In his first five-year term, quite a few high-ranking Party and government officials were subjected to anti-corruption investigations, with those who were found guilty severely punished according to law.

In recent years, the Taiwan authorities have continuously taken provocative actions in the pursuit of "Taiwan independence," posing a severe threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.

Faced with the grave situation, Hu Jintao has put forth a series of new policies to help pull cross-Straits relations back to the track of peace and stability. Taiwan media described his policies as "tougher on tough issues, and softer on soft issues."

In March 2005, Hu put forward a four-point guideline for the cross-Straits relations -- The mainland will never sway in adhering to the one-China principle, never give up efforts to seek peaceful reunification, never change the principle of placing hope on the Taiwan people, and never compromise in opposing the "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities.

On the other hand, Hu invited Taiwan political leaders, including then Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party Chairman James CY Soong, to visit the mainland, and held historic meetings with them. During the meetings, he clearly stated that peace and development should become the main theme for the cross-Straits relations, as well as the common goal for people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

Earlier this month, on the sidelines of the annual parliament session, Hu once again sent a heart-warming message to the Taiwan people, saying that: "We shall join hands with as many Taiwan compatriots as possible to promote China's peaceful reunification."

Lien Fang-yu, wife of Lien Chan, only met Hu Jintao three times when she accompanied her husband to the mainland, but she might have given one of the most accurate descriptions of Hu's personality.

"He seems solemn at first glance but actually is very gentle when you get to know him," she wrote in her latest memoirs.

Putting people first

Lu Zhanlin, a poor farmer at Xishungou Village of the northern Hebei Province, never imagined that the President, only seen on TV before, would step into his shabby house on the eve of the traditional Spring Festival in 2004, sit shoulder to shoulder with him, and help him make Jiao Zi (meat stuffed dumplings) for the whole family.

"I also heard President Hu ask the accompanying village chief to make sure that all families in the village, especially those needy ones, have dumplings to eat for the festival," recalled Lu.

Domestic and foreign media recorded this touching moment, calling it an indication of China's new pro-poor policy, and even named it the "dumpling policy."

In the following years, the coverage of this policy has gone far beyond the limits of "poor farmers" or "dumplings", with more social disadvantaged groups and have-nots having close contacts with the President.

In some typical cases and most memorable moments, Hu had shaken hands with AIDS patients, helped ethnic minority families to make sticky rice cakes, and judged a tug-of-war between Chinese and foreign intellectually disabled athletes.

"Development is for the people, by the people and with the people sharing its fruits." -- This is how Hu interprets his idea of "putting people first."

Hu's longtime aides say that the president has a special interest in field study on the vast rural areas, where more than 700 million Chinese reside. One of these aides told Xinhua: "The President prefers random visits to prearranged inspections. Sometimes he would suddenly ask us to stop the car by a crop field, so that he can personally go into the field to check seedling growth and soil fertility."

"While paying a surprise visit to a villager's house, he would always check the thickness of the quilts on the bed and the food being cooked in the kitchen, so as to find out the truth about the villager's living standard," the aide added.

In 2007, during a visit to Dingxi County of the northwestern Gansu Province, Hu Jintao asked some local farmers to give some "candid comments" on the country's agricultural policies.

"If you think these policies are good, we will carry them on; if you don't think so, we will improve them," he said.

In January 2008, most of China's southern provinces were hit by the worst snowstorm in decades and suffered a severe shortage of coal for thermopower generation. Within one day, Hu paid a whirlwind visit to a major coal mine, a railway terminal and a large sea harbor in north China, urging workers there to produce more coal and increase the transportation volume.