The Theoretical Learning Center Group of the Party Leadership Group of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Conducts In-Depth Study of Xi Jinping's Cultural Thought

CSSN News (Reporter Gao Ying) – On June 13, the Theoretical Learning Center Group of the Party Leading Group of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) conducted its sixth collective study session of 2024. The session aimed to deeply study and comprehend Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and earnestly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the philosophy and social sciences. Gao Xiang, President of CASS and Secretary of the Party Leading Group, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech. Zhen Zhanmin, Vice President and member of the Party Leading Group, delivered the keynote remarks. Hang Yuanxiang, Leader of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection ^[1] and the National Commission of Supervision ^[2] stationed at CASS and member of the Party Leading Group, and Zhao Zhimin, Secretary-General and member of the Party Leading Group, attended the meeting.

The meeting held that since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has planned and promoted cultural construction from the strategic height of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation. By profoundly grasping the logic of historical development and the laws governing cultural construction, the Central Committee has scientifically addressed a series of fundamental, directional, and strategic issues concerning cultural construction in the New Era, culminating in the formation of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture represents a brilliant example of the "Two Combinations" ^[3]. It has opened up new horizons in the development of Marxist cultural theory and serves as the banner and soul of cultural prosperity and development in the New Era, providing a powerful ideological weapon and a scientific guide for action to strengthen cultural construction and shoulder the new cultural mission in the New Era.

The meeting emphasized that to continue promoting cultural prosperity, building a culturally powerful nation, and developing a modern Chinese civilization at this new starting point, we must persist in the Party’s leadership over cultural work and consolidate the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation. As a critical theoretical and academic bastion and a key ideological stronghold of the Party, CASS must regard the study, dissemination, and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as its primary political, theoretical, and academic task. We must treat General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and instructions as the "First Item" ^[4] for study, the "First Criterion" for implementation, and the "First Political Task" to fulfill. CASS should consistently remain at the forefront of being loyal to, supporting, following, and defending the Core ^[5], effectively ensuring that we "guard our territory, assume our responsibility, and fulfill our duties" ^[6]. We must leverage our advantage of having a comprehensive range of disciplines to strengthen research and interpretation, contributing wisdom and strength to the construction of a modern Chinese civilization.

The meeting required that, taking the education on Party discipline as an opportunity, we should further deepen the construction of CASS as a political organ centered on scientific research, firmly grasp the correct political direction, and consciously and proactively serve the broader goal of building a modern Chinese civilization. We must continue to implement the project for the research and interpretation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the project for the research and interpretation of modern Chinese civilization. By integrating superior resources, we should carry out interdisciplinary, cross-field, and cross-professional integrated research, and conduct in-depth systematic research and academic interpretation. With a higher political stance, a broader academic vision, and a grander theoretical framework, we must better shoulder the new cultural mission. This involves accelerating the construction of a Chinese independent system of knowledge, establishing a Chinese School of philosophy and social sciences, and forging a "theoretical and academic iron army" for the study of modern Chinese civilization, thereby continuously improving our capacity and level of service to General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee.

Zhang Zhiqiang, Director and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Philosophy, and Li Guoqiang, Vice President and member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Chinese Academy of History, delivered exchange speeches centered on the theme. The Deputy Secretary-General of the Academy and the principal leadership cadres at the departmental and bureau levels of the Academy's functional departments attended the meeting as non-voting observers.