Luo Wendong: Building a Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation Through Openness and Inclusivity
Editor’s Note: On June 2, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and attended a symposium on cultural inheritance and development, where he delivered an important speech. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech systematically expounded on the five prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization and profoundly articulated the great significance of the "Two Combinations," particularly the "Second Combination." He issued the call of our times to "shoulder a new cultural mission and strive to build a modern Chinese civilization," providing a political manifesto and an action program for this endeavor. To facilitate the in-depth study, research, and interpretation of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech, the editorial department of this journal has invited experts and scholars to elaborate on the historical logic of building a modern Chinese civilization, aiming to contribute more historiographical wisdom and strength to this cause.
Culture concerns the foundation and destiny of a nation; civilization dispels ignorance and barbarism. The progress of humanity and the development of the world are inseparable from the support of culture and the guidance of civilization. The important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the symposium on cultural inheritance and development, along with his important instructions on public communication and cultural work, systematically and deeply expounded on the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization and the great significance of the "Two Combinations" from the strategic height of the overall development of the Party and the state's undertakings. He issued a great call to better shoulder new cultural missions, emphasizing the need to strengthen cultural confidence, uphold openness and inclusiveness, and persist in upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground. He urged us to work together to create a new culture belonging to our era, build a modern Chinese civilization, and provide a strong ideological guarantee, powerful spiritual strength, and favorable cultural conditions for building a modern socialist country in all respects and comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The National Conference on Public Communication and Cultural Work formally proposed and systematically elaborated on Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, providing a powerful ideological weapon and a scientific guide for action for public communication and cultural work on the new journey in the New Era. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture "integrates theory with practice [1], defines the roadmap and task list for cultural construction in the New Era, and marks a new height in our Party's understanding of the laws governing the development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics." It makes original contributions to Marxist theories of civilization and provides the fundamental following for promoting modern Chinese civilization and the construction of a socialist cultural powerhouse, holding milestone significance in the history of the Chinese nation’s development and the history of world civilization.
I. Openness and Inclusiveness as the Essential Requirement and Correct Path for the Development of Civilization
Civilization refers to the positive results achieved by human beings in transforming nature, society, and themselves; it denotes a state where human society has reached a higher level of enlightenment and progress, following millions of years of the ages of "savagery" and "barbarism." As a product of historical development and an objective social reality, civilization predates the formation of the concept and theory of "civilization" itself. China is an important cradle of human civilization and one of the earliest countries to use the concept and discourse of "civilization" (wénmíng). The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi: Dayu) states: "Its virtue is strong, persistent, and civilized [wénmíng]; it accords with Heaven and acts in accordance with the seasons, thus obtaining great success." The Book of Changes (Xi Ci, Part II) says: "What is there to think of or worry about in the world? When the sun goes, the moon comes; when the moon goes, the sun comes; sun and moon push each other and thus light [míng] is born." It further notes: "Penetrating the essence to reach the divine is for practical use. Utilizing things to secure one’s life is for the exaltation of virtue. Beyond this, nothing more is known. To exhaust the divine and understand transformation is the height of virtue." The Book of Documents (Shang Shu: Canon of Yao) says: "He was reverent, enlightened [míng], accomplished [wén], and thoughtful, all with ease." During the Jin Dynasty, Tan Daoji longed for a "civilized age" [2]; Tang Emperor Ruizong used "Civilization" (Wénmíng) as his era name; and in the Qing Dynasty, Li Yu advocated for "clearing the wilderness to attain civilization." All of this demonstrates that in the historical process described by Liang Qichao [3] as "self-development, self-competition, and self-unification," the Chinese nation has unswervingly pursued and created progress in the sense of "transforming through culture" [4] and "the radiance of light."
