Tian Xuming: The Logical Origins of Adhering to the Party's Cultural Leadership
Culture concerns the national destiny; when culture flourishes, the nation flourishes. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping has placed cultural construction in a prominent position within the governance of the country, forming a series of new thoughts and perspectives centered on "why it is important," "how to build it," and "how to make it stronger" regarding the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. Among these, an original viewpoint and a landmark concept is the Chinese Communist Party's cultural leadership. Whether a political party holds cultural leadership directly determines its ability to lead social values, command discourse authority, consolidate the power of the masses, integrate social resources, and resist cultural colonialism. The emphasis placed by Chinese Communists in the New Era on upholding the Party’s cultural leadership is both a precious result of integrating Marxist theory on the proletarian party with the reality of Chinese cultural construction, and a theoretical reflection and strategic plan based on the history of the CPC’s struggle and the requirements of the New Era. Deeply understanding and grasping the context and logic of this major theoretical innovation allows for a further understanding of why the Party must continuously strengthen its cultural leadership, providing momentum and support for solidly advancing the building of a socialist cultural power under new circumstances.
I. Practical Requirements and Theoretical Extension of Marxist Party-Building Theory
The strength of a political party lies not only in its organizational growth and rigor, but more importantly in the leading power and appeal of its ideology and culture. The Communist Party of China is a party guided by Marxism; Marxist thought and theories on how to build the party provide programmatic guidance for the CPC's management of the Party and governance of the country. In the process of guiding the proletarian revolutionary movement, although Marx did not directly propose the concept of "cultural leadership," it was implied in the requirement for the proletarian party to contend for and enhance cultural leadership. Marx pointed out that "the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political, and intellectual life," yet the counter-reaction of ideological theory and cultural consciousness cannot be ignored: "the dissolution of a given form of consciousness is enough to cause a whole era to perish." In the Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Marx noted that "theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses. Theory is capable of gripping the masses as soon as it demonstrates ad hominem [convinces people]." Here, theory is the core of advanced culture; this exposition profoundly illustrates that the revolutionary movement of the proletarian party must command the discourse power of scientific theory and advanced thought. "As philosophy finds its material weapon in the proletariat, so the proletariat finds its spiritual weapon in philosophy." For the proletariat to fulfill its mission of self-liberation, it must create its own scientific thought and culture and use them to arm its mind, thereby transforming from a "class in itself" to a "class for itself."
It was no coincidence that Marx and Engels reached these conclusions; they were based on the history of the development of class society. In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels proposed an important thesis based on the facts of class rule in past class societies: "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force." In ruling as a class, "they regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age." Every class that strives to take the place of a ruling class will, for its own purposes, "represent its interest as the common interest of all the members of society," "give its ideas the form of universality, and represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones." This thesis reveals the political essence of culture in class society and simultaneously provides profound reflections on "cultural leadership" for the revolutionary struggle of the proletarian party. The proletarian party leading the revolutionary movement against the bourgeoisie must not only carry out struggles at the economic and political levels but also seize leadership at the cultural level, particularly occupying the advantage in the ideological sphere. Therefore, in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels explicitly emphasized that Communists must have their own "ideas," which are "by no means based on ideas or principles that have been invented, or discovered, by this or that would-be universal reformer." The communist revolution seeks to abolish so-called "eternal truths" and "in its proprietary development involves the most radical rupture with traditional ideas"—that is, sweeping away the corrupt cultural rule rooted in the old system and establishing a new socialist culture. Communists "never cease, for a single moment, to instill into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeoisie and proletariat," and even more so "disdain to conceal their views and aims." In the process of guiding the workers' movement, Marx deeply recognized that "numbers weigh only in the balance, if united by combination and led by knowledge"; here, being "led by knowledge" inherently implies arming the minds of workers with scientific theory. From this, it can be seen that contending for cultural leadership is an inevitable requirement for the proletarian party to carry out its revolutionary movement. Advanced and scientific culture can become a "weapon of criticism," leading and calling upon the masses to conduct a "criticism of weapons," thereby promoting progressive social change.
