BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Forestry reform, reform of the medical and healthcare system, and rural revitalization were highlighted in Chinese President Xi Jinping's second day of his inspection tour in east China's Fujian Province on Tuesday.
Visiting the Shaxian District of Sanming City on Tuesday, Xi went to an assets and equity exchange to learn about local efforts to deepen reform of the forest tenure system and a hospital to learn about local reform of the medical and healthcare system.
He also went to a village to inspect work on promoting rural revitalization.
'Lush mountains and lucid waters are valuable assets'
In the past, Chinese farmers were excluded from collective forestry and shared few timber revenues. As a result, they lacked the incentives to protect forests, and timber theft was rampant.
To solve these problems, Fujian Province launched the reform to decentralize the collective forest tenure system in favor of individual (household) management in 2003, which is also considered the start of China's new round of forest tenure reform.
It echoed Xi's instruction to develop forestry as an industry while maintaining its ecological functions when he worked in Fujian.
Xi had visited Sanming City 11 times when he worked in Fujian. During a trip to the city in June 2002, when he was Fujian governor, Xi emphasized that environmental development was of paramount importance.
He said at the time that it might seem that green mountains and lucid waters are of little value, but in the long term, they are valuable assets. He also urged local officials to transform economic growth and avoid wasting resources and damaging the environment.
To carry out Xi's instructions, local authorities further explored a number of reform measures, including taking steps to encourage farmers to transfer their timberland to forest cooperatives and other operators and issuing more loans to forestry businesses to solve their financial problems.
The total output value of forestry reached 114.6 billion yuan in 2019 in Sanming. The city's forest coverage is expected to exceed 80 percent in 2020.
Progress in the reform of the medical and healthcare system
Xi also visited the Shaxian General Hospital in Sanming City to learn about the local medical and healthcare system's reform.
Shaxian General Hospital has jurisdiction over 12 grass-roots branch hospitals and 128 extended village health clinics. Its establishment is also one of the measures to reform the local medical and health system.
Xi has paid close attention to the country's medical reform progress, and praised Sanming's medical advancement at several key meetings.
At the 33rd meeting of the central leading group for deepening overall reform on March 24, 2017, Xi hailed Sanming's experience in medical reform. He said Sanming's medical reform is in the right direction and has produced obvious results, urging promotion of Sanming's practice nationwide.
Shaxian snacks and rural revitalization
Xi has put forward ardent hopes for the development of Shaxian snacks many times, and on Tuesday, he visited the Yubang Village, which is famous for Shaxian snacks, to inspect work on promoting rural revitalization there.
Hailing from Shaxian, popular restaurant chain Shaxian Snacks is renowned for its pork wontons, peanut sauce noodles, and over 100 other local-flavor delicacies.
Starting with a single booth in a street market, the chain now has more than 88,000 chain stores in China and 62 other countries and regions, pulling in a hefty revenue exceeding 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion).
Thus far, the Shaxian Snacks trademark has been approved by eight countries: Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, and Australia. The Shaxian Snacks stores entered 62 countries, including the U.S., Germany, and Portugal. In three hours, the first store in New York sold out and sales revenue of the first store in Tokyo reached nearly $2,000 in 5 hours. After dominating China, it's now aiming at a bigger market and a brighter future.