Speech by Dai Bin at the Symposium on Commemorating the 88th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China and the Discipline Construction of China Tourism Research Institute

On June 28, 2009, Dai Bin, Secretary of the Party Branch and Vice President, made an important speech at the themed Party Day and Discipline Construction Seminar commemorating the 88th anniversary of the founding of the Party at the China Tourism Research Institute. The full text is as follows:

Serve the industry and serve the country, with discipline construction as the center, steadily promote the construction of the think tank of China Tourism Research Institute

Comrades: On the special day of the eighty eighth anniversary of the founding of the CPC and the first anniversary of the founding of the China Tourism Research Institute, I think it is undoubtedly of great practical significance for us to discuss discipline construction, a major issue related to the development strategy of the Institute, in combination with our own development needs. The convening of this meeting has received warm care and careful guidance from Professor Du Jiang, Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration and Dean of the China Tourism Research Institute, in terms of the preparation of preliminary plans, determination of main topics, and major principles related to discipline construction. Just now, comrades have all expressed their good opinions and suggestions. Now, I would like to share some personal thoughts on the main achievements and basic experience of the institute in the past year, the situation and tasks faced by the research institute, the medium and long-term strategic goals and action framework, the construction ideas and methods of the tourism discipline, the positioning and talent cultivation of the institute, academic exchanges and international cooperation. If there are any inappropriate aspects, please criticize me. 1、 The achievements and experiences of the institute since its establishment one year ago, June 6, 2008, is a day that will always be remembered in the history of the institute's development. On this day, under the joint witness of leaders from the National Tourism Administration, various departments, directly affiliated units, and association leaders, Director Shao Qiwei and Deputy Director Zhang Xiqin jointly unveiled the plaque for the research institute, marking its official establishment. Since that day, under the warm care of the Party group of the bureau and the joint efforts of all researchers and administrative staff, the research institute has continued to grow and achieved some preliminary achievements, as well as accumulated some experience. Allow me to make a brief review below. Firstly, adhering to the policy of building a "government think tank" that serves the country has become one of the strategic support points for the decision-making of the bureau's party group. The research institute was established under the warm care of Vice Premier Wu Yi and the direct leadership of the National Tourism Administration. According to the instructions of Dean Du Jiang, providing academic support for the medium and long-term strategic decision-making of the bureau's party group and providing corresponding intellectual support for the policy formulation of the National Tourism Administration is the primary task of the research institute's construction and development. Over the past year, we have published 26 issues of "Tourism Internal Reference", 35 issues of "Information Express", and 1 issue of "Tourism News". We have also given one special lecture to the central group of the bureau's party committee and undertaken several research tasks. Some of our achievements have been transformed into organic components of government decision-making and administrative management, which can be said to have initially formed the prototype of an authoritative think tank and the form of ideological embodiment. Secondly, we will adhere to the guiding principle of "facing the industry and serving the industry", while providing professional academic services to the Chinese tourism industry, we will strive to lead the direction of industry development. Serving the Chinese tourism industry is not only the founding purpose of the research institute, but also an inevitable requirement for the integration of theory with practice and academic style. Over the past year, our researchers have conducted research on more than 60 people in various regions in combination with scientific research projects and special tasks. We have completed or will soon complete 15 research projects commissioned by tourism administrative departments and related institutions in various regions. A preliminary achievement system for the tourism industry has been formed, with the "China Tourism Economy Monitoring and Early Warning System" as the platform, the "Blue Book of Tourism Economy" as the center, the "Annual Report on China's Outbound Tourism Development", the "Annual Report on China's Hotel Industry Development" as the support, and special research reports as the innovation point. Thirdly, we must adhere to academic innovation supported by basic engineering, strive to build an academic highland, and influence the macro direction of China's tourism academic research through conferences, project proposals, awards, and other channels. Over the past year, the research institute has published 5 monographs, including "Thirty Years of Chinese Tourism Research" and "Research on the Market Environment and Growth Strategy of Chinese Resort Hotels". 