Marxism Research Network
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Chen Shaohui and Sun Xiguo: On the Logical Framework, Practical Strategies, and Significant Implications of习近平's Thought on Culture

Xi Jinping Thought (New Era)

Xi Jinping Thought on Culture adheres to dialectical materialism and historical materialism, inheriting and carrying forward the fine traditions and precious experience of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) publicity and cultural work over the past century. Matching the trends of historical development and the practical requirements of the New Era, its content is rich, comprehensive, and profound. It serves as both a scientific guide and an action program for cultural construction on the new journey of building a powerful country and achieving the great cause of national rejuvenation; it is also the fundamental compliance for building a modern civilization characterized by the comprehensive and coordinated development of the material, spiritual, political, social, and ecological civilizations of the Chinese nation.

The Holistic and Strategic Role of Culture in Building a Powerful Country and National Rejuvenation

From the perspective of the definition of "culture," in a broad sense, culture encompasses all material and spiritual wealth created by humanity in the process of understanding and transforming the world. In a narrow sense, "a given culture (as an ideological form) is a reflection of the politics and economy of a given society," [1] constituting the core content of the ideological superstructure. The "culture" within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture includes culture in the narrow sense—that is, ideological or spiritual culture as the core of the ideological superstructure—and "Chinese culture" in the broad sense, which fuses institutional culture, spiritual culture, and ecological culture into a single furnace. Therefore, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is both the guiding ideology for cultural construction in the New Era and the fundamental compliance for advancing the construction of a modern Chinese civilization in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, including civilizational elements such as material, spiritual, political, social, and ecological civilizations.

Regarding the relationship between culture and civilization, culture is the reflection of a society's politics and economy in ideological form, while civilization is the hallmark of humanity's state of progress and enlightenment; civilization is the "goodness" of culture. Through long historical evolution, Chinese civilization eventually formed a civilizational pattern of "pluralistic unity" and a national pattern of the community for the Chinese nation. Chinese civilization is inclusive and ever-renewing; it is our precious intellectual wealth for promoting the inheritance and development of culture and the continued innovation of civilization at this new stage of historical development.

From the perspective of cultural characteristics, culture plays a vital role in social development, national governance, and civilizational progress. If ideological culture fails to advance with the times, the result is bound to be disastrous; simultaneously, if one fails to pay attention to the inheritance and development of culture and abruptly severs national traditional culture, the result is also disastrous. In this sense, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes that to achieve the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, one must summarize laws from the process of historical development and practice. Building a modern Chinese civilization must involve both an aptitude for inheritance and the courage for innovation.

Regarding cultural soft power, it is the cohesion and appeal a country manifests based on its culture; it is the vitality of a country and nation rooted in its ethnic bloodline. Currently, amidst the changes unseen in a century, the competition for cultural soft power between nations is becoming increasingly fierce. The struggle over culture is a struggle over destiny, paths, and directions; even more so, it is a struggle over values and the hearts and minds of the people. Its core is ideological competition. Ideology is the flag and soul of a political party, determining the direction and path of cultural progress. Therefore, only by being clear-headed in theory can one be firm in politics. We must arm the masses with correct theories to guide practice by consolidating the value foundation of cultural self-confidence and self-improvement.

From the perspective of the origin and development of culture, culture is concrete and historical; the practice of a specific historical period is the source and driving force of culture. The great practice of the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics calls for a new culture and will inevitably produce and strengthen one. Culture is the mother of institutions and an important force for national survival and development. Currently, as we embark on the new journey of the historical undertaking of building a powerful country and national rejuvenation, we must continuously strengthen cultural construction to provide strong spiritual motivation, intellectual support, and ideological guarantees for national development. It is in this sense that Xi Jinping Thought on Culture grasps the endogenous laws of cultural development and meets the urgent needs of the masses.

