President Xi Jinping made an inspection tour in Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region this week. Xinhua News Agency has published many photos of Xi’s tour. One of them attracted wide attention and went viral on Chinese social media.

President Xi Jinping learns about efforts to advance poverty alleviation in Hongde village of Wuzhong, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 8, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

In the photo, a cow closes its eyes and stretches out its head to President Xi who reaches out his hand as if to touch its head.

The photo was taken when Xi visited Hongde, a village of migrants in Hongsibu township in Wuzhong.

The cow is a precious treasure there. A total of 724 households in this village are engaged in husbandry. They have 1,481 cattle and 5,989 sheep, which bring an annual income of over 7.4 million yuan ($1 million).

In 2019, Hongde was lifted out of poverty, and its per capita disposable annual income reached 8,435 yuan ($1,195).

Alleviating poverty by introducing industry has been a focus of Xi.

During the inspection tours over the past years, he often visited the industries that play a role in local poverty reduction.

In May, he went to an organic daylily farm in Yunzhou district of Datong, Shanxi Province, asking the villagers to develop the daylily growing and processing industry and make it into an income source for villagers.

In April, he walked into a black fungus greenhouse in Jinmi village of Xiaoling township in Zhashui county, Shaanxi Province. After learning about the fungus planting process, price, sales, and farmers’ income, he said the small fungus represents a big industry.

Zhashui fungus and Yunzhou daylily became a surprise overnight hit on social media after Xi's inspection.

"Developing local industries is the fundamental way for China to eliminate poverty," Xi said.

Shaking off poverty is not the destination but the starting point of a new life.

Xi has also stressed on several occasions that a stable industrial chain and income source are important to prevent residents from falling back to poverty again.

(Source: Xinhua; Compiled by Song Jinchao)