CHANGSHA -- President Xi Jinping called on Central China's Hunan province to have a clear understanding of its strategic positioning in the fostering of a new development paradigm, uphold the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, remain committed to high-quality development, persist in reform and innovation and follow a realistic and pragmatic approach. He urged the province to continue to strive in building itself into a national hub for important and advanced manufacturing industries, a sci-tech and innovation center with core competitiveness, and a pacesetter for reform and opening up of China's inland regions. By vigorously energizing the central region and promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Hunan should try to write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization, Xi said.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on an inspection tour to the province from March 18 to 21.

On the inspection tour, Xi visited Changsha, Changde and other places, conducting fact-finding missions in a school, an enterprise, a historical and cultural district, a village and so on. He was accompanied by Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, and Mao Weiming, governor of Hunan Province.

On the afternoon of March 18, Xi first inspected Hunan First Normal University in Changsha city. The predecessor of the university was Cheng Nan Academy founded in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In modern times, a large number of revolutionaries and renowned scholars were graduates of the university. At the university, he visited an exhibition featuring Mao Zedong in his youth and learned about the development history of the university and its effective utilization of resources related to the history of the CPC. At the great hall of the university, he chatted with students and faculty representatives. Xi said, for a country to be strong, good education matters. Xi said that Hunan First Normal University is a perfect place to carry out education on patriotism and pass on the traditions of Chinese revolution, urging efforts to protect the university's resources related to the Party's heritage and put it to great use. If a university is to foster students' virtues through education, teachers must first become great educators, he said. Xi called on the university to not only focus on improving the cultural literacy of students, but also make efforts to give good ideological-political courses, so as to cultivate students who could appreciate virtues and have a sense of shame. The university is urged to guide students to firmly uphold core socialist values, and motivate them to have great aspirations of serving the country and strive to become pillars of the society, who will be able to shoulder the responsibilities of building China into a strong country and realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Later on, Xi inspected BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co Ltd. The company is a Chinese-German joint venture mainly in the business of research in and development, manufacturing, and sales of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Xi listened to the locality's briefing on the progress of developing new quality productive forces at a faster pace and expanding high-level opening up, watched the product display of the company, and learned about the performance test of the materials and the battery production process. Xi stressed that the key to enterprises' consistent growth and success lies in scientific and technological innovation and high-quality development, and private enterprises and joint ventures have great potentials to tap in this regard. "China will keep opening its door wider. We would like to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries and we welcome more foreign companies to invest and develop in China," Xi said.

On March 19, Xi went to the city of Changde for inspection. The Changde Hejie, located along the Yuanjiang River, has a long history. It was once destroyed in the Battle of Changde in 1943. In recent years, Changde has made efforts to transform this area into a historical and cultural block by restoring the unique features of this old street. On the morning of March 19, Xi visited Changde Hejie, where he had a look at various local special snacks, specialties, and special handicrafts, talked amicably with shopkeepers and tourists, and watched a display of intangible cultural heritage skills. He also learned in detail about the restoration and utilization of historical and cultural blocks, urban planning, and the comprehensive management of urban water environment. Xi noted that diverse traditional local cultures with their unique features jointly constitute the brilliant Chinese civilization and help promote socioeconomic development. He said that Changde boasts a rich cultural heritage, adding that traditional art forms, such as string music, high-pitched tunes and folk songs, should be well inherited and utilized through suitable means, advancing in line with the times.

Hunan is one of the thirteen major grain-producing provinces in China, with its paddy acreage and total output ranking first in the country. On the afternoon of March 19, Xi inspected the city's Gangzhongping village of Xiejiapu town, Dingcheng district, where he walked into a comprehensive demonstration area for grain production to inspect seedling cultivation and the progress in preparations for spring farming. During the inspection, Xi was briefed on local efforts to promote high-quality agricultural modernization and calculated the input-output accounts with local large-scale grain producers, agricultural technicians and grassroots officials. Xi underlined that we must be resolved to ensure food security for our population of over 1.4 billion people, and the bowls of the Chinese people should be filled mainly with Chinese grain. It is necessary to build high-standard farmland, adopt operation of appropriate scale, strengthen policy support and demonstration guidance, intensify the promotion of good varieties, good opportunities and good methods, work hard in intensive cultivation, and further increase the yield per unit and quality of grain. In this way, growing grain can be a way to become rich, and more farmers will be attracted to participate in the development of large-scale modern agriculture, and a steady and solid path will be paved for agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics.

Xi then visited the home of Dai Hong, a major grain producer, to see whether agricultural machinery and other materials are ready for spring ploughing, and then went to the village's service center for Party members and villagers to learn about what has been done to ease burdens on grassroots and improve the efficiency of primary-level governance. He pointed out that work must be done to rectify pointless formalities and bureaucratism, and the government should be streamlined so that a good job can be done in this regard. He encouraged grassroots officials to pool collective wisdom and efforts for industrial development and rural governance, so that they can constantly make achievements that win villagers' approval.

