Abstract: Chairman's Note: At the beginning of the 2019, the Institute of Chinese History Studies in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was established in Beijing, and the General Secretary XI Jin-ping sent a congratulatory letter to emphasize the importance of generalizing historical experience, exploring historical laws, figuring out historical trend and accelerating the construction of historiography discipline system, academic system and discourse system with Chinese characteristics, and expressed his hope that the institute could publish a series of insightful works and cultivate historians expertised in both Chinese and Western histories. For a better understanding of his congratulatory letter, the Journal of Beijing Normal University held a written discussion on the value of historiography, the features of Chinese ancient history, the relation between the historiography and sociology, the responsibility of historians and the task of the history discipline in BNU. The discussion is profound and comprehensive in theory, thought and analysis, and reflects the spirit and responsibility of the contemporary historians in the new era. (YANG Gongle)

Key words: congratulatory letter from the General Secretary XI Jinping, Academy of History Studies in China, historiography with Chinese characteristics, discipline system, academic system, discourse system