“Editor's Note:On November 23, Vice President of ICCS, Yan Yilong, participated in the 'Seminar on Thoroughly Studying the Spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee', which was organised by CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee and Qiushi Magazine. He made a keynote speech—Party Leadership is the Key to the Modernization of State Governance. He reckoned the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee provided an opportunity for academic innovation. The party and the government have already demonstrated a high degree of theoretical consciousness and self-confidence, so should the academic world. Chinese scholars must build an independent academic discourse system based on contemporary Chinese practice, guided by Marxism theory, while drawing on the nutrition of traditional ideas and western theories, so as to dialogue with international academic circles.”