Xi: A leader keeping children in mind (5)

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing district of Beijing, March 30, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

Planting green seeds

Xi has always taken time to join activities with children inside and outside the classroom.

From 2013 to 2022, Xi has taken part in an annual tree-planting ceremony in Beijing. Xi has used the occasion to communicate with children every year except 2020, when COVID-19 precautions limited gatherings.

This spring, Xi participated in the tree planting as usual. While working, Xi told the children to cultivate an appreciation of work, environmental protection and thriftiness from childhood.

Xi has planted the seeds of environmental awareness and enthusiasm for labor in children.

Noting "when the young people are strong, the country will be strong," Xi has emphasized children's well-rounded development and expressed concern about their health and growth in particular.

In September 2020, Xi entered a classroom of fourth-graders at a primary school in Central China's Hunan province.

"You are like small saplings. Now we water you, cultivate you, and take care of you when the wind and rain come. You will finally grow into towering trees and thrive, and become the forest of the Chinese nation, the forest of talent," Xi said to the rural students.