The Logical Architecture of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture

Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is both a worldview in theoretical form and a methodology in practical form. It is a powerful ideological weapon and scientific action guide for cultural construction in the New Era, as well as the task book and roadmap for shoulder the new cultural mission and building a modern Chinese civilization on the new journey of building a powerful country and national rejuvenation.

(1) A Theoretical Form Where the "Substance" is Manifested Through Its "Function" [2]

Xi Jinping Thought on Culture creatively combines the basic principles of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, resolving the "contention between the ancient, the modern, the Chinese, and the Western" [3] and representing another liberation of the mind.

First, regarding the basic standpoint, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture adheres to the fundamental standpoint of centered on the people, maintains the subjectivity of Chinese culture, and persists in cultural self-confidence and self-improvement. Marxism takes practice as its medium and "human liberation" as its ultimate value. By adhering to the "Two Combinations" (combining the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture), the CPC has not only written the "China Story"—the rise of China, which is the "most exciting event of the 21st century"—but has also forged and cast a great "Chinese spirit" through more than a century of great struggle leading the people.

Second, regarding basic viewpoints, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture creatively proposes the viewpoint that "politics is the skeleton, economy is the flesh and blood, and culture is the soul." It adheres to the view that culture originates from the practice of material production while emphasizing culture's active counter-reaction [4] upon the economic base and social development. The subordinacy and derivativeness of culture dictate that a given ideological culture must contain certain values and specific interests. Therefore, fantasies such as "de-ideologization," "universal values," or "cultural nihilism" [5] simply do not exist in the world. It is in this sense that General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Publicity, ideological, and cultural work concerns the future and destiny of the Party, the long-term stability of the country, and national cohesion and centeredness; it is a work of extreme importance."

Third, regarding basic methods, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture persists in combining the basic principles of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture. It clarifies the proposition of "upholding the fundamentals without being archaic, and respecting the ancient without returning to the past." [6] It creatively combines the basic principles of scientific socialism with fine traditional Chinese culture, imbuing them with new characteristics of the times, making them important ideological and cultural resources for cultural construction and national governance in the New Era.

Specifically, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture includes the following practical strategies:

  1. Regarding fundamental institutions: Adhere to the fundamental institution of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological field; persist in serving the people and socialism; take socialist core values as the lead; develop advanced socialist culture; carry forward revolutionary culture; and inherit fine traditional Chinese culture.
  2. Regarding cultural and educational work: Focus on cultivating "new people of the era" capable of shouldering the great task of national rejuvenation; propose that "when the people have faith, the country has strength and the nation has hope."
  3. Regarding news and public opinion work: Adhere to the principle of Party spirit [7] and the principle of the Party managing the media; guide journalism and public opinion workers to be disseminators of the Party's policies and propositions, recorders of the times, promoters of social progress, and watchers of fairness and justice.
  4. Regarding philosophy and social sciences: Construct an autonomous knowledge system, academic system, and discourse system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences.
  5. Regarding literary and artistic work: Clarify that literature and art cannot lose their direction in the tide of the market economy; persist in putting social benefits first while unifying social and economic benefits; adhere to a work orientation of "having justice in one's heart, the people in one's mind, responsibility on one's shoulders, and the world in one's pen." [8]
  6. Regarding internet governance: Strengthen mainstream public opinion venues, enhance cyberspace governance, and promote the in-depth development of media convergence.
  7. Regarding the level of values: Take a clear-cut stand against the so-called "universal values" of the West and jointly advocate for the common values of all mankind.
  8. Regarding international cultural exchange and communication: Tell the China story well and form international discourse power commensurate with our comprehensive national strength and international status.

(2) A Practical Form Integrating "Substance" and "Function" [9]

Xi Jinping Thought on Culture breaks through the shackles of the "dichotomy between substance and function," greatly promoting cultural construction in the New Era and pointing out the developmental direction for modern Chinese civilization.

