Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Qu Qingshan, head of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC)

Jiang Shuping, director of the Third Research Department of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee

Yang Mingwei, director of the International Communication and Exchanges Bureau of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee

Liu Ronggang, deputy director of the Seventh Research Department of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee

Chairperson:

Xing Huina, person in charge of the Press Center for the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC, and deputy head of the International Press Bureau of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee

Date: 

June 27, 2021

Xing Huina:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference held by the Press Center for the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). After a magnificent historical journey, the CPC is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Today, the press center is holding its first press conference to brief the media on the Party's history and literature work in the new era and take your questions. Present at today's conference are: Mr. Qu Qingshan, head of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee; Ms. Jiang Shuping, director of the Third Research Department of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee; Mr. Yang Mingwei, director of the International Communication and Exchanges Bureau of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee; and Mr. Liu Ronggang, deputy director of the Seventh Research Department of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee. Now, let's give the floor to Mr. Qu Qingshan.

Qu Qingshan:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. As the Party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups are celebrating the centenary of the CPC, I am delighted to meet you at this press conference to introduce the progress we have achieved in work related to the Party's history and literature in the new era. Especially noteworthy are the achievements we have made since the establishment of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee. On behalf of the institute, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your concern and support for our work over the years.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to Party history and literature work. General Secretary Xi Jinping has given a series of important expositions on the Party's history from the perspective of the overall and strategic development of the Party and the country in the new era. These important expositions have comprehensively reviewed the glorious journey of the CPC in uniting and leading the Chinese people to make remarkable achievements. He has thoroughly summarized the theoretical breakthroughs, valuable experience, and great spirit the Party has forged during each historical period. The expositions have elaborated on the Party's contribution to the Chinese nation, China's wisdom and solutions for solving problems facing humanity, as well as the bright prospects for the course of the Party and the Chinese people. On Feb. 20, the CPC Central Committee decided to launch a campaign on Party history study and education among all Party members. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, setting out clear requirements for the campaign. He required all Party members to study the Party's history with a view to improving their understanding, commitment, integrity and conduct. He wanted the campaign to help them acquire fresh insights, solve practical issues and break new ground. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the Party's history, rich in connotations and profound in thought, have provided a fundamental guideline for the campaign and in Party history and literature work in the new era. 

In March 2018, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core made a major decision to establish the Institute of Party History and Literature to promote the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the overall development of the Party. The CPC Central Committee proposed to coordinate Party historical research, the compiling of literature and translation. This would establish a comprehensive system for the Party's theoretical research, and create a high-end platform for the Party's historical and theoretical research. This major decision has led to a profound and transformational restructuring of the Party history and literature work. Since its establishment, the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee has followed the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. With a view to better serving the central task of economic development and the overall interests of the country, we have made targeted and coordinated efforts to ensure solid progress in every field of our work, including Party history research, literature compilation and translation. As a result, we have continued to make new advances in the Party's history and literature work in the new era. Since the establishment of the institute, we have made our efforts in the following aspects:

The first is to study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and make new progress in the compilation, research, translation, and publicity of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important works.

In recent years, we have prioritized the compilation and publication of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important works, as well as research on and publicity of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In collaboration with other organizations, we have compiled and published the first three volumes of the well-known "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," "Extracts of Xi Jinping's Important Discourses on Staying True to the Party's Founding Mission," and another book for the educational campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission". We have compiled and published 66 of General Secretary Xi Jinping's works, including "On Ensuring Party Leadership Over All Work," "On Continuing to Comprehensively Deepen Reform," "On Ensuring Every Dimension of Governance Is Law-based," "Extracts of Xi Jinping's Discourses on the Chinese Dream: A Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation," "A Compilation of Xi Jinping's Important Discourses on Fighting Against Formalism and Bureaucratism," and "A Compilation of Xi Jinping's Important Discourses on Coordinating Epidemic Prevention and Control with Economic and Social Development." We have continued to deepen research on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and completed a number of key research projects including the study on General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions regarding the great struggle, great project, great cause and great dream. To facilitate the dissemination of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important works, we have published a series of theoretical articles in major Party newspapers, periodicals and media platforms. We have compiled these articles and published five volumes of "A Collection of Essays on Studying Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era."

In recent years, we have applied a combination of measures to explain the Party's latest theories to international audiences. In accordance with the unified arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, we sent delegations to some African countries including Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Zambia, where we successfully promoted and explained the main ideas of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially the vision of building a community with shared future for mankind. In these English-speaking and French-speaking countries, we held launch ceremonies and symposiums for the English and French versions of "On Promoting the Building of a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity." We have also translated "A Compilation of Xi Jinping's Important Discourses on Coordinating Epidemic Prevention and Control with Economic and Social Development" into multiple languages and introduced them to other countries. These books have been well-received internationally. For example, I led delegations to Togo and Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa, where we received a warm welcome. These measures are part of our efforts to establish a working mechanism for international communication.

