News Analysis: Chinese characteristics key to new era in social sciences

China needs its own theoretical structure to analyze and guide development, according to the response to a Tuesday speech by President Xi Jinping at a meeting on philosophy and social sciences.

Xi said that social scientists should focus their research on the present and study Chinese practices in society, economics, politics and other fields.

Dean of Fudan University China institute Zhang Weiwei told Xinhua that China had "shocked the world" with the unprecedented speed and scale of its development, but economic advantages had not been translated into public discourse.

"The key to this issue is to rebuild discourse about the country. Theoretical innovation in philosophy and social sciences is the pillar of this cause," said Zhang, who attended the meeting.

For the past three decades, erroneous Western prognoses have exposed the weakness or bias in the Western theoretical system, he said.

"China has outgrown the structure of Western social sciences. It should be the mission of Chinese researchers to explore innovative theories and models that fit China's reality," he said.

Justin Lin Yifu, former chief economist at the World Bank and now with Peking University national school of development, agreed that it is difficult to analyze China using the mainstream Western economic and social model due to fundamental differences in economic and cultural tradition.

In the past 30 years, China has not followed the neoliberal model but things have worked out just fine, Lin said, adding that China will overcome economic and social problems in its own way and should be a reference point for other developing countries.

Ru Xin of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences believes that though Chinese researchers are influenced by many different schools of thought, they should and will adhere to Marxist theory and practice.

Kang Zhen of Beijing Normal University suggests that tradition be adapted to cater to contemporary society. "Only by carrying on our vigorous and very alive cultural tradition can we Chinese have self confidence," he said.

Xi has promised to "care for, foster and make full use of" academics in the field, making them "advocates of advanced thinking, trailblazers in academic research, guides of social ethos and staunch supporters of Party governance." Endi