Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Monday. 

Ecological preservation and poverty alleviation topped the agenda of the inspection tour. China is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and seeking to boost its economy after a 6.8-percent year-on-year drop in GDP in the first quarter.

President Xi's first stop was Niubeiliang National Nature Reserve in Zhashui County, Shangluo City. The nature reserve is located in the highest peak of the eastern segment of the Qinling Mountains, widely taken as a watershed in climate for the country's northern and southern halves.

Stressing ecological preservation, Xi urged officials to learn from the lesson of illegal villas built in nature reserves in the Qinling Mountains, and said they must be "ecological guardians" of the mountain's ecological system.

Ecological characteristics

Niubeiliang is largely of a mountainous landscape, with over 94 percent of the area covered by forests. It is the habitat of many endangered and rare animal and plant species, including golden takins and dwarf musk deer.

The area was approved as a national nature reserve in 1988. In 2012, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated it as Niubeiliang Biosphere Reserve. 

It is also seen as an important water conservation region for Xi'an, Shaanxi's provincial capital. 

Since taking office, Xi has been stressing the progress of ecological preservation. In recent years, he has laid out numerous plans to promote green development and tackle pollution to ensure "blue skies" and promote a revolution in clean energy in line with his idea of building a "beautiful China" by 2035.

The construction of lavish villas in the mountain region started in 2002. The developers claimed the land will be used to build gardens, though the villas were built largely on farmland and forest. 

According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China's top anti-corruption body, as many as 1,194 illegal villas had been built in the mountain area by the end of 2018.

"The reasons behind the illegal villa construction are the government-business collusion and power-for-money deals between local government officials and property developers," Xu Lingyi, the head of a CCDI working team to the province, told CGTN in a 2018 interview. 

Most of the illegal buildings have been torn down after the 2018 investigation.

Xi also visited Jinmi Village in Zhashui County to learn about poverty alleviation efforts. He hailed the role of e-commerce in poverty alleviation and rural vitalization. 

By developing black fungus planting, the village was lifted out of poverty in February.  

The village began selling agricultural products via livestream in October 2019, and has received an average of 100 orders per day.

While speaking to people preparing to livestream, Xi said e-commerce is an emerging business with great potential and can promote sales of agricultural products, help rural residents shake off poverty and facilitate rural vitalization. 

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In 2016, Xi set a goal of ending all poverty in China by the end of 2020. Since then, the number of impoverished people in China has been reduced from tens of millions to a few million in less than five years.

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, China is determined to realize the goal of bringing the impoverished population to zero this year.