ZHENGZHOU -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made important remarks during his recent inspection tour in Central China's Henan province. Xi emphasized that on the new journey in the new era, Henan must fully implement the CPC Central Committee's strategic plans for accelerating the development of central China, ecological conservation in the Yellow River Basin, high-quality development, and other key initiatives. Xi urged the province to uphold the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, and promote the building of a modern industrial system and a province with strong agriculture. The province should focus on improving people's livelihood, strengthening social governance, enhancing eco-environmental protection, and promoting cultural prosperity. He stressed that through high-quality development and efficient governance, Henan should strive to write a new chapter in advancing Chinese modernization in the central region.

From May 19 to 20, Xi visited the cities of Luoyang and Zhengzhou, accompanied by Liu Ning, secretary of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee, and Provincial Governor Wang Kai.

On the afternoon of May 19, Xi first inspected Luoyang Bearing Group Co., Ltd., a company whose predecessor, Luoyang Bearing Factory, was established during China's First Five-Year Plan period (1953-57). At its smart factory, Xi learned about the company's development history, was briefed on the applications and performance of various bearing products and observed the production process. Addressing the gathered workers, Xi emphasized that manufacturing industry is a crucial pillar of the national economy, and to advance Chinese modernization, the country must maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing strengths. He stressed that modern manufacturing industry relies on technological empowerment, urging greater efforts in achieving technical breakthroughs and pursuing independent innovation. Encouraging the workers to embrace a sense of ownership, Xi also called on them to strive for excellence and contribute more to their company's development.

Xi then visited the White Horse Temple, which was first built during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), where he learned in detail about the indigenization of Buddhism in China and the preservation of cultural artifacts at the temple. He noted that the White Horse Temple stood as a testament to the introduction, development, and ongoing adaptation of Buddhism to Chinese culture. History has proven that it is correct for foreign religions to conform to China's realities, and work must be done to guide religions to integrate with China's excellent traditional culture and adapt to China's socialist society, Xi said.

The Longmen Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with over 1,500 years of history, was another key stop on his inspection tour. Xi inspected the overall layout of the grottoes and representative niches and statues, and had a cordial conversation with cultural artifact preservation workers at the site. He emphasized that these treasures of Chinese culture must be well protected and inherited, and the culture behind them well promoted. Visitors at the site were delighted to see General Secretary Xi and greeted him warmly. He chatted with them from time to time, encouraging children in particular to explore China's cultural heritage firsthand and cultivate cultural confidence from an early age. He pointed out that the integration of culture and tourism held vast potential, calling for high-quality development in the cultural tourism sector to make it a pillar industry, a livelihood industry, and a source of happiness for the people.

On the morning of May 20, Xi listened to a work report from the CPC Henan Provincial Committee and provincial government. He affirmed what the province has achieved in various aspects of its work, and made requirements for its future work.

Xi noted that high-quality development is essential to Chinese modernization. Amid the complex external environment, it is imperative to remain confident and unswervingly manage the country's own affairs well, resolutely expand high-standard opening up, and focus on stabilizing employment, businesses, markets and expectations, so as to deal with uncertainties with the certainty of high-quality development. As a major economic powerhouse, Henan should further consolidate its real economy, foster new quality productive forces in line with local conditions under the guidance of sci-tech innovation, and improve the supporting capacity of the modernized industrial system for high-quality development, Xi said. He urged the province to intensify the protection and cultivation of farmlands, shoulder its responsibilities for food security, extend the modern agricultural industrial chain, promote all-round rural revitalization through integrated urban and rural development, and promote common prosperity among both rural and urban areas. The province was told to strengthen ecological protection and governance in key river basins with persistent endeavors, and intensify the battle against pollution to consolidate the ecological security barrier.

Xi stressed that, as Henan has a huge population with high intensity and mobility, and its social issues are complicated, it is imperative for the province to take solid steps to strengthen social governance. It is essential for Henan to strengthen Party leadership in all areas, improve the institutions and mechanisms for social governance, and strengthen Party building in new types of economic and social organizations and among groups in new forms of employment. The province was urged to better rally the support of the people and serve them, refine the mechanism for coordinating people's interests, improve public services, and work wholeheartedly to address the difficulties and problems that concerned people the most.

The province must strengthen governance at the community level, consolidate grassroots foundations, and reinforce the fundamentals. It is essential for Henan to extend resources, services, and administrative capacity to the grassroots level, ensuring that social governance reaches every level and covers every area. The province must attach great importance to advancing the rule of law and fostering a culture of integrity. The normative and safeguarding role of the rule of law in social governance must be fully leveraged. It is imperative to strengthen value-based guidance on honesty and trustworthiness, with concerted efforts to enhance government integrity, corporate credibility, and ethical standards across society. Close attention must be paid to identifying and addressing risks and hidden dangers. Overall public security mechanisms should be strengthened, with effective measures in place to prevent and defuse risks in key areas, thereby safeguarding social harmony and stability. Leading officials at all levels must take the initiative, be adept at drawing experience from the advancement of social governance to better understand the rules in the Party's mass work under new circumstances, and tailor their work with precision and substance to address the needs of different social groups. Efforts must be made to effectively tackle formalism and reduce unnecessary burdens on primary-level authorities. Grassroots officials should be encouraged to act boldly and responsibly to build prestige and earn the trust of the people. At the same time, the public should be supported in addressing issues in social governance through their own strength and efforts.

Xi emphasized that the eight-point decision is a demonstration of the CPC Central Committee's commitment to its word and a concrete step toward improving Party conduct in the new era. Advancing in-depth study and implementation of the eight-point decision is a key task in this year's Party building efforts. He urged concurrent efforts in pushing forward policy learning, problem checking, as well as rectification and implementation, with Party members and officials' personal problem identification and rectification closely combined with such efforts of Party and government organizations. Xi stressed concrete work in turning disciplined conduct into strict measures, giving teeth to ironclad rules, and ensuring quality policy learning, rigorous problem checking, and effective rectification and implementation. He called on central guidance groups for the learning and education campaign to work earnestly and dutifully, with a focus on pushing for solving problems while offering targeted and effective guidance.

Xi noted that droughts emerged in parts of China since the beginning of this year, with some still persisting. He urged relevant authorities to work closely together to strengthen the scheduling of water use, ensure the supply for urban and rural residents, and meet the demand for agricultural irrigation. On the other hand, flooding may occur following the drought, he said, cautioning against the potential risk of sudden flooding in the wake of drought. Stressing the arrival of the flood season, Xi called for local authorities' careful preparation in flood prevention and control, with adequate contingent plans, and ready preparedness for flood response. He stressed the necessity of fully clarifying responsibilities for emergency response in regions prone to flash floods, debris flows and other natural disasters.

In his company were He Lifeng and officials in charge of related central Party and government departments. The briefing was attended by officials in charge of the second central guidance group for the learning and education campaign on deepening the implementation of the CPC Central Committee's eight-point decision on improving conduct.