The emergence of the concept of "civilization" in the West occurred much later than in China, and it possesses both similarities and marked differences in its connotation and extension. In the West, "'civilization' originally referred to life under Roman law or 'civil' law, and by the Renaissance, it referred to a way of life and legal system opposed to barbarism. It included prohibitions on murder, incest, and cannibalism, affirmed human creativity, and respected private property and legal contracts, as well as basic social norms like marriage, friendship, and family." It was not until the mid-18th century that the word "civilisation" appeared in France. "Civilisé initially meant establishing a good government, namely policé, but the word civilisation soon ceased to refer only to a specific form of government; it referred to liberating people from ancient customs, norms, and material lifestyles toward a more complex or 'civilized' way of life." The French historian Guizot explicitly stated: "The word 'civilization' naturally implies the concept of progress and development; it presupposes a people in motion. This is the perfection of civil life and social relations, the most just distribution of power and happiness among all members." In Guizot's view, civilization primarily comprises two aspects: first, the progress of the social state and the spiritual state; second, the progress of man’s external and general conditions, as well as the progress of man's internal and individual nature. In short, it is the perfection of society and humanity.
In terms of origins, civilization began in primitive society, as the positive result and historical stage emerging as humans gradually separated from the animal kingdom and shed their purely natural and instinctive state of wilderness. In the process of using their own strength to transform nature and satisfy their needs, human beings gradually united and matured. While creating material and spiritual civilizations, they also formed social organizational structures such as classes and states, creating a corresponding institutional civilization. In 1877, the American anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan divided the development of human society from lower to higher stages: savagery, barbarism, and civilization, and further divided "civilized society into ancient civilized society and modern civilized society." The ancient civilized society Morgan referred to roughly included slave society and feudal society, while modern civilized society primarily referred to capitalist society. Engels summarized Morgan’s periodization of human history thusly: "Savagery—the period in which the appropriation of natural products, ready for use, predominated; the things produced by man were, in the main, instruments that facilitated this appropriation. Barbarism—the period in which knowledge of cattle breeding and agriculture was acquired, in which methods of increasing the yield of nature through human activity were learnt. Civilization—the period in which knowledge of the further processing of nature’s products, of industry proper, and of art was acquired." The prerequisite for humanity entering the era of civilization was the division of labor, the exchange resulting from this division, and the full development of commodity production combining these two processes. These factors gradually transformed the previously isolated and backward conditions of production and life—such as "eating raw meat and drinking blood"—and barbaric social conditions like blood feuds and the killing of captives.
In essence, civilization originates from the creation of practice and embodies the quality of a society; it is a manifestation of the level of development of productive forces and modes of social interaction, and a yardstick for judging whether human activities and social institutions are advanced and rational. Unlike the pessimism of Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau, who argued that civilization arose from human vice and that its progress led to the corruption of human nature and inequality, the Marxist materialist conception of history emphasizes that "civilization is a matter of practice, a quality of society." Furthermore, "to not lose the achievements already gained, to not lose the fruits of civilization, people are compelled to change all their inherited social forms when their mode of interaction [commerce] no longer fits the acquired productive forces." Human civilization has gained accelerated development not only through the creation and accumulation of productive forces by different nations and regions but also through the expansion and strengthening of social interaction and the subsequent transformation of the economic base and superstructure. Although violent and bloody means such as war and conquest have served as unconscious tools for contact and interaction between civilizations, modes of openness and inclusiveness—such as commercial trade and cultural dissemination—play a more important role in civilizational exchange and mutual learning. A German scholar noted: "The concept of 'civilization' involves completely different things: technical levels, behavioral norms, religious ideas, customs, and the development of scientific knowledge, etc.; it can refer to living conditions or how men and women live together, or legal punishments or food preparation; if observed closely, almost everything is done in a 'civilized' or 'incivilized' manner." Whether viewed from the perspective of promoting the development of productive forces or expanding social interaction, openness and inclusiveness stand on the right side of history, occupy the moral high ground, and conform to the fundamental requirements of human civilizational progress.
