Shu Jin: A Historical Investigation and Practical Enlightenment of Mao Zedong's Initiation of the Party's Cultural Leadership
Culture is the soul of a nation and a people. As an ideological form, culture serves as a vital spiritual force for a nation's survival and development. During periods of intense historical transformation, issues of thought and culture often become major subjects of fierce debate.
"Proposals for reform in cultural matters are often the public opinion preparation and ideological precursor for political and economic change," and "what kind of culture is established, and how that culture is established, essentially poses the question of the nature and direction of social, ethnic, and national transformation." Looking back at the Party’s century-long history of struggle, the fundamental reason our Party has been able to lead the people to achieve great results in every historical period is that it grasped the scientific truths of Marxism and continuously advanced theoretical innovation; it is fundamentally because the Party attaches great importance to, and is adept at using, advanced ideology and culture to lead the development of the times and social progress. The Party's cultural leadership [1] refers to the leadership authority gradually formed and established by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the fields of propaganda, ideology, and culture during the historical process of leading the Chinese people through revolution, construction, and reform. This is mainly reflected in the Party's guidance of the direction of cultural construction, the opening of development paths, and the management of specific work. Its essence is the Party's leadership, management, and discourse power over ideological work. "From the very beginning, the CPC took Marxism-Leninism—the most advanced and scientific ideological weapon—as its guide and integrated it with the reality of the Chinese revolution to propose and develop advanced theories and advanced culture capable of playing a massive role in mobilizing, inspiring, and guiding the Chinese people." The theory of New Democratic Culture is a cultural program proposed by Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, by integrating the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism with China's specific realities. This brand-new cultural program served as an evocative ideological banner; it not only established the Party's leading position in the ideological and cultural spheres but also led the historical direction of "where China is headed" since the start of the modern era.
I. Origins: The Theoretical Basis for Proposing the Party’s Cultural Leadership
In China more than 100 years ago, what lay before the world was a scene of decay and desolation. The Chinese nation, which had once created a brilliant civilization, faced a profound crisis in which that civilization struggled to survive. The New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement [2] set off a trend of the times for the Chinese people and the Chinese nation to seek truth, resist oppression, and pursue progress. Following the Great Awakening of the Chinese people, the CPC emerged as required by the times during the process of integrating Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese workers' movement. "In different economic and social environments, people produce different ideas and cultures. Although the construction of thought and culture is determined by the economic base, it also exerts a counter-reaction [3] on the economic base. Once advanced ideology and culture are grasped by the masses, they transform into a powerful material force; conversely, if backward or erroneous concepts are not eliminated, they become shackles on social development and progress." Since its birth, the CPC has consistently adhered to its Marxist faith and communist ideals, using scientific Marxist theory to observe society, transform China, and lead the era.
In the process of leading the people in revolution, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, gained a profound understanding of the important role of advanced ideology and culture, explicitly emphasizing the leading position of "proletarian cultural thought" within New Democratic culture. Mao Zedong pointed out, "The Communist Party must hold a propaganda leaflet in its left hand and a bullet in its right before it can strike down the enemy," and "grasping ideological leadership is the first priority in grasping all leadership." He further argued that New Democratic culture "can only be led by the cultural thought of the proletariat, that is, communist thought, and cannot be led by the cultural thought of any other class." These important assertions by Mao Zedong contain and effectively propose the proposition of "the Party's cultural leadership."
To trace the source, the theoretical basis for the proposition of "the Party's cultural leadership" consists of the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism and Marxist cultural theory. In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels criticized the idealist conception of history and provided a relatively systematic exposition of historical materialism, revealing the starting point of historical materialism: that social existence determines social consciousness. "This conception of history, unlike the idealist one, does not look for a category in every age, but remains constantly on the real ground of history; it does not explain practice from the idea but explains the formation of ideas from material practice." In "On New Democracy," Mao Zedong emphasized this basic viewpoint of historical materialism, noting, "In discussing China's cultural problems, we must not forget this basic viewpoint," and "a given culture is the conceptual reflection of the politics and economy of a given society."
Marxism holds that the production and reproduction of real life are the determining factors in the historical process in the final analysis, yet factors of the superstructure such as the state, law, and ideology possess relative independence. In his later years, Engels criticized the so-called "economic materialist" view that simplified or vulgarized historical materialism, pointing out that the superstructure exerts a counter-reaction on the economic base and emphasizing that historical development is the result of the interaction of various factors.
In August 1937, in "On Contradiction," Mao Zedong proceeded from the basic tenets of historical materialism to point out the dialectical relationship between economy, politics, and culture in the development of human society: "When the superstructure (politics, culture, etc.) obstructs the development of the economic base, political and cultural reforms become the principal and decisive factors. In saying this, are we going against materialism? No. For we recognize that in the general development of history the material determines the mental and social existence determines social consciousness; but at the same time we also recognize and must recognize the counter-reaction of mental things, the counter-reaction of social consciousness on social existence, and the counter-reaction of the superstructure on the economic base. This does not go against materialism; on the contrary, it avoids mechanical materialism and firmly upholds dialectical materialism." In "On New Democracy," Mao Zedong summarized this basic principle as: "A given form of politics and economy first determines a given form of culture; only then does that given form of culture exert influence and a reaction upon the given form of politics and economy."
The influence of ideology and culture on politics and the economy does not arise out of thin air; it must be realized through practical activities with the masses as the main subject. Mao Zedong pointed out that in the modern era, the Chinese people and countless people of high ideals struggled to find the truth to save the country and its people, "but it was only after World War I and the Russian October Revolution that we found Marxism-Leninism, the best of truths, as the best weapon for the liberation of our nation, and the CPC is the advocate, propagandist, and organizer that took up this weapon." In short, for Marxism to truly become the ideological weapon that changes China's future and destiny, the masses must be armed with this advanced thought and apply it to the practice of the Chinese revolution. It can be said that it was precisely because the CPC used the power of Marxist truth to awaken the Chinese people to rise in struggle that the massive role of scientific theory in rescuing the Chinese nation from peril and reversing its destiny was fully brought into play.
