The World Socialist Research Center Founding Conference and the Academic Seminar on the New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and the New Stage of World Socialist Development
In order to deeply study and implement the spirit of the important speech when General Secretary Xi JinPing inspected the school, and promote the high-quality development of the Marxist theory discipline, the “World Socialist Research Center Founding Conference and the Academic Seminar on the New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and the New Stage of World Socialist Development” was held in Harbin on September 24th. This conference was organized by the School of Marxism at Harbin Engineering University.
·Opening ceremony·
Lv Dongshi, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Minister of Propaganda and United Front Work Department of Harbin Engineering University, and Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Marxism, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.
In his speech, Lv Dongshi pointed out that the Party Committee of the school has always attached great importance to Marxist theoretical education and the construction of Marxist theoretical disciplines, and has made it an important political task for the school to build and strengthen the school of Marxism and Marxist theoretical disciplines. The establishment of the World Socialist Research Center this time is a practical and effective measure for the school to implement the important speech spirit of General Secretary Xi JinPing inspecting the university. We hope that the school can strengthen its connection with the academic community, enhance consensus, broaden research horizons, and further promote the characteristics, connotation, and high-quality development of the Marxist theoretical discipline through the academic platform of the research center, based on its past development achievements.
The opening ceremony was presided over by Wang Jingyun, Dean of the College of Marxism at Harbin Engineering University and member of the Teaching Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Education.
Lv Dongshi, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Minister of Propaganda and United Front Work Department of Harbin Engineering University, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Marxism, and Pu Guoliang, Professor of the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China and Vice President of the Chinese Society for the History of the International Communist Movement, jointly unveiled the plaque for the World Socialist Research Center.
Li Shihui, Director of the World Socialist Research Center at Harbin Engineering University, reported on the basic situation of the center’s construction from three aspects: the reason for its establishment, foundation, and planning. He stated that the Future World Socialist Research Center will focus on regional characteristics, focus on the forefront of disciplines, serve curriculum construction well, and contribute to the development of the school’s disciplines.
On that day, the World Socialist Research Center of Harbin Engineering University and the Socialist History and Literature Research Institute of East China Normal University signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Soviet and Eastern European History Research Center.
·Theme report·
The theme report stage of the conference was presided over by Pan Qiang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice Dean of the School of Marxism at Harbin Engineering University.
Chai Shangjin, a researcher of the Contemporary World Research Center of the Foreign Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the chief expert of key textbook for Marxist theoretical research and construction projects “the History of the International Communist Movement”, discussed how foreign parties and scholars view socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and how foreign scholars view Chinese path to modernization by sharing the article “Foreign Political parties and Scholars view Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era”. It pointed out that the Chinese path to modernization path not only solves China’s practical problems, but also provides a new choice for developing countries with relatively backward economy and culture to realize modernization.
Pu Guoliang, a professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China and Vice President of the Chinese Society for the History of the International Communist Movement, pointed out in his article “Reflections on the Current Situation of Research on Socialism in China and the World” that the establishment of the World Socialist Research Center is timely. From a macro perspective, it is necessary to deeply study world socialism for the development of the world and the times, and from a micro perspective, it is necessary for academic and disciplinary development. At the same time, he put forward three expectations for the future development of the center: with Chinese characteristics, a global perspective, and high-level innovative achievements.
·Theme speech·
During the theme speech stage of the conference, Liu Guizhan, Vice Dean, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Marxism at Harbin Engineering University, presided over.
Professor and doctoral supervisor Li Yazhou from the Institute of Contemporary Socialism at Shandong University and the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies shared the article “Working Together to Deepen World Socialist Research”, which combined with important measures taken by the Ministry of Education of Shandong University to build a key research base for humanities and social sciences, pointed out that the center should first take the path of sustainability and entity to achieve leapfrog development; Secondly, focus on the introduction and training of full-time researchers; Finally, it is necessary to strengthen long-term cooperation and exchange with sister institutions.
Yan Jiehua, professor at the School of Marxism at Shaanxi Normal University and the leader in the field of foreign Marxist research shared the article “Several Reflections on the Academic Community of World Socialist Research”, which proposed the need to strengthen the academic journal system for domestic and international socialist research, based on the construction process of the field of foreign Marxist research at Shaanxi Normal University, the ownership of the discipline of world socialist research, and the current development status of the academic community Construction of professional association system and academic platform system.
Xiang Zuotao, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of International Relations at Peking University and Director of the Institute of World Socialism, pointed out in his article “Several Reflections on the Construction of Socialist Disciplines” that world socialist research should fully absorb and draw on interdisciplinary research methods in humanities and social sciences, broaden the scope of disciplinary research, conduct research from multiple perspectives and dimensions, and focus on producing high-quality works that can withstand the test of the times.
Hao Jiangdong, Director of the Soviet and Eastern European History Research Center at the Institute of Socialist History and Literature of East China Normal University, proposed that the World Socialist Research Center should focus on the collection and organization of important literature in the future, establish research results on a solid foundation of literature, and combine them with the needs of real social development, and should do real academic work and produce real results.
Wang Ximan, Vice Dean and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Marxism at Liaoning University, and Deputy Director of the Anti Corruption Research Center with Chinese Characteristics, pointed out that the School of Marxism should strengthen research on world socialism based on the direction of foreign Marxist research disciplines, regard the theory and practice of foreign Communist Party as an important field, and pay attention to the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis in research methods, as well as the combination of domestic research and foreign field investigations.
·Closing of the conference·
At the closing ceremony, Li Shihui, Director of the World Socialist Research Center at Harbin Engineering University, gave a concluding speech on the seminar.
More than 40 experts and scholars from the World Political Party Research Center of the External Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Peking University, Renmin University of China, China University of Political Science and Law, Shandong University, East China Normal University, Liaoning University, Shaanxi Normal University, and other universities and research institutes attended this conference.