From a process perspective, in the thousands of years of human civilization's history, the civilizations of different periods, places, ethnic groups, and countries have maintained contact and interaction, performing dramas of rise and fall, prosperity and decline—some civilizations declined due to closedness and stagnation, some were interrupted or perished due to foreign invasion, while more developed and progressed through openness, inclusiveness, exchange, and mutual learning. For example, while there may be many reasons for the disappearance of the Mayan civilization in the Americas, one undeniable factor was its relative isolation and the lack of exchange and interaction with external civilizations. Similarly, because the Phoenicians were successively invaded and conquered by Greeks, Persians, and Romans, the cities they built—such as Tyre, Sidon, and Carthage—were completely destroyed or even burned to the ground, and most of their inventions were lost for a long time. The same fate befell the art of glass painting in medieval Europe. Conversely, the opening of the Silk Road, the large-scale arrival of Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang’s journey to the West for Buddhist scriptures [5], and Zheng He’s seven voyages to the Western Seas [6] are vivid examples of how exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations promoted civilizational continuity and progress. Particularly in modern times, "the establishment of new industries has become a life-and-death question for all civilized nations," because large-scale industry "has brought all the peoples of the earth into contact with each other, has merged all local markets into one world market, has spread civilization and progress everywhere and has thus ensured that whatever happens in civilized countries will have repercussions in all other countries."
Civilizations become colorful through exchange and rich through mutual learning. Any civilization, regardless of the national or ethnic social soil in which it grows, should be open and inclusive; this is a basic law of civilizational dissemination and development. Even in the early stages of human civilization, the exchange and mutual learning of civilizational achievements across different regions were not completely blocked by geographical or transport limitations. Around 4,000 years ago, external technologies and species—such as copper smelting, varieties of wheat, cattle, and goats—were gradually disseminated across China, while rice was cultivated by the ancestors of Southeast Asians, and millet and broomcorn millet spread westward to Eastern and Central Europe. Marx once said: "Whether the productive forces achieved in a locality, especially inventions, are lost for later development depends entirely on the extension of intercourse. As long as intercourse is confined to the immediate neighborhood, every invention must be made separately in each locality, and purely accidental disturbances, such as invasions of barbarous peoples, even ordinary wars, suffice to cause a country with advanced productive forces and needs to have to start all over again from the beginning." Large-scale industry, in particular, "world history for the first time, insofar as it made all civilized nations and every individual member of them dependent for the satisfaction of their wants on the whole world, thus destroying the former natural exclusiveness of separate nations," making universal intercourse, close contact, and deep cooperation between civilized nations or peoples the trend of the era. History and practice have repeatedly proven that openness and inclusiveness are the inevitable requirement and correct path for civilizational development, whereas closedness and confrontation often lead to the decline or even the destruction of civilization.
II. The Openness and Inclusiveness of Chinese Civilization and Its Important Significance
China is globally recognized as one of the "four great ancient civilizations," with a recorded history of civilization spanning over 5,000 years. Throughout the long course of history, the Chinese nation has endured immense hardships and persevered [7], breaking with the old to establish the new [8]. It created a cultural tradition centered on governance through education and refinement [9], resulting in the world’s only great civilization to develop continuously to the present day in the form of a state. As early as two or three thousand years ago, numerous Chinese classics recorded unique concepts of culture and civilization. The "Hexagram Bi" in the Book of Changes (Zhouyi) states: "Civilization [10] is achieved by halting through refinement; this is the human way. Observe the heavenly patterns to examine the changes of the seasons; observe the human patterns to transform and complete the world." The "Hexagram Qian" in the same text notes: "A dragon appears in the field; the world is bright with civilization." The "Canon of Shun" in the Book of Documents (Shangshu) describes a ruler as "profound, wise, accomplished, and civilized; mild, respectful, and genuinely sincere." In "Directing the Martial" from The Garden of Eloquence (Shuoyuan), Liu Xiang of the Western Han dynasty wrote: "In the sage’s governance of the world, civil virtue comes first and martial force second. Martial force is raised only against the defiant; if cultural refinement fails to change them, then execution follows." Kong Yingda of the Tang dynasty remarked: "To weave the warp and woof of heaven and earth is called wen (culture/refinement); to illuminate the four quarters is called ming (brightness/civilization)." Furthermore, "The world being civilized means the yang energy is in the fields, beginning the life of all things; thus the world possesses patterned brilliance and light." Sima Qian, in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), commented on the Six Classics to reveal the characteristics and significance of Chinese culture and civilization: "The Rites regulate the person; the Music expresses harmony; the Documents guide affairs; the Odes convey intent; the Changes guide transformation; and the Spring and Autumn Annals guide righteousness. To rectify a chaotic world and return it to the correct path, nothing is closer than the Spring and Autumn Annals." This concept of culture and civilization—connecting heaven and humanity, encompassing all under heaven (tianxia), exalting civil virtue, and cherishing peace—has had a broad and profound impact on the development of Chinese and world civilizations.
