PRESIDENT Xi Jinping vowed yesterday to uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics and China’s independent “path, theory and system” as China marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of Deng Xiaoping.

    Addressing a symposium to mark the day, which falls tomorrow, Xi said the most important political and theoretical legacies of the late Chinese leader are socialism with Chinese characteristics.

    Socialism with Chinese characteristics fits China’s reality and meets the needs of the times, which is why it works, he said.

    “We will try our best to reform areas that are weak and unsound and learn from the good experiences of foreign countries. But we will never completely copy foreign experiences, let alone absorb bad things from them,” Xi said.

    Deng was born Aug. 22, 1904 in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. He was called the “chief architect of China’s reform and opening up” for his painstaking efforts in leading the country’s modern-day transformation, starting in the 1970s.

    The nation is holding a series of activities to celebrate the late leader’s life and rethink how to push forward reforms across a society with far more diverse and conflicting interests than 30-odd years ago.

    State television is airing a series on Deng, revealing details about his daily life.

    The 48-part drama series, “Deng Xiaoping During a Historic Turning Point,” chronicles a period between 1976 and 1984, when he began pushing China toward market reforms that ignited its transition into the world’s second-largest economy. The series made its debut on Channel One of China Central Television on Aug. 8. Two 45-minute episodes are being shown each night from Monday to Friday.

    (Xinhua)

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