For proletarian ideology and culture to play a leading role in social practice, it depends on one hand on the advanced nature of the ideology and culture itself, and on the other hand on the cultural leadership held by the proletarian political organization that has mastered this advanced thought. In the process of leading the Russian Revolution, Lenin recognized the advanced nature of the Marxist worldview, which "correctly reflects the interests, views, and culture of the revolutionary proletariat," and he viewed the cultural strength of the proletarian party as an indispensable factor for the proletariat to seize power and build socialism. In March 1922, Lenin concluded, "The New Economic Policy (NEP) gives us a full guarantee, economically and politically, that we shall be able to lay the foundations of a socialist economy," adding that the problem "lies 'only' in the cultural strength of the proletariat and its vanguard." In "On New Democracy," Mao Zedong categorized "new cultural strength" alongside "new political strength" and "new economic strength" as "China's revolutionary strength." Mao pointed out that after the May Fourth Movement, a "completely brand-new cultural force" was born on China's cultural front—"the communist cultural thought led by the Chinese Communists, that is, the communist world outlook and theory of social revolution." In Mao’s view, there are two fronts in the revolutionary struggle, the civil and the martial; revolutionary culture is a powerful weapon for advancing the revolutionary struggle, and revolutionary cultural workers play the important role of commanders.
Marxism holds that ideology and culture, as part of the superstructure, are ultimately determined by the mode of production and possess historical and class characteristics. In May 1942, at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao Zedong pointed out: "In the world today, all culture, all literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines." Mao viewed proletarian literature and art as a part of the whole revolutionary cause of the proletariat, like "indispensable gears and screws in the whole machine." He stated, "The Party's work in literature and art has its assigned and proper place in the whole of the Party's revolutionary work; it is subordinated to the revolutionary tasks set by the Party in a given revolutionary period." If we say the theoretical foundation of Mao Zedong’s proposition of "the Party’s cultural leadership" is Marxist philosophy, then the direct ideological source of his analogy of the Party's literary and art work to "gears and screws" is Marxist cultural theory and Lenin's important assertions on proletarian culture and art. In November 1905, in "Party Organization and Party Literature," Lenin focused on criticizing the tendencies of bourgeois anarchism and intellectual individualism which, under the banner of "absolute freedom of individual ideological creation," attempted to escape Party leadership and supervision. He pointed out: "Literature must become part of the common cause of the proletariat, 'a gear and a screw' of one single great Social-Democratic mechanism set in motion by the entire politically conscious vanguard of the entire working class." Mao Zedong directly quoted and expanded upon Lenin's "gear and screw" viewpoint at the Yan'an Forum, demonstrating his inheritance and development of Lenin’s cultural thought.
Guided by scientific Marxist theory is a distinct political character and unique political advantage of the CPC. "It is precisely because our Party grasped the scientific truth of Marxism that it fundamentally grasped leadership over ideology and culture, and grasped the initiative in creating history." The relevant expositions of the Marxist classics on the cultural leadership of the proletarian party provide us with a scientific position, viewpoint, and method based on historical materialism to further understand and expand on this issue in the context of China’s reality. The proposition of "the Party's cultural leadership" put forward by the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, is the result of our Party mastering and applying scientific Marxist theory; it is the creative application and development of Marxism-Leninism, and specifically Marxist cultural theory, during the New Democratic Revolution.
II. The Rationale: Historical Reasons for Striving for the Party’s Cultural Leadership
In the modern era, as China gradually descended into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, saving the nation from subjugation and national rejuvenation became the common dream of all Chinese people, and the question of "where China is headed" became the question of the era driving social development and progress. This question "manifested in the political and ideological spheres as a debate between the 'ancient and modern, Chinese and Western,' the content of which was how to learn from the West and reflect on tradition to seek the truth for saving the country and people, so that the Chinese nation could embark on the road of freedom and liberation." This contention in the ideological sphere was "in essence a reflection of the Chinese people's practical struggle against imperialism and feudalism."
Looking at it historically,
The proposition of "the Party’s cultural leadership" originated from the Communist Party of China’s response to the historical question of "whither China" during the process of leading the Chinese people in the struggle against imperialism and feudalism. The reason "whither China" became a burning question was related to the global landscape of modernization and the historical position of modern China. Modernization is a worldwide historical process and a sharp transformation that human society has undergone since the Industrial Revolution. "This transformation, driven by industrialization, led to a global process of transition from traditional agrarian societies to modern industrial societies; it allowed industrialism to penetrate the economic, political, cultural, and ideological spheres, causing profound corresponding changes." Because Western nations began the Industrial Revolution earlier, a global pattern emerged where modernization originated in and was long led by the West. The Chinese nation, with more than 5,000 years of civilization, gradually fell into decline under the influence of the "closed-door" policy [4] of the late Ming Dynasty and the impact of the Western wave of modernization. After the Opium War, China was passively dragged into the tide of world modernization amidst unprecedented catastrophes. "Seeking truth from the West" became a consensus among advanced Chinese people striving to save the nation from subjugation and achieve national rejuvenation.
Progressive Chinese people once worked hard to learn from the West, yet this process was full of contradictions and confusion. Before the Chinese found Marxism, the various "isms" that took the stage and the various schemes for national salvation that were introduced in turns all met with failure. This failure was directly related to the brutal invasion of China by advanced Western capitalist countries, particularly imperialist ones. If the Chinese people were to fulfill the heavy responsibility of saving the nation and the people and achieving national rejuvenation, they had to resist not only deep-rooted feudalism but also overbearing imperialism. Included in the profound miseries brought to the Chinese people by national and feudal oppression was a disaster of national culture. At that time, the common predicament of advanced Chinese elements and people of insight at the cultural-psychological level was: on the one hand, after suffering massive aggression from Western powers, they were emotionally and intensely anti-Western, but intellectually they had to follow the West as a teacher, attempting to learn the way of national salvation from them; on the other hand, in this massive external shock, they deeply felt the decay and backwardness of feudal autocratic rule, making them intellectually and intensely anti-traditional, yet emotionally they possessed an inseparable dependence on traditional culture. Regarding this dilemma, Mao Zedong expressed the inner confusion of the Chinese people:
"Imperialist aggression shattered the fond dreams of the Chinese about learning from the West. It was very odd—why were the teachers always committing aggression against their pupils? The Chinese learned a good deal from the West, but they could not make it work; their ideals could never be realized." After the Chinese found Marxism-Leninism, this situation began to change. "Once the Chinese people mastered Marxism-Leninism, they ceased to be passive in spirit and took the initiative. From that moment, the period in modern world history in which the Chinese and Chinese culture were looked down upon should have ended."
