Poverty battle at heart of CPC mission, says Xi

General secretary takes his message to impoverished villages in Sichuan

Communist Party of China Central Committee General Secretary Xi Jinping paid a visit to poor families in a mountainous area in Sichuan province on Sunday, where he talked with villagers about poverty reduction, ahead of the upcoming Spring Festival.

Xi spent two hours on a bus traveling from Xichang to Sanhe and Huopu villages, both in Zhaojue county in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in southwestern China, on Sunday morning. Since the CPC's 18th National Congress in late 2012, Xi has visited poverty-stricken areas ahead of Spring Festival every year. Shortly before last year's Spring Festival, he visited poor families in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, to talk with the people about how to increase their incomes.