BEIJING -- Just before this year's Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 10, President Xi Jinping took time out of his busy schedule to greet locals and talk about their work and lives in what has become one of his routines ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year. This time, he was in Tianjin municipality.

During the pre-festival inspection tour, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, went to a village that had suffered floods last summer.

During his visit, he chatted with a four-generation family to inquire about their livelihoods since floods in the area wreaked havoc last summer. He also checked on the vegetables at the greenhouses in the village.

In downtown Tianjin, Xi went to an ancient cultural street and visited some of the local distinctive shops, learning about the products, their sales, and the development of traditional culture. He also bought some of Tianjin's famous specialty snacks.

Since assuming the Party's top post in November 2012, Xi has made it a tradition to spend time with members of the public ahead of the Spring Festival, the most important occasion of family reunions.

These annual visits have seen him visit a village at an altitude of over 2,500 meters in Southwest China's Sichuan province and inspect a subway construction site located more than 20 meters beneath the ground in Beijing.

"I care particularly about grassroots officials and the people as we ring in the lunar new year," Xi once said. Over the years, he had interacted with people including frontline workers, and the elderly and children at welfare homes, leaving many heartwarming moments.

Inspecting Dingxi in Northwest China's Gansu province in February 2013, Xi urged efforts to ensure that the people can soon drink the clean and sweet water from the Taohe River after tasting the bitter and salty water at one villager's home.

During a pre-festival inspection in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province in January 2017, Xi visited Desheng village, where he helped a villager meticulously calculate household income and expenses.

"To secure a better life for our people is the original aspiration and purpose of the Chinese Communists," Xi said during his trip to Sichuan in 2018. This spirit has remained an unchanging principle in Xi's pre-festival inspections, and vividly embodies the "people-first" governing philosophy.

Apart from income and expense, Xi cares very much about people's living environment. Wherever he goes, he advocates the concept of prioritizing ecological protection and green development.

In East China's Jiangxi province in February 2016, he called for efforts to clean up the surroundings and reveal the natural beauty of mountains and rivers.

During his inspection tour to Southwest China's Yunnan province in January 2020, he emphasized the need to "boost high-quality economic development, and firmly reject the old path of polluting first and fixing it later."

When inspecting Southwest China's Guizhou province in February 2021, he commended the beautiful environment and highlighted the importance of protecting the clear waters and green mountains.

Xi also places great emphasis on building a technologically strong nation for the prosperity of the people. He stressed the significance of scientific and technological innovation on multiple inspection tours.

During his inspection in Tianjin from Feb 1 to 2, he called on the city to strengthen the building of parks for sci-tech innovation, further integrate the digital economy with the real economy, and promote the high-end, smart and green development of its manufacturing sector.

In the city's Ancient Culture Street, Xi joined locals and tourists enjoying the festive dragon and lion dance performances. There, Xi extended Chinese Lunar New Year greetings to the residents of Tianjin and people of all ethnic groups of the country.

Noting that the upcoming lunar new year is the Year of the Dragon, Xi said that in Chinese culture, the dragon has multiple connotations, such as courage and endeavor, infinite vitality, and good luck, and carries people's good wishes for and visions of the future. "Everyone should have confidence in the coming year and live better lives."

Over the years, Xi has extended sincere wishes for a better life and a brighter future to people across China during each pre-festival visit.

With these wishes, the entire Party and the Chinese people have been brought together to forge ahead toward building China into a strong country and realizing national rejuvenation.