CRI听力：Vice President Speaks Highly of Inner Mongolia's Development

Inner Mongolia, the first of China's five autonomous regions, marks its 60th anniversary on Wednesday, with celebrations in the region's capital, Hohhot.

Delivering a speech at the celebration, Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong speaks highly of Inner Mongolia's development and expects the region can achieve more.

''We adopted the system of regional autonomy first in Inner Mongolia, and the facts show that it is successful and strong. We will stick to and improve the system to steadily push forward our socialist democracy.''

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region covers an area of 1.2 million square kilometers, with a population of about 24 million.

Economic growth has been particularly strong there in recent years, with the region's GDP approaching 500 billion yuan -- or more than 60 billion US dollars -- last year. Per-capita GDP stands around 20-thousand yuan -- that's the tenth highest nationwide.