On the morning of March 30, Gao Yu, Secretary of the Party Group and Chairman of the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council (COSC), attended 2023 Annual Symposium on Investigation and Research of China Central Institute for Culture and History (CCICH) and delivered a speech.

At present, Gao pointed out, the whole Party and the whole country are embarking on a new journey of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization in line with the goals and missions set out at the 20th CPC National Congress, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and the CCICH is thus faced with a new situation and new tasks. We should focus on the central tasks, support the overall interests, “build cultural confidence and strength and secure new successes in developing socialist culture” as proposed in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, and concentrate on the efforts of developing a socialist ideology that has the power to unite and inspire the people, extensively applying the core socialist values, enhancing civility throughout society, developing cultural programs and the cultural sector, and extending the reach and appeal of Chinese civilization. The central tasks in the current and future period for CCICH include conducting research on such key issues as challenges faced in the ideological field, building cultural confidence and strength, developing China into a socialist country with advanced culture, strengthening efforts to steer public opinion, and comprehensive network governance.

This year, Gao stressed, is the year of team building of counsellors’ offices and the institutes for culture and history throughout the country. Institutes for culture and history should carry out all-round investigation and research, give full play to the leading role of the backbone team of researchers and research fellows, and rely on their respective expertise to offer advice on major cultural issues on the basis of a full understanding of the real situation. The leading team of counsellors’ offices and institutes for culture and history of various regions should effectively strengthen their coordination and strategic planning capacities, and staff members in government offices should strengthen practical exercise, and constantly enhance their capabilities in task performance, organization and coordination, and service and support, so as to better support the researchers and research fellows in their research efforts. Age and physical condition of the researchers and research fellows should be taken into consideration, with tasks shouldered according to their capabilities. Diverse measures should be taken to ensure that substantial research results will be achieved in the year.

At the symposium, speeches were delivered by researchers of the CCICH, including Guo Yicong, Wang Liping, Chen Zuwu, Li Yan, Liu Pengzhi, Pan Gongkai, An Jiayao, Dong Zhenghe, Wang Mingming, Chen Lai, and Chen Xiaoming, and research fellows of the CCICH, including Chen Ruilin, Wang Shi, Feng Shuangbai, Liu Qian, Han Ziyong, Zhou Zhengsheng and Gong Chengbo. Their speeches were on various topics such as cultural development in the new era, support for the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, integrated development of urban and rural cultural-ethical advancement, “artistic creation being rooted in tradition and origin”, equalization of education and training of top-notch talents, protection of intellectual property rights, development of Chinese animation in a century, and culture-guiding role of researchers of institutes for culture and history.

Feng Yuan, Vice President of the CCICH, attended the symposium, which was presided over by the Directory General of the Culture and History Department.