34 academic papers have been publicly published, and the first Tourism Science Annual Conference has been successfully held. The first research project of the National Tourism Administration has been successfully completed, and academic seminars and achievement press conferences have been held multiple times, which has had a significant impact in the academic community. Fourthly, we will adhere to the principle of open research and resource integration, build a platform for communication, exchange, and cooperation among government, industry, academia, and research institutions, and establish a mechanism for academic dialogue on tourism between China and the world. Under the direct advocacy of Dean Du Jiang, the research institute established an academic committee composed of 9 renowned professors at the beginning of its establishment, including 2 foreign members and 6 members from other domestic universities and research institutions. We have hired Professor Shen Baojia, the founder of Chinese tourism academia, as our academic advisor and conducted extensive international and domestic academic exchanges through the approach of "going out and inviting in". We have also established a Kunming branch and are currently implementing the pilot work of the first batch of external research bases, laying the foundation for the development pattern of the Open and Open Institute. In addition to the above four aspects, it should be said that we still have many achievements and experiences to summarize. Due to time constraints, I will not go into detail one by one. At the same time, we should also recognize that due to the short establishment time, small number of personnel, and large number of new talents, the research institute is facing a series of urgent practical problems that need to be solved to achieve its own development strategy goals, such as weak basic engineering, unstable and unclear academic direction, slow progress in academic team and echelon construction, few academic achievements with original innovative nature and ideological innovation, weak international academic reputation and industrial influence, etc., all of which require our collective efforts and greater efforts to solve. It can be said that compared to the requirements of the Party group of the bureau and the expectations of the industry and academia, we have just taken the first step of the Long March. 2、 The development environment and situation of the research institute are related to our mission. Since its establishment in June 2008, the research institute has achieved a series of remarkable research results in a relatively short period of time, relying on the strong support of the National Tourism Administration, various levels of government tourism regulatory departments, the industry, and other relevant institutions. However, to establish a respected think tank, it is far from enough to conduct specialized policy research on the phased decisions of government regulatory departments and the practical needs of industrial development. Theoretical innovation centered on development ideas, a solid and logically constructed academic paradigm, a clear and mutually supportive academic team, landmark achievements published continuously, and a wide range of academic reputation and social influence both domestically and internationally are the fundamental guarantees for the sustainable development of the research institute. These are the core competitiveness of the tourism professional think tank. Many comrades present have not actually participated in the process of a think tank's growth and development, especially in the operation and management experience of academic institutions. Many times, we are exploring and moving forward in the process of summarizing while practicing. Therefore, the primary task we face is to scientifically analyze and systematically grasp the development environment and situation faced by the research institute, and establish a discipline construction system with its own characteristics and corresponding action plans as soon as possible. 1. The main types and strategic trends of domestic and foreign tourism academic research institutions. China's tourism academic research started simultaneously with industrial development practices. Due to the unclear boundaries of the industry and the immaturity of Kuhn's disciplinary paradigm, almost all disciplines can enter this field. In recent years, the rapid development of China's tourism market and industry has also attracted more international academic institutions to pay attention to China's themes and compete with local academic institutions for industrial resources and academic discourse power. Firstly, higher education institutions, research institutes, and research institutions directly under and affiliated with local government tourism regulatory departments that offer tourism management majors in China are the traditional subjects of tourism research. These institutions have conducted academic research on tourism earlier and have a greater influence. Their advantages are manifested in either having talent advantages and support from the education department, or having industrial development practices and administrative resource support. There was a period of time when the market-oriented realism of universities and research institutes was quite strong, but now there is a tendency to return, emphasizing academic rationality in teaching and research, professional infrastructure construction, and willingness to serve society with their own academic resources. These institutions, especially those comprehensive universities, have natural advantages in basic theoretical construction, standardized applied research, talent cultivation, and international exchange and cooperation. In terms of maintaining relationships with such institutions, especially universities, I believe that cooperation is more important than competition. We cannot directly compete with them, but rather make good use of the resource advantages of relying on the National Tourism Administration, unite them more widely, and guide them to better serve the medium and long-term development strategy of China's tourism industry while doing a good job in talent cultivation and scientific research. Secondly, some non-traditional tourism research institutions, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Development Research Center of the State Council, and professional research institutions affiliated to major ministries and commissions, have also entered or are entering tourism policy research, tourism development thematic research, and even directly involved in tourism industry development planning, project planning, tourism enterprise development strategy research and project consulting, and have achieved certain results and influence. They have a more favorable administrative resource background and often have an advantage over us in undertaking high-level large-scale projects. In our cooperation with them, we should make good use of their communication channels with senior management, make our own voice heard, and not "everything through the united front", let alone intentionally or unintentionally turning the research institute into their workstation or a base for the export of senior laborers. Once