BEIJING, May 3 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has replied to a letter from students participating in a program at the China Agricultural University that dispatches students to the frontlines of agricultural production.

In the letter, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, encouraged the students to make greater contributions to rural revitalization. He also extended festival greetings to China's young people as Youth Day falls on May 4.

Xi said he was gratified to know that the students went deep into the fields and villages to get to know about people's wellbeing and gain knowledge through serving rural revitalization.

Replying to the students' remarks that they had learned to seek truth from facts and maintain close ties with the people only when they went deep into China's rural areas, Xi said that this is the spirit that Chinese youth in the new era should have.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has made plans for building up China's strength in agriculture, Xi said, hoping the students will closely integrate textbooks with practices in rural areas, and devote their youth and strength to speeding up rural and agricultural modernization and the construction of a modern socialist country.

The program, known as "science and technology backyards," was started in 2009, aiming to study and solve practical problems in the development of agriculture and rural areas, train high-level agricultural talents, and serve rural and agricultural modernization.

So far, the university has established 139 "science and technology backyards" in 24 provincial-level regions.