Lenin was a loyal successor and developer of Marxism. In the process of leading the Russian Revolution and socialist construction, he profoundly recognized the importance of cultural leadership for the proletarian party to seize and consolidate power, emphasizing that "without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement" and "the first task of every party of the future is to convince the majority of the people that its programme and tactics are correct." After the victory of the October Revolution, the fledgling Soviet regime encountered challenges from the "Proletkult" [1]. This faction held a totalizing negative attitude toward past culture and advocated for "cultural autonomy," attempting to break away from the leadership of the Bolshevik Party. In response, Lenin critically pointed out that one must resolutely oppose "the invention of one's own particular culture" and that "all organizations of the Proletkult must without exception consider themselves as auxiliary bodies in the system of the People's Commissariat for Education." "The proletariat, through its vanguard, the Communist Party, and all proletarian organizations, should act as the most active and central force in the entire work of national education." This demonstrated that the proletarian party is the leader of cultural and educational undertakings in a socialist state, and the Party's leadership over cultural undertakings must not be shaken. In Lenin's view, upholding the Party's cultural leadership is an important component of the dictatorship of the proletariat; cultural work is not an "independent field" outside of the Party's leadership. To this end, he required that "publishing houses and distribution centers, bookstores and reading rooms, libraries and various book and newspaper stalls must all become Party institutions and report to the Party on their work." Facing the interference of various old ideas and negative cultural trends, in order to consolidate the Party’s cultural leadership and promote socialist construction, Lenin emphasized on one hand that the struggle against bourgeois ideology must not stop, and that the Party must "protect the proletarian ideology—the doctrine of scientific socialism, that is, Marxism—from distortion and ensure its continued development." On the other hand, he advocated for strengthening theoretical arming, particularly emphasizing the popularization of communist education to make the working class and the broad masses accept socialist ideology and increase their identification with communist thought and culture. Addressing the reality of Russia's backward economy and culture at the time, Lenin proposed the eradication of illiteracy and the carrying out of a "cultural revolution." He specifically emphasized the implementation of the Party's leadership and will in the field of cultural construction, striving to "make our propaganda, our leadership, and the pamphlets we implement truly acceptable to the people." These expositions and practices pointed out the important strategic position and path for upholding the cultural leadership of the proletarian party, providing an important guide for Soviet socialist cultural construction.
In summary, upholding cultural leadership is an indispensable "magic weapon" [2] for the proletarian party to conduct revolutionary struggle and to seize and consolidate political power. The theoretical doctrines and related practices of the classical Marxist writers provided a theoretical guide for the proletariat to contend for cultural leadership, and also demonstrated that for the proletarian party to fulfill its historical mission, it must shape a leadership advantage in culture, making the values and spiritual will it advocates the universal pursuit and belief of the social masses. In a certain sense, upholding the Party's cultural leadership is a political principle and a distinctive hallmark of a Marxist party.
II. Drawing Upon and Applying the Historical Experience of the Communist Party of China
As a Marxist party, the Communist Party of China has consistently upheld cultural leadership throughout its struggles in revolution, construction, and reform, opening the way for the smooth progress of various undertakings through cultural struggle. At crucial moments and critical junctures, the CPC has relied on measures such as unifying thought, guiding beliefs, cultural united fronts, and media mobilization to firmly grasp the leading power and influence of ideology and culture. This has ensured that the Party's cause overcomes difficulties and continuously achieves new victories through the solidification of faith, alignment of direction, unity of thought, and resonance of theory. In short, upholding cultural leadership is a precious experience of the CPC in continuously creating great historical achievements.
As early as the May Fourth Movement [3], the pioneers of the Party keenly realized the importance of occupying cultural territory for the Chinese revolution. Advanced figures such as Li Dazhao and Chen Duxhuo actively propagated Marxism, took the initiative in debates between various trends of thought, founded publications, and established research societies to expand the influence of Marxism, demonstrating a clear consciousness of contending for cultural positions. Li Dazhao pointed out: "We must on one hand identify our 'ism' [doctrine]... and on the other hand propagate our 'ism'... and manifest its reality to human society, not blindly believing the rumors others create about them."
