Chinese President Hu Jintao met with outstanding Chinese modern drama practitioners on Wednesday evening and called on modern drama practitioners to contribute to cultural prosperity and social harmony.

He and other senior leaders, including Li Changchun, also watched a modern opera show to commemorate the centennial of birth of Chinese modern drama.

In the past one hundred years, Chinese modern drama artists have staged lots of good dramas and played an active role in promoting China's revolution, construction and reform, said Hu.

In the new era, modern drama should continue to shoulder their social responsibility to produce more dramas reflecting people's lives and spirit of the times.

Hu called on Chinese modern drama practitioners to stage more excellent works to promote cultural prosperity and make more contributions to building a socialist harmonious society.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2007)