The all-out war of aggression against China launched by Japanese imperialism exacerbated the deep crisis into which the Chinese nation had fallen in modern times. Under the strong impetus of the CPC, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, based on cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, developed into a new situation of nationwide resistance. However, "Since the outbreak of the nationwide War of Resistance, the question of whither China has not disappeared; rather, it has been placed sharply before every Chinese person as the diehard clique of the Kuomintang [5] deliberately promotes the advocacy of ‘one doctrine, one party.’" At that time, the Kuomintang diehards and their hired literati attempted to replace Marxism and Communism with a distorted version of the "Three People's Principles." [6] Although some representatives of the national bourgeoisie expressed dissatisfaction with the Kuomintang’s dictatorial rule and its ineffective resistance, they also held doubts about the Communist Party’s propositions and the future of the war. Against this background, around 1940, Mao Zedong successively published important theoretical works such as The Introducing "The Communist", The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party, and On New Democracy. These works systematically explained the theory and program of the CPC, which not only guided the Chinese people's War of Resistance but also explained to the whole Party and the people of the whole country the Party’s systematic views on the Chinese revolution and the construction of a New China, profoundly answering the urgent question of "whither China" from a theoretical perspective.
In The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong creatively proposed the scientific concept of "New Democracy." He pointed out that the nature of the Chinese revolution is a "New Democratic revolution," which "is part of the world proletarian-socialist revolution" and "is an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution of the masses of the people under the leadership of the proletariat." At the beginning of On New Democracy, Mao Zedong raised the question of "whither China," and immediately followed it with a clear exposition of the CPC’s cultural program and a blueprint for the cultural construction of a New China. "We want not only to change a China that is politically oppressed and economically exploited into a China that is politically free and economically prosperous, but also to change a China which is mired in the old culture and therefore ignorant and backward into a China that is ruled by the new culture and therefore civilized and progressive. In short, we want to build a New China. To build a new culture for the Chinese nation—this is our aim in the cultural field." Mao Zedong pointed out that "all culture containing slave ideology" belongs to imperialist culture, and that "all those who advocate the worship of Confucius and the reading of the classics, promote the old code of ethics and old ideas, and oppose the new culture and new ideas" are representatives of semi-feudal culture. Applying the law of the unity of opposites, Mao Zedong clarified that the "old culture" which once occupied the dominant position in "ignorant and backward China"—namely, the "imperialist culture" reflecting colonial and semi-colonial status and the "semi-feudal culture" reflecting semi-feudal politics and economics—must all be overthrown.
Based on summarizing the historical characteristics and experience of the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong pointed out that before the May Fourth Movement, China’s New Culture Movement [7] was led by the bourgeoisie. After the May Fourth Movement, however, "the culture and ideology of this class [bourgeoisie] became even more backward than its politics and ceased to have any leadership role; at most, it could only serve as an ally to a certain extent during the revolutionary period, while the qualification of leader of the alliance necessarily fell on the shoulders of proletarian culture and ideology." After the May Fourth Movement, the new culture of the Chinese nation became "a culture of a New Democratic nature, part of the socialist cultural revolution of the world proletariat." This culture "is the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal culture of the masses of the people led by the proletariat." Mao Zedong’s profound insight into the international and domestic situation of the time revealed the scientific conclusion that only the proletariat could lead the Chinese revolution to the thorough completion of its anti-imperialist and anti-feudal tasks. From this, he logically put forward the important thesis that the cultural revolution—as the reflection in the realm of ideas of the political and economic revolutions—and the new culture—reflecting the new politics and new economy—cannot be detached from the leadership of the proletariat (acting through the Communist Party).
The May Fourth Movement was a major turning point in China’s transition from tradition to modernity; it was a cultural response by the Chinese people to the influx of the Western tide of modernization and marked the first comprehensive awakening of the Chinese nation since the Opium War. After the May Fourth Movement, various "isms" took the stage and various trends of thought clashed. Under the banner of "rejuvenating national culture," various schemes and arguments for cultural construction emerged in an endless stream. "Those who truly grasped the new essentials of cultural construction" were "the Chinese Communists, who had been meticulously exploring the future destiny of China." "The cultural construction program proposed by the Chinese Communists is the theory of New Democratic culture proposed by Mao Zedong." Using the ideological weapon of Marxism, the Chinese Communists powerfully refuted and thoroughly analyzed the "New Learning" thoughts [8] representing the Chinese bourgeoisie and the "Restorationist" thoughts representing Chinese feudalism. On this basis, they used the theory of New Democratic culture to respond to the "contention between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West" in the ideological and cultural spheres.
Major debates on ideological and cultural issues and their ultimate resolution profoundly affect social character, the future of the state, and the fate of the nation. "In the process of ideological liberation and contention, a new way of answering the question of the future path of modernization, which had troubled modern China for many years, emerged: namely, to carry out a thorough social revolution under the guidance of Marxism." The theoretical reflections and practical explorations carried out by the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, to strive for the Party’s cultural leadership during the period of democratic revolution were, in essence, the CPC’s transformation of the Chinese people’s passive response to the "contention between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West" (under the impact of Western modernization) into an active leading of China’s future and destiny during the struggle against imperialism and feudalism and the exploration of a path to modernization. As Feng Qi [9] stated: "The Chinese Communists provided scientific answers, both politically and culturally, to the contention between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West during the democratic revolution period." Whither China? The answer given by the Chinese Communists was: to complete the historical tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism through a New Democratic revolution led by the proletariat (via the Party), and then to transition to socialism under certain historical conditions, independently exploring and forging a path to modernization suitable for China’s national conditions.
III. How to Achieve It: The Practical Essentials of Constructing the Party’s Cultural Leadership
Marxism holds that practice is both the source and the purpose of knowledge. In the entirety of human cognitive activity, the deepening of levels of understanding and the change in forms of knowledge are subject to and serve the needs of the development of practice. The proposition of "the Party’s cultural leadership" originates from the theoretical guidance of Marxism and arises from the actual needs of the Chinese revolution; it is a dialectical unity of theory and practice, and of history and reality. The realization of the Party's cultural leadership is concrete rather than abstract, and must be implemented in corresponding fields and specific work. How should the Party’s cultural leadership be constructed in reality? Mao Zedong provided profound reflections and vivid practice on this.
