Xi pushes Heilongjiang growth

When 32-year-old national lawmaker Liu Lei, of the Hezhe ethnic group in Heilongjiang province, met President Xi Jinping on Monday morning, she was surprised by how well he knows her culture.

"He mentioned to me a song of our ethnic group, and told me he can even hum its tune. The president also knows about our fishing tradition," said Liu, a primary school teacher, after a panel discussion on the Government Work Report that Xi also attended.

The Hezhe, with a population of about 5,000, is one of the smallest ethnic groups in China.