In the New Era, cultural construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics has achieved historical successes and undergone historical changes through "raising the flag and directing the course" and "rectifying sources and clearing the stream." [10] It has displayed a new clinical appearance and moved toward a new journey through "upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground." This is concentrated in three aspects:

  1. In national cultural strategy: Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to ideological and cultural work, significantly increasing China's cultural soft power.
  2. In social civilizational quality: The main melody of patriotism has become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; the scientific, cultural, and civilizational literacy of the citizens has significantly improved; and modern public culture is becoming increasingly perfected.
  3. In the national psychological state: The Chinese people are more high-spirited, upward-moving, peaceful, and rational, achieving the transition from "looking up to the West" to "looking at the world on an equal footing."

From the perspective of the central task of the new journey in the New Era, Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and spiritual civilizations are coordinated. It requires common prosperity at both the material and spiritual levels. By arming people with scientific theories, guiding people with correct public opinion, shaping people with noble spirits, and encouraging people with excellent works, we continuously meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the people.

From the strategic global perspective of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is both the practical summary and theoretical crystallization of cultural construction on the new journey of building a powerful country and national rejuvenation, as well as the fundamental compliance for advancing the construction of modern Chinese civilization in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. It is rooted in the fertile soil of fine traditional Chinese culture and cast in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. It marks a new height in our Party's understanding of the laws of cultural work and opens a new realm for the Marxist view of culture and its practice.

Practical Strategies for Advancing the Construction of Modern Chinese Civilization Under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture

(1) Strengthening Cultural Self-Confidence: Grasping the Prominent Characteristics of Chinese Civilization to Cultivate Modern Chinese Civilization

Chinese civilization is the spiritual source for the Chinese nation's continuous life, self-confidence, and self-improvement. First, Chinese civilization has prominent continuity, which essentially dictates that the Chinese nation must follow its own path. Second, Chinese civilization has prominent innovativeness. Under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have progressed from standing up to becoming prosperous and then becoming strong. The Chinese nation follows the enterprising spirit and innovative consciousness of "upholding the fundamentals without being archaic, and respecting the ancient without returning to the past." Third, Chinese civilization has distinct unity. A united country that is solid, stable, and strong embodies common values and a cultural form that increases national cohesion. Fourth, Chinese civilization has prominent inclusiveness. The Chinese nation's openness and inclusiveness allow Chinese culture to innovate through mutual learning in exchanges between ethnic groups and between East and West, forging the historical orientation of Chinese civilization toward exchange and integration and the harmonious pattern of pluralistic coexistence among all ethnic groups. Fifth, the inherent peacefulness of Chinese civilization fundamentally dictates that China will always be a builder of peace, a contributor to development, and a defender of order.

(2) Adhering to Openness and Inclusiveness: "All things are nourished together without injuring each other; courses are pursued in parallel without collision" [11]

The endogenous law of cultural development lies in advancing with the times and being inclusively compatible. Civilizations differ only in their local colors; there is no distinction of superior or inferior. Civilizations need exchange because of their diversity, mutual learning because of exchange, and development because of mutual learning. Since the start of the New Era, China has adhered to a civilizational view of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness, opening a new form of development for human civilizational exchange.

Currently, Western society holds two theories regarding the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation: the "Thucydides Trap" and the "Kindleberger Trap." [12] Both use discourse hegemony to trap China in a dilemma. Based on this theoretical predicament and international situation, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed the scientific concept of a community with a shared future for humanity. It is of great value for breaking the stale logic that a strong country must seek hegemony and for transcending the zero-sum game of the "clash of civilizations." Civilizations with their own characteristics and styles are not stumbling blocks in the process of human development; rather, they provide an "other" or "stones from other hills" [13] for self-reflection and reference for those situated in different civilizations.

Entering the New Era, socialism with Chinese characteristics upholds value concepts and modes of behavior where civilizational exchange transcends estrangement, mutual learning transcends conflict, and coexistence transcends superiority. We must uphold an attitude of mutual learning based on equality. We must consciously discard egocentrism and prevent national nihilism, transmitting Chinese values and Chinese discourse in the contemporary international community where different civilizations and cultures are interwoven.

