Liu Qibao, a member of the Political Bureau and Secretariat of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was on an investigation tour through Shanxi Province from June 16 to 18.

During his tour, Liu stressed that local governments should conscientiously study and implement the spirit of important remarks made by President Xi Jinping at a symposium on May 17, where he discussed the country's work in philosophy and social sciences.

Liu said that governmental officials should take a clear stance in adhering to the guiding position of Marxism in philosophy and social sciences and adopt correct political, value and academic orientations.

Liu went deep down to grass-roots cultural organizations and enterprises in Taiyuan, Jinzhong and Linfen, where he looked into the specific circumstances of local cultural development and reform and had informal discussions with officials and villagers.

Liu explained that socialism with Chinese characteristics attaches great importance to philosophy and social sciences. He said that theoretical workers should deepen their research on major theoretical and practical issues, achieve a thorough understanding of the issues through mastery of all relevant materials and write a new chapter of Chinese Marxism in contemporary China.

Liu praised Shanxi Province for its long history and splendid culture. He suggested the province take advantage of its rich cultural resources to carry out educational activities on patriotism, the rule of law and building an honest and clean government. He said that the province should have more public service advertising for building good social ethics.

Liu pointed out that promoting the development of provincial-level media convergence is an important task for expanding mainstream public opinions and deepening the reform of news reporting systems. He said the reform will help cultivate more professional journalists, editors and management personnel.