The practical viewpoint is the most basic viewpoint of Marxist philosophy, and seeking truth from facts is the living soul of Marxism. Adhering to the ideological line of proceeding from reality, integrating theory with practice, and seeking truth from facts is the basic experience of the Chinese Communists in integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's reality and leading the Chinese people to carry out socialist revolution and socialist construction to victory continuously. Since the reform and opening up, under the guidance of the ideological line of seeking truth from facts and advancing with the times, the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics has made great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, and China's road and experience have won widespread praise in the world. The rich and successful practice has promoted the theoretical innovation of Chinese-style Marxism, and also provided a solid fertile soil for the prosperity and development of various disciplines of philosophy and social sciences. The times call for theoretical innovation, and practice requires philosophy and social sciences to make greater contributions to the innovation and development of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In such a unified multi-ethnic socialist country as China, ethnic theory, ethnic policy and ethnic work with Chinese characteristics constitute an important part of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Rapid economic development and drastic social transformation, the comprehensive construction of a moderately prosperous society in ethnic areas, and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, urgently need innovation in ethnic theory and ethnic work with Chinese characteristics, and carrying out investigation and research in a down-to-earth manner is the basic way to promote ethnic studies to meet the requirements of the times, achieve theoretical innovation, and serve the needs of development. As early as the 50s of the 20th century, in response to the needs of democratic reform and ethnic identification in ethnic areas, China conducted a nationwide survey on the social history and language of ethnic minorities, now known as the "Great Ethnic Survey". This survey collected a large amount of rich information on the social history of ethnic areas, and formed more than 300 survey reports. On the basis of this survey, the "Five Series of Books on Ethnic Issues" -- a huge systematic project of more than 400 kinds and more than 60 million words of national social history construction -- was sorted out and published, which provided an important basis for the party and government to formulate ethnic policies and ethnic work guidelines, carry out democratic reform in ethnic minority areas, and promote the comprehensive economic and social development of ethnic minorities, and also laid a solid foundation for the development of ethnic studies in New China. More than half a century has passed, and now tremendous and profound changes have taken place in China's border ethnic areas, and all ethnic groups have gradually shaken off poverty and backwardness in their production and living conditions and are moving towards a civilized and prosperous modern society. At the same time, however, we should also realize that, due to historical and practical reasons, there are still great gaps in economic and social development between various ethnic groups and between different ethnic regions, and the problem of unbalanced economic development in ethnic areas, as well as various social, ethnic, religious and ecological problems, have increasingly become urgent issues that must be solved in promoting the economic and social development of ethnic areas. It is the mission entrusted by the times to carry out long-term, extensive and in-depth investigation and research in ethnic areas, to comprehensively understand the new situations and problems facing the economic and social development of various ethnic areas, and to scientifically grasp the trend of economic and social development in various ethnic areas. For more than half a century, the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has regarded investigation and research as the foundation of the institute. The Institute of Minority Languages, established in 1956, and the Institute of Ethnic Studies, established in 1958 (merged in 1962), are, in a sense, the result of the first ethnic survey. As a multidisciplinary, comprehensive and national-level professional research institution on ethnic issues in China, the Institute attaches great importance to fieldwork, and generations of scholars have conducted fieldwork in nearly 1,000 points in various ethnic areas of China. In the 90s of the 20th century, the Institute of Nationalities conducted the second typical survey of ethnic areas, and completed more than 20 research monographs over the years. In the new historical period, in order to better implement the requirements of the Party Central Committee for the "three orientations" of our institute and further clarify the development goals and main direction of attack in the coming period, the nationalities pooled their wisdom and wisdom, and after repeated deliberation and careful argumentation, organized and implemented the "Comprehensive Survey on the Economic and Social Development of China's Ethnic Minority Areas in the Early 21st Century". This is an urgent need for the development of ethnological research in our country, and it is also the premise and foundation for doing a good job in ethnic work in the new period. On the basis of making full use of the research results related to the social history and language survey of ethnic minorities carried out since the 50s of the 20th century, this ethnic survey will select 60-70 ethnic regional autonomous areas (including cities, county banners or ethnic townships) as the survey points, focusing on