Editor’s note: Before the arrival of the Spring Festival, Guo Chengyan, Party Secretary and Deputy Director-General of Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies (Secretariat of China Confucius Foundation), delivered a New Year Message on Chinakongzi.org. The inspiring message was warmly and unanimously recognized by lovers, researchers and spreaders of Chinese studies. A few days ago, Wang Zhen, a volunteer for the spread of Confucianism and a junior student at Shandong Normal University, translated the message into English, in an effort to enhance its influence and promote the spread of Confucianism. 

　　A Speech Delivered by Guo Chengyan, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies (China Confucius Foundation) in the New Year of Renyin

　　Dear friends,

　　As we are celebrating the arrival of another spring and the Chinese New Year, on behalf of China Confucius Foundation and Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies, I would like to extend my sincere greetings and New Year's wishes to all friends who have long cared about and supported the development of Confucianism, as well as to the family-like students of the Confucius School!

　　In the past year, we kept in mind the expectations of the people and forged ahead. Under the strong leadership of the Ministry of Education, the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee and the Shandong Provincial Government, and with care and support from the society, the Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies and the China Confucius Foundation rose to the challenges, kept a sound momentum, and embarked on a new journey. Last year, we kept adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s specific realities and its fine traditional culture and successfully held the 7th Nishan World Civilizations Forum. We established the Joint Graduate School of Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies with ten first-class universities in China, and successfully completed the enrollment and first-year training of the 100 doctoral students majoring in Confucian studies. We standardized the construction of Confucius School, steadily improved the quality of the Confucius Studies Journal, and resumed the publication of a popularizing book More about Confucius. We established a branch center and four research bases of the Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies. We carried out fund-raising and publicity promotion activities, achieved historic breakthroughs in the fund-raising quota for the Foundation, and solidly promoted the creative transformation and innovative development of the fine Chinese traditional culture. We have ensured the accelerating construction of global Confucianism in four key areas, namely talents attraction and training, academic research, popularization and promotion, and international communication capacity.

　　Hard work leads to success. As the CPC's 20th National Congress will be held in this year, it is also a crucial year for the Center to lay down a solid foundation for future development. We will adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, base our efforts on the interests of the people, bear in mind the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, promote the high-standard, sincere, detail-oriented, pragmatic and swift working style, and strive to take the lead in adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s specific realities and its fine traditional culture and promoting the creative transformation and development of fine cultural traditions.

　　I sincerely wish everyone good health, a happy family, and all the best in the New Year!