A girl reading a book at a book fairThe 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded on November 14th. The report of 18th CPC National Congress emphasized building an innovation system in philosophy and the social sciences. Looking back a decade to the 16th Party Congress, philosophy and the social sciences in China have made significant achievements in terms of the development of academic discipline and methodology. It has gradually improved its role in international academia. Scholars noted that the achievement could be attributed to the improvement of scientific research conditions, greater funding for philosophy and social science research year by year, huge efforts to construct humanities and social science databases and more frequent communication across different disciplines. Research investment Since the 16th Party Congress, a series of policies designed to develop flourishing social sciences and philosophy has been implemented, resulting in a significant improvement in research conditions for social scientists. For instance, funding for academic research by the National Social Science Fund increased substantially during the 11th Five-Year-Plan period.  Altogether, the fund spent 1.746 billion RMB over the past five years, more than twice the 559 million RMB it spent during the 10th Five-Year-Plan period.  The fund supported 11,098 research projects during the 11th Five-Year-Plan period—a 120% increase over the 5,044 research projects it supported during the 10th Five-Year-Plan period. According to official statics released by National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, the Chinese government is the primary benefactor to the fund. Since the 11th Five-Year -Plan period, the fund increased from 13 million RMB in 1991 to 1.2 billion RMB in 2012. In recent years, the development of philosophy and social sciences at Jilin University has made rapid progress. Sun Changzhi from Jilin University said that the investment in social sciences increased, the understanding of philosophy and the social sciences has deepened, and that channels for obtaining projects and funds have widened over the past few years. Jilin University has been trying to improve basic research conditions for philosophy and the social sciences to create a good academic atmosphere conducive to innovation and research. Yao Leye, a professor at Sichuan University, noted that since the 16th Party Congress, funding for research in the social sciences has increased year by year. In 2010, it broke 100 million RMB for the first time, and in 2011 it was 116.5 million RMB. Chen Zhong, a professor at Soochow University, argued that improvement of social science research conditions could be the harbinger of many changes to the map of interdisciplinary communication, and could promote mutual exchange between scholars and society. Soochow University spent more money in supporting scholars to study abroad and expand their intellectual horizons. Databases and other research toolsChen Zhong noted increasingly scientific research investment greatly accelerated the establishment and integration of social science resources. Also, it speeded up the development of academic journals and scientific-research bases.  In 2004, the China Academic Social Sciences and Humanities Library (CASHL) was established by the Ministry of Education in conjunction with Peking University, Nanjing University and Wuhan University. CASHL provides multiple library services, including access to a directory of databases, inter-library loan of books and periodicals, delivery of original texts, and more. All member universities enjoy these services as well as subsidies to support research and teaching in philosophy and the social sciences.  According to statistics released by CASHL, at present it subscribes to 11,796 different foreign leading journals in the social sciences, 1,799 different electronic periodicals, 340,000 electronic books and 910,000 foreign language books. Yao Leye also explained that Sichuan University has opened a philosophy and social sciences laboratory and an engineering and construction database. Currently, a center for comprehensive liberal arts teaching, an archeology research center, two research centers for 985 undergraduate majors, a southwestern literature center, and a social sciences topic database are under construction, and could greatly support scholarly research in the future.   Scholarly ethosWhile rapid economic growth and the promotion of cultural soft power have contributed to positive changes in China’s academic atmosphere, many scholars still insist that they need to strengthen their self discipline and grounding so as to continue reaping benefits in the future. Peng Xizhe, dean of school of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University, said that philosophy researchers and social scientists should actively explore and master the laws of philosophy and the social science by conducting a thorough review of the accumulated researching knowledge within their fields.. “Scholars should value classics and original texts; scholars should strengthen research on pressing practical issues. All in all, I have faith in the cause of future academic development,” said Chen Zhong. The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No.366, Oct.15, 2012(Translated by Yang Min)