The Year 2017

From March 9 to 11, in order to further implement the spirit of the "May 17" Important Speech ^[1] and to guide cadres and staff in profoundly understanding the guiding ideology, goal requirements, key measures, and fundamental guarantees for conducting philosophy and social science work under the new situation, the Institute of Marxism Studies (IMS) held a specialized training course at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Miyun Training Base. The program aimed to ensure participants consciously uphold Marxism as their guide, persist in conducting scholarship for the Party and the people, and remain firm in their political and academic orientation, in accordance with the unified deployment of the CASS Party Group and the specialized training work plan. In April, the Bureau of Personnel and Education approved the roster for the new IMS Professional and Technical Qualification Review Committee (Associate Senior Level): Wang Yi, Wang Shuyin, Deng Chundong, Feng Yanli, Lü Weizhou, Liu Zhiming, Xiao Guiqing, Yu Bin, Xin Xiangyang, Chen Zhigang, Ji Zhengju, Jin Minqing, Yao Xiaoling, Cheng Enfu, and Fan Jianxin, with Deng Chundong serving as chair. (In a mid-term adjustment in 2019, Jiang Hui was added as a committee member and chair). On July 8, the "10th National Forum for Deans of Marxist Institutes," co-hosted by the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies and Guizhou Normal University, was held in Guiyang. The theme of the conference was "Research on General Secretary Xi Jinping's New Concepts, New Thoughts, and New Strategies for State Governance ^[2]." On July 21, the IMS held a general staff meeting where Zhang Guanzi, Director of the CASS Bureau of Personnel and Education, read the appointment decision of the Academy's Party Group: Comrade Jin Minqing was appointed Vice President of the Institute of Marxism Studies. From November 21 to 25, the "5th International Socialist Forum," co-hosted by the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, the Institute of Philosophy of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, and the Lao Academy of Social Sciences, and organized by the Lao Academy of Social Sciences, was held in Laos. Funded by the "CASS Forum" program, the theme of this forum was "Marxism and Socialist Construction." More than 120 people attended, including experts and scholars from China, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as public officials from Lao Party and government departments. Maria de la Concepción Muñoz Prieto, the Cuban Ambassador to Laos, and Ri Sang-gun, the North Korean Ambassador to Laos, also attended the forum. On December 29, the inauguration ceremony for the CASS Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was held in Beijing. Wang Weiguang, President and Secretary of the Party Group of CASS, and Wang Xinfu, Inspector and Deputy Director of the Theory Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department, unveiled the plaque for the Center. Wang Jingqing, Vice President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of CASS, presided over the meeting and announced the decision of the CASS Party Group to establish the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Deng Zhonghua, head of the Discipline Inspection Group dispatched by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to CASS and member of the Academy's Party Group, announced the list of academic consultants, academic steering committee members, and specially invited researchers for the Center. Attending leaders presented letters of appointment to these representatives. Attendees included Qu Qingshan, Director of the Central Party History Research Office; Zhang Quanjing, former head of the Central Organization Department; Teng Wensheng, former Director of the Central Policy Research Office ^[3]; Xu Guangchun, Director of the Consultative Committee for the Project to Study and Build Marxist Theory; Ru Xin, former Vice President of CASS; Zheng Keyang, former Deputy Director of the Central Policy Research Office; Sha Jiansun, former Deputy Director of the Central Party History Research Office; Major General Shao Weizheng, professor at the National Defense University Joint Logistics Academy; Li Shenming, former Vice President of CASS; Fang Li, former Deputy Director of the Central Policy Research Office; Kong Dan, former Chairman of CITIC Group and Chairman of the CITIC Foundation for Reform and Development Studies; Zhang Qihua and Gao Yongzhong, former Deputy Directors of the Central Party History Research Office; Huang Haotiao, Vice President of the Central Party School; Zhang Shouying, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the People's Daily and Director of its Theory Department; and Zhu Xiaoming, former Secretary of the Party Group of the China Tibetology Research Center. Deng Chundong, President and Party Committee Secretary of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, spoke at the meeting on behalf of the internal specially invited researchers. Approximately 300 people attended the ceremony, including members of the CASS Party Group, the Deputy Secretary-General, responsible comrades from the Theory Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department, academic consultants, steering committee members, and researchers of the Center, as well as the entire staff of the CASS Institute of Scientific and Technical Information and the CASS Research Center for the System of Theories of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and some personnel from the Institute of Marxism Studies. The CASS Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was listed among the first batch of such centers (institutes) established nationwide with the approval of the Party Central Committee.