Fu Huifang: Bravely Shoulder the New Cultural Mission and Stir Up Powerful Spiritual Strength
Culture concerns the foundation and destiny of the nation. Since the dawn of the New Era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has centered its perspective on the overall development of the Party and state. It has consistently prioritized cultural development within the governance of the country, making a series of major deployments and creatively proposing new thoughts, perspectives, and assertions, thereby forming Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. As a scientific system characterized by "clarifying the essence and attaining practical utility, and the integration of essence and utility" [1], this important thought has guided China's cultural development through a process of "rectifying the source and clearing the stream" [2] and upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground, leading to historic achievements. It provides comprehensive guidance for fulfilling the cultural mission of the New Era. The recently published Outline for the Study of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture (hereafter referred to as the Outline) systematically elucidates the essence, core meanings, and practical requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture in a thematic format. As we deeply study and implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, we must take the publication of the Outline as an opportunity to deeply study and grasp the theoretical truth of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. We must earnestly improve the ability of the entire Party to use this thought to solve practical problems in publicity, ideological, and cultural work, enhancing the principled, systematic, forward-looking, and creative nature of our efforts to provide a powerful impetus for building a leading cultural nation.
1. Mastering the basic content to grasp the theoretical character of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture from the Outline as a whole.
As the theoretical summation of the practical experience of cultural development led by the Party in the New Era, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a scientific theoretical system with profound connotations, rigorous logic, and complete systematicity. Starting from a holistic perspective, the Outline employs a "general-specific-general" [3] logical structure to organize the book into 14 parts. It opens with "Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the Scientific Guide and Fundamental Followance [4] for Socialist Cultural Development with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era" and concludes with "Deeply Study and Implement Xi Jinping Thought on Culture to Coalesce Powerful Spiritual Strength for Advancing the Great Cause of Building a Strong Country and National Rejuvenation." The main body is categorized macroscopically into twelve aspects: upholding the Party’s leadership over culture; promoting the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations; insisting on combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with China’s fine traditional culture (the "Two Combinations"); undertaking the cultural mission of the New Era; strengthening cultural confidence; nurturing and practicing Socialist Core Values; forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation; mastering the power of initiative in public opinion under informationized conditions and broadly coalescing social consensus; adhering to a people-centered work orientation; strengthening the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage; constructing a Chinese system of discourse and narrative; and promoting mutual learning and exchange among civilizations. These twelve aspects progress step-by-step and are interlinked, presenting a panoramic theoretical view of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. They clarify what it is and why it matters, while also pointing out what must be done and how to do it, thus interpreting the fundamental theoretical issues of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Whether in its structural arrangement or specific content, the Outline is deeply integrated with the series of major strategic deployments regarding socialist cultural development made since the 18th, 19th, and 20th National Congresses, as well as the Third Plenary Sessions of the 18th and 20th Central Committees. It also closely echoes the 11 major innovative perspectives, 16 strategic deployments, and the "Seven Points of Focus" [5] proposed at the National Conference on Publicity, Ideological, and Cultural Work. It embodies the distinct characteristics of combining theory with practice and unifying epistemology with methodology, serving as an authoritative auxiliary text for comprehending the core essence and rich connotations of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "On the new journey in the New Era, we must uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, focus on studying, publicizing, and implementing the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, strive to deepen systematic and academic research and interpretation, strive to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of study and publicity, and ensure that the Party's innovative theories reach deeper into the hearts of the people." Using the study of the Outline as a focal point to grasp the theoretical character of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, we must center our efforts on the fundamental requirement of "systematic and academic research and interpretation." With a "whole piece of steel" mindset [6], we must continuously strengthen systematic research into Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. This requires both a macroscopic grasp and a microscopic clarification of its principled theoretical achievements and their internal connections, fully apprehending the integrity of this important thought’s logical structure and the consistency of its value orientation. We must advance the Project to Study and Develop Marxist Theory in the New Era with high quality, giving full play to the leading role of the discipline of Marxist theory, strengthening disciplinary support and academic interpretation. Efforts should be focused on academic foundations, practical orientation, international vision, and historical dimensions to profoundly reveal the theoretical background and academic basis of the major assertions and propositions within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. We must clearly explain the positions, viewpoints, and methods contained therein, actively respond to theoretical hotspots and difficulties as well as domestic and foreign realities, and fully demonstrate the "theoretical thoroughness" and "practical guidance" of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture through profound reasoning, transparent scholarship, and solid philosophy. We must strengthen the popularization and targeted communication of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, guiding Party members, officials, and the masses to study and comprehend it deeply, so that it is truly internalized in the heart and externalized in action, continuously strengthening emotional identification and conscious practice of this important thought.
