The offprint of President Xi Jinping's speech to a symposium on philosophy and social sciences on May 17 has been published by the People's Publishing House.

Xi stressed the unique role of philosophy and social sciences in building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Highlighting the guiding role of Marxism, Xi called on research fellows in philosophy and social sciences to integrate socialist theory with Chinese characteristics into their research and teaching activities.

The leadership of the CPC is the fundamental guarantee of the development of philosophy and social sciences in China, Xi said.

Xi ordered Party organizations at various levels to put philosophy and social sciences-related work on their agendas.

According to Xi, efforts should be made to "care for, foster and make full use of" the many intellectuals in philosophy and social science fields and make them "advocates of advanced thinking, trailblazers of academic research, guides of social ethos and staunch supporters of Party governance."

During the symposium, scholars and research fellows from various disciplines such as philosophy, economics, history, law, Marxism and military science spoke and made proposals on the development of the philosophy and social sciences in the country.