Xi Jinping inspects northwest China's Shaanxi Province

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Monday inspected northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Ecological preservation and poverty alleviation topped the agenda of the inspection, as China is recovering from COVID-19 outbreak and is now seeking to recover its economy from a historic 6.8% drop in its gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter.

Xi's first stop is Niubeiliang National Nature Reserve in the county of Zhashui, Shangluo City. He inspected ecological preservation of the Qinling Mountains.

The nature reserve is known for being home of takin, China's protected animal at national level. The number of takins in the reserve rose from 78 in 1980 to over 350 today.

Since taking office, Xi has been promoting the construction of an ecological civilization to a new level.

In recent years, Xi laid out a bunch of plans to promote green development and tackle pollution to ensure "blue skies" and promote a revolution in clean energy which is in line with his idea of building a "beautiful China" by 2035.

During the visit to Shaanxi, Xi also went to the village of Jinmi in Xiaoling Township to learn about poverty alleviation efforts.

In 2016, Xi set a goal of ending all poverty in China by the end of 2020.

Since then, the number of impoverished people in China was brought down from tens of millions to a few million left in less than 5 years.

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, China seems determined to realize the goal to bring the impoverished population to zero this year.