1. Taking the Sinicization of Marxism as the fundamental orientation and establishing the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field
As an important part of the superstructure, culture is inherently ideological. The Party’s cultural leadership is, in essence, leadership over ideological work. At its inception, our Party clearly recognized that in old China, where peasants and the petty bourgeoisie made up the majority of the population while the working class was small, to complete the historical tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism and ultimately realize the fundamental political goal of social revolution proposed in the program of the First National Congress of the CPC, it was necessary not only to have a vanguard of the working class with firm faith in Marxism but also to effectively arm the working class and other revolutionary masses with Marxist theory. That is to say, the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field had to be established.
In the Party’s history, the young CPC once simply applied the general principles of Marxism and blindly copied the experience of the Russian Revolution, causing the Chinese revolution to suffer serious setbacks. Mao Zedong came into contact with Marxist doctrine early on and firmly believed in it, yet he always opposed the erroneous tendency of treating Marxism as an immutable dogma rather than starting from the reality of the Chinese revolution. In On Practice, Mao Zedong pointed out that "Marxism-Leninism has in no way exhausted truth but ceaselessly opens up roads to the knowledge of truth in the course of practice"; this is "the concrete, historical unity of the subjective and the objective, of theory and practice, of knowing and doing." In October 1938, at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party, Mao Zedong first explicitly proposed the proposition of the "Sinicization of Marxism," thereby leading the Chinese people in initiating the historical process of Sinicizing Marxism. Mao Zedong pointed out: "Marxism must be integrated with the specific characteristics of our country and realized through a certain national form. The great strength of Marxism-Leninism lies in its connection with the specific revolutionary practice of each country. For the Communist Party of China, it is a matter of learning how to apply the theory of Marxism-Leninism to the specific environment of China." Mao Zedong emphasized that talking about Marxism apart from Chinese characteristics is only abstract and empty Marxism, and applying Marxism according to China’s characteristics is a problem the whole Party urgently needs to solve. These discourses by Mao Zedong reveal a profound truth: for the CPC to establish the guiding position of its fundamental guiding ideology—Marxism—in the ideological field, it must not only demonstrate its scientific nature to the masses but, most fundamentally, fully manifest its practical power in the process by which the Chinese people use Marxism to transform Chinese society. To achieve this, theory must be continuously innovated on the basis of practice, under the scientific guidance of Marxism and in combination with Chinese reality.
The theory of New Democracy is a major theoretical achievement of the Sinicization of Marxism. If we say that Mao Zedong, through proposing and expounding the theory of New Democracy—
(On New Democracy) "enabled many people to gain a clear and distinct understanding of the current goals of struggle and the future direction of China, causing more and more people to rally under the great banner of New Democracy." Conversely, the Yan'an Rectification Movement [10] was the key link through which Mao Zedong systematically constructed the Party's cultural leadership and put it into practice. In August 1943, while speaking at the Central Party School, Mao Zedong pointed out explicitly that the rectification movement used proletarian ideology to overcome petty-bourgeois ideology and other non-proletarian ideologies: "This is a struggle for leadership on the ideological front between the proletariat and the petty-bourgeoisie and other classes." As a Party-wide movement for Marxist ideological education, the rectification movement advanced the process of the Sinicization of Marxism. "After the launch of the rectification movement, through in-depth discussions on historical issues, the Party recognized not only that Mao Zedong was the representative of the Party’s correct line in revolutionary practice, but also that he had creatively developed Marxism-Leninism in theory, resulting in a Sinicized Marxism. Furthermore, the Party found the scientific concept to summarize the abundant fruits of the Sinicization of Marxism—Mao Zedong Thought." The rectification movement played a vital role in strengthening the building of the proletarian political party and establishing the guiding position of Marxism in the realm of ideology.
In 1945, the Seventh National Congress of the CPC established Mao Zedong Thought as the Party's guiding ideology and wrote it into the Party Constitution: "The Communist Party of China takes Mao Zedong Thought—the thought that unites the theory of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution—as the guide for all its work." This used the form of internal Party regulations and the practice of the revolutionary movement to establish the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere. This subsequently allowed the entire Party to achieve unprecedented unity on the basis of Sinicized Marxism—Mao Zedong Thought—laying a solid ideological and political foundation for the Party to lead the Chinese people to final victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the victory of the New Democratic Revolution nationwide.
2. Utilizing intellectuals and cultural and artistic workers as the key force to establish a cultural army loyal to the cause of the Party and the people
Intellectuals are the inheritors of knowledge and the creators of culture. During the period of the Democratic Revolution, our Party recognized that intellectuals were a major component of the cultural army under the Party's leadership and one of the basic forces determining the future of the country and the fate of the nation. The Fourth National Congress of the CPC pointed out that, in the face of the rising revolutionary movement, "it is a very important task to spread proletarian culture from a Marxist-Leninist perspective within intellectual circles." In Mao Zedong's view, while spreading Marxism and proletarian culture among the intellectuals was indeed important, the more urgent issue in the revolutionary struggle was the integration of intellectuals as the vanguard with the worker and peasant masses as the main force. Mao Zedong pointed out that only by integrating with the broad masses of workers and peasants could intellectuals become a powerful army.
The ideological and cultural sphere is the area where intellectuals are most concentrated. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, regarded cultural and artistic creation as an important link for the integration of intellectuals with the worker and peasant masses. After the start of the full-scale War of Resistance, as large numbers of patriotic youth and intellectuals flocked to Yan'an and various anti-Japanese base areas, various art groups and cultural works emerged in large numbers. However, many art workers from intellectual backgrounds had not yet fully integrated with the masses in the base areas. In their creative work, there were negative phenomena such as being divorced from the reality of the base areas and looking down on workers, peasants, and soldiers. Some artistic works revealed a pursuit of individualistic values and an ideological tendency to exclude Party leadership.
