Luo Wendong: The Historical and Theoretical Logic of Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation
Culture is like water, moistening the hearts of the people; civilization is like light, illuminating the path ahead. Human progress and world development cannot be separated from the support of culture and the guidance of civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Seminar on Cultural Inheritance and Development provided a comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth exposition on a series of major issues surrounding the assumption of a new cultural mission and the building of a modern Chinese civilization. This marks a new height in our Party’s understanding of the laws governing cultural construction and civilizational development, represents an original contribution to Marxist cultural theory, and possesses monumental significance in the history of the Chinese nation’s development and the history of human civilization.
Deep Historical Origins and Cultural Foundations
China is one of the world’s recognized four great ancient civilizations, with a history of civilization spanning over five thousand years. The industrious and courageous Chinese nation created the broad and profound Chinese culture and the brilliant Chinese civilization, which led the world for a considerable historical period. We developed advanced agriculture and handicrafts very early; crops such as rice, millet, and sorghum, as well as livestock and sericulture, were first cultivated and domesticated by Chinese ancestors from wild flora and fauna. The achievements of our ancient civilization—such as the four great inventions [1], poetry and classical literature, the system of rites and music for moral education, legal systems, and the vast corpus of classical, historical, philosophical, and literary works—all reached the peaks of global cultural development at the time, making enormous contributions to the progress of human civilization.
Throughout the long river of thousands of years of history, the Chinese nation initiated a cultural tradition centered on governance through education and refinement [2], creating the only great civilization in the world to have developed continuously to the present day. These unique cultural traditions and civilizational characteristics are the cultural foundation and spiritual pillar of modern Chinese civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has comprehensively revealed the five prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization and their decisive significance. He emphasized that Chinese civilization possesses prominent continuity, which fundamentally determines that the Chinese nation must follow its own path; prominent innovativeness, which fundamentally determines the enterprising spirit of the Chinese nation in upholding the fundamentals without being old-fashioned [3] and honoring antiquity without attempting to restore the past, as well as its fearless character in facing new challenges and accepting new things; prominent unity, which fundamentally determines that the cultures of various ethnic groups in China are integrated as one, remaining firmly cohesive even in the face of major setbacks, and that national unity will forever be the core of China’s core interests; prominent inclusiveness, which fundamentally determines the historical orientation of the Chinese nation toward interaction, exchange, and integration, the harmonious pattern of pluralistic coexistence of religious beliefs in China, and the open-mindedness of Chinese culture in absorbing and incorporating world civilizations; and prominent peacefulness, which fundamentally determines that China will always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order, as China continuously pursues civilizational exchange and mutual learning rather than engaging in cultural hegemony. Only by comprehensively and deeply understanding the history of Chinese civilization and profoundly grasping its prominent characteristics can one truly understand the historical necessity, cultural connotations, and unique advantages of the Chinese path. Only then can we more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, more vigorously advance the development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and build a modern Chinese civilization.
Unique Development Path and Essential Attributes
In modern times, Western countries were the first to enter capitalist industrial civilization by virtue of the Enlightenment and the scientific and industrial revolutions. While promoting the tremendous development of productive forces, they engaged in internal exploitation and oppression and external aggression and expansion, bringing deep disasters to the people of all countries. They "made barbarian and semi-barbarian countries dependent on the civilized ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois, the East on the West." Especially after the Opium War, due to the invasion of Western powers and the corruption of feudal rule, China fell into the abyss of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The nation suffered humiliation, the people endured misery, and civilization was shrouded in dust. The Chinese nation encountered "great changes unseen in several millennia" [4] and a major crisis of national survival. From the Taiping Rebellion to the Boxer Movement, and from the Westernization Movement to the Reform Movement of 1898 and the Revolution of 1911—all were arduous explorations by the Chinese people of that time to save the nation from subjugation. However, whether seeking to revitalize Chinese culture by returning to national essence or attempting to remake Chinese civilization by emulating the West, all ended in failure.
The salvos of the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China, providing us with the theoretical weapon to save the nation from extinction and to build a modern Chinese civilization. Since the day of its founding, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has held high the banner of Marxism, taking "advancing civilization for the world and creating happiness for humanity" as its responsibility. In the great struggle of leading revolution, reconstruction, and reform, the Party has integrated the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and fine traditional Chinese culture, striving to promote the modern transformation of Chinese civilization. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, the Party proposed to "transform a China ruled by old culture and consequently ignorant and backward into a China ruled by new culture and consequently civilized and advanced." It led the people in building a national, scientific, and popular New Democratic culture, creating the political prerequisites and social conditions for modern Chinese civilization. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party led the socialist revolution and construction, sweeping away the poverty and ignorance left by the old China. It proposed "making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China" and the policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend," vigorously building socialist culture and providing institutional guarantees and a material foundation for the construction of modern Chinese civilization. During the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, the Party proposed that while building a high level of material civilization, we must also strive to develop a high level of socialist spiritual civilization and socialist political civilization. It successfully initiated and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics, providing a dynamic institutional guarantee and rapid material conditions for modern Chinese civilization. As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, the Party has coordinately advanced the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four Comprehensives, providing modern Chinese civilization with more perfect institutional guarantees, a more solid material foundation, and more proactive spiritual strength.
