Zhu Jidong and Xu Mohan: The Great Significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture in the Process of Chinese Modernization
Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and spiritual civilizations are coordinated. Cultural construction and the construction of spiritual civilization complement and reinforce one another; the modernization of culture is the top priority within the process of Chinese-path modernization. Consequently, the success or failure of cultural construction is the key that determines the success or failure of Chinese-path modernization. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to propaganda, ideological, and cultural work, as well as ideological work, continuously opening new frontiers for our country’s cultural construction and accumulating precious experience for the CPC’s cause of cultural construction. A series of important meetings held in the New Era—such as the National Conference on Propaganda and Ideological Work and the National Conference on Propaganda, Ideological, and Cultural Work—have made integrated deployments across various fields, including philosophy and social sciences, ideological and political education, cultural inheritance and development, news and public opinion, internet information, and literature and art. These have constructed a general layout for the collaborative development of socialist cultural undertakings and cultural industries, organically integrating the Party’s various cultural tasks into the category of "Greater Cultural Work." At the National Conference on Propaganda, Ideological, and Cultural Work held in 2023, the Party Central Committee formally proposed Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. This represents a critical juncture in the CPC’s cause of cultural construction and holds great significance for promoting the construction of socialist culture. In the process of comprehensively advancing Chinese-path modernization, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture not only provides powerful ideological and cultural support for Chinese-path modernization and guides its correct direction in terms of values, but also strengthens the ideological safeguards of Chinese-path modernization and enhances its cultural development advantages. It greatly promotes the "sound and rapid" development of Chinese-path modernization and possesses significant epochal value and profound meaning for comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization.
I. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture provides powerful ideological and cultural support for Chinese-path modernization: providing rich cultural nourishment and cultivating a profound cultural foundation.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the theoretical summation of the experience of the Party’s cultural construction led by Xi Jinping since the 18th CPC National Congress, and it serves as the guiding ideology for building a leading socialist cultural power on the new journey of the New Era. "The prosperity of a country or a nation is always supported by the flourishing of its culture." "Without spirit, a person cannot stand; without spirit, a country cannot be strong." Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes the critical supportive role of culture in national construction and national rejuvenation, serving as an important theoretical pillar for the construction of Chinese-path cultural modernization. Therefore, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, it is an inevitable choice on the new journey of the New Era to provide richer cultural nourishment, cultivate the profound cultural foundation of a great modern socialist country, and grant Chinese-path modernization powerful ideological and cultural support by promoting cultural self-confidence and self-strengthening.
Inheriting and developing the fine traditional Chinese culture is an important aspect of promoting cultural self-confidence and self-strengthening. Adhering to the inheritance and development of fine traditional Chinese culture is exactly the important principle consistently upheld by the CPC in the process of leading the construction of socialist culture, as well as a significant component of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the need to "establish historical thinking and pass down fine traditional Chinese culture." Based on the practice of socialist cultural construction in the New Era, Xi Jinping innovatively proposed the important thesis of the "Second Combination" [1], particularly emphasizing that "to uphold and develop Marxism, we must combine it with fine traditional Chinese culture." Elevating the combination of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture to a height parallel with the combination of Marxism with China’s specific realities has further highlighted the important status of fine traditional Chinese culture. Researching Xi Jinping’s relevant discourses on socialist cultural construction reveals that he often admonishes us to focus on the study of Chinese history and the inheritance of fine traditional culture. He emphasized: "History and reality both show that a nation that has abandoned or betrayed its own history and culture cannot possibly develop, and is even likely to play out a historical tragedy." This warns us to hold full respect and affirmation for fine traditional Chinese culture, truly recognizing its role in providing spiritual support and moral nourishment for all people. Combining the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture can not only promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism but also drive the further modernization of fine traditional Chinese culture. The new cultural form created by the combination of the two can better adapt to the needs of building a leading socialist cultural power and the process of cultural development in Chinese-path modernization.
