Xi Jinping chats with a villager in an orchard in Nangou Village of Yan'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Oct 26, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi made his first out-of-town trip after the 20th Party congress to the countryside. He visited a fruit orchard in Nangou, Shaanxi province and candidly asked fruit farmers how much they could earn in a day, what their incomes were like, and how their families were doing.

"What are the techniques for picking apples?" he asked and picked a big red apple himself as farmer Zhao Yongdong demonstrated.

Outside an apple sorting workshop in the village, people gathered around Xi. "His top concern is the livelihoods of the people," said Zhang Guanghong, a village cadre.