Locals in Dongshan County vows to further develop tourism industry following Xi's visit

People in Dongshan County of east China's Fujian Province are inspired by President Xi Jinping's visit, saying that they will leverage local advantages to further develop tourism industry.

On Tuesday afternoon, Xi inspected Aojiao Village of Dongshan County in the city of Zhangzhou, and learned about the sale of dried seafood and the fishing harvest.

Xi, who visited the village 23 years ago, said he was delighted to see that the village has undergone tremendous changes, adding that China's countryside will surely have a brighter prospect on the new journey in the new era.

Covering an area of 6.83 square kilometers and with the sea on three sides, the village has leveraged its prominent coastal environment advantages to coordinate development of five leading industries - marine fishing, aquaculture, seafood processing, e-commerce and rural tourism.

In 2023, the collective income of the village reached 1.73 million yuan (about 243,000 U.S. dollars), with an average per capita disposable income of 58,000 yuan (about 8,150 U.S. dollars). It has been honored as a national-level Advanced Village and one of the most beautiful fishing villages in China.

The village currently has 88 large power steel fishing vessels, 38 seafood processing enterprises, 117 seafood e-commerce companies and 41 homestays.

Lin Hubin is the owner of one of the homestays in the village. He said the island scenery and abundant fishery resources have created many businesses for people in Aojiao Village.

"An increasing number of individuals, including college graduates, are returning to Dongshan County to thrive in the e-commerce sector by selling seafood. Additionally, many are successfully launching homestays, enhancing the local tourism industry," he said.

Xi also paid a visit to the Gu Wenchang Memorial Hall, where he learned about the inspiring deeds of Gu, a former Party chief of Dongshan.

The Gu Wenchang Memorial Hall was opened in 2004. The exhibition features many historical photos and objects used by Gu during his lifetime, vividly reproducing the moving scenes of him leading the Dongshan people to fundamentally improve the ecological environment.

"President Xi expressed a strong interest in the exhibition's afforestation section, which highlighted the impressive achievements of Dongshan County. We are actively transforming Dongshan Island into a premier eco-tourism destination, and we are making significant strides toward realizing this vision," said Zhang Dongling, the curator of the memorial hall.

Beginning in the 1950s, Gu Wenchang led the people of Dongshan in a more-than-a-decade-long effort to plant trees, ultimately converting the once wind-and-sand-ravaged island into a green paradise.

During the inspection, Xi urged officials to emulate the example of Gu in both personal conduct and governance, and work towards promoting local development during their time in office.

Locals in Dongshan County vows to further develop tourism industry following Xi's visit

The conflict in the Middle East is the principal source of inflationary pressures in the United States, largely through its impact on energy-related costs, the U.S. Federal Reserve said in its latest Beige Book released on Wednesday.

The beige book showed that economic activity increased at a slight to moderate pace for ten of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts, while one district reported a slight decline and one reported no change.

Consumer spending remained mixed across districts and increasingly bifurcated across income groups amid persistent affordability pressures, according to the beige book.

Higher-income households proved resilient and relatively insensitive to price increases, while middle- and low-income households exhibited growing financial strain, it said.

The report showed that prices rose at a moderate to strong pace overall, with most districts reporting elevated inflation relative to the prior reporting period, and the districts attributed the inflationary pressures primarily to energy-related costs linked to the conflict in the Middle East, with spillovers extending into shipping, packaging, groceries, and fertilizer.

Meanwhile, non-labor input costs continued to outpace selling price increases, fueling broader concerns about margin compression, according to the the report.

In terms of employment, the beige book reported that most districts described a low-hire, low-fire environment.

The Beige Book, officially known as the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by the Federal Reserve District, is a survey on economic conditions based on information collected from its 12 regional reserve banks. It is published eight times per year.

Latest Fed Beige Book shows evidence of rising inflation pressure, widening consumption gap in US