Just now, representatives from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (“SMEC”) and Shanghai University introduced the preparatory work of the Shanghai Academy. Both organizations have done a lot of work with full support and effort in the course of jointly constructing the Shanghai Academy by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (“CASS”) and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government (“SMPG”). On behalf of the Party Group of CASS, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them. CASS and SMPG have jointly constructed the Shanghai Academy, but SMEC and Shanghai University have carried out a lot of work. Besides, SMEC and Shanghai University are major co-operative organizations of the Bureau of Scientific Research Management of CASS. CASS would like to launch sincere cooperation this time. We are willing to carry out cooperation with SMPG, SMEC and Shanghai University. We are also very serious about this cooperation. I hope that with our joint efforts, Shanghai Academy can be built into a truly integrated humanities and social sciences research institution of influence and with a new operational mechanism. This is not only a bold vision, but also a strategic idea and meanwhile a newborn thing. We must sincerely cooperate to do it well.
The determination of the Party Group of CASS is great. For this reason, the Party Group held three meetings. After conferring, it decided to transfer some full-time cadres to Shanghai. We have transferred Mr. Wen Xueguo, Vice President of the Graduate School of CASS in charge of teaching, to Shanghai to be responsible for the daily operation of Shanghai Academy. Besides, we have transferred the head of the Party Committee’s Organization Division to act as the head of the Secretariat of Shanghai Academy. They are outstanding cadres. To facilitate their work, we have retained their posts and designated them here to develop their leadership. In addition, we will transfer other full-time cadres to work here. This shows that we attach great importance to this thing and that we are determined to do it well. Comrades from SMEC and Shanghai University should not be worried about it. We will do it well in accordance with the common requirements of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, SMPG and the Party Group of CASS.
To run the Shanghai Academy well, we must thoroughly implement the spirit of serial important speeches made by General Secretary Xi Jinping. In accordance with the requirements of the central government and revolving around the central tasks of the Party and the state, Shanghai Academy will provide services for the development of eco-social development of Shanghai and the prosperity and development of philosophy and social sciences, thus helping the construction of the “four firsts” and “four centers” in Shanghai. In the construction process, we must follow the following principles:
First, we must adhere to the correct political orientation and academic orientation. We must use General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions on strengthening new think tank construction with Chinese characteristics as a guide; and we must run Shanghai Academy well, in accordance with the requirements of the Opinions of the Central Government on Strengthening New Think Tank Construction with Chinese Characteristics.
Second, Shanghai Academy should provide services in the context of the overall economic and social development of Shanghai, and use the demands of the people living in Shanghai and economic and social development of Shanghai as the main direction of its scientific research. At the same time, Shanghai Academy should take into account the requirements of SMEC and Shanghai University when designing its work assignments.
Third, we must establish a set of rules and regulations. We need to do things strictly according to the system and rules. We need to comply with all the regulations of Shanghai, including financial management regulations, and the regulations of SMEC and Shanghai University.
Fourth, we must work diligently to explore an innovative road. We should carry forward the spirit of reform and innovation to build Shanghai Academy into a new research entity, thus providing services for the prosperity and development of philosophy and social sciences.
Fifth, we try to come up with relevant scientific research achievements, thus giving a satisfactory answer to the citizens of Shanghai, the Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, SMPG, and the faculty of Shanghai University.
As for the work in the next step, we need to conduct a more detailed plan. In addition to some major projects that the people of Shanghai and the eco-social development of Shanghai urgently need, the cooperative projects between us and SMEC and Shanghai University, such as co-training graduate students and undergraduates, and launching interdisciplinary and new disciplinary research and teaching, and so on, should be included in the work plan and be implemented on a case-by-case basis. CASS has strong strength in humanity subjects, so we can provide assistance in terms of teacher training, personnel training, and other humanities disciplines. If parties in Shanghai have requirements, you can raise them as well. Building Shanghai Academy has the purpose of allowing researchers to come to the forefront of social and economic development to understand practice, the masses, and the country’s real conditions, thus integrating the development of the humanities and social sciences and the scientific research of the researchers themselves. Now that we come to Shanghai, we will complete our task well. The projects included in the plan need to be solved urgently. We can make some efforts in discipline construction in the future on a long-term basis. Shanghai Academy should also endeavor to make the overall development of philosophy and social sciences in Shanghai. For instance, the development of philosophy, economics, literature, sociology, political science, law, and other important disciplines need to make further considerations.
Shanghai is the window of China’s reform and opening up. We have been asking researchers to learn from Shanghai at CASS. We can consider cooperation more widely and delicately. There are many resources available at CASS to strengthen cooperation between the two sides. We have many leading strengths at home and abroad. For instance, CASS has edited and issued more than eighty kinds of authoritative academic journals at home, spanning various disciplines of humanities and social sciences, such as Chinese Social Science, Philosophical Research, Legal Research, and other publications with great influence. CASS also publishes Chinese Social Sciences Today, Chinese Social Sciences Net, and five professional publishers, including Social Sciences in China Press, which has built extensive contacts with academics around the world. We can use Shanghai Academy as a coordination platform for both sides and further go global along with humanities and social sciences at colleges in Shanghai.
As for the work of Shanghai Academy, I would like to raise some requirements. That is, Shanghai Academy should have a great, long-term, and high expectation. However, it should do things painstakingly, carefully and practically. It should do everything solidly. For example, as for the major research topics with eight directions, proposed this year, we should carry them out well, come up with research achievements, and issue Key Reference. The second Shanghai Archaeology Forum held this year has a larger momentum than the first one. We can unite Shanghai University to conduct archaeological activities abroad. We need to make Shanghai a world archeology window, which shall be considered a contribution for Shanghai Academy and Shanghai University. Several things put forward by Shanghai can be operated now that Shanghai Academy has been established. For instance, the joint undergraduate and graduate enrollment work program needs to be proposed and implemented incrementally. As for the construction of Shanghai Academy, we need to lay a foundation this year, see achievements in three years, and have a leapfrog development in five years.
President Qian Weichang made a very good proposal: undergraduates and graduates at polytechnic universities should learn culture of humanities and they should have sufficient knowledge of humanities. Scholars and experts doing the research on humanities, history and philosophy at CASS have conducted an in-depth and refined academic research, wining a high reputation in the academic community. Shanghai Academy can introduce them to enrich the teaching content of Shanghai University, by giving lectures, making reports and teaching students. It will benefit the students at Shanghai University and students learning at other universities will be attracted here to share the fruits of cooperation.
Finally, I hope that Shanghai Academy will bear fruitful results under the joint construction of CASS and Shanghai Municipality and build itself into a high-end think tank with a great influence and international reputation! That’s all today. Thank you.