Regarding the specific direction for the inheritance and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, Xi Jinping officially proposed in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress the need to "persist in creative transformation and innovative development." Subsequently, in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, he noted that "fine traditional Chinese culture has undergone creative transformation and innovative development, and cultural undertakings are increasingly prosperous," which both affirmed the great achievements of this transformation in the New Era and explained the important role of inheriting and developing fine traditional Chinese culture for cultural construction. At the same time, Xi Jinping emphasized: "To carry forward fine traditional Chinese culture, we must handle the relationship between inheritance and creative development well, with a focus on creative transformation and innovative development." Among these, the essence of "handling the relationship between inheritance and creative development well" is to use the basic tenets of Marxism to transform fine traditional Chinese culture. This transformation is not about changing "wrong" to "right," but about changing "good" into "useful." We must use the basic tenets of Marxism as a powerful tool for transforming fine traditional Chinese culture so that it adapts to the needs of socialist social reality. We must draw upon the ideological wisdom within fine traditional Chinese culture that is useful and applicable to socialist construction in the New Era, transforming it with the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method to serve the construction of socialist modernization and promote the development process of Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping emphasized: "The fact that the Chinese nation has grown and thrived through endless cycles of development and has been reborn through fire after suffering many setbacks is inseparable from the powerful support of Chinese culture." Therefore, Xi Jinping’s thought on the "Second Combination," as one of the essential cores of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, is not only a theoretical and practical innovation regarding the inheritance and development of fine traditional Chinese culture; it is also a major theoretical innovation of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, another historic leap in the CPC’s theory of cultural construction, and an inevitable requirement for comprehensively advancing the cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization.
Furthermore, the prosperity and development of socialist cultural undertakings can not only advance cultural self-confidence and self-strengthening to provide ideological and cultural support for Chinese-path modernization, but can also enrich the people's spiritual and cultural lives, assist in the construction of spiritual civilization, and provide rich cultural nourishment for Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture contains relevant ideas regarding the development of socialist cultural undertakings. These ideas guide the correct development direction of our country's socialist cultural undertakings and promote the vigorous development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries. Xi Jinping has always adhered to the "Double Hundred" policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" [2] and the "Two Serves" direction of "serving the people and serving socialism" [3] in cultural construction. By insisting on the organic unity of the two, he has driven a global and fundamental historic change in China's cultural sphere. He simultaneously emphasized the "Double Hundred" policy and the "Two Serves" direction, pointing out that "we must adhere to the policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" and that "for literature and art to reflect the voice of the people, they must adhere to the fundamental direction of serving the people and serving socialism... Only by firmly establishing the Marxist view of literature and art and truly achieving a people-centered approach can literature and art exert the greatest positive energy." The "Double Hundred" policy has created a good political ecosystem for the cultural field, providing vast development space for cultural undertakings and industries in the New Era and promoting their more full development and prosperity. The "Two Serves" direction can effectively guarantee the correct development path for cultural undertakings, ensuring they never drift or lose their way, always serving socialism and all the Chinese people, and ensuring the Party never changes its nature and the "Red Silhouetted Mountains and Rivers" [4] never change color. Therefore, we must adhere to the unity of the "Double Hundred" policy and the "Two Serves" direction and persist in the correct guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture; this determines the fundamental direction for the future of our country's cultural development and cultural modernization.
Building on the unity of the "Double Hundred" policy and the "Two Serves" direction, Xi Jinping proposed the important principle of a people-centered creative orientation for work in literature and art. In the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, he emphasized: "We must persist in serving the people and serving socialism, persist in letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, persist in creative transformation and innovative development, and continuously forge new glories for Chinese culture." "Socialist literature and art are the literature and art of the people; we must adhere to the people-centered creative orientation, creating literature and art worthy of the era while deeply entering life and rooting ourselves among the people." This not only emphasizes that work in literature and art must truly be people-centered but also elucidates how to achieve this. In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, he further emphasized: "Prosper and develop cultural undertakings and cultural industries. Adhere to the people-centered creative orientation and launch more excellent works that strengthen the people’s spiritual power." Xi Jinping’s frequent emphasis on the "Double Hundred" policy, the "Two Serves" direction, and the people-centered creative orientation together shows that these three are a closely linked and unified whole. To truly do a good job in cultural construction in the New Era and promote the building of a leading socialist cultural power, we must unify these three and consistently adhere to and implement them in developing cultural undertakings and industries. The guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture for China’s cultural construction is not only epoch-making in the history of the cultural construction of the People’s Republic of China and the CPC, but it also has great promotional significance in the historical process of China’s modernization, serving as the guiding ideology for Chinese-path cultural modernization.
II. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture guides the correct direction of values for Chinese-path modernization: resisting erroneous values and breaking down obstacles to value orientations.
To comprehensively advance the cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization requires a powerful material foundation and, even more so, a powerful spiritual and cultural force. One of the important missions of the national cultural construction cause, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, is to lead the correct direction of values for Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping believes: "Values play a pivotal role in the culture of a given society; the influence of culture is, first and foremost, the influence of values." For a nation to stand at the forefront of the times, it must have the guidance of correct values. Only by occupying the high ground in the struggle over values and ideology can we truly unify thinking, strengthen confidence, and gather the majestic power of ten thousand hearts beating as one. At the same time, he pointed out: "The struggle over culture is, in essence, a struggle over values, a struggle for hearts and minds, and a struggle over ideology. As the saying goes, ‘Strength or weakness for a moment lies in force; victory or defeat for a thousand years lies in the Truth (Principle)’ [5]. First, we must fight well in the tough battle over values." The success or failure of Chinese-path modernization is by no means a matter of "strength or weakness for a moment," but of "victory or defeat for a thousand years." Therefore, maintaining the correct direction of values is key to comprehensively advancing Chinese-path modernization, and the correct direction of values for Chinese-path modernization relies on the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture.
As an open and continuously unfolding system of thought, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes the important role of Socialist Core Values. Based on the great practices of the New Era, it continuously summarizes and deepens the understanding and experience of building the socialist core value system, strengthens confidence in our values, and forms a correct and firm socialist value direction under the leadership of the CPC. Chinese-path modernization is a socialist modernization led by the CPC. Therefore, Chinese-path modernization must always adhere to the leadership of the Party and persist in the guidance of Marxism. This is the most fundamental direction of Chinese-path modernization and the most important principle of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture.
The issue of "color revolutions" is a matter that Xi Jinping has consistently focused on and remained vigilant against. He has pointed out: "Various hostile forces have always attempted to manufacture 'color revolutions' in our country, vainly plotting to subvert the leadership of the Communist Party of China and our country's socialist system. This is a realistic danger facing our regime security." The critical problem we now face is to seize the initiative in the ideological struggle amidst a complex and sharp international and domestic environment, resolutely refute erroneous trends of thought such as Western "universal values" [6], guard the defense line of national security, and persist in the Party's leadership and the development of socialism. This is the bottom line for national development and regime security, and it is the correct direction that must be abandoned during the process of advancing Chinese-path modernization. In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping emphasized the need to "build a socialist ideology with strong cohesive and leadership power" and "firmly grasp the Party's leadership over ideological work." Xi Jinping Thought on Culture explicitly proposes the "Seven Focuses" [7]; these are all important measures regarding the persistence of the Party’s leadership and the adherence to Marxism as a guide, and they constitute essential content of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, an increasing number of people are internalizing the persistence of the Party’s leadership and the guidance of Marxism into their conscious thought and action.