After the founding of the Communist Party of China, contending for and mastering cultural leadership was placed in a prominent position in its work. The First Resolution of the Communist Party of China [4] pointed out: "All publications, whether central or local... should be under the leadership of Party members," and "no articles contrary to the Party's principles, policies, and resolutions shall be published." The Resolution on Education and Propaganda formulated in 1923 clearly emphasized that "every Party member should be a propagandist, and should always be mindful of propaganda in daily speech." The Party used official organs such as The Guide (Xiangdao), workers' clubs, and study groups in workers' schools to continuously spread Marxism and the Party's principles and policies. This raised the political and ideological consciousness of the masses and laid an important foundation for the establishment of the Party's cultural leadership. In an extremely brutal environment of struggle, the Chinese Communists resolutely fought against erroneous ideas within the Party. The Gutian Conference [5] held in 1929 criticized and corrected non-proletarian ideas such as subjectivism, individualism, and the "roving rebel band" mentality within the Red Army. It established the Party's absolute leadership over the military politically, ideologically, and organizationally, and was also an important practice for the Party to strengthen its ideological and cultural leadership within the army. Additionally, the Party focused on exploring leadership over literary and artistic work. Under the suggestion and planning of the Party, the League of Left-Wing Writers was established in Shanghai in March 1930. Subsequently, the leagues of Chinese social scientists, dramatists, artists, and educators, as well as film and music groups, were established. Under the Party's leadership, these cultural forces actively engaged in Marxist propaganda and the creation of revolutionary literature and art, providing a strong guarantee for promoting the Party's revolutionary struggle and embedding the Party's ideology and culture deeply among the masses.
During the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Party carried out a profound Rectification Movement [6]. By establishing the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, setting the policy of "learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient," promoting the cultivation of intellectuals serving the proletariat, strengthening the Party's leadership over various propaganda publications, and adopting the approach of "upholding the fundamentals while breaking new ground" [7] toward traditional culture, the Party unified the thinking of the entire Party. The Party's awareness, artistry, and capability in leading culture were further enhanced. In 1940, Mao Zedong published On New Democracy, proposing that the CPC should "transform a China ruled by old culture and hence ignorant and backward into a China ruled by new culture and hence civilized and advanced." This new culture is New Democratic culture, the essential requirement of which is that it "cannot be separated from the leadership of communist ideology," and is "the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal culture of the broad masses of the people under the leadership of the proletariat." These expositions essentially required the Party to maintain absolute leadership over New Democratic culture.
After the victory of the War of Resistance, while exposing the reactionary nature of the Kuomintang reactionaries who sabotaged peace and attempted a dictatorial rule, the CPC worked hard to disseminate the Party's ideological line, cultural propositions, and policies. In the Liberated Areas, the Party led cultural transformation with educational reform as a breakthrough point, creating a new educational system oriented toward workers, peasants, and soldiers. It carried out literacy campaigns through night schools and winter schools to transform and eliminate old ideas and further propagate the Party's ideological and theoretical achievements among the masses. On the other hand, it strengthened media propaganda, established literary and artistic groups, transformed old arts, and created new arts.
In 1947, during a speech to the performance troupe of the Jin-Sui Peking Opera Theater, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Our comrades have improved politically; in the future, when we arrive in the big cities, we must take over those old theatrical troupes and lead them." This was essentially a call to strengthen the Party's leadership and organizational capacity in the field of literature and art. In the Kuomintang-controlled areas, facing blockades and suppression from the KMT, the Communist Party of China (CPC) united progressive figures, actively founded various propaganda publications, developed wireless broadcasting, and utilized the cultural United Front to consolidate the "second frontline" [8], thereby enhancing the Party’s political leadership, influence, and appeal on the cultural front. It can be said that throughout the Party’s leadership of the armed struggle, its persistence in maintaining cultural hegemony never ceased. This accumulated powerful spiritual momentum and support for the final victory of the New Democratic Revolution and became an important experience in the victory of the Chinese Revolution. As Mao Zedong summarized: "To grasp ideological education is the central link in uniting the whole Party for great political struggle. If this task is not solved, none of the Party's political tasks can be completed."
