Zhang Xiaofeng and Zhu Xiangfeng: Playing the “Quartet” of Continuing the Historical Cultural Lineage [1] and Disseminating Chinese Culture
On October 28, 2024, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held its 17th collective study session on building a leading cultural nation [1]. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, emphasizing the need to anchor the strategic goal of becoming a leading cultural nation by 2035. He stressed the fundamental system of maintaining the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, fully implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture [2], and developing a socialist culture that is national, scientific, and for the masses, oriented toward modernization, the world, and the future. We must continue the Chinese historical context through creative transformation and innovative development, hold high the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation, and properly protect, promote, and develop the treasures of Chinese civilization that have survived through the ages.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech is profound in meaning and rich in connotation, pointing out the way forward and providing the fundamental follows [3] for us to shoulder a new cultural mission and continuously create new glories for Chinese culture on the New Journey. On the one hand, we must focus on continuing the Chinese historical context with a scientific attitude, protecting and passing down cultural heritage to promote cultural prosperity and build a leading cultural nation from a new starting point. On the other hand, we must focus on external communication, making the past serve the present and weeding through the old to bring forth the new, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. Using our country's excellent cultural heritage as a carrier, we should make external communication better, stronger, and more vibrant, demonstrating the enduring charm and contemporary style of Chinese culture to the world.
I. Composing the "Melody of Merging Ancient and Modern"
Integration into daily life. We must find the connection points between traditional culture and modern life, allowing the historical context to further enter the daily lives of the people and integrate into their food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Shixia Village, at the foot of the Great Wall, is surrounded by the wall on three sides. For decades, villagers have spontaneously participated in Great Wall protection, forming a Great Wall Protection Association. Here, protecting the Great Wall has merged into the villagers' daily lives; they engage in protection work and develop a guesthouse industry based on Great Wall resources, leading to a massive transformation in the village's appearance. The ancient Great Wall is organically linked with modern life, protecting both historical architecture and local folk customs with a strong pastoral flavor. We must strengthen the interaction between culture and tourism, focusing on enhancing cultural elements within tourism—using culture to shape tourism and using tourism to highlight culture. Red tours [4], culinary tours, and "checking in" at museums use culture to drive the upgrading of the tourism industry, better serving economic and social development. This allows people to "see the water, look upon the mountains, and remember their nostalgia for home" [5], continuously meeting the people's growing needs for a better life and allowing fine traditional Chinese culture to nourish the soul through daily integration and a "spring breeze and rain" [6] influence.
Systematic research. We must strengthen systematic research, coordinate research forces, and enhance research planning. We should focus on the philosophical thoughts, humanistic spirit, and modern values contained behind cultural heritage and historical remains. Highlighting key priorities, we must effectively implement the Project to Trace the Origins of Chinese Civilization [7], major "Archaeology China" projects, and the Xia and Shang Civilization Research Projects, while strengthening archaeological research on core sites. Support and assistance for the inheritance of national treasures and the protection of intangible cultural heritage must be reinforced, alongside research into the history and culture of ethnic minorities, to further forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. By conducting organized scientific research and innovating research methods, we should promote deep synergy between archaeological exploration, documentary research, and scientific-technological means. This will reveal the historical implications, cultural spirit, and modern values of the Chinese nation embedded in cultural heritage, providing strong cultural support for persisting in and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.
Scientific management. Cultural relics and heritage are non-renewable and irreplaceable resources. We must uphold a spirit of responsibility toward history, the people, and future generations to comprehensively improve the level of relic protection and utilization. We must establish and improve the management system for historical and cultural heritage assets, build a national big data warehouse for cultural relic resources, and strengthen coordinated guidance for resource censuses and the publishing of catalogs. A management system combining comprehensive census, special investigation, spatial control, and dynamic monitoring should be constructed. We must improve the protection mechanisms for immovable cultural relics, incorporating their management into the compilation and implementation of territorial spatial planning, and coordinating salvage protection with preventive protection, as well as the protection of the entity itself with its surrounding environment. We must profoundly learn from domestic and international management experiences, supervise the implementation of primary responsibilities, strengthen the rectification of hidden dangers, and enhance the protection capabilities of historical and cultural heritage. We must reinforce the awareness of "protection first," pursuing rational utilization and sustainable development on the basis of full protection, further enhancing public cultural services to meet the people's spiritual and cultural needs.