Since the dawn of the New Era, Xi Jinping has emphasized: "History tells us that only through exchange and mutual learning can a civilization be full of vitality." Therefore, we must continuously improve our country’s national cultural soft power through exchange and mutual learning, resolutely oppose and thoroughly break the "theory of Western-centrism," and use cultural exchange and mutual learning to transcend cultural barriers and conflicts, promoting the great development and prosperity of socialist culture. "We must never 'imitate others like the youth of Handan and lose our own way of walking.' [8] What we are doing is Sinicizing Marxism; we are building socialism with Chinese characteristics." This reminds us that we must never blindly trust or fetishize the West. We must be alert to and guard against the infiltration of values and ideology brought about by Western cultural infiltration during cultural construction, and strengthen our cultural confidence, value confidence, and ideological confidence. To comprehensively advance the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization, we must resolutely resist all erroneous values that oppose or deviate from socialism, and resolutely break down value-based obstacles that restrict the smooth progress of Chinese-path modernization.
Different values determine different directions and paths of modernization. The difference in value orientation between socialism and capitalism is the fundamental distinction between Chinese-path modernization and Western modernization. The direction and path of modernization under the dominance of capitalist values follow a developmental model where politics, economy, and even human beings are subject to the control of capital. This leads to the exposure of capital’s pursuit of profit maximization in every detail of the modernization process, resulting in human alienation and a series of irreconcilable contradictions within Western modernization. In contrast to Western modernization, Chinese-path modernization adheres to Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods, taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guide. It follows a people-centered value orientation, taking the needs of all-round human development as its ultimate concern, thereby promoting the comprehensive development of the individual. Therefore, we must persist in the value guidance provided by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture for Chinese-path modernization and always maintain the basic stance of struggling against Western capitalist values.
On the new journey of the New Era, peace and development are the main themes. The primary form of struggle in today's society is no longer armed struggle, but rather a contest of values and an ideological struggle; the ultimate goal of this struggle is to win the hearts and minds of the people. Xi Jinping has always had the courage to face the contradictions and problems accumulated over a long period in the ideological and cultural spheres, and he soberly recognized the grim reality prior to the 18th CPC National Congress, where "many people within the Party and society were deeply worried about the future of the Party and the country." At the First Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, he emphasized the need to enhance the spirit of struggle: "History has repeatedly proven that if we seek security through struggle, security will survive; if we seek security through compromise, security will perish. If we seek development through struggle, development will flourish; if we seek development through compromise, development will decline." This warns us that even in an era of peaceful development, the spirit of struggle still plays an important role in advancing the process of Chinese-path modernization. Furthermore, he pointed out: "Advancing Chinese-path modernization is an unprecedented and pioneering undertaking. We will inevitably encounter various foreseeable and unpredictable risks, challenges, difficulties, and even stormy waves [9]. We must enhance our awareness of potential dangers, adhere to bottom-line thinking, be prepared for danger in times of peace, plan ahead, be brave and adept at struggle, and open up new horizons for the cause through tenacious struggle."
In the historical process of advancing Chinese-path modernization, Xi Jinping has placed even greater emphasis on the extreme importance of being brave and adept at struggle. This is one of the most important essences of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. We must prevent and resolve various risks and challenges faced in the process of Chinese-path modernization—particularly those in the ideological and cultural spheres—by being brave and adept at struggle. Moreover, this spirit must permeate the entire process and various aspects of Chinese-path modernization. Thus, the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture for the process of Chinese-path modernization primarily concerns cultural construction, but it is not limited to it. It plays a role in guiding the values of development in all fields of Chinese-path modernization, providing the correct value direction for its comprehensive advancement and demonstrating a value confidence stronger than that of capitalism.
III. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture Strengthens the Ideological Safeguards of Chinese-path Modernization: Upholding Fundamentals while Breaking New Ground to Maintain Security and Ensure the Correct Direction and Path
The comprehensive advancement of Chinese-path modernization is carried out within an open international environment. Internationally, certain Western countries led by the United States have long conducted ideological infiltration and "peaceful evolution" [10] against China. Particularly in recent years, they have launched one ideological offensive, siege, and even "encirclement and suppression" [11] campaign after another. Domestically, reactionary, decadent, and backward feudal and capitalist ideologies resurfaced and periodically ran rampant after the Reform and Opening-up. Some corrupt and degenerate elements within the Party not only engaged in financial embezzlement and corruption but also positioned themselves against Marxism, communism, and socialism politically and ideologically. Furthermore, various hostile forces inside and outside the Party, and at home and abroad, have colluded and cooperated with each other. These circumstances dictate that maintaining ideological security is the key and the top priority for the comprehensive advancement of Chinese-path modernization.
