KUNMING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited southwest China's Yunnan Province Sunday on an inspection tour ahead of Chinese New Year.

Xi went to a village of the Wa ethnic group in Qingshui Township of the city of Tengchong Sunday afternoon to learn about poverty alleviation efforts and extend his Chinese New Year's greetings to the villagers.

He also visited the old town of Heshun, a gateway on the ancient Southern Silk Road that linked China's Sichuan and Yunnan with Myanmar and India, to learn about exchanges, historical and cultural inheritance, as well as ecological and environmental protection along the trade route.