On June 9, the Fifth State Governance System and Capacity Building Forum jointly organized by the Institute of State Governance, HUST, the Co- Innovation Center for State Governance of Hubei Province, the Editorial Board of Social Sciences in China and that of Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Social Science Edition) was held.

The theme of this forum is “State Governance Modernization (SGM) in the New Era”. At the 40^th anniversary of Chinese reform and opening up, this forum is dedicated to systematically examining how to advance the modernization of state governance system and capacity so as to better encounter changes in principal contradiction facing Chinese society in the new era. Over 100 experts attended the forum, who are from institutions of higher learning and research institutes including Development Research Center of the State Council, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Renmin University of China (RUC), Nanjing University, Wuhan University, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), Chongqing University and Sichuan University.

Several Speeches were delivered on the opening ceremony, the speakers of which included Shao Xinyu, HUST party committee secretary of CPC, Wang Limin, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Social Sciences in China press, Qin Daoming, research director of Hubei Provincial People's Government, Chen Zhiyong, deputy director of Political Research Office of CPC Hubei Provincial Committee (the Provincial Leading Team of Comprehensively Deepening the Reforms), Liu Honglan, vice president of Hubei Provincial Federation of Social Science Circles and Ouyang Kang, president of the Institute of state governance of HUST. Liu Jiuming, director of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of HUST, served as the host.

On behalf of HUST, Shao Xinyu delivered a welcome speech. He pointed out that it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to delve into The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and explore a new path of modernizing China's system and capacity for governance, which is up-to-date and politically oriented. HUST has been synergizing with socialist modernization and serving its country’s needs steadfastly. As a think tank, HUST established research institutes like the Institute of state governance and therefore made its due contribution in providing theoretical references and decision-making consulting services for the government, thus playing an important role in facilitating national economic and social development. Mr. Shao also said that he hoped that this forum could further enrich researches on state governance, drive SGM and hence contribute to the country’s further development.

Professor Ouyang Kang, as a representative from the host, made a keynote speech of “The Mission and Ideal State of SGM in the New Era”. He stated that traditional forms of state governance in China are now undergoing a deep transformation into modern ones. This transformation is not only gradual, requiring inheritance and promotion, but also a leap, requesting reform and innovation. Firstly people’s sense of mission should be strengthened to establish the strategic position of SGM. Secondly people’s awareness of history should be reinforced to summarize lessons of state governance from history. Thirdly, people’s innovation should be spurred to leverage China’s political institutions for governance. Fourthly, critical thinking should be advocated to penetrate diversified values in current Chinese society. Fifthly, consciousness of integration should be promoted to improve the effectiveness of China’s state governance capacity. As a whole, only with maximum innovation and creativity can we bring both traditional strengths and innovative ones to full play, and even surpass not only ourselves but also the West, which will back the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by secure institutions and governance and offer Chinese Proposals and wisdom to global governance.  

In this forum, 36 scholars in total gave keynote speeches during five sessions, all of who are well-qualified academically. They discussed theories and practice of SGM the new era from different perspectives and received substantial positive feedback. Specifically, discussion unfolded around “Establishment of a new think tank with Chinese distinctive characteristics in the new era” and some good opinions and suggestions were put forward. To generate reserve professionals for state governance research, the forum also set up “an up-to-date forum on state governance research”, in which dozens of PhD as well as postgraduate students from institutions of higher learning and research institutes nationwide participated.