Jian Jiaojie and Liu Jingbei: A Systematic Understanding of How the Communist Party of China Achieves Long-term Governance
General Secretary Xi Jinping has cautioned the entire Party that "how to achieve long-term governance is a fundamental question we must answer and resolve effectively." The qualitative definition of the Communist Party of China (CPC) as a mission-oriented political party determines that it possesses the innate genetic makeup for long-term governance. Looking at political parties worldwide, those capable of achieving long-term, effective governance are rare; however, the CPC, through its exceptional governing capacity, has become an outstanding example of creating a miracle of long-term stable governance. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly proposed to "focus on improving the Party's leadership level and long-term governing capacity." Reviewing the CPC’s governing history, the fundamental reason it has been able to govern long-term—and will continue to do so—lies in its consistent integration of political, historical, and practical logics, forming a unique system of governing advantages. In recent years, the academic community has conducted systematic research primarily from the perspectives of why long-term governance is possible, how to achieve it, and the evolution of the discourse on long-term governance, laying a solid foundation for further study. A remaining deficiency, however, is that existing literature explains the "how" and the necessity of long-term governance more than it systematically clarifies the "why." This study provides a systematic analysis of how the CPC achieves long-term governance from five dimensions: Party leadership, self-revolution, the supremacy of the people, the socialist system, and the "Two Combinations" [1]. It constructs a composite theoretical analytical paradigm of "Party Authority—Party Adaptation—Value Consensus—Institutional Resilience—Civilizational Genes."
I. The Construction of Party Authority: Upholding Party Leadership is the Political Foundation of the CPC’s Long-term Governance
The CPC continuously constructs Party authority through the conversion of governance efficacy and breakthroughs in civilizational paradigms during its long-term governance. How can the Party's comprehensive leadership be consistently upheld to ensure Party authority throughout the process of long-term governance? First, by always adhering to the Party’s centralized and unified leadership; second, by establishing and improving the system of institutions for Party leadership.
(1) The political advantage of the Party’s long-term governance focuses on always adhering to the Party's centralized and unified leadership
The Party's centralized and unified leadership is the basic political requirement for the CPC's ability to govern long-term. On one hand, centralized and unified leadership ensures that the Party possesses extraordinary strategic planning resolve and a strategic mindset that oversees the overall situation during the governing process. Whether it is the "Three-Step" development strategy [2], the "Two-Step" strategic arrangement for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country [3], or the "Five-Year Plans" formed during the CPC’s governance, all fully demonstrate the CPC’s significant advantage in mobilizing the initiative of all parties and concentrating strengths to accomplish great tasks. On the other hand, the Party’s centralized and unified leadership enables broad social mobilization. Our Party's organizational system, which reaches "horizontally to the edges and vertically to the bottom," not only realizes the principle that "Party, government, military, society, and academia; east, west, south, north, and center—the Party leads everything" in Party-government and Party-mass relations, but also forms a leadership pattern of "overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties" within the national governance system. In terms of longitudinal historical comparison, centralized and unified leadership ensured that the CPC could successfully achieve the industrialization process—which took developed countries several centuries—within a developmental environment filled with both risks and challenges. In terms of cross-sectional international comparison, it is truly rare in world party politics for a party like the CPC to realize the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability over a long duration; this stands in sharp contrast to the "disorder of the West." As Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "The greatest advantage of socialist countries is that once a decision is made to do something, it is executed immediately upon the passing of a resolution, without being bogged down by complications." This is thanks to strong centralized and unified leadership. Furthermore, the most direct manifestation of adhering to the Party's centralized and unified leadership is upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "If there were no 'ultimate authority' [4] in the Party Central Committee, and if the decisions made by the Central Committee were not followed, with everyone saying and doing as they please, then nothing could be accomplished." Clearly, without authority, there can be no unified action. Comrade Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized the great significance of the whole Party obeying the Central Committee for the Party's unity and unified leadership, noting that "Party members must obey the organization and obey the Party's resolutions." Comrade Deng Xiaoping also emphasized that the Central Committee must have authority: "With this authority, great things can be accomplished even in difficult times." Overall, the centralized and unified leadership of the Party and its Central Committee explains how the CPC can uphold Party leadership during its long-term governance, proving that only by consistently adhering to Party leadership can the political foundation for achieving—and ultimately sustaining—long-term governance be solidified.
