Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009  

    JINGGANGSHAN, Jiangxi Province, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the eastern province of Jiangxi on Saturday and Sunday, calling on revolutionary veterans and model workers ahead of the Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday for family gatherings.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) talks with revolutionary veterans, their descendants, and local work models in Jinggangshan City, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 24, 2009, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday for family gatherings. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) Photo Gallery>>>

    It was the sixth year in a row that the president spent the holiday outside Beijing with ordinary citizens.

    Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited veterans who had served in the Red Army and people in the city of Jinggangshan.

    Jinggangshan was a famous revolutionary base where Mao Zedong led the Red Army to fight against his enemies during wartime.

    During Hu's visit to Huangyangjie, a famous battlefield near Jinggangshan, and a revolution museum in the city, Hu called on local work models, veterans and their descendants, and inquired about their livelihood.

    He said the veterans fought alongside the CPC and Chairman Mao, and had made outstanding contributions to China's revolution.

    The work models had also offered remarkable service in building Jinggangshan city, he said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) grinds soybean to make bean curd as he visits a farmer named Wu Jianzhong and his family in a village of Xiaping Township, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 25, 2009, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday for family gatherings. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) Photo Gallery>>>

    "The Party and the Chinese people will never forget your contributions," Hu said.

    Hu said currently the Party and all ethnic groups in China were striving to maintain a steady and relatively fast economic development and build a well-off society.

    The country should learn from the Jinggangshan people in dealing with the difficult situation, and turn the current challenges into opportunities for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Hu said.

    Last year, Hu went to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which was severely hit by snow storms before the Lunar New Year, and helped with disaster relief work in the city of Guilin and the county of Ziyuan.