Bai Xianliang: The Value Orientation of the Construction of the Cultural Form of Chinese Modernization
The cultural form of Chinese-path modernization [1], as the conceptual condensation and sublimation of the practice of Chinese-path modernization, is a new culture formed through the "Second Combination" [2]. In constructing the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization, we must accurately grasp the value orientation, clarify the value objectives, and provide a sound answer to the fundamental questions of whom this cultural form represents, whom it is for, and upon whom it relies.
I
Developed under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and guided by Marxism, the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization is a national, scientific, and popular culture rooted in the great practice of Chinese-path modernization. Its "people-centeredness" (人民性, renminxing) is its fundamental characteristic, deriving from three sources.
First, it derives from the essential attribute of people-centeredness in Marxism. Marxism is a theoretical doctrine seeking the liberation of humanity. For the first time, it stood on the side of the people to explore the path toward human freedom and liberation, providing scientific theory as a guide toward the ultimate establishment of an ideal society—one free from oppression and exploitation, where everyone is equal and free. People-centeredness is the essential attribute of Marxism and the most fundamental theoretical trait that distinguishes it from other doctrines. The cultural form of Chinese-path modernization adheres to Marxism as its guiding ideology and theoretical compass. By incorporating the Marxist worldview and methodology, it necessarily maintains a people-centered value orientation, embodying the theoretical trait of Marxist people-centeredness.
Second, it derives from the CPC’s value position of putting the people above all else. The CPC is the party of the people and a party that serves the people. Serving the people whole-heartedly is the Party’s fundamental purpose, and being people-centered is the Party’s governing philosophy. In the eyes of Communists, "the country is the people, and the people are the country" [3]; to win and maintain power is to win and maintain the support of the people. For the Communist Party to be "master of the house" (dangjia) and to govern is to serve the people, handle affairs for the common folk, and do those things well. In advancing Chinese-path modernization and achieving cultural prosperity and development, we must naturally permeate the process with people-centeredness, promoting a cultural form that upholds the people’s position and advocates for the supremacy of the people.
Third, it derives from the fundamental orientation of socialist advanced culture to serve the people. Socialist advanced culture is a national, scientific, and popular culture that faces modernization, the world, and the future. A crucial manifestation of its "advanced" nature is that it differs from other historical cultural forms; it is not a culture that serves the few. Rather, it originates from the people, serves the people, is created by the people, and is enjoyed by the people—it is the people's own culture. People-centeredness is a vital signifier of the advanced nature of socialist advanced culture, and serving the people is its distinct value orientation.
II
To construct the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization while adhering to a people-centered orientation, we must refine and implement the requirements of "serving the people" and "being for the people." This is specifically reflected in several aspects: satisfying the people’s spiritual and cultural needs, enriching their inner spiritual world, strengthening their spiritual power, and achieving the realm of well-rounded development.
First, we must satisfy the people’s spiritual and cultural needs. Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and cultural-ethical [4] civilizations are coordinated. Material abundance and spiritual richness are fundamental requirements of socialist modernization. In advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must not only develop the economy, increase social material wealth, and satisfy the people’s growing material needs, but also do a good job in cultural construction to increase the society's spiritual and cultural wealth and satisfy the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs. This requires that cultural construction always remain people-centered, focusing on meeting the diverse, multi-level, and multifaceted spiritual and cultural needs of the masses, thereby enhancing their sense of cultural fulfillment and happiness.
Second, we must enrich the people’s spiritual world. Enriching the people's spiritual world is one of the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization; it is a higher pursuit for the people beyond material abundance, concerning individual happiness, social cohesion, and national rejuvenation. Comparatively speaking, "satisfying the people's spiritual and cultural needs" emphasizes the significance of cultural construction from an individual level, while "enriching the people's spiritual world" highlights the social and collective functions of cultural construction. By strengthening cultural construction and developing cultural undertakings and industries, we can provide the masses with richer, more convenient, and higher-quality cultural offerings and higher-level cultural services, making the people’s spiritual world more substantial and their spiritual life more diverse.
Third, we must strengthen the people’s spiritual power. When the people have faith, the nation has hope, and the country has strength. When culture prospers, the country prospers; when culture is strong, the nation is strong. This is because culture serves to cultivate the mind and refine the temperament. Cultural construction is vital for fostering a vigorous spiritual character for the entire nation and strengthening the people’s spiritual power. To advance cultural construction, we must cast the soul with advanced ideology, shape the form with core values, nourish with excellent culture, empower with cultural supply, and gather strength through practice. This will allow the people to possess firm ideals, beliefs, and cultural confidence, fostering a spirited state of mind and a monumental spiritual force to provide a strong ideological guarantee and rich moral nourishment for building a strong country and realizing national rejuvenation.
Fourth, we must promote well-rounded human development. The reason why Chinese-path modernization must vigorously develop socialist advanced culture, strengthen education in ideals and beliefs, and inherit Chinese civilization—while simultaneously deepening the material foundation and solidifying the conditions for a happy life—is to achieve the "free and well-rounded development of the individual" [5] alongside material abundance. The essence of modernization is the modernization of people. Ultimately, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of people. We must combine "investment in things" with "investment in people," promoting the comprehensive development of people in terms of ideological morality, scientific culture, and physical and mental literacy. By promoting the all-around improvement of people’s thinking, quality, ability, and character, we will ultimately realize the free and well-rounded development of the individual.
III
In constructing the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization, we must ensure cultural construction relies closely on the people and mobilizes the people. It must fundamentally be for the people and care for humanity, demonstrating and upholding a people-centered orientation with a clear-cut stand.
First, we must rely on the people to stimulate the vitality of cultural innovation and creativity. The people are the creators of history and its masters; the masses contain the source of wisdom and inexhaustible momentum for creating history and innovating culture. In constructing the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, adhere to the fundamental principle that cultural prosperity and development "rely on the people and are for the people." We must treat the life and practice of the people as the inexhaustible source of wisdom for cultural development and feed the rich achievements of cultural development back to the people to nourish their cultural lives, responding to their will and reflecting their concerns. By closely uniting with and relying on the masses, we can tap into the rich wisdom they possess and fully mobilize their vitality for cultural innovation. On the other hand, we must remain close to the reality of the people's cultural lives, promoting the digital empowerment and informational transformation of cultural construction to turn the advantages of the Chinese nation's cultural resources into developmental advantages. We must deepen the reform of cultural systems and mechanisms, improve management systems and production mechanisms, and adhere to a people-centered creative orientation. By enriching cultural supply and optimizing cultural services, we can activate the people's potential for cultural creativity, ensuring that cultural development is full of vigor and vitality.
Second, we must ensure that cultural construction focuses on people and finds its footing in people. At all times, culture is the culture of people as subjects; cultural construction must "have people in its sight" (mu zhong you ren), both focusing on people and finding its footing in people. To "focus on people" emphasizes that cultural prosperity and development must first solve the problem of "for whom." Cultural construction must undoubtedly take the elevation of the people's ideological state, spiritual condition, and cultural cultivation as its fundamental focal point. To "find its footing in people" emphasizes that the yardstick for judging the quality and level of cultural construction must be the people's scale. We must use the enhancement of the people's sense of cultural fulfillment and happiness, and the promotion of their well-rounded development, as the important evaluative criteria. In a sense, the focal point and the footing are the starting point and the destination of cultural construction. Emphasizing these points means that the people-centered orientation must run through the entire process of cultural construction and be reflected in all aspects of cultural prosperity, always placing the people's happiness and spiritual richness in the most important position.
Third, we must maintain a global vision (xionghuai tianxia) and strive to build a new form of human civilization. Chinese-path modernization possesses features common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is characterized more by features unique to the Chinese context. it has carved out a unique path for humanity to achieve modernization and created a new form of human civilization that transcends the Western model of civilization. In constructing the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization, we must survey cultural construction from the strategic height of human civilizational development. We must both uphold cultural subjectivity—rooting ourselves in the fertile soil of Chinese civilization, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development [6] of fine traditional Chinese culture, and developing the new socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for the New Era on the basis of continuity. At the same time, we must integrate the essence of all human civilizations, actively absorbing and learning from all outstanding civilizational achievements. We must walk a new path of civilization characterized by peaceful development, mutual learning and inclusiveness, common prosperity, and civilizational coexistence, thereby building a new form of human civilization and making new contributions to the "garden of world civilizations."