(2) The political advantage of the Party's long-term governance is implemented through the establishment and improvement of the system of institutions for Party leadership
Whether the institutions for Party leadership are sound or not concerns the strength of the Party's leadership capacity and directly relates to whether the CPC can achieve long-term governance. Since the 18th National Congress, the system of institutions for Party leadership has undergone a systematic evolution. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clarified that the national governance system is a system of institutions for managing the country under the leadership of the Party; the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made explicit arrangements for strengthening the construction of the system of internal Party regulations; the 19th National Congress explicitly proposed accelerating the formation of a system of internal Party regulations covering all aspects of Party leadership and Party building, highlighting the content requirement to "uphold and strengthen the Party's comprehensive leadership"; the Plan for Deepening Reform of Party and State Institutions adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee proposed to "perfect the institutions for upholding the Party's comprehensive leadership" and "establish and improve the leadership systems and mechanisms for the Party's handling of major work." To this end, the Party Central Committee has taken a series of important measures to actively improve institutional arrangements for the Party's comprehensive leadership, striving to construct a functional system for Party and state institutions where the Party oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee made specific and important arrangements for upholding and improving the system of institutions for Party leadership in the New Era, expanding this system into an institutional integration that is comprehensive, systematic, and holistic. This marked a theoretical leap in the understanding of the laws of governance, forming a top-level design paradigm that enhances governance efficacy through institutional advantages. Practice has shown that the most fundamental principle for the CPC to achieve long-term governance is to consistently uphold and strengthen the Party's comprehensive leadership. On the New Journey [5], improving the system of institutions for Party leadership must transform institutional advantages into governance efficacy through systematic institutional innovation. First, institutional integration and innovation must be strengthened, with the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee at the core, deepening the reform of Party and state institutions, and perfecting mechanisms to oversee the overall situation and coordinate all parties to promote systematic optimization and structural adjustment of the institutional system. Second, the standardized operation of institutions must be advanced by improving mechanisms for the normalization of political supervision, perfecting the evaluation system for the execution of internal Party regulations, and strengthening the orientation of performance appraisals for leading officials to construct a full-chain, closed-loop institutional execution guarantee system. Third, the endogenous drive of institutions must be stimulated, focusing on the reform of the cadre personnel system and the building of primary-level Party organizations, constructing a dynamic adjustment system where officials can be both promoted and demoted, thereby empowering institutional efficacy through organizational advantages. Ultimately, only by enhancing the consciousness and firmness in upholding and strengthening the Party's comprehensive leadership, and by continuously improving the capacity and level of institutional execution, can we ensure that institutions take root and release positive institutional efficacy, effectively providing the fundamental guarantee for upholding and strengthening the Party's comprehensive leadership.
II. Innovation in Party Adaptation: Upholding Self-Revolution is the Powerful Support for the CPC’s Long-term Governance
Self-revolution is the CPC’s most distinctive character and its greatest political advantage. The building of the Party's long-term governing capacity and its self-revolution share a dialectical relationship of highly compatible values and goals, mutually reinforcing functions and structures, and the organic unity of theory and practice. To profoundly understand the major proposition of "what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build, and how to build it," one must correctly recognize that "the longer we govern, the more we must not lose the true character of a Marxist party, the more we must not forget the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, and the more we must not lose the spirit of self-revolution." Self-revolution ensures that the Party can adjust itself in a timely manner to better adapt to the needs of the times, consistently maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity.
