LANZHOU - Chinese leader Xi Jinping chatted with impoverished villagers and asked about their livelihood during a tour to Northwest China's Gansu province from Saturday through Tuesday.

During the inspection tour, made as the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year is approaching, Xi said the central authorities attach high importance to poverty alleviation and to the development of areas inhabited by ethnic minorities.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited villages, enterprises and urban communities in Jiuquan, Dingxi, Linxia and Lanzhou of Gansu.

The tour centers around topics of improving people's well-being, fostering development of the less-developed western regions, and improving officials' work style.