Sun Xiguo: Xi Jinping Thought on Culture Points Out the Direction and Path for Solving Problems of Cultural Inheritance and Development
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the theoretical synthesis of the practical experience of the Party’s leadership over cultural construction in the New Era. It enriches and develops Marxist cultural theory and achieves major innovations and breakthroughs in cultural theoretical perspectives for the New Era. These new thoughts, perspectives, and assertions resolve a series of major theoretical and practical issues, such as how to uphold the Party’s leadership over culture at a new historical starting point, how to construct an independent Chinese system of knowledge, how to realize the "Two Combinations" [1] (especially the "Second Combination"), how to promote cultural prosperity and development, how to build a leading cultural power, and how to shoulder the new cultural mission and build a modern civilization for the Chinese nation.
To inherit and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must strengthen cultural confidence, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, and elevate Chinese experience into Chinese theory; this is the fundamental path for achieving cultural and developmental innovation.
Theory is the "solution" and "answer" to the tasks and problems of an era. The reason a theory can be called truly innovative lies in its ability to answer the questions of the times and complete the era’s tasks. The theoretical systems of different eras take myriad forms precisely because different eras face different problems and tasks; consequently, the answers to these problems and tasks differ. The key to cultural innovation lies in whether it provides solutions for resolving contemporary problems and completing contemporary tasks—whether it perceives the logic (li) within the event and the Way (dao) within the vessel [2], discovers the universal from the particular, elevates the general from the individual, abstracts Chinese theory from Chinese problems and Chinese practice, and then uses that Chinese theory to guide Chinese practice.
At the Seminar on Cultural Inheritance and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that to continue promoting cultural prosperity, building a leading cultural power, and constructing a modern civilization for the Chinese nation at a new historical starting point, we must strengthen cultural confidence, persist in following our own path, ground ourselves in the great historical and contemporary practice of the Chinese nation, use Chinese logic to synthesize Chinese experience, elevate Chinese experience into Chinese theory, and achieve spiritual independence and self-reliance. Therefore, the cultural innovation and development of contemporary China must be grounded in the great historical and contemporary practices of the Chinese nation. We must adhere to a problem-oriented approach, listen to the voice of the times, respond to the call of the times, and earnestly study and resolve the major and urgent problems facing the Party and the state. We must seriously study the laws governing the Communist Party’s governance, the laws of China’s socialist construction, and the laws of human social development. We must strive to reveal the "great logic" and "great trends" of our society’s development and human social development, providing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for the world.
To inherit and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must persist in taking Marxism as our guide, uphold Marxism as the "soul-vein," and build a people-centered socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.
Adhering to Marxism as our guidance is the fundamental hallmark that distinguishes contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences from others. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must never abandon the soul-vein of Marxism, nor the root-vein of the fine traditional Chinese culture. Upholding this soul and root is the foundation and prerequisite for theoretical innovation; moreover, theoretical innovation is for the purpose of better upholding this soul and root." [3]
Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology upon which we establish and rejuvenate the Party and the country. It is Marxism that the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people relied upon to found and strengthen both the Party and the nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "Without Marxist faith and communist ideals, there would be no Communist Party of China and no socialism with Chinese characteristics." "Once a Marxist party abandons its Marxist faith and its belief in socialism and communism, it will collapse and disintegrate." Similarly, without Marxism, there would be no socialist New China. Abandoning Marxism would mean the disappearance of the foundation and the state system (guoti) of the People’s Republic of China. 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, adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, explicitly proposed "adhering to the fundamental system of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological sphere," providing the fundamental principle for our insistence on using Marxism to guide the development of contemporary Chinese culture.
To inherit and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must uphold the standpoint of Chinese culture, safeguard the "root-vein" of fine traditional Chinese culture, persist in making the past serve the present, achieve the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and ensure it truly becomes a modern culture.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must persist in making the past serve the present and making the foreign serve China, integrating various resources to continuously promote innovation in knowledge, theory, and methods. We must persist in not forgetting our origins, absorbing outward influences, and facing the future." This means looking inward to deeply study major issues concerning the national economy and people’s livelihood, while looking outward to actively explore major issues regarding the future and destiny of humanity. It means looking forward to accurately judge the development trends of socialism with Chinese characteristics, while looking backward to be adept at inheriting and carrying forward the essence of fine traditional Chinese culture. In inheriting and developing contemporary Chinese culture, we must uphold the Chinese cultural standpoint, placing contemporary Chinese culture within the long river of the entire Chinese culture and civilization, allowing it to integrate into the great system of Chinese civilizational development. If Marxism is not combined with fine traditional Chinese culture, it remains a culture external to us—and an external culture is a rootless culture that cannot take root, blossom, and bear fruit on Chinese soil. Conversely, if fine traditional Chinese culture is not combined with Marxism and the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, it remains an ancient culture and cannot become a new socialist culture that reflects, maintains, and represents the interests of the broad masses of the people.
