Xi Jinping's inspection in Guizhou accentuates China's commitment to high-quality development

At this year's Two Sessions – China's annual legislative and political consultative sessions – high-quality development is a buzzword.

The first local inspection tour made by Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Two Sessions has again revealed the country's unwavering determination to pursue high-quality development, which is key to its modernization drive.

From Monday to Tuesday, Xi visited southwest China's Guizhou, calling on the province to adhere to high-quality development and drive growth by further deepening reform and opening up comprehensively.

During the tour, Xi pointed out high-quality development is an essential requirement for advancing Chinese modernization, urging Guizhou to pursue high-quality development by strengthening its economy, driving innovation, and transforming traditional industries, while also protecting its ecological environment.

Once considered the "poorest" province, Guizhou has made remarkable progress, alleviating over 9.2 million people from poverty within a decade by 2021. In 2024, Guizhou's GDP reached 2.27 trillion yuan ($311.6 billion), growing by 5.3 percent compared to the previous year, higher than the national average growth rate of 5 percent.

Often dubbed China's big-data hub, Guizhou is the country's first national big-data comprehensive pilot zone, promoting big-data industry as the backbone of its high-quality social and economic development. Currently, 47 major data centers are either under construction or operational across this province.

Through relentless efforts in ecological conservation, the province – home to the largest area of rocky desertification in China – saw its forest coverage rise to 63 percent by the end of 2023, with 99.1 percent of days in Guizhou's major cities meeting excellent air quality standards in 2024.

Stressing Guizhou is rich in historical, red culture and ethnic culture, Xi called on the province to preserve the traditional culture, enhance cultural confidence to boost economic and social development.

When visiting the Zhaoxing Dong Village in Liping County on Monday, Xi and the villagers sat around a fire pit to discuss all-around rural revitalization at a drum tower, a unique architecture for the Dong ethnic group that serves as a communal gathering spot.

Xi stressed that areas with large ethnic minority populations should preserve their distinctive culture and let it shine through the integrated development of culture and tourism.

Tourism has become a major industry and rural tourism is thriving, Xi said, wishing the villagers' lives to continuously prosper with each passing day.

In recent years, Zhaoxing Dong Village has vigorously developed the tourism industry by setting up more than 400 hotels, homestay hotels and restaurants, fostering more than 60 traditional handicraft enterprises and generating employment and entrepreneurship for more than 2,000 people.  

Last year, the village received 1.027 million visitors, an increase of 63.4 percent, with tourism revenue reaching 1.02 billion yuan, an increase of 63.8 percent. The village's collective economic income reached 2.45 million yuan, while the villagers' per capita disposable income rose to about 41,600 yuan, up by 12.3 percent.