again, academic institutions and professional tourism academic institutions based on universities such as the World Tourism Organization (WTO), World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Asia Pacific Tourism Association (PATA), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as research institutions affiliated with tourism management departments in some countries, such as the Korea Tourism Research Institute, the French Tourism Research Institute, and even commercial research institutions such as Haohua, Huasheng, Atkins, WATG, as well as commercial organizations, media, and non-profit social groups in a wider range, have also paid attention to the rapid development of the Chinese tourism market and are conducting tracking research in different directions. They are striving or have partially achieved success in various fields. The discourse power in the development strategy of China's tourism industry. With the development of China's tourism industry, these institutions will also invest more academic resources in China and become strong competitors to the growing research institutes. We must have a clear understanding of this and not become academic colonies of the West. Instead, we must use an open mind and professional abilities to make our voices heard in international exchanges and cooperation, forming a stronger and broader influence. 2. We must closely rely on the tourism industry and take the professional think tank as a strategic direction. The goal of the discipline construction of the research institute is to condense the academic direction of the tourism discipline based on scientific analysis of our development environment and current situation, form a distinctive academic paradigm, lay a solid academic foundation, build an academic platform, stabilize the research team, cultivate an academic team, and continuously enhance the academic reputation and industrial influence of the research institute through the publication of major landmark academic achievements and a series of annual research results. Through more extensive academic exchanges and international cooperation, we aim to truly build the research institute into a respected think tank. It is precisely based on the grasp of the highest program and the nature of the establishment of the institute that the Dean's Office approved the institute's medium - and long-term goals, which are to build the China Tourism Research Institute into the most influential and internationally renowned tourism professional think tank in China within about 10 years, in accordance with the principles of "government think tank, industrial intelligence source, and academic highland". The short-term goal is to conduct research on the major work of the National Tourism Administration and several major issues in the development of China's tourism industry, and form a batch of breakthrough research results in industrial policies and development strategies. Within 3 to 5 years, the China Tourism Research Institute will be built into a first-class professional research institution in China. It should be said that the three-year development plan and medium - to long-term development outline approved by the Dean's Office are in line with the situation of the institution and practical. Especially the medium and long-term goals are well proposed. Every organization needs a vision and a cohesive direction for all members to strive towards. We are not teaching institutions, administrative agencies, or commercial companies, but think tanks that provide public services for the development of the tourism industry. Comrades who come here must agree with this concept and goal. If you want to get promoted and make a fortune, to be honest, the research institute is not the right place for you to stay. But if you want to find a platform to contribute your talents and efforts to the tourism industry and our country, then we are comrades. 3、 The guiding ideology and research methods of discipline construction are that people have ideas, and action is the concretization of ideas. Compared to organizations that typically focus on incentive and constraint mechanisms, I place more emphasis on the ideological identification among organizational members. For research institutes, unified thinking and scientific methods are the foundation of our establishment. 1. Marx said that ideology is like lightning, as long as it pierces the ground, it will cause violent movements in the earth's crust. Born in this great era, our fathers, brothers, our industries, and our country need our talents and struggles. A scholar who serves his country has nothing else but a pen in his hand like a knife. For this reason, we hope that everyone can cultivate themselves and read Comrade Liu Shaoqi's classic works such as "On the Cultivation of Communist Party Members" carefully, and also grasp the line, principles, and policies of the Party and the country's prosperous development of philosophy and social sciences. We are different from ordinary academic institutions. We are a professional think tank directly under the leadership of the National Tourism Administration, and must have our own beliefs, positions, and values. For this reason, I hope that all researchers and administrative personnel will have a sense of loyalty, and must remember that we are not simply conducting general policy research, nor are we business consulting companies. Everything we do is for the needs of the prosperity and development of China's tourism industry, and for the interests of the country and the people. 