In response to the problems existing in Yan'an's literary and artistic circles, and in order to "ensure that revolutionary literature and art follow the correct path of development and provide better assistance to other revolutionary work, so as to overthrow our national enemy and fulfill the task of national liberation," the CPC Central Committee convened the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art in May 1942. Mao Zedong attended all three plenary sessions of the forum and delivered two important speeches, systematically expounding on fundamental directional issues in the literary and artistic movement and focusing on responding to controversial issues within those circles. According to the memoirs of Hu Qiaomu [11], there were differing opinions and even heated debates on-site: "In the final analysis, it was a question of whether the Party should lead literature and art, and whether it was capable of leading them." Mao Zedong stated with a clear-cut stand that revolutionary literature and art, and proletarian literature and art, are for the masses of the people. Based on the cultural program of New Democracy, Mao pointed out: "Things that truly belong to the masses of the people must now be under the leadership of the proletariat. Things under the leadership of the bourgeoisie cannot belong to the masses of the people." In the anti-Japanese base areas, the recipients and service targets of literary and artistic work were first and foremost the workers, peasants, soldiers, and revolutionary cadres, thus clarifying the fundamental question of "for whom" the Party-led revolutionary literature and art exists.
Regarding how to serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers, Mao Zedong, based on Marxism-Leninism, conducted an analysis in simple terms starting from the perspective of the popularization and the raising of standards of literary and artistic work. Mao pointed out that social existence determines social consciousness, and the life of the people is the source of all literature and art. At that time, the practical problem facing the workers, peasants, and soldiers was their struggle against the enemy, so "they urgently demand a widespread enlightenment movement and urgently demand the cultural knowledge and artistic works they need and can easily accept, to heighten their enthusiasm for struggle and confidence in victory, strengthen their unity, and make it easier for them to fight the enemy with one heart and one mind." Therefore, under the conditions of that time, the work of popularizing revolutionary literature and art was more urgent. Applying the basic principles of historical materialism, Mao revealed the truth that "the objective reality of class struggle and national struggle determines our thoughts and feelings." Mao emphasized that for cultural workers to serve and educate workers, peasants, and soldiers through art, they must make their "thoughts and feelings fuse with those of the worker, peasant, and soldier masses." To achieve this fusion, one "must for a long period of time, unconditionally and wholeheartedly, go among the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers, go into the heat of the struggle, go to the only, the broadest, and the richest source," and only then can one engage in artistic creation and have those works accepted by the masses.
As the American scholar Ross Terrill pointed out, Mao was "intensely aware that ideas were the wheels moving toward a new society and thus entered the world of literature," while some writers and artists in Yan'an "seemed to treat mental work only as a matter of personal preference." Mao Zedong criticized the phenomenon of some intellectuals who clung to individualism, remained detached from the masses, and "produced their works as petty-bourgeois self-expression." Mao pointed out that cultural workers must learn "to observe the world, society, and literature and art from the viewpoints of dialectical materialism and historical materialism," and further use Marxism to destroy "feudal, bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, liberal, individualistic, nihilistic, art-for-art's-sake, aristocratic, decadent, pessimistic, and various other creative moods that do not belong to the masses or the proletariat," and while destroying them, build something new. At the final plenary session of the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao pointed out that the literary and artistic circles in Yan'an "need to launch an ideological struggle of the proletariat against the non-proletariat."
After the forum, Mao Zedong expressed his views on cultural and artistic issues on two other occasions, further supplementing and explaining the content of his "Talks." At a meeting of the Senior Study Group for Rectification on May 28, 1942, Mao pointed out frankly that the purpose of convening the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art was "to solve the problem of the integration of writers, artists, and cultural workers with our Party, with the workers and peasants, and with the army." He noted, "To integrate, one must overcome the influence of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology and shift to proletarian ideology." The Japanese scholar Minoru Takeuchi argued that Mao successfully used the method of combining "high-level ideology (Marxism)" with "daily life." This approach not only convinced the cultural workers who had previously held dissenting views but also won wide recognition and support from the revolutionary masses. Ding Ling [12] recalled: "The fact that the Party Central Committee convened such an unprecedented forum on literature and art showed the Central Committee's consistent emphasis on literary and artistic work, its consistent concern for the healthy growth and development of cultural workers, and its vigilance and resistance against the erosion and harm of non-proletarian ideology on the literary and artistic front." In the subsequent Yan'an cultural rectification movement, the Party Central Committee issued a series of important documents for studying and implementing the spirit of the "Talks." Under the guidance of the spirit of Mao Zedong's talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, vast numbers of cultural workers rushed to the frontline of the War of Resistance, went deep into factories, rural areas, and army units to contact the masses and experience life. A large number of excellent works—novels, poems, plays, songs, and woodcuts reflecting the revolutionary struggle and production life—sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, and the cultural field presented a vibrant scene.
Starting from the goal of organizing a cultural army loyal to the cause of the Party and the people, and using the promotion of the integration of cultural workers (intellectuals) with the workers, peasants, and soldiers as the focal point, Mao Zedong effectively transformed the creativity and cohesion of cultural and artistic work into actual combat effectiveness in the revolutionary struggle. This truly played the unique role of "ensuring that literature and art become a well-integrated part of the whole revolutionary machine, serving as a powerful weapon for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, helping the people fight the enemy with one heart and one mind." As some scholars have pointed out: "The publication of the 'Talks' [the Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art] was a key step for the Communist Party of China to integrate the 'cultural army' in order to seize 'cultural leadership' under the guidance of the theory of New Democracy." Mao Zedong's talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art and the Yan'an Rectification Movement not only effectively integrated the ranks of cultural workers and intellectuals, making this cultural army an important force in helping the Chinese revolution achieve victory, but also promoted the formation of the fundamental policies for the Party to lead cultural and artistic work, guiding the developmental direction of socialist cultural construction thereafter.
3. Utilizing Party newspapers, journals, and other media as communication bridges to achieve the effective integration of propagating the Party's propositions and reflecting the people's voices
Our Party has attached great importance to propaganda work since the day of its founding, actively propagating the Party's line, principles, and policies through propaganda fronts such as Party newspapers and journals. As Deng Xiaoping said, "Our Party started with propaganda work from its very inception." The First Resolution of the Communist Party of China clearly stipulated: "All publications, whether central or local, must be under the leadership of Party members. No publication, central or local, may publish articles that violate the Party's principles, policies, or resolutions." During the revolutionary struggle, the Party always placed propaganda, ideological, and cultural work in an extremely important position, promoting the continuous advancement of these undertakings through measures such as strengthening Party leadership, formulating propaganda discipline, expanding propaganda fronts, and improving working mechanisms.