On the new journey of the New Era, we must not only seize strategic opportunities but also respond to multiple risks and challenges, especially those in the ideological sphere, to ensure the steady progress of the cause of Chinese-path modernization. Its comprehensive advancement cannot succeed without strong ideological safeguards. One of the important values of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is that it strengthens these safeguards, providing scientific theoretical guidance and strong ideological guarantees for the comprehensive advancement of the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization. Facing a complex ideological environment, Xi Jinping clearly emphasized as early as 2013 that "ideological work is an extremely important task for the Party." This significant thesis clarified the vital position of ideological work among all the Party's endeavors. Later, he further emphasized: "Ideological work is the task of 'erecting the heart' for the country and 'forging the soul' for the nation." This guided the entire Party, the whole army, and the people of all ethnic groups to deeply understand the extremely important and close relationship between ideological work and the Party, the state, and the nation, while also emphasizing the important role of managing ideological work in maintaining national security and advancing the process of Chinese-path modernization.
The Party's propaganda, ideological, and cultural work under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture has at its core the construction of a socialist ideology with strong cohesive and leadership power. "Ideology concerns the banner, the path, and national political security." Ideological security is not only an important component of national political security but also an essential guarantee for achieving Chinese-path modernization; whether ideological security can be maintained determines the success or failure of Chinese-path modernization. "Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is an unfolding and open system of thought that will inevitably be continuously enriched and developed as practice deepens." In essence, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a body of ideological thought. The profound understanding of ideological construction it contains has also been enriched and developed as practice has deepened.
In the practice of the Great Struggle [12] of the New Era, Xi Jinping has recognized with increasing depth the extreme importance of cultural and ideological construction in building a modern socialist country. In the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, he emphasized: "Culture is the soul of a country and a nation. If culture prospers, the country prospers; if culture is strong, the nation is strong." This emphasizes that cultural construction is an important cornerstone for building a great modern socialist country and is a generational responsibility that we can and must fulfill on the new journey of the New Era. Facing many ideological risks and challenges from both within and outside the Party and the country, Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important speeches and articles, and issued numerous instructions and directives on doing a good job in ideological, propaganda, and cultural work in the New Era. He has resolutely corrected erroneous thoughts, understandings, and practices, awakening a high level of attention across the entire Party toward ideological, propaganda, and cultural work, raising this attention to an unprecedented new height.
He emphasized the extreme importance of ideological work from the height of regime security, pointing out the important position of ideological security within overall national security: "To control the power of initiative in online ideology is to guard the sovereignty and regime of the state." He particularly analyzed the importance, complexity, and difficulty of the struggle in online ideology as a warning to the entire Party, leading the whole Party to deeply understand this and take active action through a series of requirements and deployments. In 2014, the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs was officially established with Xi Jinping as its head, marking the inclusion of cybersecurity as an important part of China's national security. These actions remind the entire Party that the Internet is the main channel and battlefield for capitalist countries, led by the United States, to conduct ideological infiltration and "peaceful evolution" against socialist countries. It is the main front and the outermost edge of the ideological struggle in the New Era. We must value the struggle in online ideology from the height of national regime security and political security, treating ideological and cultural security as important components of maintaining national security, with the entire Party and all people working together to manage ideological work effectively.