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, while focusing on production and construction, the CPC also emphasized strengthening leadership over ideological construction and cultural education. It guided cultural development with the Party’s guiding ideology and cultural policies, continued to lead the "breaking of the old and establishing of the new" in culture, and actively developed a new national, scientific, and mass culture. By establishing and consolidating cultural hegemony, the Party ensured that the New China would "emerge in the world as a nation with a high level of culture." First, it strengthened Marxist education and propaganda, making Marxist ideology the mainstream ideology and holding the leadership over ideology [9] firmly in the Party's hands. In 1951, the Party Central Committee issued important documents on theoretical education, such as the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Establishing a Propaganda Network for the Masses throughout the Party and the Notice of the CPC Central Committee on the Decision to Strengthen Theoretical Education, requiring Party leadership organs to supervise and guide their propaganda departments, newspapers, journals, and publications to serve the dissemination of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Second, it established an ideological and political education system in schools at all levels. It reformed the old-style education, abolished the "Party Doctrine" [10] and "Boy Scouts" from the KMT era—which did not meet the requirements of the new society—and other unreasonable educational systems. It advocated using the Marxist stand, viewpoint, and method to advance reforms in educational content, teaching mechanisms, curriculum systems, and the teaching force, emphasizing Marxist theoretical education and moral character education to cultivate a new generation of socialist successors. Third, it actively transformed the thinking of intellectuals, helping them grow into working-class intellectuals who serve the cause of socialist culture and education. In 1951, the CPC Central Committee issued the Instruction on Carrying Out Ideological Remolding and Organizational Cleanup in Schools. The following year, the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Developing Learning Activities for Ideological Remolding of People from All Walks of Life was released, facilitating a nationwide ideological remolding movement. This prompted intellectuals to improve their ideological and theoretical levels and cognitive abilities, establishing a value orientation of serving socialism and the people. Fourth, it strengthened leadership over literature and art work. Through measures such as transforming the ideological state of artists and writers from the old society, reorganizing literary and artistic institutions, organizing them to study Marxism, and strengthening the reform of traditional opera, the literary and artistic cause of New China manifested a new atmosphere and appearance consistent with the requirements of socialist cultural construction. It can be said that after the founding of New China, the Party Central Committee persisted in strengthening leadership over ideological and cultural undertakings, reinforcing the manifestation of the Party’s ideological will, political purpose, and historical mission in the cultural field. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, despite a weak material foundation and the blockade by Western countries, the CPC led the masses to achieve exhilarating accomplishments in technological innovation, industrial production, and infrastructure. This is inseparable from the CPC’s efforts to strengthen education on ideals and convictions and to reinforce ideological guidance and cultural hegemony. As Deng Xiaoping summarized: "Our hard struggle over the past decades relied on using firm convictions to unite the people to fight for their own interests. Without such convictions, there would be no cohesion. Without such convictions, there would be nothing."
Since the beginning of reform and opening up, in order to adapt to the new trends and requirements of the times, to pool strength for developing productive forces, and to rapidly improve the people’s living standards and comprehensive national strength, the CPC has placed even greater emphasis on constructing the Party’s cultural hegemony, using socialist culture to fortify the ideological foundation for the common struggle of people of all ethnic groups. On one hand, it led and supported the "Great Discussion on the Criterion of Truth," fundamentally correcting "Leftist" errors and restoring the Marxist ideological line of seeking truth from facts, which provided the whole Party and society with correct ideological guidance. On the other hand, facing the changes in the ideological and cultural ecosystem triggered by economic structural reform and opening up, the Party actively addressed the realities of cultural diversity, the collision of values, and the transformation of the media landscape by strengthening leadership over ideological, cultural, and spiritual civilization work. Deng Xiaoping insisted on "grasping with both hands" [11] and that "both hands must be firm," emphasizing that "things belonging to the cultural field must be analyzed, identified, and criticized with Marxism regarding their ideological content and methods of expression." He stressed the need to "build our Party into a militant Marxist party, a strong core leading the people of the whole country in the construction of socialist material and spiritual civilization." Jiang Zemin pointed out that "important positions of spiritual civilization construction must be firmly held in the Party's hands," and that "to evaluate a leading cadre's performance, one must look not only at their ability and results in grasping material civilization construction, but also their ability and results in grasping spiritual civilization construction." Hu Jintao raised the construction of the Party's cultural leadership capacity to the level of "governance capacity," emphasizing that "the Party managing propaganda and the Party managing ideology is an important principle and system formed in our Party’s long-term practice, and an important aspect of upholding Party leadership; it must be firmly upheld at all times and never waver." He stressed the need to "plan ideological work from the strategic height of improving the Party’s governance capacity, consolidating the Party's governing status, and fulfilling the Party’s governing mission, and to strengthen and improve leadership over ideological work." During the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, faced with a complex ideological and cultural situation, the CPC boldly absorbed the beneficial fruits of human civilization while maintaining strong leadership over the cultural front to prevent culture from "losing its authenticity" or "losing its essence," providing powerful cultural support for the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Viewed from the above, persisting in and strengthening the Party’s cultural hegemony is a consistent historical tradition of the CPC. It is precisely because of this that the cause led by the CPC has obtained stable and powerful spiritual momentum and support, maintaining resonant resilience and forward momentum even in environments that are intricate, perilous, or even fraught with turbulent waters [12].