In the process of directly leading and engaging in propaganda, ideological, and cultural work, Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized the principle of Party spirit in propaganda work and the political nature of newspapers and journals. Mao Zedong explicitly pointed out that propaganda work must "completely conform to the Party's policies, and we must ensure that our propaganda strengthens the Party spirit." He clearly required leading cadres at all levels to fully understand the important role of news agencies, radio, and newspapers as propagandists and organizers of revolutionary policy and revolutionary work: they should "hold the newspaper in their own hands and use it as a weapon for organizing all work." He pointed out seriously that "Party newspapers must unconditionally publicize the Central Committee's line and policies."
Engels profoundly pointed out that:
"We do not know of any power that can force every person in a healthy and sober state to accept a certain ideology." Hegemony [13] at the ideological and cultural level is not a simple political slogan or administrative order, but an art of leadership. Mao Zedong deeply recognized that for propaganda departments to communicate the Party’s line, principles, and policies to the masses, they must conform to the needs of the masses and reflect their voices. Regarding how to realize Party leadership, in a January 1943 speech on leadership issues, Mao elucidated: "Party leadership means concentrating the opinions of the people, turning them into Party opinions through reflection and research, and then taking these Party opinions back to the people to be implemented. This is what is called the mass line [14] and the art of leadership; it is the true connection between theory and practice." In "A Talk to the Editorial Staff of the Shansi-Suiyuan Daily," a programmatic document on news and propaganda work, Mao further explained how to master and apply the Marxist-Leninist art of leadership in "turning Party policy into mass action." Mao pointed out, "Questions of policy should, as a rule, be publicized in Party newspapers or periodicals," and "broadcast over the radio so that the broad masses may know them." He added, "Once the masses know the truth and have a common goal, they will work together with one heart," and "The basic principle of Marxism-Leninism is to enable the masses to know their own interests and unite to fight for them." Mao criticized the practice of blind propaganda and organization that ignored the actual ideological state of the masses. He emphasized the need to implement the Party’s mass line in the work of Party newspapers and journals, adhering to an orientation toward the masses and an "open-door" approach to running newspapers.
Through long-term revolutionary struggle, the Communist Party of China (CPC) gradually established its leadership in the ideological and cultural spheres by virtue of the scientific nature of its guiding ideology and the advanced nature of its cultural program. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, embedded the Party's cultural hegemony into the practice of propaganda, ideological, and cultural work. This generated, through an imperceptible process of influence, the immense effects of political mobilization, ideological guidance, cultural appeal, and spiritual encouragement. Ultimately, it transformed advanced ideology and culture into a powerful material force that "awakened millions of workers and peasants to act with one heart" [15] in the struggle against imperialism and feudalism. As stated in the congratulatory telegram from the CPC Central Committee to the National Congress of Literary and Art Workers on July 1, 1949—revised and approved by Mao and published by Xinhua News Agency: "Our China is in a state of economic and cultural backwardness. After the victory of the revolution, our primary task will be to develop production and develop culture and education. The victory of the people's revolution and the establishment of the people’s political power have opened the way for the development of the people's culture, education, literature, and art." The victory of the New Democratic Revolution and the establishment of the socialist system laid the fundamental political prerequisites and institutional foundations for our Party to continue leading cultural development and progress.
IV. Realistic Enlightenments: Adhering to and Consolidating the Party's Cultural Hegemony Under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture
The CPC is a Marxist party with a high degree of cultural self-awareness. In different historical periods, our Party has always been able to advance with the times by proposing its own cultural programs, targets, and policies, driving the comprehensive development of the cause of the Party and the people through new ideological awakenings, new achievements in theoretical creation, and new successes in cultural construction. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, were the first to recognize and shoulder the historical mission of "building a new culture of the Chinese nation that is national, scientific, and for the masses" during the New Democratic Revolution period. In the process of leading the continued development of Chinese culture, successive generations of Chinese Communists have united and led the people of all ethnic groups in unremitting struggle, eventually opening and successfully expanding the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics. The most essential feature of this path is the adherence to the leadership of the Party.
1. Adhering to the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere, using the latest achievements in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism to "congeal the soul" [16] for building a culturally strong country
At present, competition for national cultural influence is becoming increasingly fierce, and there are both dialogues and exchanges as well as confrontations and clashes between different cultures and civilizations. "The struggle between various cultures in the world is, in essence, a struggle of values, a struggle for the hearts of the people, and a struggle of ideologies." History has repeatedly proven that ideology determines the direction and path of cultural progress. Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology upon which our Party and country were founded and through which they thrive; it is the banner and soul of socialist ideology. General Secretary Xi Jinping has cautioned Party members and cadres that "we must firmly grasp the leadership, management, and discourse power [17] of ideological work in our own hands; it must never be allowed to fall into other hands at any time, otherwise we will commit an irreparable historical mistake." General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "ideological work is an extremely important task for the Party," and that "the task of propaganda and ideological work is to consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere and consolidate the common ideological basis for the united struggle of the whole Party and the people of the whole country." Facing a complex situation, we must adhere to the fundamental system of the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere, ensure that cultural construction always advances in the correct direction, and clearly build a socialist ideology with strong cohesive and guiding power.
The history of our Party is a history of continuously enriching and developing Marxism, a history of continuously promoting the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism based on practice, and a history of consciously using Sinicized and modernized Marxism to guide new practices. Mao Zedong once said earnestly: "The Communist Party of any country and the intellectual circles of any country must create new theories, write new works, and produce their own theorists to serve current politics; it will not do to rely solely on the ancestors." Since the 18th National Congress, our Party's understanding of the phased goals and tasks of cultural construction has continued to deepen in practice. In June 2023, at the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward explicit requirements for continuing to promote cultural prosperity and building a culturally strong country at a new starting point. He emphasized the need to work together to create a new culture belonging to our era, marking the cultural coordinates for Chinese-path modernization and anchoring the civilizational course for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In October 2023, the Party Central Committee convened the National Meeting on Propaganda, Ideological, and Cultural Work, formally proposing and systematically elucidating Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, raising high our Party’s cultural banner on the new journey of the New Era. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the concrete deployment and concentrated manifestation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the field of cultural construction; it constitutes the "cultural chapter" of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and is the latest major achievement in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist cultural theory.
