Four of China's top leaders, including President Hu Jintao, met on Wednesday with representatives of the country's movie industry, and extended warm congratulations to the centennial anniversary of the industry.

 

Apart from Hu, the leaders present at the meeting included Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, and Li Changchun,a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

 

"All those working with China's movie industry should stick to the correct political direction all the time and incessantly drive up their sense of social responsibility to further the prosperity of China's movie industry," said Hu when addressing the meeting with more than 700 participants.

 

On behalf of both the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, Hu delivered greetings to all the country's movie workers and paid respects to those who have made remarkable achievements.

 

According to Hu, China's movie industry has walked through an unusual process and reaped remarkable benefits in the last century, especially after 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded.

 

"You've shared the people's breath and the fate of our motherland," he said, adding that the industry's development is of great significance to the prosperity of the socialist culture and the promotion of the modernization process in China.

 

He urged the movie workers to make more contributions to the building of a well-off society in China and to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

 

The industry should also further the reform of its internal working mechanisms through promoting innovations, according to Li Changchun.

 

"With all its achievements in the past century, it now stands at a new starting point," he said.

 

To support the industry's further development and prosperity, favorable circumstances should be formed in the whole society to that effect, he said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2005)