(1) Advancing the Party's self-revolution can continuously innovate the Party's governing philosophy
The CPC "is a party good at summarizing historical experience, and a party good at relying on its own strength to correct its mistakes, thereby moving toward maturity and strength." During the New Democratic Revolution period [6], the CPC’s self-revolution focused on ideological building, discipline building, and work-style building. In terms of ideological building, through the Gutian Conference and the Yan'an Rectification Movement [7], various non-proletarian ideologies existing within the Party were corrected, thereby unifying ideological understanding. In terms of discipline building, measures such as strictly handling disciplinary violations, conducting Party rectification movements, establishing a system of requests and reports, and strengthening disciplinary education were carried out. In terms of work-style building, the Central Commission for Inspection was established, the system of internal Party inspections was implemented, regulations such as the Instructions on Punishing Corruption and Waste were promulgated, and corrupt elements were severely punished. This period reflected the Party's profound understanding of and firm determination for self-revolution, demonstrating the Party's powerful capacity for self-purification, self-perfection, self-innovation, and self-improvement in complex environments, and laying a solid ideological foundation for subsequent revolutionary practice. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the shift in the CPC's status and position objectively determined that the Party must "heighten its vigilance and focus on preventing Party members and officials from becoming decadent and degenerate," maintaining its advanced nature and purity at all times. During this period, Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, carried out Party rectification movements across the country, continuously strengthened the Party's governing capacity building, resolutely opposed corruption, and further advanced self-revolution through a series of measures such as correcting deviations. For example, the promulgation of the Directive on Carrying Out a Rectification Movement in the Whole Party and the Whole Army and the Provisions of the CPC Central Committee on Handling the Party Membership of Communist Party Members Subject to Criminal Punishment had a positive impact on improving the Party's work style and purifying the Party's political ecosystem, effectively ensuring the health and purity of the Party's body and accumulating preliminary experience in strengthening the Party's self-revolution under governing conditions. After the launch of Reform and Opening-up, the CPC, facing profound changes in various environments, "recognized, strengthened, and improved itself under the new situation of reform and opening-up." Through means such as emancipating the mind, perfecting democratic centralism, innovating internal Party educational activities, and deeply advancing the anti-corruption struggle, it propelled the Party's self-revolution to greater depths. In other words, "reform is China's second revolution, and it is also another profound self-revolution for the CPC." Our Party has continuously deepened its understanding of self-revolution, forming a series of important theoretical achievements that systematically answer major questions such as why our Party needs self-revolution, why it is capable of self-revolution, and how to advance self-revolution. For over a hundred years, the CPC has integrated the spirit of self-revolution into the processes of revolution, construction, and reform, proving through practice that the Party's self-revolution is the "second answer" to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall [8] and the key to solving the unique challenges facing a large party.
(2) The fundamental purpose of the Party's self-revolution is to ensure the Party's long-term governance
"An advanced Marxist party is not born that way, but is tempered through continuous self-revolution." Confronted with prominent problems such as the "Four Tests" and "Four Dangers" [9] existing under the conditions of the Party's long-term governance, as well as real-world issues strongly reflected by the masses, the risk and challenge of losing the governing position can easily arise. To better maintain the Party's revolutionary character and consolidate its governing foundation, an internal-external collaborative governance mechanism must be constructed. This relies on the institutional "outer-shaping" of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party—starting from the unity of transforming the objective world and the subjective world—and even more so on the "subjective inner-reflection" of self-revolution, which unceasingly forges the political character and governing capacity for the Party's long-term governance. Fundamentally, however, implementing this arduous task requires fundamental guidance and a solid internal drive, which are the intrinsic requirements and value orientations of the CPC's self-revolution. From the perspective of practical and value logics, the Party's self-revolution focuses on the systematic forging of governing capacity. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Self-revolution means supplementing calcium to strengthen bones, detoxifying and killing bacteria, 'the brave warrior cutting off his own wrist' [10], and removing rot to let new flesh grow, continuously eliminating the viruses eroding the Party's healthy body, continuously improving its own immunity, and preventing the state from perishing when the leaders pass away." This even more urgently requires the severe punishment of corruption and the integrated promotion of the mechanism for "not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt" (the ‘Three Non-corrupts’). Through the alignment of the system of internal Party regulations with the national legal system, the deterrent of "not daring to be corrupt" is transformed into the constraint of "not being able to be corrupt"; through the normalization and long-term mechanism of thematic education, the consciousness of "not wanting to be corrupt" is sublimated into a value-based belief. Ultimately, by continuously purifying the Party's political ecosystem, effectively improving the Party's ability to oversee the overall situation and coordinate all parties, and strengthening the Party's centralized and unified leadership—implementing Party leadership in all aspects and links of the cause of the Party and the state—the greatest advantage of the Party's self-revolution can be transformed into a powerful support and important guarantee for enhancing the Party's long-term governing capacity and level of governance.