China is a unique, unified "civilizational state" with a long history, a vast population, an expansive territory, and a deep integration of ethnic groups. Chinese culture is not a singular Han ethnic culture restricted to the Central Plains, but a rich cultural system formed through the organic fusion of various ethnic groups, regions, and even diverse foreign cultures within and beyond its borders. For instance, the cultures of the Xianbei, Khitan, Mongol, Manchu, Hui, and Tibetan peoples have all integrated into essential components of Chinese culture; Buddhism from India, Islam from Arabia, and Christianity from the West have also merged into the lifeblood of Chinese culture. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods [11], the Schools of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, and Yin-Yang absorbed and learned from one another during their contentious debates, collectively creating the "Axial Age" of Chinese cultural history. Shi Bo proposed that "harmony actually produces things, while sameness leads to no continuation." Confucius advocated that "the virtuous person seeks harmony but not sameness." The Book of Changes promotes the idea that "as heaven's movement is ever vigorous, the virtuous person should tirelessly strive for self-improvement; as the earth's condition is receptive devotion, the virtuous person should sustain all things with great virtue." The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong) states: "All things are nourished together without injuring one another; ways are pursued in parallel without contradiction... Centrality is the great foundation of the world; harmony is the universal path of the world. Once centrality and harmony are achieved, heaven and earth maintain their positions and all things are nourished." These incisive expositions concentrate the essence of Chinese thought and its value pursuits, such as "unity in diversity," "seeking common ground while reserving differences," and "upholding the mean to achieve harmony."
It is precisely the openness and inclusiveness of Chinese culture that has allowed it to remain fresh and vigorous despite many tribulations, becoming a unique spiritual identifier for the Chinese nation. It provides rich nourishment for the continuous growth and expansion of the Chinese people and serves as the spiritual pillar that allows us to stand firm amidst the turbulence of world cultures. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Exemplary traditional Chinese culture contains many important elements, such as the social ideal of the world belonging to the public and the Great Unity [12]; the governance idea that the people are the foundation of the state and ruling with virtue; the tradition of a unified state with a centralized system [13] and unity in diversity; the patriotic sentiment of cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world [14], and that everyone shares responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation; the spiritual pursuit of sustaining all things with great virtue and illustrating virtue to propagate the Dao; the economic ethics of enriching the people and sustaining their livelihoods while balancing righteousness and profit; the ecological concept of the unity of heaven and humanity and the co-growth of all things; the philosophical thought of seeking truth from facts and the unity of knowledge and action; the thinking method of grasping both ends to apply the mean and upholding the mean to achieve harmony; and the way of social interaction characterized by valuing sincerity, cultivating amity, and being kind to neighbors. These together shape the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization." Because exemplary traditional Chinese culture has shaped the long-standing and profound Chinese civilization and provided strong support for contemporary China's development and the progress of human civilization, we must fully and deeply understand the history of Chinese civilization. We must profoundly grasp its prominent characteristics—continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness—to more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of exemplary traditional Chinese culture, thereby more powerfully building a modern Chinese civilization.
