China’s Xi joins leadership blitz of hub visits in fact-finding push before GDP release

China’s top leadership launched an expansive sweep of the nation’s agricultural, industrial and tech hubs this week, gathering “frontline” data ahead of a crucial GDP release in mid-July and a high-stakes Politburo meeting at the month’s end.
On Wednesday, President Xi Jinping conducted a field trip to Dezhou, an agrarian city in the northern Shandong province, where he visited cornfields and a village. During the tour, he highlighted the need to enhance production and yield to guarantee food security and stable supplies and prices, according to Xinhua.
Xi also emphasised agricultural infrastructure, specifically the construction of “high-standard farmland”, water- and energy-efficient techniques, and disaster mitigation.
The president’s tour follows a series of regional inspections by other top leaders in recent days.
Vice-Premier He Lifeng toured the central province of Henan from Sunday to Tuesday to examine how innovative manufacturers optimise operations to sustain an export boom and navigate uncertainty in overseas markets, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
On the same day, the state-run news agency revealed that Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong had headed to Jiangsu, China’s second-largest provincial economy.
The inspections coincide with Premier Li Qiang’s visit to a shipyard and a petrochemical firm in the northeastern city of Dalian, Liaoning province, on Monday.
These trips, covering both thriving economic powerhouses and localities still in prolonged economic transition, aim to survey local conditions as the national economy faces marked strains, according to a policy analyst.
[It’s a] good sign that they are stepping outside Zhongnanhai to reach out to some frontline bureaucrats
Zhou Zheng, China Macro Group
Zhou Zheng, a senior analyst with the Zurich-headquartered China Macro Group consultancy, said these economy-themed inspections are to be encouraged.
“[It’s a] good sign that they are stepping outside [the central leadership compound of] Zhongnanhai to reach out to some frontline bureaucrats – the arms and legs that execute policy decisions – particularly when the imbalances in the economy are becoming more obvious by the day,” Zhou said.
In Henan, Vice-Premier He urged local cadres to redouble efforts to improve product and service quality to spur more local consumption, while calling on them to help small lenders tackle risks and help stabilise the property sector.
Meanwhile, in Jiangsu – an eastern province that contributed one-tenth of China’s gross domestic product in 2025 – Vice-Premier Liu used his tour of Nanjing University’s brain-computer interface lab to signal Beijing’s unequivocal support for such advancements, with Liu calling the cutting-edge technology a frontier in a global race where China must establish a lead.
In Liaoning, Premier Li called for greater efforts to forge a comprehensive, modern industrial system, with a particular eye on high-end equipment manufacturing. Li also toured a production base for nuclear power equipment and stressed that energy security was vital for a resilient economy.
Having reported 5 per cent growth in the first quarter, the world’s second-biggest economy now faces a widening sector divergence.

While tech and exports are booming, retail sales have underperformed, with anaemic 1.4 per cent year-on-year growth in the first five months. Private investment also slumped 7.1 per cent during the same period.
China is expected to release its second-quarter and first-half GDP figures on July 15. And later in the month, top leaders are expected to convene a Politburo meeting to discuss the economy and map out priorities for the remainder of the year.
Zhou said that top officials were using the trips to gain a better grip on local conditions, but that their strategic focus was unlikely to shift, even as calls for more stimulus mount while consumers remain timid.
“The top leadership remain convinced that tech, upgrading and resilience – both in agriculture and energy – are overriding imperatives,” Zhou said, noting the focus on manufacturers and labs. “The belief is that consumption will eventually benefit when the tech push and growth transition pay off.”
The analyst also noted that there was no sign that Beijing aimed to deploy a massive stimulus package. Instead, he said, tactical tweaks to existing measures to induce spending appear more likely.
China Minsheng Bank chief economist Wen Bin forecast that second-quarter GDP growth reached 4.7 per cent, in a note published on Monday, while Citic Securities analysts said the quarterly growth rate could dip before rebounding by the end of the year.