Tracing the generation and development of the Party's cultural hegemony, Mao Zedong initiated the Party's cultural hegemony in both a historical and logical sense. Through a historical investigation of Mao Zedong's initiation of the Party's cultural hegemony, it can be seen that Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the inevitable result and a major achievement of the organic combination of the theoretical logic of Marxism, the historical logic of Chinese cultural development, and the practical logic of Chinese-path modernization. From a theoretical dimension, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is an enrichment and development of Marxist cultural theory; from a historical dimension, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is our Party's adherence to and inheritance of the historical mission of "building a new culture of the Chinese nation that is national, scientific, and for the masses" under new era conditions; from a realistic dimension, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a summary and refinement of our Party's practical experience in leading cultural construction during the process of Chinese-path modernization in the New Era. Precisely because of this, with its powerful theoretical penetration and practical guiding power, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture connects the past, present, and future, and is a powerful ideological weapon for us to continuously consolidate cultural subjectivity and shoulder a new cultural mission at a new starting point.
2. Strengthening the Party's comprehensive leadership over propaganda, ideological, and cultural work under the new situation, adhering to the unity of Party spirit and people-centeredness, and continuously opening new horizons for propaganda, ideological, and cultural work
As the primary content and core proposition of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, adhering to the Party's cultural hegemony is both a crystallization of history and a product of the times. It was proposed by Chinese Communists in the New Era based on a profound summary of the Party's historical experience and an insight into the general trend of the development of the times. At the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively put forward the major judgment that "what we are guarding is the cultural hegemony of the Communist Party of China," emphasizing the major issue of "adhering to the Party's cultural hegemony." This clarifies that adhering to and strengthening the Party's comprehensive leadership over propaganda, ideological, and cultural work is the fundamental political guarantee for cultural construction in the New Era.
In propaganda, ideological, and cultural work, our Party has consistently emphasized the need to both adhere to the principle of Party spirit [18] and to serve the people. In practice, this requires an accurate grasp of the relationship between Party spirit and people-centeredness. Currently, while the environment, objects, scope, and methods of propaganda, ideological, and cultural work have undergone great changes, its fundamental principles and tasks remain unchanged.
The CPC is the core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, occupying a position of overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties. The Party's cultural hegemony is an inevitable requirement and a concrete manifestation of the Party's comprehensive leadership in the field of cultural construction. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed propaganda, ideological, and cultural work in an important position within the overall work, focusing on strengthening the Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership over this work. General Secretary Xi Jinping has explicitly required: "All propaganda and ideology departments and units, and all Party members and cadres on the propaganda and ideology front, must take a clear-cut stand in adhering to the principle of Party spirit." Under the new situation, adhering to the principle of Party spirit means taking a clear-cut stand in the Party's management of propaganda, ideology, media, and the internet; it means adhering to the principle of "statesmen running newspapers, journals, stations, and news websites" [19], and fortifying the Party's governing and mass foundations ideologically, spiritually, and culturally.
Being people-centered is the distinct main line and value pursuit running through cultural construction in the New Era. In essence, Party spirit and people-centeredness are closely linked, mutually permeating, and intrinsically unified. General Secretary Xi Jinping provided a profound exposition on this: "Our Party takes serving the people whole-heartedly as its fundamental purpose and has no special interests of its own. Embodying the Party's will means embodying the people's will; publicizing the Party's propositions means publicizing the people's propositions; adhering to Party spirit means adhering to people-centeredness. Party spirit is embedded in people-centeredness; there is no Party spirit divorced from people-centeredness, nor is there people-centeredness divorced from Party spirit." It can be said that by adhering to Party spirit, propaganda, ideological, and cultural work can have a clear position and fundamental orientation; by adhering to people-centeredness, this work can obtain a source of vitality and a foundation of momentum. At present, the principal contradiction in our society is the contradiction between the people's ever-growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. To advance the various tasks of the Party and the state around this principal contradiction, we must conform to the people's growing spiritual and cultural needs, continuously enhance the capacity to provide cultural services and products, and allow the people to enjoy a more substantial, diverse, and high-quality spiritual and cultural life.
"Literature and writing are the vessels for carrying the Dao" [20]. The propaganda, ideological, and cultural front must unify the embodiment of the Party's propositions with the reflection of the people's voices. It should combine serving the masses with educating and guiding them, combine satisfying needs with improving qualities, combine offline work with online work, and integrate traditional media with emerging media. It must timely reflect the rich and colorful productive and living practices of the masses, evoke ideological resonance among the people, strengthen their spiritual power, stimulate their creative vitality, and better transform the Party's theories, lines, principles, and policies into conscious actions by the masses as they devote themselves to Chinese-path modernization.
3. Promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture in the great practice of Chinese-path modernization, deepening the exchange and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and other civilizations in the world, and striving to create a cultural form for Chinese-path modernization
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out with great foresight: "Treating the civilizations of different countries and nations correctly, and treating traditional culture and contemporary culture correctly, is a major subject we must grasp well." The proposition of the "Party's cultural hegemony" originated from the CPC's response to the historical question of "whither China" during its leadership of the people in the struggle against imperialism and feudalism. It is essentially the result of the combined effect of various internal and external factors during the New Democratic Revolution and the "controversy between the ancient and the modern, the Chinese and the Western" [21] that arose in the ideological and cultural spheres in modern times.
The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, proposed...
The issue of "the Party’s cultural leadership" can be viewed as the "opening gambit" [22] for resolving the "contention between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West" [23]. However, restricted by the historical conditions of the time, the older generation of Communists did not, and could not, thoroughly complete the historical task of providing a "final solution" to this problem. Precisely for this reason, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the Seminar on Cultural Inheritance and Development: "After long-term efforts, we are better positioned than at any previous era to resolve the 'contention between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West,' and we have a more urgent need than at any previous era for a body of cultural achievements that fuse the ancient and modern while integrating China and the West." In other words, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership inevitably involves this unavoidable historical issue; the Communists of the New Era are better equipped and more responsible than ever before to resolve this contention.
