President Xi Jinping on Friday extended his sincere greetings and warm congratulations to national ethical role models as he met with them at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

This year, a total of 68 people, including Jing Haipeng, the astronaut who had just concluded the nation's seventh manned space mission, Shenzhou XII, in September, were honored as national ethical role models, and another 254 nominees were given recognition.

Speaking at a symposium after the meeting, Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, called on the whole of society to learn from the spirit of the role models.

He also stressed the importance of promoting the building of ethics in the new era, saying that priority should be given to the ideological and moral education of teenagers.