Since ancient times, Chinese civilization has progressed through adapting to the times and maintaining openness and inclusiveness, remaining at the forefront of the world for a considerable historical period. On one hand, it extensively absorbed and fused the achievements of foreign civilizations, allowing Chinese civilization to gather wisdom from throughout the ages and strengths from ten thousand nations, maintaining vigorous vitality. On the other hand, it actively disseminated its civilizational achievements outward, allowing Chinese civilization to bless the world and shine through the millennia. From King Wuling of Zhao’s adoption of Hu nomadic attire and cavalry archery to Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei’s Sinicization reforms; from "every household in Luoyang learning nomadic music" to "ten thousand li of Qiang people singing Han songs"; from "ten thousand nations in their official robes bowing to the imperial crown" to the seven voyages to the Western Oceans to harmonize with distant states—all demonstrate the exchange and integration of culture. Lu Xun once said that although the Han and Tang dynasties faced border troubles, their spirit was ultimately grand, possessing a temperament of "opening one's capacity, boldly and fearlessly absorbing the new culture to the greatest extent." "At that time, our ancestors held an extremely firm grasp of their own culture and never easily wavered in their self-confidence; at the same time, they possessed an extremely broad mind and rigorous selection toward other cultural systems, never easily worshiping or easily discarding them." The great works created by the various ethnic groups of our country—the Classic of Poetry, the Songs of Chu, Han fu rhapsodies, Tang poetry, Song ci lyrics, Yuan qu verses, and Ming and Qing novels—alongside great engineering feats like the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the Potala Palace, and the Karez water systems, all showcase the breadth and depth of Chinese civilization. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Chinese civilization has been world-renowned for its openness and inclusiveness since ancient times, constantly gaining new vitality through exchange and mutual learning with other civilizations. The 5,000-plus-year development history of Chinese civilization fully demonstrates that whether it be species, technology, resources, populations, or even ideas and culture, development and progress are achieved through constant dissemination, exchange, and interaction."
The grand atmosphere of Chinese civilization benefits from the open posture and inclusive heart of the Chinese nation. From the ancient introduction of Buddhism, the westward transmission of Chinese learning, and the "convergence of Islam and Confucianism" [15], to the eastward transmission of Western learning in the modern era and the New Culture Movement [16], and finally to the all-around opening up since the reform and opening up period, Chinese civilization has been continuously enriched and sublimated through two-way exchange and mutual learning with the world, making enormous contributions to human civilization. In particular, the transmission of China's papermaking, gunpowder, printing, the compass, and academic thought to the West propelled world-historical social transformations such as the European Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The German philosopher Leibniz said: "China is a great country... which in its governance is far superior to civilized Europe. In China, in a certain sense, there is an extremely admirable morality, coupled with a philosophical doctrine, or a natural theology, respected for its antiquity... established and authoritative for about 3,000 years, long before the philosophy of the Greeks... For us newcomers, having just emerged from a state of barbarism, to want to condemn an ancient doctrine simply because it does not seem to fit our common scholastic concepts—this is the height of arrogance!" Following Matteo Ricci’s translation of the "Four Books" and Nicolas Trigault’s translation of the "Five Classics," Chinese scholarship spread westward, not only promoting European Sinology but also driving the "China fever" that swept Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries. It is precisely because Chinese civilization possesses prominent inclusiveness that it "fundamentally determines the historical orientation of the Chinese nation toward interaction, exchange, and integration; determines the harmonious pattern of coexistence among China’s diverse religious beliefs; and determines the open-mindedness of Chinese culture toward the inclusive absorption of world civilizations." A large number of our country's excellent civilizational achievements have been listed by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Memory of the World, fully reflecting the eternal charm and global significance of Chinese civilization across time and national borders.