III. The Re-creation of Value Consensus: Upholding the Supremacy of the People is the Value Advantage of the CPC’s Long-term Governance
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out:
"Born for the people and flourishing because of the people, staying with the people at all times, and striving for their interests—these constitute the fundamental starting point and ultimate goal of our Party's founding, flourishing, and strengthening." As a Marxist mission-oriented political party, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has established a value foundation of "putting the people above all else" throughout its long-term governance, completing a paradigmatic shift from "representing the people" to "becoming the people." The key to this people-centered governance paradigm lies in correctly answering the questions of "who am I, for whom am I acting, and upon whom do I rely?" In essence, it is the creative transformation of the "will of the people" into "governance efficacy" through institutionalized political participation mechanisms. Distinct from Western multi-party systems and the model of the separation of powers, the CPC’s pursuit of the interests of the broadest possible masses differs from the narrow interest-based views of Western political parties, which focus on seeking the private gain of a single party or a minority group. It is precisely this essential difference that determines why the masses choose the long-term governance of the CPC.
(1) The value advantages of the Party's long-term governance are rooted in the basic value pursuits of Marxism. Marxism has always regarded the realization of the free and comprehensive development of every individual as the core metric for measuring social progress. In the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels pointed out: "In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." This demonstrates that the proletarian association takes the protection of individual rights and development as its starting point and ultimate goal. Lenin emphasized that the Bolshevik Party is the vanguard of the proletariat and must serve "the millions of working people," a claim that broke through the elitist trap of representative democracy. "A government flourishes by following the people's will and founders by defying it" [11]. The CPC has inherited and developed this thought. General Secretary Xi Jinping has noted: "No matter what difficulties or challenges we encounter, as long as we have the support and participation of the people, there are no difficulties that cannot be overcome, and no hurdles that cannot be cleared." Since entering the New Era, the CPC has utilized the institutional design of whole-process people's democracy to realize a paradigmatic shift in political participation from "proxy-based" to "presence-based." This shift elevates the subjectivity of the people from an epistemological category to an ontological height, ensuring that the CPC's governance both conforms to the laws of development and satisfies the expectations of the masses. In essence, the value concept of adhering to a people-centered approach is deeply rooted in scientific Marxist theory. This scientific theory serves both as the scientific guide for the CPC's consistent adherence to people-centered values and the key to its ability to achieve long-term governance.
(2) The value advantages of the Party's long-term governance are practiced throughout the century-long history of the CPC. Serving the people whole-heartedly is the prominent hallmark that distinguishes a proletarian party from all other parties. During the New Democratic Revolution [12] period, while leading the Chinese people in the task of seeking national independence and liberation, the CPC consistently adhered to the value of serving the people and advanced the localized transformation of the Marxist mass viewpoint through a series of practices. In 1942, Mao Zedong pointed out in his "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art": "Our stand is that of the proletariat and of the masses. For members of the Communist Party, this means keeping to the stand of the Party, keeping to Party spirit and Party policy." This clearly indicates that the position of the CPC represents the position of the people. In 1945, in the article "On Coalition Government," Mao Zedong again emphasized: "To stand firmly with the Chinese people and serve them heart and soul—that is the sole purpose of this army." It is precisely by consistently adhering to the people's standpoint that the CPC led the people to explore the revolutionary path of encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing political power by armed force, eventually overthrowing feudal autocracy and realizing the great leap from thousands of years of feudal autocratic politics to people's democracy.
