BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has called on Party members to share the Party's burdens and encourage those who get rich first to help latecomers in the battle against poverty.

Responding to a letter from rural Party members in Zhejiang province proposing to donate tea seedlings to poor areas, Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that Party members should never forget where one's source of benefit comes from and be grateful for what the Party has done for them, and this is of great significance in winning the battle against poverty.

In April, 20 rural Party members from Huangdu village in Zhejiang wrote a letter to Xi, reporting how the village gets rich by growing tea and proposing to donate 15 million tea seedlings to help impoverished regions lift more people out of poverty.

Following Xi's instruction, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development specified 34 villages in the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou to receive the donation.

The plan is expected to help 5,839 poor people in 1,862 households in the regions increase income and get rid of poverty.