu said.

"The Party and the government care very much about Jinggangshan and its people. We will make more efforts to help with its development and make its people have better and better lives," Hu told farmers surrounding him in the village.

Many revolutionary bases of the CPC are still underdeveloped compared with coastal regions because of adverse natural conditions.

Last year, Hu went to Guangxi Autonomous Region which was severely hit by snow storms before the Lunar New Year, and helped with disaster relief work in the city of Guilin and the county of Ziyuan.