Entering the periods of socialist construction and reform, the CPC insisted in practice on placing the people in the most critical position. The construction of the state form of the people's democratic dictatorship allowed the category of "the people" to break through class boundaries, developing into a dynamic political community containing diverse subjects. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the dialectical unity of developing productive forces and improving people's livelihoods has pushed the governance mode to transition from "revolutionary-mobilization" to "performance-development." Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "After a true Marxist party comes to power, it must devote itself to developing the productive forces and, on this basis, gradually improve the people's standard of living." Jiang Zemin proposed that the CPC must always represent the fundamental interests of the broadest possible majority of the Chinese people; Hu Jintao proposed that the core of the Scientific Outlook on Development is "putting people first." From this, it is evident that the value principle of "people above all else" upheld by the CPC has been continuously refined and enriched through long-term practice, and through continuous institutional adjustment, this value advantage has been creatively transformed into a governance advantage.
(3) The value advantages of the Party's long-term governance are transformed into the institutional advantages of national governance efficacy. The value advantages of the CPC's long-term governance are internalized through institutions to build a driving mechanism for the transformation of national governance efficacy, "promoting the 'choice of the good' inherent in top-level design to be transformed into the 'realization of the good' in governance practice." Since the New Era, the Party Central Committee has consistently integrated the fundamental value orientation of a people-centered approach into the practice of governing the country—encompassing reform, development, and stability; internal affairs, foreign policy, and national defense; and the governance of the Party, the state, and the military—continuously opening up the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. For example, through the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, a systematic reconstruction of the politics of people's livelihoods has been achieved, transforming economic growth indices into measurable indicators of the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. Relying on the effective link between targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, an institutionalized protection system has been built to prevent a large-scale return to poverty, forming an innovative mechanism for sharing the fruits of development. One might say that while maintaining high-quality development of the economy, the CPC has realized its value commitment to social fairness and justice, successfully solving the "North Paradox" [13] and fully demonstrating the organic unity of party ethics and governance techniques.
In contrast, looking at Western countries in recent years, their promotion of "democratization" reforms in the Middle East has fallen into a vicious cycle of "electoral politics-welfare contraction" under the dominance of the logic of capital. Their political systems are completely detached from the improvement of people's livelihoods, resulting in the rise of populism, the surge of anti-globalization, the emergence of right-wing forces, and many other severe problems. Overall, the value concept of "people above all else," through the embedding of institutional ethics and the transformation mechanism of governance efficacy, has achieved a paradigmatic reconstruction of governance rationality and constructed the value isomorphism of the national governance system. This logic is essentially about using the will of the people as the original source of governance legitimacy, achieving a modern leap in the form of political civilization through institutionalized, procedural, and mechanized governance innovation.
IV. The Generation of Institutional Resilience: The Socialist System is the Institutional Foundation for the CPC’s Long-Term Governance The socialist system is neither a copy of the Western capitalist system nor a remake of the Soviet-style highly centralized socialist system. "It is a brand-new system in the history of human institutional civilization, an original institutional civilization." In the process of building a modern socialist country, it has played a fundamental role in the Party's long-term governance and the long-term peace and stability of the country.
