A leading Chinese ideologist said Wednesday that philosophic innovation needs to be based on Marxist principles.

At a meeting to mark the 50th founding anniversary of the CASS Institute of Philosophy, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Leng Rong, also said that philosophic research requires wide-ranging knowledge of both the natural and social sciences.

Leng encouraged his fellow researchers to cultivate insightful academic perspectives and understand modern philosophic issues.

Established in 1955 as a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Institute of Philosophy is one of the most prestigious ideological think tanks in China.

In addition to producing voluminous publications, the institute provides advice to high Communist Party of China (CPC) officials. Just after the decade of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) turmoil, the institute organized a nationwide ideological discussion on criteria for truth. The institute has also discussed economic development, socialist ethical improvement and market economics.

Li Jingyuan, director of the institute, said that since the adoption of China's policy of reform and opening itself to the outside world in the late 1970s, academic research at his institute has thrived.

In studying philosophy through the prism of socialism, Li acknowledged, Chinese researchers need to borrow insights from Western thought, enrich the Chinese notions of "harmonious economic and social development" as well as enhance the steering capacity building of the CPC.

Source: Xinhua