III. Grasping Political Initiative and Strategic Planning in the Context of the New Era
The innovation and leaps in ideological theory are active reflections of the characteristics of the times and practical realities. "The true content of all epoch-making systems is formed by the needs of the period in which these systems arose." "The degree to which theory is realized in a nation depends on the degree to which the theory satisfies the needs of that nation." In the New Era, the CPC’s explicit emphasis on adhering to cultural hegemony as the fundamental requirement for cultural development is both a theoretical summary based on historical experience and a strategic plan based on the development and changes of the current situation.
Objectively speaking, the complexity, difficulty, and sensitivity of current reforms are in no way inferior to the past; socialist modernization is facing the test of multiple overlapping tasks and intertwined, complex contradictions. The more heavy the tasks and the more risks overlap, the more necessary it is to have firm ideological will and ideals and convictions, and the more necessary it is to consolidate the soul through spirit and culture. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the Party’s comprehensive leadership over cultural work, emphasizing the need to "strengthen the Party's comprehensive leadership over propaganda and ideological work, and take a clear-cut stand in upholding the principle of the Party managing propaganda and the Party managing ideology," and to "uphold the fundamental system of the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, and persist in serving the people and serving socialism." It has solemnly proposed the major proposition of "upholding the cultural hegemony of the Communist Party of China," clarifying the political guarantee for cultural construction in the New Era. Since the start of the New Era, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, our Party has taken a series of forceful measures to comprehensively consolidate the Party’s cultural hegemony. These include the innovative implementation of the Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project, accelerating the construction of a modern public cultural service system, and establishing the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission. Chinese Communists have demonstrated a strong sense of mission, responsibility, and initiative at the cultural level.
Far-sighted planning to maintain the Party's governing security. The governing security of a political party refers to the stability of its governing foundation and the smoothness of its governing process. This requires not only "hard power" such as economy, technology, and military, but also cultural "soft power." This soft power depends to a large extent on the governing party's effective construction, shaping, and mastery of cultural hegemony. Therefore, if the CPC wants to maintain its governing security, it must firmly grasp the leadership, the right to speak, and the right to develop in the realm of ideology and culture, marking the direction, path, and method of cultural development. Xi Jinping pointed out: "The collapse of a regime often begins in the ideological field. Political turmoil and regime change can happen overnight, but ideological evolution is a long-term process. Once the ideological defense line is breached, other defense lines are hard to hold." Looking back at history, a direct reason for the collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was its abandonment of the guiding position of Marxism and its abandonment of ideological leadership. From the perspective of China's current reality, the CPC’s governance still faces severe challenges from the ideological, cultural, and ideological fields. For example, Marxism has become "voiceless" in some areas, and phenomena of marginalization, labeling, and vulgarization still exist to varying degrees; erroneous cultural trends such as historical nihilism, cultural nihilism, and pan-entertainmentism continue to change their appearance, trying every possible way to erode people's thoughts; and the internet has become an amplifier of social public opinion—if some issues are not handled well, they may cause non-negligible harm to national cultural security. Therefore, the CPC cannot relax its cultural hegemony for a single moment; it must fortify the Party's mass foundation and governing foundation ideologically, spiritually, and culturally. It must advance the Party's theoretical innovation, internalizing it into a consensus and value standard widely recognized and observed by the whole of society, so as to gain broad popular support for the Party's governing philosophy and ideology. At the same time, on the basis of respecting differences and tolerating diversity, the Party must use the Socialist Core Value System to lead social trends, resist erroneous thoughts and cultures, and form a social ideological consensus to the maximum extent. This will effectively resolve social contradictions and concentrate the wisdom and strength of the whole society toward the goals set by the Party and the state, creating a harmonious and stable ideological environment for social development. It can be said that the CPC’s emphasis in the New Era on "firmly grasping the leadership, management, and right to speak in ideological work, never letting them fall into other hands" and "strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over propaganda, ideological, and cultural work" is based on strategic considerations to maintain the Party’s governing security and is a long-term strategy aimed at "strengthening the foundation and casting the soul."
