LANZHOU - Chinese leader Xi Jinping chatted with impoverished villagers and migrant workers and asked about their livelihood during an inspection tour to northwest China's Gansu province from Saturday through Tuesday.

The inspection tour by Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, came as the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, approaches.

He visited villages, enterprises and urban communities in Jiuquan, Dingxi, Linxia and Lanzhou of Gansu to get firsthand information on topics of improving people's well-being, fostering development of the less-developed western regions, and improving officials' work style.

Dingxi City and Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture are two areas known for their barren land and poor natural conditions in central Gansu.

Braving a journey with hilly and bumpy roads, Xi visited old Party members and impoverished villagers in the Yuangudui Village of the Weiyuan County in Dingxi as well as the Bulenggou Village of the Dongxiang Autonomous County in Linxia.

He shook hands with local residents, inquiring about their food supply, access to medical services, and childrens' schooling. Xi nodded after his questions were met with positive answers.

Xi said the central authorities attach high importance to poverty alleviation and to the development of areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, assuring greater government support to help local people out of poverty.

Concerned about the water shortage problem that challenges Gansu's economic and social development, Xi on Sunday morning visited a major water diversion project in the Weiyuan County.

He told officials that scientific planning and well-coordinated construction efforts should be made to ensure the project is a success, which is a "dream coming true" for millions of people in the thirsty region.

On Sunday afternoon, Xi paid an inspection tour to a reconstruction site in Dongxiang County, which was the scene of ground fissure and subsidence following a landslide in March 2011.

Xi heard reports about the reconstruction efforts and visited workers, urging efforts to ensure personnel safety and the project's quality.

During chats with farmers-turned-workers, he said contribution and commitment from the migrant workers means much for China's efforts to complete building a moderately prosperous society.

Xi called for more care for migrant workers and further efforts to guard their legitimate rights and interests. He said "especially, migrant workers' wages should not be defaulted, or embezzled."

While visiting a cafeteria for the elderly in the city of Lanzhou, Xi served a hot meal to an old man and extended his new-year greetings to the seniors present.

With the Spring Festival around the corner, Xi visited a local vegetable market, learning about the supply of festival goods from vendors and customers. He asked local officials to guarantee the supply so that people can enjoy the festival.

While learning the latest development of the Lanzhou New Area, Xi said propelling development with innovation is crucial to transforming the mode of economic growth, as well as to boosting China's power and international competitiveness.

He said enterprises should build innovation capacity and compete in fields of state-of-the-art technologies.

During his meeting with Gansu provincial government leaders, Xi asked the province to speed up social and economic development, seizing on the opportunity of the "west China development" program. He stressed that officials at all levels keeping a sound working style and joining the people in persisting endeavor is critical to achieving this goal.

Xi said that good working style and personal integrity should be the criteria for selecting, promoting and managing officials, so that those who are close to the people, competent and efficient, down-to-earth and upright, get credit, while those eroded by hedonism and formalism, and divorced from the public, are warned and punished.