GUIYANG -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has stressed that areas with large ethnic minority populations should preserve their distinctive culture and let it shine through the integrated development of culture and tourism.

Xi made the remarks on Monday when inspecting Liping county, Southwest China's Guizhou province.

When visiting the Zhaoxing Dong village in the county, Xi and villagers sat around a firepit to discuss all-around rural revitalization at a drum tower, a unique architecture for the Dong ethnic group that serves as a communal gathering spot.

Tourism has become a major industry and rural tourism is thriving, Xi said, wishing the villagers' lives to grow more prosperous with each passing day.