III. Integrating the Excellent Achievements of Ancient and Modern, Chinese and Foreign to Build a Modern Chinese Civilization
As an important birthplace of human culture and civilization, China has preserved the richest cultural heritage and the most magnificent map of civilization for humanity during its tumultuous historical process. For over 100 years, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has taken "advancing civilization for the world and creating happiness for humanity" as its responsibility. By combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with exemplary traditional Chinese culture, the Party has successfully promoted the transition of Chinese civilization from traditional to modern. During the New Democratic Revolution period [17], the Party proposed "to change a China ruled by old culture and thus ignorant and backward into a China ruled by new culture and thus civilized and advanced." It led the people in building a national, scientific, and popular New Democratic culture, achieving the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution and creating the political prerequisites and social conditions for a 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 Old China, establishing an independent industrial system and national economic system, and vigorously developing socialist culture. This provided the institutional guarantee and the material and cultural foundation for a modern Chinese civilization. Mao Zedong proudly declared: "The era in which the Chinese were regarded as uncivilized is now over; we shall emerge in the world as a nation with a high level of culture." After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee [18], the Party made the historic decision to implement reform and opening up. It proposed that while building a high level of material civilization, we should simultaneously build a high level of socialist spiritual civilization, develop socialist political civilization, and "boldly absorb and learn from all achievements of civilization created by human society." This successfully initiated and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics, providing a vibrant institutional guarantee and rapidly developing material conditions for the construction of a modern Chinese civilization. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era. The Party has coordinately promoted the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" and the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout, implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, promoted the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" initiative, fostered a healthy and positive internet culture, enhanced national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture, promoted the common values of humanity, implemented the Global Civilization Initiative, and pushed for civilizational exchange and mutual learning. These efforts have provided more complete institutional guarantees, a more solid material foundation, and more proactive spiritual strength for a modern Chinese civilization. As stated in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century: "The Party has led the people in successfully charting a Chinese path to modernization, creating a new form of human civilization, expanding the channels for developing countries to achieve modernization, and providing a brand-new choice for those countries and nations that wish to accelerate their development while maintaining their independence." The new form of human civilization created by Chinese-path modernization is, in essence, the modern Chinese civilization. It is not only the goal and mission of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and an important force for promoting the progress of human civilization but also provides a Chinese solution for humanity’s exploration of better social systems and contributes Chinese wisdom to building a prosperous, open, and inclusive world.
Until humanity achieves complete liberation and freedom, the era of civilization will always be characterized by contradictions and even antagonisms such as class opposition, exploitation and oppression, and war and plunder; there remains a struggle between civilization and barbarism, and between progress and backwardness. Only with the high-level development of social productive forces, the thorough transformation of the relations of production, the abolition of classes, and the withering away of the state can human civilization transition to a new stage or form of communism—one that abolishes private property and transcends class society. Only then can human beings be lifted out of the rest of the animal kingdom in terms of their social relations, just as general production once lifted humans out of the rest of the animal kingdom in terms of species relations. Engels pointed out: "Slavery was the first form of exploitation, peculiar to the world of antiquity; it was followed by serfdom in the Middle Ages, and by wage labor in modern times. These are the three great forms of servitude, characteristic of the three great epochs of civilization; open, and in recent times disguised, slavery always accompanies the era of civilization." Engels also cited Morgan’s judgment on the era of civilization to expound upon the inevitable trend and prospect of human civilization moving toward communism: "A mere property career is not the final destiny of mankind... Democracy in government, brotherhood in society, equality of rights and privileges, and universal education, foreshadow the next higher plane of society to which experience, intelligence and knowledge are steadily tending. It will be a revival, in a higher form, of the liberty, equality and fraternity of the ancient gentes." Although capitalism took a step of world-historical significance on the path of "liberty," "equality," "democracy," and "civilization"—making the production and consumption of all countries cosmopolitan and making the "civilizing influence of capital" particularly evident—it has never overcome or eliminated its barbaric nature of the law of the jungle, polarization, and aggressive expansion. As Marx said: "It is one of the civilizing aspects of capital that it extorts this surplus labor in a manner and under conditions that are more favorable to the development of the productive forces, to social relations, and to the creation of the elements of a new and higher form than under the preceding forms of slavery, serfdom, etc."
