2019

On April 8, the Institute of Marxism Studies (IMS) convened a plenary meeting of all personnel. Jiang Hui—Member of the Party Leadership Group ^[1] of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Director of the Institute of Contemporary China, and Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the IMS—announced the Party Leadership Group’s decision regarding cadre appointments and removals: Comrade Xin Xiangyang was appointed Vice Director of the IMS, while Comrade Jin Minqing ceased to serve as Vice Director of the IMS to take up another assignment. Cui Jianmin, Executive Deputy Secretary of the CASS Party Committee of Departmants Directly Under the Central Government and Deputy Director of the Bureau of Personnel and Education, along with IMS Vice Directors Fan Jianxin and Jia Chaoning and the entire IMS cadre and staff, attended the meeting.

On May 27, the IMS held another plenary meeting. Comrade Wang Jingqing, Vice President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of CASS, announced on behalf of the Party Leadership Group that Comrade Fan Jianxin was appointed Secretary of the Party Committee of the IMS, and Comrade Jiang Hui would no longer concurrently serve as the IMS Party Secretary. Jiang Hui—Member of the CASS Party Leadership Group, Director and Party Secretary of the Institute of Contemporary China, and Director of the IMS—and Cui Jianmin, Deputy Director (Presiding) of the Bureau of Personnel and Education, attended the meeting. Members of the IMS leadership team and the entire cadre and staff were present.

From June 25 to 26, the "Seventh International Forum on Socialism" was held in Dalian, Liaoning Province. It was co-hosted by the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, and the Lao Academy of Social Sciences, and organized by the School of Marxism at the Dalian University of Technology and the Department of International Communist Movement Studies at the CASS IMS. The theme of the forum was "Party Building and New Developments in Socialism in the New Era." More than 130 experts and scholars from over 60 research institutions and universities—including CASS, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, the Lao Academy of Social Sciences, the Lao National Institute of Politics and Administration, the Academy of Social Sciences of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shandong University, and Dalian University of Technology—attended the event.

On July 20, the 12th National Forum for Deans of Marxist Institutes was held in Beijing. This forum was co-hosted by the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. More than 260 experts and scholars from approximately 100 universities and research institutions nationwide participated. Xie Fuzhan, President and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of CASS, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Keynote reports were delivered by Wang Jingqing, Vice President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of CASS; Gu Hailiang, Member of the National People’s Congress Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee and Deputy Director of the Social Science Committee of the Ministry of Education; and Li Shenming, former Vice President of CASS and Director of the World Socialism Research Center. Jiang Hui, Member of the CASS Party Leadership Group, Director of the Institute of Contemporary China, and Director of the IMS, presided over the opening ceremony. Fan Jianxin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice Director of the IMS, chaired the morning plenary session, and Xin Xiangyang, Vice Director of the IMS, provided the concluding remarks.

In October, administrative responsibility for the CASS World Socialism Research Center was transferred from the Institute of Information Studies to the Institute of Marxism Studies.

From November 1 to 2, the "10th World Socialism Forum" was held in Beijing. Hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and organized by the CASS World Socialism Research Center, the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the Institute of Marxism Studies, the theme of the forum was "Seventy Years of New China and World Socialism." Wang Jingqing, Vice President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of CASS; Jiang Hui, Member of the CASS Party Leadership Group, Director of the Institute of Contemporary China, and Director of the IMS; and Li Shenming, former Vice President of CASS and Director of the World Socialism Research Center, attended and addressed the plenary. Also in attendance were Zhang Quanjing, former head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee; Xu Guangchun, Director of the Advisory Committee for the Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project; Zheng Keyang, former Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Zhu Jiamu, former Vice President of CASS; and over 200 experts and scholars from various national propaganda and cultural systems, research units, and universities. The forum also welcomed nearly 30 international experts and scholars from countries including Germany, Russia, Vietnam, Hungary, Namibia, France, Italy, the United States, Cuba, Brazil, Laos, and Japan, including Hans Modrow, former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR and Honorary Chairman of the Left Party of Germany; Novikov, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation; Pham Van Duc, Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and Director of the Graduate School; Gyula Thürmer, Chairman of the Hungarian Workers' Party; Elia George Kaiyamo, Namibia’s Ambassador to China; and Frédéric Boccara, Member of the National Executive Committee of the French Communist Party.