Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has called for innovating and developing the Marxist theories with practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics in China.

Presiding over a collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Friday, Hu said that the practice of building socialism in China needs to step up theoretical studies of Marxism and explore the theory on a still broader stage.

Hu, also the Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, underscored that China's political, economic, cultural, social and party issues have to be dealt from the perspective of the country's specific characteristics and concrete conditions and by the combination of both theory and practice.

Meanwhile, the leadership should also be good at learning experience from the practice of the masses of people and incorporating such experience into theory, he said.

Innovation should be taken as a priority in the development of philosophy and social sciences which are guided by Marxism, and the process of building socialism should also give the opportunities for the Marxism theory to exert its charms and play a guiding role, he said.

Finally, Hu acknowledged that building a politically strong, competent and upright contingent is a crucial issue in doing a good job in Marxist theoretical studies, saying that China should foster a contingent of Marxism theorists with high reputation both at home and overseas and other ace experts and scholars in other branches of learning and specialties as well.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2005)