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BEIJING, Feb. 1-- President Xi Jinping on Friday visited Beijing's primary-level cadres and residents in downtown neighborhoods ahead of the Spring Festival and extended Lunar New Year greetings to Chinese people of all ethnic groups. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, also inspected the preparation work for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. When inspecting the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, Xi stressed the city's glorious mission and weighty responsibility to safeguard the social stability of the national capital as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Xi asked for coordinated efforts to promote work in all fields with resolve to complete the mission. Touring a "hutong," or traditional alley, in central Beijing's Qianmen area, Xi ordered the efforts to protect cultural heritage sites and conserve traditional culture while renovating the city's old areas. He called for both improving local residents' living conditions and protecting historical and cultural deposits, so that history and modernity will perfectly blend. He stressed specific measures to maintain the original features of hutong areas. Xi dropped into two courtyards along the hutong, inquiring about the living conditions of local residents after the renovation projects in the neighborhood. | 