Xi Jinping has not only emphasized the importance of national cultural and ideological security and heightened the Party's attention to cultural construction and ideological work, but has also sounded the alarm regarding the erroneous thoughts and understandings of some Party members and cadres. From clearly stating in 2014 that "it is absolutely not permitted to sing a different tune from the Central Committee, nor to eat the Communist Party's food and then smash the Communist Party's pot," [13] to emphasizing in 2015 that "various hostile forces have always attempted to manufacture 'color revolutions' in our country... this is a realistic danger facing our regime security," these were warnings directed at the lack of political sensitivity and responsibility among Party and government cadres, as well as the phenomenon of erroneous trends of thought spreading on major ideological issues. Under Xi Jinping’s high level of attention and repeated emphasis, our Party’s ideological work has continuously achieved breakthroughs, reversing the dangerous situation of chaos that existed in the ideological sphere for a time before the 18th CPC National Congress. In the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, he affirmed: "Significant progress has been made in ideological and cultural construction." But at the same time, he reminded the whole Party to deeply recognize that "the struggle in the ideological sphere remains complex, and national security faces new situations."
After the 19th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping continued to attach great importance to ideological work. At the 2018 National Conference on Propaganda and Ideological Work, he pointed out: "In practice, we have continuously deepened our understanding of the laws governing propaganda and ideological work, and proposed a series of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments—chief among which is to persist in the Party's leadership over ideological work." Under Xi Jinping’s constant emphasis, warnings, and personal command, and through the concerted efforts of the entire Party, the report to the 20th CPC National Congress clearly stated that "a global and fundamental shift has occurred in the situation of the ideological sphere." This is a full affirmation and great tribute to the achievements made in China's ideological sphere since the 18th CPC National Congress. This great achievement has provided strong ideological safeguards for the process of Chinese-path modernization and is key to ensuring that the cause of Chinese-path modernization always advances victoriously along the correct direction. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the ideological work and the propaganda, ideological, and cultural work of the Party and the state have complemented each other, becoming closely intertwined, highly overlapping, and deeply integrated. The formal introduction of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a major event for both propaganda, ideological, and cultural work, and ideological work. Xi Jinping made important instructions on propaganda, ideological, and cultural work, emphasizing:
"Publicity, ideological, and cultural work concerns the future and destiny of the Party, the long-term stability of the state, and the cohesion and centripetal force of the nation; it is an endeavor of extreme importance." In this critical instruction, Xi Jinping explicitly put forward the major requirements of the "Seven Focuses": "focusing on strengthening the Party's leadership over publicity, ideological, and cultural work; focusing on developing a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership; focusing on cultivating and practicing the Core Socialist Values; focusing on enhancing the reach, guidance, influence, and credibility of news and public opinion; focusing on continuing the Chinese cultural lineage and promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture; focusing on promoting the prosperity and development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries; and focusing on strengthening international communication capacity building and promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations." These "Seven Focuses" essentially center on ideology. The first four, in particular, constitute direct and major deployments for work in the ideological sphere and hold significant guiding significance for ideological work. By "strengthening the Party's leadership over publicity, ideological, and cultural work," firmly grasping the leadership, management, and discourse power over ideological work is key to resisting the infiltration and suppression by Western ideology, responding to complex and sharp ideological struggles, and preventing or resolving risks and challenges in the ideological field. By "developing a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership," we build a powerful ideological discourse system for the New Era to better unify the thinking of the entire Party, the entire army, and the people of all ethnic groups. By "cultivating and practicing the Core Socialist Values," we coalesce the common value pursuits of all people, forming a majestic force that reflects the people's will and gathers their hearts and strength. By "enhancing the reach, guidance, influence, and credibility of news and public opinion," we ensure the correct political direction and public opinion orientation, further strengthening ideological self-confidence and achieving ideological self-reliance. The "Seven Focuses" involve multiple aspects such as ideological security, ideological struggle, ideological construction, social public opinion guidance, cultural self-confidence and self-reliance, and telling China’s stories well. The goal is to safeguard the security of socialist ideology and strengthen the ideological guarantee for the process of Chinese-path modernization.
Ideology determines not only the direction of a country's cultural progress and development path but also the country's overall direction of progress and development path. In the process of Chinese-path modernization, we face complex international and domestic situations and urgent new tasks. This requires our Party to always adhere to the correct ideological direction and path, persist in the guidance of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture over cultural and ideological construction, and take multiple measures to grasp ideological work in the New Era. We must firmly hold leadership, management, and discourse power over ideological work, adopting effective and forceful measures to strengthen the ideological guarantee for Chinese-path modernization. This will further solidify ideological self-confidence and advance ideological self-reliance, providing a strong ideological guarantee and powerful spiritual strength for the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization.
