BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday attended a voluntary tree planting activity in Beijing and called for nationwide efforts in afforestation to jointly build a beautiful China.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed that around the Qingming Festival the vast land of China is brimming with vitality, making it an ideal time for tree planting.

Today, as we plant trees together, our goal is to call on everyone to take action, actively participate in afforestation, and strive to be green ambassadors and pioneers of ecology, so as to add a greener and colorful hue to the building of a beautiful China and jointly compose a new chapter of Chinese modernization where humanity and nature exist in harmony, he said.

In the suburbs of Beijing, spring was in full swing. At around 10:40 a.m., Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, and Han Zheng, arrived at Lucheng Town, Tongzhou District of Beijing together, and joined people from the capital to plant trees.

The planting site is located at the junction of Beijing's Tongzhou District and the three counties in northern Langfang City of Hebei Province. With good waterfront ecological condition, it is situated at a forest park along the Chaobai River, the first cross-regional park jointly built by Beijing and Hebei Province.

On sight of Xi, officials and locals greeted him warmly. Xi waved to the crowd to extend greetings, and then picked up a shovel, walked to the site, and began busy planting trees with officials from the Beijing municipal government and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration as well as officials, people and members of the Chinese Young Pioneers from the capital.

Shoveling the soil, building soil berms, watering the trees... Xi planted saplings of multiple types of trees, including Chinese pine, Cotinus coggygria, Yuanbao maple, cherry, flowering peach and platycladus orientalis. While planting trees, he also asked the children around him about their study, life and their participation in labor and sports.

He stressed that young people are the future of the motherland, and they need to engage themselves in labor and afforestation from childhood, so as to sow a green seed into the heart and develop their awareness to revere and love nature. They should study hard, build up their bodies, grow up stronger, develop all-round qualities of sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills, and strive to become the backbone of the country, he urged. The site, bustling with tree planting activities, exuded a warm atmosphere as leaders worked together with others to earth up and water trees.

During cordial talks with officials and local people on site, Xi said that he had taken part in the voluntary tree planting activity in Beijing for 17 consecutive years since he sat on the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He noted that this year marks the 45th anniversary of China establishing its National Tree Planting Day, and Chinese people have been dedicated to planting trees and afforestation, turning once barren mountains into lush ones, and deserts into oases, and making remarkable achievements. At the same time, we should be aware that the scarcity of forest resources is still a prominent problem in the country, and the role of forests as a "treasure house" has not been given a full play, he said. Increasing green coverage is to bring greater development strengths, and planting trees is to plant future. Trees must be planted one after another and from generation to generation, so as to continuously enrich the country's green resources, he said.

Xi stressed that to make China greener, concerted efforts should be made in green expansion, invigoration and protection. Green expansion means scientifically carrying out large-scale land greening in line with local conditions and suitable tree types, and at the appropriate time and with the right methods. In this way, we can make every planted tree alive and every planted patch green. Green invigoration means emphasizing the quality and efficiency of greening, expanding channels for turning the country's lucid waters and lush mountains into invaluable assets, and promoting the coordination of the role of forests in conserving water, bringing in economic benefits, boosting grain production and serving as a carbon sink, so as to achieve integrated ecological, economic and social benefits of forests. Green protection means strengthening the conservation of forest and grassland resources with sound anti-fire work and carrying out a thorough inspection into and rectification of major risks and hidden dangers, so as to safeguard the hard-won achievements in land greening.

The Three North region (northeast China, north China and northwest China) is the main battlefield for land greening, Xi said, urging more efforts to be focused on the construction of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program to fortify the green Great Wall in northern China.

Xi pointed out that everyone should fulfill the responsibility to take part in nationwide greening programs. It is important to keep the channels for people's participation open, come up with new models of fulfilling responsibilities, and make full use of the forest chief system, he said, urging the mobilization from all circles to promote the nationwide voluntary tree planting campaign to go deeper and more substantive.

Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and state councilors in Beijing participated in the tree planting activity.