Second, we focused on the research of the Party history and theory and made progress in editing and translating of major works as well the publicizing and educating about Party history.

In recent years, we have promoted the compilation of basic literature about Party history, including the "The 90 Years of the Communist Party of China," the most comprehensive, systematic, and authoritative literature about Party history with the longest publication span. We have also published the chronicle of major events since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the chronicle of major events of the 40 years since reform and opening-up, the chronicle of the People's Republic of China, and the chronicle of the CPC in 100 years. The chronicle of the CPC in 100 years contains around 100,000 words. The news of its publishing will be aired on tonight's Xinwen Lianbo and distributed to major media outlets, including Xinhua news agency, in the following three days.

The chronicle covers major events of the CPC since its founding in 1921 and ends with the item of the opening of the Museum of Communist Party of China this month. We have made progress with the editing and compilation of the anthology, biography, and chronicles of the old-generation revolutionary leaders like Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yun. We edited and published the anthology of major literature since the 18th CPC National Congress (Part One, Two, and Three)," and the anthology of the major literature since the 19th CPC National Congress (Part One)." We are making progress with the translation and publishing of the second edition of "Complete Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels," published the second Chinese edition of the "Complete Works of Lenin", and working on separate volumes of the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin, as well as their respective photobiographies. We successfully completed multi-language translation tasks for the major documents of the national two sessions as well as other documents for plenary sessions of the CPC. Moreover, we have been progressing with the collection and digitalization of materials for Party history and literature, and accelerating the process for the second phase of the compilation of Marxist literature. Here, I'd like to share with friends from the media that we have collected six original manuscripts of Karl Marx's letters written to his publisher regarding to the publication of the French version of Das Kapital. The precious manuscripts are now on display at the Museum of the Communist Party of China.

In recent years, we have conducted Marxist theoretical research and development projects such as the research on the governance laws of the CPC, research on contemporary Marxism in foreign countries, research on the major historical contributions and experiences of the CPC since its founding, and major projects of the National Social Science Fund. We have also strengthened the construction of think tanks to provide an important reference for the decision-making of the CPC Central Committee.

In recent years, according to the unified arrangement and deployment of the CPC Central Committee, we successfully completed a series of major tasks such as celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), co-organizing large-scale achievement exhibitions themed on commemorating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, and jointly produced a large-scale documentary, "On the Great Road." We held activities to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteers entering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to fight in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and other major historical events and birthdays of major historical Party figures. This is the second major aspect of our work.

Third, we have remained committed to the overall plans of the Party and the state, and strived to make new achievements in celebrating the centenary of the CPC, the education of the history of the Party, the history of New China, the history of reform and opening-up, and the history of socialist development.

In recent years, with a strong sense of political responsibility and historic mission, we have made every effort to promote our key tasks. We edited and published Xi Jinping's book on CPC history and the compilation of selected discourses of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao on the history of CPC and jointly compiled and published the brief history of the CPC. These three books provide basic teaching materials for the whole Party to carry out education of Party history.

Campaigns of Party history education are widely launched. We conscientiously completed the tasks assigned by the team of Party history education campaign sent by the CPC Central Committee. We jointly compiled a series of books on the revolutionary spirit of the CPC and participated in the preparation of the exhibition on the history of the CPC themed on "staying true to our founding mission." We have also used new media platforms to launch audio works such as Xi Jinping's book on CPC history and the brief history of the CPC. We have produced a large-scale original column, " Daily Readings: A Hundred Years of CPC History," and jointly launched a 100-episode mini-documentary, " A Will of Iron," which reached total page views of 2.5 billion and received wide acclaim.

In recent years, we have continuously strengthened the overall planning and guidance of local Party history and documentation work. In accordance with the unified deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the work arrangements of CPC committees at all levels, Party history and documentation departments at all levels have carried out in-depth practical research on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in different localities. They have also accelerated the editing and compilation of basic works and educational materials on local Party history and actively participated in education campaigns at local levels so as to contribute to the overall plans of the Party and the state.

In the past century, the CPC has remained true to its original mission in building its solid foundation against all odds, and in making remarkable achievements. Learning from the past and looking to the future, we believe that we must study and summarize the Party's history well, inherit and carry forward the Party's valuable experience, keep in mind our past struggle, fulfill our missions and responsibilities, and draw wisdom and strength from the Party's history. Standing at the historic crossroad of the "Two Centenary Goals", we are more convinced of our goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and building China into a modern socialist country in all respects thanks to backing by the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and the concerted efforts of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people. Thank you. My colleagues and I are ready to answer your questions.

Xing Huina:

Thank you for the introduction, Mr. Qu. The floor is now open to questions. Please identify the media organization you represent before raising questions.