the construction of the five major civilizations of politics, economy, society, culture and ecology in ethnic areas, and plan to form 60-70 fieldwork reports and publish about 50 field ethnographic monographs in 4-5 years. Ethnic survey is a kind of professional and disciplinary investigation, but in the contemporary academic background where the differentiation and integration of disciplines are very obvious, in order to obtain pioneering results through investigation and research, in addition to using the fieldwork methods of ethnology and anthropology, it is also necessary to combine the sociological questionnaire survey method, national condition survey and social survey method, and organically combine static and dynamic, micro and macro, quantitative and qualitative analysis, typical and general, and highlight the epochal, national and regional nature of investigation and research. This is a new requirement for carrying out a large-scale ethnic survey in the new period. Based on the contemporary era and China's "national conditions", properly handling ethnic issues, promoting equality and unity among all ethnic groups, and promoting the prosperity and development of all ethnic regions are important tasks of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As a special commissioned project of the National Social Science Foundation and a major project of the Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the "Comprehensive Survey on the Economic and Social Development of Ethnic Minority Areas in China in the Early 21st Century" hopes to base on the development and changes of ethnic minority areas since the reform and opening up, and focus on the economic and social development of ethnic minority areas, and carry out the following targeted investigations and studies: (1) Investigation and research on the current situation and existing problems of economic development in ethnic minority areas; (2) Investigation and research on social transformation, progress and development in ethnic areas; (3) Investigation and research on the strategy of the large-scale development of the western region and ethnic issues; (4) Adhere to and improve the investigation and study of the system of regional ethnic autonomy; (5) Investigation and research on religious issues in ethnic areas; (6) Investigation and research on education and science and technology in ethnic minority areas; (7) Investigation and research on traditional culture and modernization of ethnic minorities. Investigation and research is an important guarantee for strengthening the construction of disciplines, team building and effectively playing the role of think tanks. Basic research and applied countermeasure research are an inseparable and unified whole of modern social sciences. Through comprehensive, in-depth and systematic investigation and research, we hope to strive to achieve the following goals: First, comprehensively examine the exploration and practice process of ethnic theory and ethnic policies with Chinese characteristics, condense and summarize China's experience in solving the development problems of ethnic regions, establishing harmonious ethnic relations, and promoting the common prosperity and development of all ethnic groups, grasp the general law of ethnic work, provide solid theoretical support for future ethnic work, and contribute to the enrichment and development of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The second is to comprehensively display the brilliant achievements of economic and social development in ethnic minority areas since the beginning of reform and opening up, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, show the contemporary development of a new type of ethnic relations with "equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony" as the core content, reflect the profound changes in the social life of the people of all ethnic groups, enhance the pride and self-confidence of all ethnic groups, build the Chinese national community, and enhance the cohesion of the Chinese nation. The third is to conduct in-depth investigation and explore the problems existing in the economic and social development of border ethnic areas, accurately grasp the difficulties and challenges facing future development, and provide a reliable basis for the party and the state to fully understand the development status of various ethnic groups, grasp the development trend, and formulate future development plans. The fourth is to conduct solid and systematic research in ethnic areas, collect rich and detailed first-hand information, build a basic information platform for social development in ethnic areas, consolidate the foundation of ethnic studies, train and cultivate a backbone team for ethnic issues research in the new era, and lay a solid talent foundation for ethnological research and the future development of ethnic areas. We are convinced that every expert and project team member involved in the investigation and research, adhering to the study style of the predecessors in the field of ethnological anthropology, who are down-to-earth, not afraid of hardship, diligent in the field, and proficient in thinking, truly go deep into the ethnic areas and fields, widely gather the opinions of the cadres and masses, listen to the voices of the cadres and the masses, obtain rich data through various methods and methods, and achieve fruitful results through scientific and rigorous data analysis and systematic and in-depth theoretical research. This will not only become an important milestone in the construction of ethnology and anthropology disciplines in China in the new century, but also provide important decision-making reference for the party and government, promote the new development of China's ethnic theory and ethnic work, build a moderately prosperous society in ethnic areas in an all-round way, and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.（AI翻译）