As Spring Festival nears, Premier Li Keqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, completed an inspection tour in Yuncheng city, North China's Shanxi province, on Feb 7.

Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, Premier Li said, more work should be done to improve people's livelihoods in sustainable development.

While visiting a Spring Festival market in Yanhu district's Dongguo town, Premier Li talked with stall owners to learn about the supply and prices of meat and vegetables, and bought some local festival goods.

Connected with a large market, local fairs can directly solve people's needs, Premier Li said when noticing the sufficient supply of different goods.

As consumption rises near Spring Festival, the most important holiday for the nation, more work should be done to ensure food safety and produce more organic products to raise sales and lower prices, he added.

Before leaving, the Premier also extended his best wishes to residents.

Then the Premier visited some residents in Wucun village, Miaoqian town of Xiaxian county, to learn about their lives since the village was lifted out of poverty.

He handed presents bought from the market to the residents, and sat with them to talk about their incomes, land area, those working outside and their expectations.

He said as the nation is implementing the rural revitalization strategy, support and promotion policies will be continued to consolidate poverty eradication, and people's lives will get better with these policies and their hard work.

He encouraged migrant workers to become backbones of their family.

Premier Li also learned about the education of local children, and encouraged them to inherit fine traditional Chinese culture.

Every household in the village used biomass boilers for warmth, thanks to national policy support. Branches trimmed from fruit trees and straw pellets can be used as fuel for heating, solving villagers’ cooking and heating issues.

He affirmed the local solution to villagers’ heating issues, saying that heating in North China should be practical and coal or gas should be chosen based on local conditions.

Working for the people should focus on their practical needs, bringing them effective, economical and convenient solutions, the Premier said.

In a shanty area, Premier Li visited a household and asked about the jobs and income of family members, reimbursement of medical costs, and nursery enrollment fees for children, among other information.

By talking with other residents there, he also understood they now face the problems of poor water supply and drainage, and insufficient heating in their home, and thus urgently require house renovations.

The Premier called for accelerated efforts to kick off shantytown renovation to meet public expectations after hearing a report on local government’s measures to enlist the help of market forces to speed up the work.

The State will continue to support renovation of shantytowns and old residential communities, so more people can move into new homes and start a convenient and comfortable life as early as possible, he said.

Premier Li then went to a distribution center for ZTO Express in Yuncheng, where he learned the delivery company had acted to expedite parcel distribution amid robust demand for delivery services ahead of Spring Festival.

Hearing that the courier sector has seen a huge decline in unit costs over the past two years, the Premier said the trend will help boost consumption, and also is a driver of the industry’s own development, as well as employment, especially flexible jobs.

Calling the logistics and courier sector a crucial link in economic circulation, he urged the couriers to work hard to satisfy the daily needs of the people.

During the inspection, Premier Li fully affirmed Shanxi’s achievements in recent years, and expressed his hope the province could do a better job in regular epidemic control, achieve more progress in economic development and livelihood, and promote high-quality development.

State Councilor Xiao Jie, and He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, also participated.