Contemporary China is the continuation and development of historical China, just as contemporary Chinese thought and culture are the inheritance and sublimation of traditional Chinese thought and culture. Within the context of the Sinicization of Marxism, the "second combination" [24] is another major proposition put forward by the Communist Party of China (CPC), spanning a century-long journey and building upon the "first combination." Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly grasped the internal laws of Marxist theoretical innovation and socialist cultural development, clearly proposing the major proposition of "combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s fine traditional culture." While the "first combination" resolved the relationship between theory and practice, and between the subjective and the objective, the "second combination" resolves "the relationship between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West." The "second combination" is both a proactive response to the "China-West contention" within the process of Chinese-path modernization and an active adjustment of the "ancient-modern relationship" from the strategic height of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics was forged under the guidance of Marxism and emerged from over 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. "It is precisely under the guidance of the 'Two Combinations' that we successfully blazed and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics and advanced and expanded Chinese-path modernization." Moving from tradition to modernity is the developmental trend of human civilization, and achieving modernization is the common pursuit of people worldwide. Through unremitting efforts, our Party has led the people in successfully charting a path of Chinese-path modernization that conforms to China’s national conditions. As some scholars have noted: "By understanding the internal logic of the modern transformation of fine traditional Chinese culture within the practical creation of Chinese-path modernization, we can activate the vitality of cultural tradition, endow it with connotations of the era, and transform the 'ancient-modern, China-West contention' into an intersection of ancient and modern culture and mutual learning between civilizations, promoting cultural 'acculturation' through integration and synthesis." Chinese-path modernization—the most grand and unique practice of modernization in human history—provides vast space for cultural innovation and mutual learning between civilizations.
A country's modernization process is the result of the interaction of many factors. Broadly speaking, "in the initial stage of modernization, non-economic factors, especially political factors, take precedence; in the transition stage, economic and technological factors take precedence; and in the later stages of modernization, especially during the social integration phase, cultural and ecological factors rise to a position of importance." Currently, China has embarked on a new journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country, having entered the mid-to-late stage of modernization overall; consequently, the importance of cultural factors has become increasingly prominent. Chinese-path modernization is deeply rooted in fine traditional Chinese culture; we must base ourselves on reality to deeply excavate and experimentalize the intellectual essence contained within it, striving to promote its creative transformation and innovative development. It is worth noting that "in the process of its formation and development, traditional culture was inevitably restricted and influenced by the cognitive levels, era conditions, and social systems of the time, and thus inevitably contains obsolete elements or dross." From the perspective of social revolution, only by applying the scientific methods of Marxism to scrutinize and critique traditional Chinese culture—accurately identifying and thoroughly removing the dross—can we truly inherit and promote its excellent elements, demonstrate its new value for the era, and ensure it integrates with contemporary culture to jointly serve the task of comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization.
"Things are born unequal; such is the nature of things" [25]. Differences in the history, culture, and social systems of various countries have existed since ancient times; every civilization perpetuates the unique spiritual lifeblood of a country and nation and possesses unique value for reference. Chinese civilization is an open system formed through continuous exchange and mutual learning with other civilizations. The concepts, humanistic spirit, and moral norms contained in Chinese culture are not only the core of the Chinese people’s thought and spirit but also possess important value for solving human problems. General Secretary Xi Jinping has frequently cited the ancient saying, "All living things should grow together without harming each other; different roads may run parallel without interfering with one another" [26], to express the Chinese concept of treating cultural diversity with a spirit of inclusive "harmony without uniformity" [27]. We must respect the diversity and differences of civilizations while recognizing that different civilizations share many commonalities in their pursuit of common values. On various important international occasions, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to promote the diversity of world civilizations while promoting the common values of humanity: peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom. In March 2023, at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly proposed the Global Civilization Initiative, systematically expounding the Chinese position on promoting inclusive coexistence and mutual learning between different civilizations. He proposed promoting a vision of civilization based on "equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness," and upholding the principle that "exchange should transcend estrangement, mutual learning should transcend conflict, and inclusiveness should transcend superiority." This initiative is of great and far-reaching historical significance for promoting cultural exchange, integration, and people-to-people bonds, and for building a community with a shared future for humanity where "each appreciates its own beauty, and all appreciate each other's beauty, creating a world of shared beauty" [28].
From a deeper historical perspective and a broader global outlook, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership is a profound proposition put forward in a new spatio-temporal dimension by the CPC—a century-old party burdened with the heavy responsibility of advancing national modernization and national rejuvenation. Its theoretical aim is to resolve the "contention between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West" through the "Two Combinations," particularly the "second combination." By actively adjusting the "ancient-modern relationship" and proactively responding to the "China-West contention," the Party strives to create a cultural form for Chinese-path modernization. Its practical value lies not only in providing a powerful spiritual impetus for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation but also in providing a brand-new Chinese solution for building a community with a shared future for humanity and promoting the collective progress of human civilization within the global modernization process.
Conclusion
Throughout the history of human civilization, when culture flourishes, the country flourishes; when culture is strong, the nation is strong. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires the prosperity of Chinese culture as a prerequisite. For over 100 years, as an active leader and promoter of advanced Chinese culture, the CPC has both firmly believed in and practiced Marxism and faithfully inherited and promoted fine traditional Chinese culture, striving to restore the glory of Chinese civilization. Promoting cultural prosperity and building a leading cultural power at a new historical starting point is the common task of the whole Party and society. Only by upholding the Party’s cultural leadership can we further consolidate the ideological unity of the Party and society, working together to develop a socialist culture that is "national, scientific, and popular" [29] and oriented toward modernization, the world, and the future. This provides the correct spiritual guidance and strong cultural support for comprehensively advancing the cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization. After a deep investigation into the generative logic and practical expansion of the Party’s cultural leadership, it is not difficult to see that its formation is a historical process, not something achieved overnight. We can also foresee that maintaining and consolidating the Party’s cultural leadership will not be a once-and-for-all endeavor but will necessarily be a long-term and arduous historical task. On the new journey, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and particularly Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership to jointly create a new culture belonging to our era—striving to advance the cause initiated but unfinished by Mao Zedong and the older generation of revolutionaries—and ultimately answering the historical question of "whither China" through the successful practice of Chinese-path modernization, is the solemn historical responsibility of the Communists of the New Era.