BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed high expectations for the work of the People's Education Press (PEP) in school teaching materials compilation, research and publication, urging efforts to create high quality teaching materials.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed the importance of centering the publishing house's work on the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, in his reply to a letter from some PEP retirees.

Extending regards to all the PEP staff, Xi in the letter hailed the contributions made by the organization over the past 70 years to China's education cause through the compilation, research and publication of teaching materials for basic education and educational books.

"Education is the foundation of national development in the long run," Xi said in the letter. He expressed his hope for the PEP to focus on developing high-quality teaching materials and make greater contributions to strengthening education and nurturing a new generation of capable young people who have a comprehensive moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetical grounding in addition to a hardworking spirit and are well prepared to join the socialist cause.

Founded in 1950, the PEP specializes in studying, compiling, publishing and distributing textbooks and teaching materials for basic education, as well as educational books. It has released more than 70,000 types of publications with a total circulation of over 75 billion.

On behalf of all staff of the publishing house, some retirees recently wrote Xi to report the efforts of the publishing house in compilation and education over the past seven decades, and express their determination to contribute to China's education publishing cause.