Li Changchun on Thursday called on members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to take the socialist path of promoting cultural advance with Chinese characteristics and strive to develop a strong socialist culture in China.

Li made the remarks while joining a panel discussion with Party delegates on Hu Jintao's report delivered to the 18th CPC National Congress Thursday morning.

Hu's report summarized the achievements scored in the past five years and the course over the past decade, Li said to the delegates from southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The report set forth a series of important theoretical and practical issues on how to uphold and build socialism with Chinese characteristics, Li said.

"We should stick to the socialist path of promoting cultural advance with Chinese characteristics, with pushing scientific development as the theme, promoting core socialist values as the fundamental task, satisfying people's spiritual and cultural needs as the objective, and taking reform and innovation as the drive, so as to build a strong socialist culture in China," he said.

Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has made important decisions on deepening reform of the cultural system. Cultural construction has reached a new stage and a socialist path of promoting cultural advance with Chinese characteristics has been developed, he said.

"This road clearly answers the strategic question about in which direction China's cultural reform will go and at which goal the reform will be aimed in new historical conditions, and is an important component of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics," Li said.