President Xi's New Year visit marks village homecoming

President Xi Jinping, center right, talks with villagers in Yanchuan county of Yan'an city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Nov 14, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi revisited the village in 1993 and has written letters to the villagers four times to encourage them to work hard and improve their lives.

This time, he returned with his wife Peng Liyuan, whom he introduced to the villagers in the local dialect. He focused on the village's progress in poverty relief and also brought gifts for the Spring Festival purchased with his own money, including flour, rice, cooking oil, meat and festival-themed paintings.

Xi inquired about the villagers' incomes, crops, livestock, medical insurance and the village's infrastructure and land preservation. He was happy to learn that tap water and Internet are available in the village and annual income per capita had reached 9,600 yuan ($1,560).

As Xi wrote in one article, he felt perplexed when he came to the "yellow earth" at the age of 15, but upon leaving at 22, he was confident and carried a firm goal: to serve the people. This goal was born there in the Loess Plateau, where the Communist revolutionaries rose to found the New China.

Xi told young people not to belittle the village they live in. "This place has great knowledge in store, and if you are careful enough, you can find something to learn anywhere."

"I believe the future of this place will be even better, and I want to see that the next generation will grow up to be good and do things to benefit the people," Xi added.