GUANGZHOU -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a congratulatory letter to Sun Yat-sen University on its centennial anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, extended congratulations to the university's faculty, students and alumni at home and abroad.

Xi urged the university to align its development with major national strategies and the needs of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development.

He said the university should step up efforts to build itself into a world-class university with Chinese characteristics, contributing significantly to the advancement of Chinese modernization.

Xi's letter was read out at a gathering commemorating the university's centennial anniversary, held in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, on Tuesday.

During the event, Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, noted in his speech that Guangdong would fully support Sun Yat-sen University in its efforts to make new contributions.

Sun Yat-sen University was founded by and named after Sun Yat-sen, the great pioneer of China's democratic revolution. Sun led the 1911 Revolution that ended over 2,000 years of feudal rule in China.

Founded in 1924, the university has cultivated over 800,000 professionals across various fields during its century-long history.