(3) Upholding the Fundamentals and Breaking New Ground: Persisting in the "Two Combinations"

Only by upholding the fundamentals can one avoid losing direction or making subversive mistakes; only by breaking new ground can one grasp and lead the era. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture both adheres to the "ancestors" (the Marxist canon) and dares to speak new words. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the Marxism of contemporary China...

The cultural chapter of 21st-century Marxism represents the essence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit in our times. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture adheres to and develops the Marxist theory of the free and comprehensive development of the individual, proposing that the Chinese people must be independent and self-reliant not only economically and politically, but also spiritually and culturally, with self-confidence and self-strengthening.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has creatively elucidated the dialectical relationship between modernization and fine traditional Chinese culture; modernization by no means implies a rupture with traditional culture. The Communist Party of China has always been a loyal inheritor and firm disseminator of fine traditional Chinese culture, consciously integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture. On the new journey, the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is a new form of civilization that is oriented toward modernization rather than conservatism, toward the world rather than isolation, and toward the future rather than restorationism. The modern civilization of the Chinese nation both inherits the core of the glorious and splendid fine traditional Chinese culture and contains the revolutionary culture characterized by the spirit of "daring to command the sun and moon to bring a new day" [14] and the vigorously upward-moving advanced socialist culture. It is precisely by taking Marxism as the "soul-conduit" (hunmai) and fine traditional Chinese culture as the "root-conduit" (genmai) that it can stand firm and flourish with deep roots and luxuriant leaves amidst the turbulence of world cultures.

(IV) Adhering to the Systemic Concept: Implementing the "Seven Focus Points" of Cultural Development in the New Era to Exert Systemic Synergy

"Those who do not plan for the whole are incapable of planning for a single domain" [15]. Adhering to the systemic concept is an essential component of the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, as well as an important working method. Regarding cultural development in the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out the need to implement seven focus points: First, focus on strengthening the Party's leadership over ideological and cultural work; the leadership of the Communist Party of China holds a commanding position in the cultural development of the New Era. Second, in terms of building a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leading power—"as a civilization-state, China's political commanding power and cultural centripetal force resonate at the same frequency"—this is an important aspect that must be implemented and further promoted in the cultural development of the New Era. Third, in terms of cultivating and practicing Socialist Core Values, cultural development in the New Era advocates for "seeking the greatest common denominator and drawing the largest concentric circles" [16]. Fourth, in terms of improving the communication power, leading power, influence, and credibility of news and public opinion, we must adhere to the correct orientation of public opinion and strengthen mainstream ideology and discourse. Fifth, in terms of the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, we must persist in integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture. Sixth, in terms of promoting the prosperity and development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries, cultural undertakings must prioritize social benefits, while cultural industries must unify social and economic benefits. Seventh, in terms of strengthening international communication capacity and promoting exchange and mutual learning between cultures and civilizations, we must construct a knowledge system and discourse system that possesses the spiritual symbols and cultural essence of Chinese civilization.

In short, this is a great era that requires us to shoulder a new cultural mission and build a modern civilization for the Chinese nation; we must not fail this era. "When skyscrapers stand in great numbers across the land of China, the great edifice of the spirit of the Chinese nation should also stand tall and majestic." The best inheritance of history is to create new history; the greatest tribute to human civilization is to create a new form of human civilization. Though the road is obstructed and long, we will arrive if we keep moving. By adhering to Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as the fundamental compliance for building a culturally strong country [17] in the New Era, persisting in the centralized and unified leadership of the Communist Party of China, and fully giving play to the subjective position and sense of ownership of the masses as creators of spiritual wealth, we will surely have the confidence and capability to forge new glories for Chinese culture and better fulfill our new cultural mission.