When he was leaving, villagers crowded around to bid farewell to the general secretary. Xi told them with deep feeling that the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the work of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, will definitely take practical and effective policies and measures to respond to the concerns and needs of the people, and turn the beautiful blueprint of rural revitalization into reality. The applause from villagers reverberated through the village.

On the morning of March 21, Xi was briefed on the work of the province by the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and the provincial government, and he affirmed what the province has achieved in various aspects of its work.

Xi noted that scientific and technological innovation is the core element for developing new quality productive forces. It is imperative to work harder on promoting industrial innovation through technological innovation, proactively align with the force of national strategic science and technology, and introduce first-class research and development institutions both at home and abroad, so as to boost the country's own innovation capacity in key areas. The principal role of enterprises in innovation should be reinforced, and deeper integration of the innovation, industrial, capital and talent chains should be promoted to speed up transforming scientific and technological achievements into productive forces. With a focus on industries where the country excels, it is essential to strengthen industrial foundation re-engineering and research on major technologies and equipment, and continue to strengthen and expand the advanced manufacturing sector to move the industries toward high-end, smart and green production and create industrial clusters at a national level.

Xi stressed that a problem-oriented approach should be adopted when further deepening reform in all respects, and efforts should focus on overcoming the bottlenecks and obstacles constraining the creation of a new development paradigm and the promotion of high-quality development, responding to the challenges and difficulties regarding the environment for development and people's well-being, and addressing the central and hot issues that go against social fairness and justice. Major risks must be effectively prevented and mitigated. As a result, we will keep providing impetus and vitality for economic and social development, Xi said. He called on Hunan to strengthen reform on system integration, better participate in the building of a unified national market, deeply integrate itself into the strategies of promoting the rise of the central region and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, as well as the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, steadily expand institutional opening up, do a good job in building pilot free trade zones at a high standard, and work hard to build the pioneering zone for in-depth China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

Xi noted that promoting rural revitalization in all respects is the pivot of the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers on the new journey of the new era. Hunan Province should shoulder the heavy task of safeguarding national food security, pay special attention to the two key factors of farmland and seed, and speed up efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies in seed industry and agricultural machinery. Xi noted the imperative of adopting an all-encompassing approach to agriculture and food, and vigorously developing agriculture with local characteristics and agricultural product processing industry to upgrade the industrialization level of agriculture. Xi called for more efforts in promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas, strengthening county economies, facilitating the flow of factors between urban and rural areas, and coordinating the planning of rural infrastructure and public services in a sound manner. It is a must to promote cultural and ethical advancement and the transformation of outdated rural customs. Xi stressed the necessity of optimizing the community-level governance system led by Party organizations that combines self-governance, the rule of law and the rule of virtue. It is also imperative to adhere to and develop the "Fengqiao Model" in the new era. Monitoring and assistance mechanisms should be optimized to prevent those lifted out of poverty from falling back to poverty and see that no large number of people become poverty-stricken again.

Xi stressed that Hunan province should better undertake the new cultural mission and contribute to the development of a modern Chinese civilization. It is imperative to do a good job in the protection and utilization of the resources related to the CPC history, strengthen education in revolutionary tradition and patriotism, and guide Party officials and the public to carry forward the fine traditions and revolutionary heritage of the CPC. It is also imperative to practice core socialist values and cultivate new trends and customs for the new era. It is important to explore effective mechanisms for the integration of culture and science and technology, and accelerate the development of new forms and models of culture, so as to create more growth points for the cultural industry. Efforts should be made to promote the deep integration of culture and tourism, guard the green mountains and rivers, blue sky and clean land of the province, and transform natural scenery and humanistic flavor into the enduring appeal of tourism.

Xi pointed out that to promote high-quality development and advance Chinese modernization, it is a must to strengthen and improve Party building. It is imperative to consolidate and expand what has been achieved in the theoretical study program, establish and improve long-term mechanisms, have a correct understanding of what it means to perform well, and persistently rectify pointless formalities to reduce burden on grass-roots units. Education on Party discipline should be well organized and carried out to guide all Party members and officials to learn, know, understand and abide by Party discipline. Leading officials should be urged to have a correct understanding of how power should be exercised, namely that power must be exercised fairly, in accordance with the law, for the people, and in a clean manner.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, accompanied Xi on the inspection tour.

Li Ganjie, He Lifeng and leading officials from relevant central Party and state departments were also on the inspection tour.

On the morning of March 20, Xi met with officers above colonel level of the armed forces stationed in Changsha. He extended sincere greetings to all officers and soldiers of Changsha-based troops on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, and had a photo taken with them. Zhang Youxia accompanied Xi during the meeting.