Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2019

Philosophy and the Social Sciences during the 70 Years of the People’s Republic of China

(Abstract)

Xie Fuzhan, Zhang Wenxian, Zhang Fugui, Yu Pei and Yang Guangbin

The founding of the PRC in 1949 opened a new era in Chinese history. Accompanying the advancement of the PRC, numerous practitioners of philosophy and the social sciences, guided by Marxism and rooted in China’s reality, have tied themselves closely to the theme of the times and constantly forged ahead in arduous exploration, providing an important and fruitful basis of scientific principles and intellectual support for China’s socialist modernization. Since reform and opening up, the cause of Chinese philosophy and social sciences has flourished under the guidance of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and China’s philosophy and social sciences have ushered in new opportunities for great development. Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thought on constructing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, the social science community has been active in taking the major theoretical and practical issues that China faces in the new era as the main direction, being rooted in the Chinese situation, learning from foreign countries, drawing on history, grasping the contemporary, caring for humanity, and looking ahead to the future. In doing so, it has taken solid steps in building a path of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and a Chinese manner.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, we specially invited Xie Fuzhan, Researcher, President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Party Group Secretary; Zhang Wenxian, Senior Professor of Liberal Arts at Zhejiang University and Director of the Academic Committee of the China Law Society; Zhang Fugui, Professor at the China Culture Research Institute of Jilin University; Yu Pei, researcher at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and Yang Guangbin, Professor at the School of International Studies of Renmin University, to write special academic articles from the perspectives of economics, law, literature, history, political science, etc. They have reviewed the development and expressed their opinions on the trend of the academic development of contemporary China, profoundly interpreted the basis of scientific principles and logic of Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Through the publication of these articles, we hope to encourage various disciplines to actively engage in setting up innovative issues, refining iconic concepts and making a due contribution to accelerating the construction of the disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system for philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics.