SHENYANG, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday inspected Shenyang, capital city of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Xi made the trip shortly before the Spring Festival, the most important holiday for the Chinese people, which falls on Jan. 29 this year.

Xi visited a food market and a residential community in Shenyang, where he learned about the supply of goods during the holiday season and measures in place to meet residents' daily needs and optimize public services, as well as details of progress made in improving people's life.

For more than a decade, Xi, as the Party and the state's top leader, has made it a tradition to spend time with ordinary people ahead of the Spring Festival.