(1) The socialist system is based on the Party's scientific guiding ideology. The October Revolution in Russia proved the scientific nature and reality of scientific socialism to advanced Chinese intellectuals. An advanced group emerged from Chinese intellectuals who, guided by scientific socialism and the Leninist theory of party building, organized the Chinese Marxist party. They grew and strengthened in a complex revolutionary environment, becoming the leadership force for China's revolution, construction, and reform. "This was the logical and historical starting point for the party building chosen by China’s advanced elements." With its scientific nature, this guiding ideology continuously guides socialist modernization to resolve the principal contradiction in society and enhance the people's well-being. It is noteworthy that the reform and improvement of the socialist system proceed in tandem with the resolution of the principal social contradiction and the satisfaction of the people's needs, reflecting the consistency between institutional advantages and the development of the guiding ideology and demonstrating the remarkable advantages of this system. A political party is a key link in the national institutional system; its governing status and governing methods are directly affected by the specific national political system. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "A good system can prevent bad people from acting arbitrarily, while a bad system can prevent good people from doing good things to the fullest, or even lead them to the opposite direction." From this, it is clear that in political change, a good system is the key, and a solution through the system is the fundamental solution. Reflecting on world politics, the Chinese governance paradigm under the protection of the socialist system has jumped out of the existing theoretical trajectory of Western political modernization, successfully solving the difficult problem between modernization and democratization. It has not only created the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability but also demonstrated the "Chinese solution" for modernization to late-developing countries. One can say that this advantage is reflected in the system's historical progressiveness, social adaptability, and consistency with the people's interests, possessing significant advantages compared to the capitalist system.
(2) The socialist system was formed and perfected during the Party's governance journey. The establishment of the socialist system is the most profound social change in Chinese history, laying the fundamental political prerequisite and institutional foundation for all development and progress in contemporary China. During the New Democratic Revolution period, the CPC emulated the model of the Russian October Revolution by leading uprisings in cities, but these all ended in failure. Subsequently, it turned to the path of encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing political power by armed force, creating people's regimes in revolutionary base areas and exploring a new democratic system, accumulating experience for the construction of New China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC began to emphasize independence and self-reliance, exploring a socialist path suited to national conditions, establishing the state system, the system of government, and the state structure, and building the basic socialist political system. Although the entire formation process went through twists and turns, it ultimately succeeded in opening up and developing socialism. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, especially since entering the New Era, China has consistently insisted that the starting point of institutional building be suited to Chinese national conditions and respect the people's creativity, while the ultimate goal remains the protection and promotion of socialist modernization. History and practice show that the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a rational choice that conforms to Chinese national conditions, providing a solid institutional guarantee for China's modernization process.
(3) The advantages of the socialist system are the key to ensuring the Party's long-term governance. the remarkable characteristics and advantages of the socialist system are reflected in the Party's governing status. In terms of characteristics, the advantages of the socialist system reflect the unity of gradualism and stability, the unity of endogeneity and constructiveness, and the unity of independence and structurality. From a holistic perspective, the advantages of the socialist system have undergone a developmental transformation from the advantage of "the "ism" to the advantage of efficacy, from latent advantage to manifest advantage, and from "ought-to-be" advantage to "actual" advantage. This has formed a logical structure with the fundamental system, basic systems, important systems, and specific systems as pillars. From a vertical perspective, this system is composed of different levels of institutions, each occupying a different position and function within the system. The fundamental system is at the highest level, playing a leading and prescriptive role over other institutions; the basic systems are the concrete manifestations of the social nature and institutional characteristics, representing the deepening and concretization of the fundamental system; important systems reflect and embody the fundamental and basic systems, playing a key role in linking higher and lower levels; specific systems are expressed as various systems and mechanisms, which are the concretization and detailing of the institutional system, playing an important role in regulating and standardizing social life. The "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability achieved in the seventy-plus years since the founding of New China are fundamentally due to the fact that the CPC led the people to establish and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. With its powerful institutional advantages, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is fused into all aspects of Party leadership and national governance. On the new journey, it is necessary to continuously improve all aspects of systems and mechanisms, give full play to the systematic, holistic, and synergistic nature of the system in the process of the Party's long-term governance, and fully leverage the superiority of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
V. Recombination of Civilizational Genes: Adhering to the "Two Combinations" is the Inevitable Path for the CPC's Long-Term Governance The major thesis of the "Two Combinations" [14] centrally reflects the New Era Chinese Communists' profound grasp of the laws governing the development of Marxism. It profoundly elucidates the internal mechanisms of Marxism's innovative development in China, expands the connotations and pathways for the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, and enriches the theoretical content for the CPC to achieve long-term governance.