An inherent requirement for advancing Chinese-path modernization. In the process of modernization, there are not only the manifestation and driving force of elements such as economic development, political construction, institutional innovation, and technological innovation, but also the manifestation and regulation of spiritual and cultural elements. Chinese-path modernization is a socialist modernization led by the CPC; it is the product of combining the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture. It is a modernization with unique ideological guidance, spiritual regulation, and cultural characteristics, seeking the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations. Its process and objectives include "spiritual initiative" and cultural creation, practicing the mission requirements of a cultural powerhouse [13]. Xi Jinping emphasized:
"The socialist modernized powerful nation we seek to build must be strong not only materially, but even more so spiritually. Only spiritual strength is more enduring, deeper, and more powerful." To ensure that the path of Chinese-path modernization remains "stronger" and "more powerful" in spirit—maintaining steady and long-term progress on the socialist track—it is inseparable from the Communist Party of China's (CPC) persistence in its cultural leadership [14]. Against the backdrop of further comprehensively deepening reform, intensifying social mobility and stratification, increasingly diverse ideologies and cultures, and the people's ever-stronger cultural needs for a better life, we must continually reinforce the Party's cultural leadership. This involves consolidating the guiding status of Marxism in the ideological and cultural spheres, building a socialist cultural power, and strengthening cultural self-confidence. We must be more "proactive" [15] in fields such as theoretical and cultural innovation, ideological dissemination, reform of the cultural system, and the autonomous construction of a discourse system. Only then can we shape a correct historical narrative, stabilize value coordinates, master the discourse system, and reinforce cultural identity for Chinese-path modernization. This, in turn, will create a healthy and positive ideological and cultural environment for the entire process of Chinese-path modernization, providing powerful ideological leadership, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence. It can be said that without cultural leadership, Chinese-path modernization would easily lose its direction, order, and momentum due to the absence of a "steering wheel," "adhesive," and "drive wheel."
This is a cultural initiative to respond to the great changes in the world. Xi Jinping pointed out: "The world today is experiencing great changes unseen in a century. These changes are not limited to a single moment, a single event, a single region, or a single country; they are changes of the world, of the times, and of history." A prominent feature of these "great changes unseen in a century" is the rise of structural contradictions and crises in major Western powers, the collective rise of the "Global South," and the profound adjustment of the global economic landscape, international power structures, and governance systems. The contrast of "the East rising and the West declining" [16] is stark, and strategic competition and maneuvering between major powers have intensified. In this context, Western countries, centered on the United States and driven by the nature of capital hegemony, will escalate their containment and suppression of "Eastern forces," including China. We must fully estimate the "limit challenges" [17] we may face. These challenges exist at the economic and political levels, but also at the cultural level. For a long time, Western countries have used cultural industries, academic research, news media, and internet dissemination to conduct cultural penetration and spiritual colonization as a standard means of containing China. Globally, the tragedies of national turmoil and ethnic decline resulting from cultural aggression and spiritual colonization continue to unfold. In the eyes of many Western politicians, "American leadership is good both for America and for the world; such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy, and adherence to moral principles." It is evident that as major power competition intensifies under these great changes, cultural confrontations and the struggle for discourse power will inevitably escalate. Compared to the cruelty of confrontations on physical battlefields, a cultural war without the smoke of gunpowder is even more terrifying. To this end, the CPC must hold its cultural ground. While safeguarding the Chinese cultural lineage [18], it must develop an advanced culture that meets the needs of the times, maintain national cultural security, and defend the spiritual independence of the Chinese nation. In this sense, the CPC's insistence on cultural leadership is a strategic response to the great changes in the world. It aims to firmly grasp the cultural initiative for national development amidst an intertwined and turbulent global situation, strive to enhance the influence and cohesive force of Chinese culture, and ensure that the cultural front of socialism with Chinese characteristics remains unshaken, uncompromising, and unyielding, thereby forging the spiritual strength for the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
In short, the strength of a political party is reflected not only in the growth of its organizational scale and the rigor of its organizational system but also in the strength of its ideological and cultural leadership, cohesion, and appeal. Looking back at the road we have traveled, persisting in cultural leadership is an important experience for the CPC in establishing and strengthening the Party and continuously leading the development of its cause. Looking ahead to the new journey, strategic opportunities and risky challenges for China's development coexist, and uncertain factors are increasing. The CPC must maintain the initiative to continuously consolidate and enhance its cultural leadership, ensuring the Party always possesses strong political leadership, ideological guidance, development planning capabilities, discourse influence, and social mobilization power in the field of cultural development. Only in this way can the Party consolidate the cultural cornerstone of its long-term governance, lay the ideological foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and provide correct value navigation and lasting spiritual motivation.