Only Marxism can show the proletariat the way out of spiritual slavery; only communism (of which socialism is the primary stage) can achieve a high degree of civilization. In terms of its essential characteristics and development trends—as the inheritance, Aufheben [19], and transcendence of ancient Chinese civilization and modern Western civilization—Chinese-path modern civilization is a socialist civilization created by the people of all ethnic groups under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It is a civilization defined by the dialectical interaction between the material and the spiritual, and the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. It is a civilization that promotes common prosperity for all people and realizes the free and well-rounded development of individuals. It is a civilization that maintains world peace and common development and builds a community with a shared future for humanity. This new type of civilization solves many difficult problems in the development of human society, presenting a new picture different from the Western model of civilization; it follows the universal laws of human civilization's development while possessing national characteristics and contemporary value based on its own national conditions and the features of the times. It embodies the advanced essence of scientific socialism and represents the direction of human civilization's development, possessing vast space for growth and bright prospects.
To build Chinese-path modern civilization at a new historical starting point, we must uphold openness and inclusiveness, and more actively and proactively learn from and draw on all the civilizing achievements created by humanity. Only by not forgetting our origins can we open up the future; only by being good at inheritance can we better innovate. In the great practice of building Chinese-path modern civilization, Marxism and its theoretical innovations of Sinicization and modernization are the scientific guide; fine traditional Chinese culture is the important root and pulse; and the excellent civilizing achievements of foreign countries are necessary resources. Only under the guidance of Marxism—by truly making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China [20], engaging in dialectical selection, and "averting the old to bring forth the new" [21]—can we smoothly complete the transformation of Chinese civilization from the traditional to the modern. We are not isolationists, but advocates of openness; closing oneself off will ultimately lead to falling behind and being "beaten" [22]. We are not conflict theorists, but advocates of inclusiveness; conflict and confrontation lead to the decline and fall of civilizations. We are not "endists" [23], but development theorists; human civilization moves forward continuously and will never end. We must unswervingly adhere to Marxism as the foundation for establishing and rejuvenating both the Party and the country. We must continuously promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, consciously arming our minds and guiding practice with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We must inherit and develop fine traditional Chinese culture, promote the localization of foreign cultures, and continuously cultivate and create a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for the New Era, providing the ideological guarantee and spiritual pillar for building Chinese-path modern civilization.
Building Chinese-path modern civilization is a long-term historical process and a difficult yet great undertaking. Whether it is a matter of enhancing the cohesion and appeal of Chinese culture or increasing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization, there is an urgent need to connect the past with the present and integrate China with the outside world. We must be all-embracing while remaining cautious in what we accept or discard, drawing on all valuable and excellent achievements within the "sum of human knowledge" to build a new culture for the Chinese nation and create a new form of human civilization. As Lu Xun [24] aptly put it: "A wise person must thoroughly understand the great trends of the world, weigh and measure them, remove the biases, grasp their spirit, and apply them within the country so they fit seamlessly. Outwardly, one does not fall behind the world's trends of thought; inwardly, one does not lose the inherent lifeblood." We must gain profound insight into the general trend of world peace and development, deeply explore the essential laws of human civilization, and always adhere to a view of civilization based on equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness. We should seek development prospects of open innovation and inclusive benefits, and promote civilized exchanges characterized by "harmony without uniformity" [25] and all-embracingness. We should adopt an attitude of learning from all civilizations created by humanity, drawing on their strengths to offset our weaknesses and "choosing and following what is good" [26], striving to build Chinese-path modern civilization and jointly painting a beautiful picture of world civilization.