II. Drafting the "Lyrics of Digital Empowerment"
Digital protection. As the saying goes, "Paper lasts a thousand years, but there is always an end." Many ancient historical books, sites, and artifacts face the risk of damage due to the erosion of time and weathering. The development of digital technology provides an important path for the effective protection of these resources. Through digital measures such as photography and on-site video, and means like digital microscopy and 3D virtual technology, we can carry out restoration, transformation, and storage. This allows precious historical relics on the verge of disappearing to be effectively passed down. Digital restoration of damaged or lost historical documents can aggregate fragmented information to build a systematic digital resource library for cultural heritage, achieving visualization and three-dimensional reconstruction.
Digital exhibition. We must innovate the ways fine traditional Chinese culture is displayed, striving to create high-quality, boutique digital exhibitions. In recent years, projects like "Digital Dunhuang," "Digital Forbidden City," "Digital Great Wall," and "Digital Sanxingdui" have revitalized Chinese civilization before the world. Using fresh and interesting formats and realistic experiences, they lead visitors through cultural sites, improving user experience. These "cloud tourism" displays use virtual space technology to generate realistic, real-time 3D scenes, creating an immersive experience for those who cannot visit in person. Simultaneously, they effectively reduce on-site visitor numbers, lowering the damage caused by human intervention. These exhibitions utilize visualization, interactive communication, and immersive experiences to perfect the display forms of relic content. We must adhere to the unity of political, ideological, and artistic qualities, enhancing expressiveness and influence. We should further strengthen interactivity and participation, maintain the correct orientation, focus on the theme, let historical facts speak, and deepen the audience's understanding of fine traditional Chinese culture.
Digital narrative. Relying on digital technology, we must tell the contemporary stories of cultural sites well. Digital narrative is the re-interpretation and re-creation of cultural site content, an innovative transformation model based on aesthetic habits. We must constantly upgrade narrative means, frameworks, and models, advancing comprehensive innovation in logic, techniques, and strategies. By combining grand narratives with individual narratives and synchronizing them with the background of the times, the stories of cultural sites will become more touching and persuasive. Empowered by the fusion of "content + technology," we can integrate live streaming and Artificial Intelligence into storytelling, using the most novel and "cool" methods to make ancient heritage fashionable and attractive to the public.
III. Tuning the "Melody of Connecting China and the World"
Focusing on "Translation" to build a national highland for translation innovation. Language is the best key to understanding a country and a crucial link for promoting cultural exchange. We must combine a foothold in China with a global perspective, assembling a "national team" for cultural heritage translation to introduce China's unique sites to the world. Simultaneously, we must do a good job in the education, research, service, and protection of global languages. We should formulate plans for language learning and usage and build a national multi-language talent resource pool. By strengthening communication between the Chinese people and people worldwide, we promote mutual learning between civilizations and contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
Highlighting "Self-shaping" to define key common discourses. We must refine Chinese symbols, discourse, and expressions—represented by sites like the Great Wall, Dunhuang, and the Forbidden City, and elements like literature, tea culture, and martial arts. These should be combined with the characteristics of overseas communication to form key common discourses with a "Chinese style" [8] and spirit. We should disseminate more cultural products carrying Chinese values and create new concepts and categories that bridge China and the world. We must enhance our "self-shaping" ability, spreading contemporary Chinese cultural innovations that inherit tradition while promoting the spirit of the times. Strengthening cultural confidence, we must use Chinese logic to summarize Chinese experience and elevate that experience into Chinese theory.
IV. Playing the "Symphony of External Communication"
Strengthening "Inclusivity" to align global discourses. Using cultural heritage as a carrier, we must optimize and strengthen external communication. Chinese civilization possesses prominent inclusivity, which fundamentally determines the historical orientation of the Chinese nation toward exchange and integration. It is a common culture formed by the convergence of diverse cultures, advocating for harmony and co-existence. The exhibition "The Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles" reflects this by showing the history of mutual respect and learning between China and France. In international communication, we should start from things familiar to both parties, seeking common historical memories and points of interest to build a narrative logic that is widely accepted. We use "empathy" to increase affection and "commonalities" to build consensus, seeking common ground while reserving differences.
Enhancing "Convergence" to optimize the "Diverse yet Integrated" external communication system. We must promote the restructuring of the international communication pattern, innovating online external propaganda to build a multi-channel, stellar-style pattern. We should invite foreign journalists and editors to experience China truly—seeing the origins of civilization at Liangzhu and Erlitou, or touching the cultural context at the National Archives of Publications and Culture. We must grasp the trends of mobilization, socialization, and visualization in international communication, combining "building our own ships to go to sea" with "borrowing others' ships to go to sea" [9]. By building professional teams and using overseas social media, we can explain the Chinese Path and Chinese theory through multiple channels. We must move actively to promote China's propositions, showing a vivid picture of the Chinese Path, Chinese model, and Chinese concepts to help Western society understand China's basic national conditions and promote dialogue between Eastern and Western development models.