2. Emphasis on investigation and research, and adherence to the excellent academic atmosphere of integrating theory with practice. Everyone has been trained in formal colleges and universities, but we should not become so-called scholars who only draw supply and demand curves on paper. We should remember that practice is the best teacher. I suggest that everyone take the time to read Chairman Mao Zedong's "Theory of Practice", and also read Mr. Fei Xiaotong's "Jiangcun Economy", the founder of Chinese sociology. Our thinking is to influence policies and corporate development strategies. Without understanding China's national conditions and the tourism industry, we will only follow the trend and show off some textbook terms and principles, while ignoring or not knowing how to solve the practical problems of China's tourism industry. That's not acceptable! To this end, we must strive to strengthen the improvement of research methods. Following the general rules of academic research in tourism, especially with rich data and case studies as support, we should comprehensively use quantitative research, qualitative research, comparative research and other methods to ensure that our research results can withstand scientific scrutiny. That is to say, every comrade should emphasize the use of scientific methods in research, and their words must be based on evidence, without beating their heads. We are a newly established institution, and although most of our comrades have obtained doctoral degrees, they are still newcomers in the academic world. We do not have the qualifications or ability to hit our heads, but we must do things in the right way. I also want to remind comrades that an excellent scholar should have calm and pure qi, and must avoid floating and impatience. At a young age, people always think about "getting famous early", which has no benefits and cannot achieve great things. 3. Understand the audience, respect the audience, and adhere to a style of expression that combines logical rationality with emotional rationality. Our research results are meant to be read and listened to, so it is necessary to understand the audience and respect their way of receiving them. An excellent academic article or research report should have a logical aesthetic when read. Internal logical rationality, sentences that readers can understand and are willing to listen to. In ancient times, writing emphasized the organic unity of "reasoning, textual research, and rhetoric", which means that only articles with comprehensive ideas, logic, methods, and literary style can be accepted by the academic and professional circles and passed down. Once during an inspection in Zhenjiang, I stumbled upon the works of two familiar colleagues at an old book stall by the river. The two books are specialized books on Introduction to Tourism and Tourism Planning, with original prices of 14 yuan and 21 yuan respectively. In less than ten years, it was placed on an old book stall and priced at 2 yuan per book. I estimate that negotiating with the boss for two books at 3 yuan is not a problem. Can't help but look at each other with a smile: If I buy it and return it to the author along with the price tag, I wonder how I feel? So, articles are timeless events, and one must be extremely cautious when writing, and even more so when publishing. 4. Open up the establishment of the institute and adhere to cultivating talents with an international perspective. Our research object is the Chinese tourism industry, and we also aim to serve the Chinese tourism industry. To this end, we need to absorb all the ideas and methods that can be absorbed from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, cultivate an international research perspective, and not conduct research in a closed manner. We need to carry out research work in an open and integrated environment. To stand at the height of economic and social development, adhere to and construct mainstream values, and learn from advanced international experiences with an open mind. But we should not only stay at the level of learning, but also make our voices heard in the international academic and industrial fields. We should pay attention to the cultivation of talents. Talents are the most valuable, and academic teams are an important support for the development of disciplines in research institutes. Without a scientific framework and a solid and stable academic team, all the development of the research institute is just empty talk. Therefore, in order to build a good academic team, it is not just about "management", but also about cultivating and trusting, and providing young people with sufficient development space. 5. We encourage researchers to read more books and persistently enhance their academic background and humanistic sense. One is to read some books related to economics, management and other majors, cultivate basic technical thinking, and master basic research theories. Secondly, it is necessary to read books in the field of tourism to form knowledge support in multiple fields, in order to enrich and stimulate academic thinking in tourism. Thirdly, one should read books on literature, history, and philosophy to cultivate a broad and expansive realm of thought and emotions. We also need to deepen our understanding of industrial development and government operation practices to solve the problems that have sunk. By looking up at the starry sky and immersing oneself in academic research in tourism with a down-to-earth attitude, one can surely create a number of research results that are rich in practical connotations and ideological heights. Finally, it is necessary to communicate and exchange ideas with peers in academia and industry, continuously obtain the latest academic ideas, research trends, and industry development data, and continuously enrich the construction of the research institute's ideological database. 6. Strengthening platform construction and adhering to improving the organizational guarantee of discipline construction. In order to become a dynamic and sustainable research institution, the research institute must be able to form an objective core competitiveness, namely the database, without relying on renowned scholars. Modern social science research emphasizes quantitative research, and our database construction should become a vibrant think tank. As long as our database serves as data support, anyone can form research results that are authoritative, timely, scientific, and standardized. At the same time, the research institute needs to establish a stable external cooperation mechanism, handle relationships with governments, industries, and enterprises at all levels, and lay the foundation for database construction to obtain long-term stable information sources and data support. The research team is the foundation of the research institute. The Research Management Department, Academic Promotion Department, and Administration Department, as the three administrative functional departments of the research institute, should each perform their respective duties, conscientiously fulfill their departmental functions, actively cooperate with the construction of the research team, create conditions for the development of the research team, and do their best to solve all problems