BEIJING -- The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Sunday adopted a resolution on the amendment to the CPC Constitution to enshrine the "scientific outlook on development" and other strategic thoughts advanced since 2002.

The amendment takes effect as of the same date.

The scientific outlook on development is described as a continuation and development of the important thoughts on development advanced by the three generations of the Party's central collective leadership and a concentrated expression of the Marxist world outlook and methodology with regard to development.

"It is a scientific theory that is in the same line as Marxism- Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents and keeps up with the times, " reads the resolution, passed unanimously by more than 2,200 delegates at the closing session of the Party congress Sunday morning.

The scientific outlook on development was proposed by the 16th CPC Central Committee in 2003, against the backdrop of rapid economic growth and a series of problems including excessive consumption of resources, damages to the environment and a widening gap between the rich and poor.

"It's the leading theoretical development since the 16th Party congress was held in 2002, and constitutes an important part of the theoretical system on building socialism with Chinese characteristics," says Yan Shuhan, a researcher with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The scientific outlook on development takes development as its essence, putting people first as its core, comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development as its basic requirement, and overall consideration as its fundamental approach.

Its insertion in the Party Constitution is a clear sign that the Party has blueprinted a road of development for China in a pretty long time to come, says Prof. Lin Shangli with Fudan University in China's largest city Shanghai, where the CPC was founded in 1921.