President Xi Jinping attended a grand gathering to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx on Friday morning.

This year also marks the 170th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto, one of the most prominent works of Karl Marx. The political pamphlet marks the birth of Marxism, which later became one of the founding philosophies in modern China.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at the gathering in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Here are the highlights of the speech: