Xiong Daohong and Cai Ziwei: Guiding the Practice of Reform and Opening Up in the New Era with a Macro-Historical Perspective
The convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 initiated the great journey of reform and opening up and socialist modernization. The history and practice of the past 45 years of reform and opening up have fully demonstrated that reform and opening up was a great awakening for the Party, and a "critical move" [1] that decided the fate of contemporary China and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that we must educate and guide the entire Party to keep in mind the overall strategic framework of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world's profound changes unseen in a century. We must establish a "big picture" view of history (大历史观) [2], analyzing the mechanisms of evolution and exploring historical laws from the long river of history, the tides of the times, and global winds and clouds, in order to propose corresponding strategies and tactics while enhancing the systematic, forward-looking, and creative nature of our work. Establishing and applying a "big picture" view of history to understand and grasp the history of reform and opening up holds important ideological guiding significance for strengthening historical consciousness, firming historical confidence, and advancing the comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up in the New Era with a spirit of historical initiative.
I. The Foundation for Understanding and Grasping the History of Reform and Opening up with a "Big Picture" View of History
Adhering to the Marxist historical materialism and a correct view of Party history is the foundation for establishing a "big picture" view of history. Historical materialism is the fundamental method by which Chinese Communists understand and grasp history. A series of viewpoints emphasized by historical materialism—including the interaction and mutual constraint between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, which govern the entire process of social development—scientifically explain the laws of human social development. The history since the founding of New China, and especially since the start of reform and opening up, fully demonstrates the process in which the Party has led the people to continuously liberate and develop social productive forces and constantly improve the superstructure to suit the development requirements of the economic base. This is a vivid practice and creative manifestation of historical materialism; it is a true display of the Party using historical materialism to grasp the objective laws of Chinese social development and push the cause of the Party and the people toward continuous victory. A correct view of Party history is a perspective for understanding and treating the Party's history of over one hundred years based on historical materialism as its theoretical foundation, and the Party's three historical resolutions [3] and the spirit of the Central Committee as its basic criteria. Its key lies in adhering to the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, accurately grasping the themes, main threads, mainstream, and essence of the development of Party history, correctly understanding and scientifically evaluating major events, important meetings, and key figures in Party history, treating major issues in Party history with a focus on facts, and taking a clear-cut stand against historical nihilism [4]. Treating the history of reform and opening up with a "big picture" view of history means taking historical materialism and a correct view of Party history as the basis to understand and grasp this history within a broader dimension of time and space.
The Central Committee’s summation of the glorious journey, great achievements, and precious experiences of reform and opening up constitutes a refinement of historical laws. Learning from history to inform the present, the Central Committee has attached great importance to summarizing the historical experience of reform and opening up on the road ahead. In 1981, the Party's second historical resolution summarized the key points of the path to socialist modernization gradually established by the Party after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, demonstrating the historical initiative and consciousness in refining the experience of reform and opening up. Subsequently, reports of successive National Congresses of the Party have all, to varying degrees, reviewed and summarized the course of reform and opening up, conducting theoretical expositions based on these summaries. On the 20th and 30th anniversaries of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the Central Committee conducted comprehensive summaries of the achievements and experiences of the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization. In 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up provided a systematic summary, while the Party’s third historical resolution further summarized and refined these points based on previous conclusions. Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the study and education of the history of reform and opening up, placing it alongside the history of the Party, the history of New China, and the history of the development of socialism as important content for promoting the normalization and institutionalization of education in ideals and convictions. Adding the history of the development of the Chinese nation creates the "Five Histories" expression, which highlights the organic connection between the history of reform and opening up and the other histories. This is a manifestation of using the "big picture" view of history to understand and grasp the historical stages, historical orientation, and developmental momentum of the history of reform and opening up.
II. The Key to Grasping the History of Reform and Opening Up with a "Big Picture" View of History Lies in Grasping the Themes and Main Threads
Grasp the theme of the history of reform and opening up. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his important speech at the conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up that over the past 40 years, the theme of all our Party's theory and practice has been to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, Chinese Communists, represented primarily by comrades Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, united and led the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country to initiate, uphold, defend, and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th National Congress, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era. The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the entire Party and people to profoundly answer the major contemporary question of what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics we should uphold and develop in the New Era, and how we should uphold and develop it, creating the great changes of the first decade of the New Era. Whether viewed from the perspective of the 500-year history of world socialism or the historical development of Chinese society, socialism with Chinese characteristics both adheres to the basic principles of scientific socialism and possesses endogenous Chinese characteristics and features of the times. The fact that only socialism could save China and only socialism with Chinese characteristics could develop China has been fully proven by history and reality. Grasping the theme of socialism with Chinese characteristics requires an accurate grasp of the developmental trajectory and basic nature of the path, theoretical system, system of institutions, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics from within the history of reform and opening up. We must keep in mind that upholding the Party's comprehensive leadership is the inevitable path for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and we must firmly grasp the correct direction for the progress of reform and opening up.
Grasp the main thread of theoretical innovation. Possessing the guidance of scientific Marxist theory is the fundamental basis for the Party to grasp historical initiative. Forty-five years ago, the Great Discussion on the Criterion of Truth [5] restored the Party's Marxist ideological line, becoming the ideological precursor to reform and opening up. The Party persists in combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities and with China's fine traditional culture (the "Two Combinations"), continuously promoting theoretical innovation in conjunction with new practices and remaining adept at using new theories to guide new practices. The history of reform and opening up is also the history of the Party continuously promoting the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism and opening new frontiers for the development of Marxism. In the process of promptly answering the "questions of China, of the world, of the people, and of the times," the Party created and formed the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, including Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development. After the 18th National Congress, the Party created Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—this is contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st-century Marxism, achieving a new leap in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. We must grasp the worldview and methodology of the latest achievements in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, adhere to and apply the stances, viewpoints, and methods running through them, persist in liberating the mind, seeking truth from facts, advancing with the times, and being realistic and pragmatic. We must grasp the "Six Must-Persists" [6] and continuously promote the Party's theoretical innovation through the "Two Combinations" to better guide the practice of reform and opening up in the New Era.
Grasp the orientation of the history of reform and opening up. The 45-year history of reform and opening up is both a magnificent component of the history of the Party, New China, socialist development, and the development of the Chinese nation, and it also holds its own independent and special status. From the dimension of Party history, the Party's history is one of leading the people in revolution, construction, reform, and forging ahead in the New Era; the history of reform and opening up accounts for 45 years of this century-plus history and continues simultaneously today. From the dimension of the history of New China, the theoretical results and the institutional and construction achievements gained from the founding of New China until 1978 laid the ideological, material, and institutional foundations for reform and opening up. The historical periods before and after reform and opening up are a single whole, not severed or fundamentally opposed to one another. A basic thread in the history of New China is the modernization of the country; in this sense, it is precisely reform and opening up that provided the continuously improving institutional guarantee and source of momentum for Chinese-path modernization. From the dimension of the history of socialist development, socialism with Chinese characteristics created by reform and opening up is a dialectical unity of the theoretical logic of scientific socialism and the historical logic of Chinese social development. It adheres to the basic principles of scientific socialism while imbuing them with distinct Chinese characteristics according to the conditions of the times, thereby granting scientific socialism a brand-new contemporary connotation. From the perspective of the history of the development of the Chinese nation, reform and opening up was a great revolution in the history of the Chinese people and the nation. Advancing the cause of reform and opening up and socialism with Chinese characteristics stands—alongside the founding of the CPC and the founding of the People's Republic of China—as one of the three major historical events since the May Fourth Movement and one of the three major milestones in achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in modern times. Therefore, one must adopt a dialectical attitude and systematic thinking to understand and treat the 45 years of reform and opening up within the "Five Histories" perspective.
Grasp the relationship between China and the world since reform and opening up. More than 40 years ago, with the increase in foreign exchanges and the Party's understanding of the world’s economic, scientific, and technological development, the Party opened the historical curtain of reform and opening up based on a scientific judgment of global trends. This greatly stimulated the vitality of China's socialist modernization and profoundly influenced the process of world history. In particular, the resulting Chinese-path modernization provided a new choice for humanity to achieve modernization, thereby expanding the dimension of human civilization. Since the 18th National Congress, China has implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, comprehensively promoted major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, pushed for the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and continuously demonstrated the responsibility of a major power. Our country’s international influence, appeal, and power to shape have increased significantly. The history of reform and opening up is the concentrated manifestation of the Party's global vision and commitment to the common good of the world (胸怀天下) [7] throughout this historical period.
III. Guiding the Practice of Reform and Opening Up in the New Era with a "Big Picture" View of History
Understand the consistency of reform and opening up in the New Era. Reform and opening up in the New Era is a component of the continuously unfolding history of reform and opening up, possessing a consistent logic at the historical, theoretical, and practical levels. This consistency is reflected in the promotion and expansion of Chinese-path modernization. Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has unswervingly held high the banner of reform and opening up and unswervingly adhered to the theories, lines, principles, and policies since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee. It treats reform and opening up with a historical materialist attitude—viewing it as "only in the present continuous tense, never in the present perfect" [8]—and designates the comprehensive deepening of reform as a major strategic deployment for the cause of the Party and the state, achieving the great changes of the decade of the New Era that hold milestone significance in the history of reform and opening up. The 20th National Congress drew a grand blueprint for comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, demonstrating the initiative and consciousness to persist in deepening reform and opening up in the New Era. This consistency is also reflected in the insistence that the masses are the subjects of history. As Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "In reform and opening up, many things were proposed by the masses in practice." General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "The people are the creators of history and the true heroes." Reform and opening up in the New Era adheres to a people-centered approach and always maintains the fundamental stance of the people. Finally, this consistency is reflected in the fact that the basic national condition of our country—being a large developing country still in the primary stage of socialism—has not changed. This is the inevitable conclusion of using a "big picture" view of history to scientifically grasp the development trends of today's world and contemporary China. We must maintain historical clarity, adhere to a systems perspective, and take the persistence in deepening reform and opening up as a major principle that must be firmly grasped on the road of Chinese-path modernization, deeply advancing reform and innovation while unswervingly expanding opening up.
Grounding ourselves in the specificity of reform and opening up in the New Era. Under the premise of consistency, reform and opening up in the New Era is based on the new historical orientation of socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a New Era [9], and thus possesses its own specificity. Under this new historical orientation, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has evolved into the contradiction between the people's ever-growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development; reform and opening up in the New Era must unfold around resolving this principal contradiction. Under these new historical conditions, changes in the domestic and international environments have brought about a series of new contradictions and challenges. In particular, domestic reform, development, and stability face many deep-seated contradictions and problems that remained unresolved for a long time, as well as newly emerging issues. Consequently, reform and opening up in the New Era possesses new connotations and characteristics. Crucially, the weight of institutional building has increased [10]. Reform has entered a "period of storming fortifications" [11] and "deep-water zone" [12], facing deep-seated institutional and mechanistic issues. This places higher demands on the top-level design of reform and requires stronger systematicity, holism, and synergy in reform efforts, making the task of establishing rules, regulations, and systems even more heavy. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform, achieving a transformation from local exploration and "breaking the ice" [13] to systemic integration and comprehensive deepening. This created a new situation for our country's reform and opening up and possesses epoch-making historical significance. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee provided an overall blueprint for persisting in and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. The 20th CPC National Congress further emphasized persisting in deepening reform and opening up, better transforming our country's institutional advantages into national governance efficacy, and determining the goals and tasks for taking new steps in reform and opening up in the future. Reform and opening up in the New Era demonstrates the Party's political courage, scientific methodology, and global vision—all of which must be adhered to in the future.
Grasping the cosmopolitan nature of reform and opening up in the New Era. Opening up brings progress, while closure inevitably leads to backwardness; this is a lesson from historical experience. Against the current backdrop of the "changes unseen in a century" [14] accelerating their evolution and the intertwining of risks and challenges, the "opening" dimension of reform and opening up in the New Era is particularly vital. Under the premise that the process of Chinese-path modernization will bring immense opportunities to the world, we must continue to inquire, reflect, and act upon how to let the world better understand China while following our own path, and how to further promote mutual learning between civilizations and move forward hand-in-hand. This requires us to persist in "maintaining a global perspective" [15] and demonstrating the responsibilities of a major power. The consistency, specificity, and cosmopolitan nature of reform and opening up in the New Era require us to apply the valuable experience accumulated over 45 years of reform and opening up to the practice of the New Era. We must profoundly grasp the general historical trend, gain insight into the world situation, ground ourselves in the new situation of reform and opening up, and persist in a people-centered approach. We must actively respond to changes, take the initiative to seek change, and—with a more intense sense of historical consciousness and initiative—continuously push forward the cause of reform and opening up and socialism with Chinese characteristics.