Chinese President Hu Jintao visited residents in Tianjin in north China on Monday for New Year greetings and promised more efforts to improve the people's livelihood.

Hu told the residents that the central government had been taking a series of measures to improve the housing and medicare conditions of low-income people.

He also called for more care for the elders to make them spend soundly their late years when visiting a rest home.

The Chinese nation's traditional virtue of showing respect for the elders should be promoted, the president said.

Hu expressed New Year greetings to people in a residential community, an assistance center for the employees in the mire of hard life and a vegetable market.

He also visited the Memorial to Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao and presented flower baskets to show respect for the former prestigious premier and his wife.