Knowledge is essential for progress

Francis Bacon's aphorism, knowledge is power, is what struck me the most when Xi Jinping, the new Party chief, presented an English-Chinese dictionary as a gift to a schoolgirl in a poverty-stricken rural family.

Xi visited the family on Dec 9 during his first official trip after he was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China in November.

The family is one of the poorest in Huanglong village, Guangdong province, and lives on subsidies provided by the village. The girl's father cannot work because of poor health, and neither can her mother due to injuries she received in a traffic accident. The mother said she was very happy with the gift, as her daughter will take part in the national college entrance exam next year.