Xi Jinping visits poor in Hebei province and tells of goal to lift millions out of hardship

Party chief Xi Jinping said lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty remains the biggest challenge for the new leadership in its bid to build a moderately prosperous society by 2020, state media reported.

Xi made the remarks during a visit to Luotuowan village and Gujiatai village in Baoding, Hebei province yesterday.

CCTV showed footage of Xi checking out local groceries and chatting with villagers on their brick-beds, hands on laps and shoes off, in an apparent effort to display his personal touch.

In his first trip to destitute rural areas since he took power last month, Xi also blasted widespread corruption, especially the embezzlement and misuse of funds aimed at reducing poverty.

"I am deeply unhappy and sometimes indignant over the cases that funds earmarked for poverty alleviation are intercepted, embezzled or diverted for other purposes," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua in its official Sina Weibo account.

"They are simply criminal acts, just like the embezzling of disaster relief funds. We must rein them in and resolutely probe those cases and punish those responsible," he said.

According to Xinhua, there are 128 million people in nearly 600 counties living in poverty, meaning their annual income is less than 2,300 yuan (HK$2,822).