BEIJING - Like William Shakespeare in the English-speaking world, the mention of Su Shi, a historic icon of Chinese literature, evokes awe and admiration among Chinese people.

With his charming personality and achievements in literature and arts, Su has left an ever-lasting impression on Chinese people, and his poems and essays have been studied and quoted for centuries.

"Overcome the hardest part and pursue the highest target" -- In 2019, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, cited these words excerpted from a piece written by Su, while presiding over a Party session.

The session reviewed and adopted the CPC Central Committee's decision on some major issues concerning how to uphold and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advance the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance.

Last week, while inspecting Sichuan province, Xi visited San Su Ci, the memorial temple and former residence of Su Shi as well as his father Su Xun and his brother Su Zhe. All three are widely regarded as literary masters.

Chinese civilization has a history of more than 5,000 years, and fine traditional Chinese culture should be honored and cultural confidence strengthened, Xi said.

He highlighted that it is important to draw on ways of state governance from fine traditional Chinese culture and learn extensively from outstanding achievements of other civilizations.