Commemorative stamps marking the 110th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's birth are displayed in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on Wednesday. The stamps will be officially released on Friday. They depict Deng's leading of the Baise Uprising in 1929, his addressing the UN General Assembly in 1974, his speech at the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1982, and the famous speech given during his landmark tour in southern China in 1992. Photo: CFP

President Xi Jinping vowed to uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics and China's independent "path, theory and system" on Wednesday as China marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of former leader Deng Xiaoping.

Addressing a symposium to mark the anniversary, which falls on Friday, Xi said the most important political and theoretical legacy of the late Chinese leader is socialism with Chinese characteristics, which the Party and people created under the leadership of Deng.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics fits the country's reality and meets the needs of the times, which is why it works, said the president.

"The independent path, theory and system are key to the sovereignty and dignity of our country as well as to the self-esteem and independence of the Chinese nation," he said.

"We will try our best to reform areas that are weak and unsound and learn from the good experiences of foreign countries. But we will never completely copy foreign experiences let alone absorb bad things from them," he said.

China will never belittle itself nor forget its roots, Xi said, adding that the country's contemporary history has proven the only correct way to solve problems in China is to do so in the country's own way and based on its own reality.

In addition to Xi, six other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee also attended the event held at the Great Hall of the People.

Deng was born on August 22, 1904 in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. He was called the "chief architect of China's reform and opening-up" for his painstaking efforts in leading the country's modern-day transformation, starting in the 1970s.