Only through continuous development can the people's dream for a better life and social stability be realized, President Xi Jinping said on Friday.

Xi made the remark when chairing the High-level Dialogue on Global Development in Beijing via video.

Citing stories and his experience of being a farmer in a small village on the Loess Plateau in Shaanxi province in the late 1960s, Xi said he experienced the first-hand hardships in farming and saw how the local people struggled to make ends meet at that time.

"Their longing for a better life has stayed in my mind ever since. Half a century later, I revisited the village and found the villagers no longer in want of food or clothing, as evidenced by the happy smiles on their faces," Xi told the leaders participating in the virtual meeting.

He quoted an ancient Chinese saying, which reads: "Only when the granary is full will people learn etiquette; only when people are well-fed and clothed will they know honor and shame."

He said that throughout the years, he has been to cities, towns and villages across China and visited many countries around the world and one deep impression he got is that only through continuous development can the people's dream for a better life and social stability be realized.