Promising writers and artists must unconditionally and wholeheartedly go among the masses, including workers, peasants and soldiers, and join in the vibrant struggle for the revolution. This is a line from Mao Zedong’s Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art (hereinafter referred to as the Talks), and Tian Hua, the 93-year-old Honorary Member of the 10th China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and a well-known performing artist, still remembers the first time that he read about this on an old mimeograph publication of the Talks.

On May 22, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles held a theoretical seminar to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the publication of the Talks in a combination of online and offline. More than 10 representative artists and experts from the circles of literary and artistic creation, commentary and research revisited the spirit of the Talks at the meeting, and exchanged their views on the development of Chinese literature and art in a new era.

The Talks is an eternal milestone for us, people in the literary and art circles. It serves as a lofty lighthouse that has directed me into this great new era. Tian said that he has always been energetic like a jumping fire, with an ever-lasting revolutionary spirit for literary and artistic practitioners to work for the people.

Zhong Chengxiang, a Researcher at the China Central Institute for Culture and History (CCICH), believes that over the past 80 years, the Talks has always been a beacon that guides the development of China’s literary and artistic undertakings, particularly by reminding artists and writers to find insights from the life of ordinary people and to choose a realist way for their productions.

Xia Chao, Chairman of the China Literary and Art Critics Association (CLACA), believes that when we review the past 80 years since the Talks was published, every step of the innovation and development for the localization of Marxist literature and art theory has strongly promoted the prosperity and progress of Chinese literature and art under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Today, we must continue to move forward along the development path of literature and art pioneered by the Party, so as to promote the prosperity of literature and art in the new era. In order to reach higher achievements, we must strive to write yet another new chapter of the localization of Marxist literature and art theory.

As we come into a new era, President Xi Jinping has also made his remarks at the Symposium on Literature and Art Work that provide the way for the development of socialist literature and art with Chinese characteristics against a new historical background. Dong Xuewen, a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, said that literature and art must always put people at the center. Moreover, people in the circles of literature and art need to fully appreciate the historical process and grasp the general trend of the times to confidently take the road of socialist literature and art with Chinese characteristics under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China.

Participants have all expressed their determination to put national affairs in mind and people’s expectations on shoulder as well as their belief that with the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the literary and art circles are sure to present full confidence in our culture, to take historical initiatives, to strive for more achievements and to reach higher grounds in this new era.

On reviewing the profound insights and precious spirit of the Talks, people in the literary and art circles must accurately comprehend and grasp the historical, theoretical and practical logic as well as the contemporary significance of the Party’s leadership on the development of literature and art, so as to more actively and scientifically promote the prosperity and development of literature and art along the new journey in such a new era, said Li Yi, Secretary of the Party Group and Vice Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. He proposed that organizations at all levels of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles should promote literature and art with devotion and affection, jointly promote the building of literary and artistic style as well as effectively innovate the working system of the federation, so as to pool the efforts from all people in the literary and art circles and guide them in the right direction for the literary and art development in a new era with our own response to the call of the times.