(1) The "Two Combinations" are the historical experience and temporal heritage of the Party's long-term governance. Because traditional Chinese politics was never fractured, Chinese civilization presents an ultra-stable continuity, realizing an ultra-stable integrated structure through continuous internal adjustments. Looking back at the Party's century-long journey, during the New Democratic Revolution period, the CPC not only explained, disseminated, and researched Marxism in a national form, but also used the basic principles of Marxism to summarize and analyze traditional culture, emphasizing...
“We are Marxist historicists; we should not truncate history.” During the period of socialist revolution and construction, Mao Zedong emphasized that while we “must believe that Marxism is the correct method of thought, this does not mean we ignore the value of the Chinese cultural heritage and non-Marxist foreign thought.” The 8th National Congress of the Party proposed that “all useful cultural knowledge from China’s past and from abroad must be inherited and absorbed,” reflecting the firm stance of Chinese Communists in promoting the integration of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture [15]. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the CPC has continuously drawn historical wisdom and experience in state governance from fine traditional Chinese culture. Deng Xiaoping believed that “all progressive and excellent things” in traditional Chinese culture “should be used for reference and learned from.” Jiang Zemin clearly pointed out the need to “apply and develop the essence of national culture under new historical conditions to serve socialist modernization.” Hu Jintao emphasized the vigorous promotion of Chinese culture, noting that “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will inevitably be accompanied by the prosperity and flourishing of Chinese culture.” Thus it can be seen that the Sinicized and modernized Marxist theory of Party building has developed continuously, actively integrating beneficial elements from fine traditional Chinese culture. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to fine traditional Chinese culture, elevating the “Second Combination” [16] to the status of the “greatest magic weapon for success” and “another liberation of the mind.” It is evident that “only by rooting ourselves in the magnificent five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilization can we truly understand the historical necessity, cultural connotation, and unique advantages of the Chinese path,” and only then can the Marxist theory of Party building realize the historical transformation from being “imported” to being “internalized,” and from “Marxism in China” to “Sinicized and modernized Marxism.” The historical practice of the CPC over more than a century fully proves that realizing long-term governance must be based on the history and practice of the five-thousand-year-old Chinese civilization while continuously advancing the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. This is an indispensable cultural resource for the CPC's ability to govern long-term and its ultimate sustained tenure.
(II) The “Two Combinations” are the fundamental theoretical achievements of the Party’s long-term governance innovation theory. The proposition of the “Two Combinations” reflects the deepening of the Party’s understanding of the laws governing the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism; it is a strategic choice for the CPC to crack the code of the laws of governance and consolidate its governing foundation on the new journey of the New Era. Analyzed from the diachronic perspective of theoretical innovation, the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities (the “First Combination”) ensures that theory responds to the questions of the times, continuously resolving the tensions between theory and practice, and between the subjective and the objective. For instance, the proposal of major theories such as the “New Development Philosophy” and “Chinese-path modernization” is the product of a deep integration of the Marxist views on contradiction and development with the practice of China’s structural reforms. The combination of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture reconstructs the discourse system of governance at the level of civilizational roots. For example, sublimating the concept of “Great Harmony under Heaven” [17] into the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity not only endows traditional culture with modern value but also allows Marxism to obtain nourishment from excellent culture, forming an ideological discourse with Chinese characteristics.