IV. Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture Enhances the Cultural Development Advantages of Chinese-path Modernization: Benefiting the People through Multiple Measures and Highlighting Self-Reliance on the Global Stage
As the latest achievement in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist cultural theory, Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture is rich in connotation and profound in discourse. It is a theoretical summation of the Party's experience in leading cultural construction in the New Era and possesses significant guiding significance for advancing cultural construction within Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture is rooted in practice—coming from practice and returning to practice. It can not only answer realistic questions in the modernization of Chinese culture but also lead the high-quality development of socialist cultural construction. China's cultural construction must revolve around the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. One of its important missions is to provide favorable cultural conditions for the development of Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture can effectively enhance the cultural development advantages of Chinese-path modernization, truly realizing a modernization where material and spiritual civilizations are coordinated.
Enriching the people's spiritual world is one of the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping has always focused on the spiritual and cultural needs of the masses, emphasizing the importance of enriching the people's spiritual world for advancing Chinese-path modernization. Social progress includes not only the growth of material wealth but also the growth of spiritual wealth; the well-rounded development of the individual pursued by Marx includes not only material development but also rich spiritual development. Xi Jinping once emphasized that "the development of the person takes spiritual culture as its core," and explicitly pointed out that "human beings are, in essence, cultural beings... humanity pursues not only material conditions and economic indicators, but also a 'happiness index'; not only the harmony of the natural ecology, but also the harmony of the 'spiritual ecosystem' [14]." This is in the same lineage as Marxist thought on the well-rounded development of the individual. Regarding the essence and composition of the spiritual world, the ultimate task and goal of enriching the people's spiritual world is to strengthen the people's ideals and convictions, improve their abilities, qualities, and moral cultivation, and elevate their spiritual realm. Since the beginning of Reform and Opening-up, and especially in the New Era, the masses' demand for spiritual life has grown daily, with people paying more attention to spiritual enjoyment in the fields of culture, entertainment, art, and even academic theory. Xi Jinping emphasized: "The people need literature and art... to satisfy the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, we must do a good job in cultural construction and increase the society’s spiritual and cultural wealth." He later emphasized: "Developing cultural undertakings is the basic way to satisfy the people's spiritual and cultural needs and guarantee their cultural rights... letting the people enjoy a more substantial, richer, and higher-quality spiritual and cultural life." All of this reflects the high importance Xi Jinping attaches to enriching the people's spiritual world and has greatly promoted the idea that work in this area must adhere to a people-centered orientation in both work and creation. Correspondingly, high-quality cultural development has become a conscious action for more and more people, and the emergence of numerous excellent literary and artistic works reflects the cultural development advantages of socialist modernization.
In the New Era, publicity, ideological, and cultural undertakings have flourished, and various learning activities have extensively covered all aspects of social life, providing great assistance to the construction of Chinese-path modernization. Based on the learning needs of the masses, public spaces such as community libraries have been established across the country. As one of the important ways to enrich the people's spiritual world, reading helps people expand their knowledge, enhance their thinking skills, broaden their mindsets, and improve their emotional experiences and quality of life. Furthermore, the "Four Histories" [15] education has taken deep root in people's hearts. By understanding historical events, historical culture, and historical laws, people have not only increased their interest in learning historical facts and culture but have also formed a deeper understanding of current society and culture. At the same time, lectures and seminars in various industries and fields have significantly increased, which not only promotes the exchange of the latest ideological achievements but also helps people understand academic frontiers, the latest research results, and technological developments. These learning activities can strengthen people's ideals and convictions, expand their ways of thinking, and build bridges for mutual learning across different fields, allowing people to better understand our culture and history while improving their cultural literacy and appreciation skills. The continuously enriching variety of learning activities has led to a positive social trend of being diligent and fond of learning, improved the knowledge and cultural level as well as the ideological and moral quality of the whole people, and further solidified our historical confidence and national confidence.