The banner guides the direction, and the path determines the destiny. In his speech, General Secretary Xi Jinping comprehensively expounded on the rich connotations and significant meaning of the "Two Combinations" [5]. He clearly pointed out that the prerequisite of "combination" is mutual compatibility. While Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture have different origins, they possess a high degree of compatibility; only through mutual compatibility can they be organically combined. The result of "combination" is mutual achievement, creating an organically unified "new cultural lifeform." This allows Marxism to become Chinese, fine traditional Chinese culture to become modern, and the new culture formed through "combination" to become the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. "Combination" has solidified the foundation of our path, giving the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics a broader and deeper historical depth and expanding its cultural roots. Chinese-path modernization endows Chinese civilization with modern power, while Chinese civilization endows Chinese-path modernization with profound heritage. "Combination" has opened up space for innovation, allowing us to master ideological and cultural initiative and exert a powerful influence on our path, theory, and system. It allows us to fully utilize the precious resources of fine traditional Chinese culture within a broader cultural space to explore future-oriented theoretical and institutional innovations. "Combination" has consolidated cultural subjectivity; the creation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the most powerful manifestation of this cultural subjectivity. In short, the "Two Combinations" are the inevitable path for opening up and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and building a modern Chinese civilization on the profound foundation of over five thousand years of Chinese civilization; it is our greatest "magic weapon" for success.
Chinese-path modernization and modern Chinese civilization are closely linked and organically unified in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The modern Chinese civilization we are building is a socialist civilization created by the people of all ethnic groups under the leadership of the CPC. It is a new type of civilization characterized by the dialectical interaction between the material and the spiritual, and the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. It is a new type of civilization that promotes common prosperity for all and the free and comprehensive development of the individual. It is a new type of civilization that maintains world peace and common development and builds a community with a shared future for humanity. This new type of civilization resolves many difficult problems in the development of human society and presents a new picture different from the Western model of civilization. It follows the universal laws of human civilizational development while possessing national characteristics and contemporary values based on China’s own national conditions and the features of the times. It embodies the advanced essence of scientific socialism and provides a Chinese solution for humanity’s exploration of better social systems. It represents the direction of human civilizational development and possesses broad space for development and bright prospects.
Scientific Guiding Ideology and Fundamental Compliance
Building a modern Chinese civilization requires both the correct guidance of scientific theory and the powerful support of national culture. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed cultural construction in an important position within the overall work of governing the country. They have continuously deepened the understanding of the laws governing cultural construction and proposed a series of new ideas, viewpoints, and judgments. These include: persisting in and strengthening the Party’s comprehensive leadership over publicity, ideological, and cultural work; assuming the new cultural mission to build a strong socialist cultural power and create new glories for socialist culture; adhering to the fundamental system of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological field; promoting the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism; building socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership; strengthening cultural confidence to promote the prosperity of socialist culture and build a modern Chinese civilization; guiding cultural construction with core socialist values; extensively carrying out publicity and education on socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese Dream to unite all people closely in ideals, beliefs, values, and morality; accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics—taking China's reality as the starting point for research to explain the Chinese path, interpret Chinese practice, and construct Chinese theory; promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture to allow it to demonstrate permanent charm and contemporary style; improving the communication, guidance, influence, and credibility of news and public opinion; promoting the "main theme" [6] and spreading positive energy to consolidate and strengthen mainstream ideological public opinion in the New Era; adhering to the people-centered creative orientation by putting social benefits first and producing more excellent works that enhance the people’s spiritual strength; protecting historical and cultural heritage as one would protect one's own life; strengthening the protection and utilization of cultural relics and the inheritance of cultural heritage to safeguard the Chinese cultural lineage; emphasizing that Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of the coordination between material civilization and spiritual civilization; promoting common prosperity in the spiritual life of all people and the comprehensive development of the individual; forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation and constructing a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation; emphasizing that if we cannot pass the test of the Internet, we will not be able to pass the test of long-term governance; transforming the "variable" of the Internet into an "increment" for the development of our cause; fostering an active, healthy, and positive cyber culture to build a cyber civilization; enhancing the country’s cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture; strengthening the construction of international communication capacity to "tell the story of China well" and promote Chinese culture to better reach the world; and promoting the common values of all humanity while implementing the Global Civilization Initiative and promoting mutual learning between civilizations to enrich the garden of world civilizations; among others. These important viewpoints cover all fields and the entire process of cultural construction, serving as the theoretical summary of the Party’s practical experience in leading cultural construction in the New Era and as the fundamental compliance for building a modern Chinese civilization.
Modern Chinese civilization is a great creation that transcends both ancient Chinese civilization and modern Western civilization. We are not "cyclicalists" [7] but "progressivists"—returning to the past and clinging to the old has never been a way forward. We are not "isolationists" but "expansionists" [8]—closing our doors will eventually lead to falling behind and being bullied. We are not "end-of-history theorists" but "developmentalists"—human civilization moves forward continuously and will never end. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his speech that to continue promoting cultural prosperity, building a strong cultural power, and building a modern Chinese civilization at a new historical starting point, we must strengthen our cultural confidence and persist in following our own path. We must root ourselves in the great historical and contemporary practice of the Chinese nation, use Chinese logic to summarize Chinese experience, and elevate Chinese experience into Chinese theory to achieve spiritual independence and autonomy. We must uphold openness and inclusiveness, persist in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, inherit and develop fine traditional Chinese culture, promote the localization of foreign cultures, and continuously nurture and create socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for the New Era. We must uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, using both integrity and vigor to continue the historical cultural lineage and write the glorious chapters of the contemporary era.
The soul of a nation is transformed and cast through culture. The ancient yet ever-new China, through its long and magnificent historical process, preserves the richest cultural heritage and the most beautiful civilizational map for humanity. Building a modern Chinese civilization is a long-term, global historical process and an arduous, exploratory, and great undertaking; it is by no means something that can be accomplished overnight or easily. "A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute, for the burden is heavy and the road is long" [9]. Workers in philosophy and social sciences should combine current thematic education with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech as guidance. They should comprehensively implement the fundamental requirements of the "Two Combinations," continuously strengthen research and exposition on the essential laws and major issues of cultural construction and civilizational development, and contribute wisdom and strength to advancing modern Chinese civilization and the construction of a strong socialist cultural power.