Analyzed from the practical perspective of long-term governance, the “Two Combinations” provide a twofold answer to breaking the “historical cycle” [18]. On one hand, through the “First Combination,” a mechanism for self-revolution is constructed, incorporating comprehensively and strictly governing the Party into the national governance system, and solving governance problems such as power supervision and interest coordination through institutional innovation. On the other hand, the “Second Combination” activates the governance wisdom in traditional culture, such as transforming “governance through virtue and law” [19] into the combination of law-based governance and virtue-based governance, and developing “selecting the virtuous and capable” into the standards for selecting officials in the New Era. This forms institutional advantages that possess both modern governance efficacy and cultural identity. This two-way interaction enables the Party to grasp the laws governing changes in the principal contradiction of society while maintaining a value resonance with the masses, thereby upholding strategic resolve amidst global changes and deepening reforms. In short, facing the dual challenges of international order restructuring and domestic transformation, the CPC’s practice of promoting theoretical innovation through the “Two Combinations” not only provides ideological and theoretical weapons for breaking through systemic obstacles, but also gains the double support of historical necessity and moral legitimacy for the Party’s long-term governance by creating a new form of human civilization.
(III) The “Two Combinations” constitute a new cultural life-form created by the Party’s long-term governance. Through the deep mutual construction of the basic tenets of Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture, the “Two Combinations” have created a new cultural life-form that possesses both scientific rationality and civilizational roots, building a multi-dimensional support system for the CPC's long-term governance. Specifically, the modern transformation of the Marxist worldview and fine traditional Chinese culture provides the CPC with scientific methods to solve the problems of modernization and embeds the logic of governance into the nation's spiritual pedigree, forming a value resonance that transcends time and space. For example, using the theory of the transformation of the principal societal contradiction to guide supply-side structural reform and using a community with a shared future for humanity to reconstruct the discourse of global governance promotes deep-seated cultural identification with governing concepts.
At the same time, this new cultural life-form provides a dual path of “turning the blade inward” and “civilizational innovation” for long-term governance. The Marxist method of contradiction analysis guides the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, establishing a coordinated mechanism between intra-Party supervision and state oversight, demonstrating an institutional capacity for self-purification. The spirit of “discarding the old and establishing the new” [20] in fine traditional Chinese culture promotes innovation in the governance system, constructing an institutional paradigm where traditional wisdom and modern governance are integrated. This two-way interaction allows the Party to grasp the laws of modernization while maintaining civilizational continuity, effectively responding to the “Four Tests” and “Four Dangers” [21]. Ultimately, the new cultural life-form is directly related to the Party’s governing vitality; its essence is the creative fusion of the laws of governance and the laws of civilizational development, forming the cultural guarantee that supports long-term governance.
VI. Conclusion As the world’s largest Marxist governing party, the CPC has moved from local governance to national governance and then to the creative proposal of the path of Chinese-path modernization. It has not only achieved the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability but has also surpassed the development models of Western modernized countries, forming “China’s Governance” and providing Chinese wisdom for world development. Summarized collectively, the reason the CPC is able to govern long-term is based on five aspects: first, adhering to the unity of Party leadership and long-term governance; second, adhering to the unity of putting the people first and long-term governance; third, adhering to the unity of institutional building and long-term governance; fourth, adhering to the unity of cultural combination and long-term governance; and fifth, adhering to the unity of self-revolution and long-term governance. On the new journey, China faces uncertainties and governing risks caused by the accelerating evolution of global changes unseen in a century. The arduous tasks of reform, development, and stability present severe tests for the Party’s long-term governance. If its own internal problems remain unsolved for a long time, there is a risk of internal "degeneration, discoloration, and loss of flavor" [22]. Based on this, in the face of new situations and challenges, the CPC must continue to deepen the construction of its governing capacity. It must maintain and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership to build social consensus, and it must also continuously enhance risk awareness, maintain a firm stance on the side of the people, and strive to solve the "unique challenges of a large party" and social governance problems. Only in this way can the Party continuously improve its governing capacity and level in the process of achieving the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.