Since the beginning of the New Era, the art and entertainment industry has developed rapidly, and the masses' artistic and entertainment activities have quickly increased and diversified. The appreciation, participation, and enjoyment of art are no longer limited to a few but have integrated into the daily lives of the masses. People frequently visit cinemas, theaters, and concert halls to watch movies, plays, dramas, and musicals, or gain a deep understanding of a field, region, or art form by visiting museums and art exhibitions. They even use their leisure time to cultivate and develop an artistic hobby. Movies and plays allow people to learn about different stories and cultures, improving their appreciation and expression skills; museums and art exhibitions show people various cultures, histories, and arts, allowing them to better understand the world, different lifestyles, and different art schools, thereby deepening their understanding of beauty and love for art, cultivating their temperament, and stimulating their creativity and imagination. At the same time, artistic and entertainment activities with a greater sense of participation have also entered people's daily lives, such as painting, handicrafts, music, dance, and yoga, which help people express emotions, demonstrate creativity, and improve aesthetic and appreciation skills. The prosperous development of the art and entertainment industry has enriched the daily lives of the masses, avoided the one-sided development of the individual, thereby transcending and eliminating alienation [16], achieving the free and well-rounded development of the individual, and reaching a comprehensive balance between human natural and social attributes, and between material and spiritual needs. In addition, organizing various types of volunteer activities is also one of the effective ways for the construction of spiritual civilization. By participating in volunteer activities, people can actively participate in social development and public welfare undertakings, gain a deeper understanding of social issues, and make their own contributions to others and society. Volunteer activities can not only improve people's comprehensive qualities and abilities and enhance their sense of social responsibility and collective consciousness but also promote social stability and harmony at the overall social level, effectively driving social development.
The fact that Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture enhances the cultural development advantages of Chinese-path modernization is reflected not only domestically but also internationally. To build a community with a shared future for humanity, we must, under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture, enhance our ability to safeguard national cultural security and ideological security. We must adhere to the principles of "centering on ourselves," "making foreign things serve China," and "incorporating everything that is useful," further strengthening the exchange and integration of Chinese and foreign cultures, and advancing international communication capacity building. On the basis of promoting fine traditional Chinese culture "going global," we must be brave and adept at promoting revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture "going global," thereby driving Chinese culture as a whole toward the world and winning the recognition, study, and faith of more and more people. At the same time, we must adopt various flexible methods, means, and tools to tell the stories of China, the Communist Party of China, the New China, and the community with a shared future for humanity. We should better present a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic view of China, striving to show an image of China that is credible, lovable, and respectable. We must strive to make Chinese culture possess strong attraction, influence, and appeal in the world, truly transforming China's development advantages into advantages in discourse, culture, civilization, and ideology.
On the new journey in the New Era, all fields in China are in a stage of rapid development. This requires spiritual civilization to continuously coordinate and deeply integrate with material civilization, forming a powerful synergy. Therefore, on the basis of the achievements attained at this stage, we must continue to take Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture as our guide, further improve cultural construction work in the process of Chinese-path modernization, push the people's spiritual life to a new level, and assist the practical process of Chinese-path modernization to comprehensively advance the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. In short, Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture is the adherence to, inheritance of, development of, and innovation upon the results of the Sinicization of Marxist cultural theory. It is a scientific summation of the experience of cultural construction in the New Era. it has accumulated precious ideological results and experiential wisdom for the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, promoted the cultural construction of Chinese-path modernization and even the entire process of Chinese-path modernization, and written a new chapter in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist cultural construction theory. On the new journey of comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization, and in the struggle to build a community with a shared future for humanity, cultural construction will occupy an even more important position. Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture will demonstrate even more important epochal value and far-reaching significance in the exploration of the theory and practice of Chinese-path modernization.
Source: Thinking (思想战线), August 27, 2024. Online Editor: Jing Mu.