Upholding the Chinese cultural standpoint means making the past serve the present and "weeding through the old to bring forth the new" [4], thereby realizing the combination of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture. This requires us to use Marxism as a guide to comprehensively mine the 5,000-year-old treasure house of Chinese civilization, using Marxism to activate the vital and excellent elements within fine traditional Chinese culture and endow them with new contemporary meaning. Simultaneously, we must inject the great spirit and rich wisdom of the Chinese nation into Marxism at a deeper level, effectively connecting the essence of Marxist thought with the cream of fine traditional Chinese culture. This fusion creates a new theoretical advantage and allows us to continuously scale new heights of thought. The result of the combination of Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture is mutual achievement, creating a new, organically unified "cultural lifeform." This makes Marxism "Chinese" and fine traditional Chinese culture "modern," ensuring that the new culture formed through this "combination" becomes the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization.
To inherit and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must maintain openness and inclusiveness, persist in making the foreign serve China, actively absorb the beneficial fruits of foreign cultures, promote the localization of foreign cultures, and continuously nurture and create socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.
"A single flower does not make a spring; a hundred flowers in bloom bring spring to the garden." [5] To innovate and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must uphold the concepts of openness and inclusiveness, vigorously promote the localization of foreign cultures, and continuously nurture and create socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. The Chinese people believe in the cultural concepts that "all living things should grow together without harming each other" and "different paths can be traveled without being mutually exclusive." [6] We firmly believe that civilizations with different characteristics and styles are not only free from "conflict" but can also stimulate and promote each other, providing a "reference" or "stone from another mountain" [7] for other civilizations. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Civilizations develop through openness, and nations coexist through integration"; "Civilizations exchange because of diversity, learn from each other because of exchange, and develop because of mutual learning." To inherit and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must broaden our theoretical horizons, learn from and draw upon all outstanding civilizational achievements of human society with an open mind as vast as the sea, and extract excellent ideological and cultural resources from the "sum of human knowledge" to innovate and develop the Party’s theory, forming a grand theoretical landscape that is inclusive and draws on the strengths of all.
Regarding foreign culture, on the one hand, we must recognize that "stones from other mountains can serve to polish one’s own jade." On the other hand, we must also recognize that "an orange tree growing south of the Huai River produces oranges, but if moved north of the river, it produces bitter trifoliate oranges." [8] Foreign methods may work for foreigners, but they may not work when brought to China. The development of contemporary Chinese culture cannot be separated from the common achievements of human civilization. We must persist in "taking ourselves as the core and making things serve our needs," absorbing beneficial foreign fruits to build an independent Chinese knowledge system of philosophy and social sciences oriented toward Chinese practice and the resolution of Chinese problems.
To inherit and develop contemporary Chinese culture, we must uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, excavate new materials, discover new problems, propose new viewpoints, and construct new theories.
Comprehensive innovation is an important methodology in the construction and development of contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences. Mr. Zhang Dainian [9] was the first to propose this ideological method. In the 1930s, Mr. Zhang proposed the theory of "creative synthesis," which developed into the theory of "comprehensive innovation" in the 1980s. Mr. Zhang's views were echoed and approved by the majority of scholars in the academic community, but the problem lay in how to actually realize comprehensive innovation. We must bring comprehensive innovation deep into the fields of social life and practice, reaching the level of answering contemporary questions and completing contemporary tasks. Any theoretical innovation of an era cannot actually proceed if it is detached from the interrogation of that era’s practice or the answers to that era’s tasks and problems. Therefore, the question of how to conduct comprehensive innovation has never been well resolved in academic circles. Now, we have Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, which provides guidance for truly resolving this historical problem.
Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground reflects the Marxist scientific concept of innovation and is the ideological elevation of Marxism's open and developmental theoretical character. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Only by upholding the fundamentals can we avoid losing our way or making subversive mistakes; only by breaking new ground can we grasp and lead the times." Persisting in upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground is the synthesis of the experience of Chinese Communists in promoting practical development and cultural innovation over more than a century; it is a distinctive character of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. "Upholding the fundamentals" (shouzheng) means upholding the fundamental system of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological sphere, the fundamental requirements of the "Two Combinations," the cultural leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation. "Breaking new ground" (chuangxin) means, on the basis of upholding the fundamentals, centering our efforts on what we are currently doing, using the scientific principles and ideological methods provided by Marxism and fine traditional Chinese culture to excavate new materials, discover new problems, propose new viewpoints, and construct new theories—thereby refining new theories with academic rigor and summarizing new practices with regularity.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture points out the direction and path for resolving the issues of cultural inheritance and development, providing a strong ideological guarantee, powerful spiritual force, and favorable cultural conditions for building a modern socialist country in all respects and comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.