2. Grasping the spiritual essence to systematically understand the regularities of cultural development in the New Era from the Outline.
Marx and Engels profoundly explained the unique status and role of culture in the process of human social development. They established Marxist cultural theory, which includes the relationship between social being and social consciousness, the economic base and the superstructure, the well-rounded development of individuals, the essence of culture and the subjects of cultural creation, ideology, mental production, world history, and spiritual intercourse. This theory possesses distinct scientific, practical, populist, and open characteristics. Amidst the historic changes since the dawn of the New Era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has approached the issue from the strategic height of the Party's future, the country's long-term stability, and national cohesion. By consistently prioritizing cultural development within the governance of the country and deepening the understanding of the laws governing socialist cultural development, the Party has pushed cultural development to achieve historic successes through "rectifying the source and clearing the stream" and upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground, providing a powerful spiritual impetus for Chinese-path modernization. In particular, the proposal of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture systematically answers the major questions of what kind of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics to uphold and develop in the New Era and how to do so. It raises the Party’s understanding of the regularities of socialist cultural development, the development of Chinese civilization, and the progress of human civilization to a new height. By synthesizing previous achievements and opening new frontiers, it has realized a new leap in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist cultural theory, opened a new realm for cultural development with Chinese characteristics, and established an important milestone in China's cultural development. The Outline, consisting of 85 entries and approximately 68,000 characters, expounds on the major theoretical, institutional, and practical achievements the Party has attained in promoting publicity, ideological, and cultural work since the New Era. These achievements are not only profound insights into and powerful manifestations of the laws of Communist Party governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development within the cultural sphere; they are also a systematic distillation of the regularities of the Party’s leadership over publicity, ideological, and cultural development in the New Era. They possess the value of scientific truth and a vast concern for the world, and must be adhered to over the long term and continuously enriched.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The history of world civilizations reveals a law: any civilization must advance with the times and constantly absorb the essence of the era." Taking the study of the Outline as a focal point to grasp the spiritual essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, we must persist in using the "Two Combinations" to promote the organic integration of the theoretical logic of Marxism with the historical and practical logic of China's cultural development. Rooted in the practice of Chinese-path modernization and following the trend of information technology development, we must combine the regularities recognized in the "Six Must-Persists" [7] proposed at the 20th National Congress and the emphases on "more attention to systematic integration, more attention to highlighting key points, and more attention to the effectiveness of reform" proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee with the positions, viewpoints, and methods contained in Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. We must strive to improve governance capabilities in the cultural field under informationized conditions, solving prominent problems in China’s cultural sphere with a strong sense of responsibility and a clear problem-oriented approach, continuously opening new cultural paths and expanding new spaces for cultural development. We must follow the laws of cultural communication and development, sensing the changes in the nation's destiny, standing at the forefront of the times, and voicing the spirit of the era. Upholding openness and inclusiveness, we should actively learn from and borrow all fine achievements of human civilization, making the past serve the present and bringing forth the new from the old. We must promote the organic connection between the traditional and the modern, truly making Xi Jinping Thought on Culture a powerful ideological weapon for resolving the "dispute between the ancient and modern, and between China and the West" [8] and for forging new glories for socialist culture.
3. Implementing practical requirements to draw inexhaustible momentum from the Outline for "creating a new culture belonging to our era."
The development of theory originates from the needs of practice; the important value of thought lies in answering the questions of the times and promoting practical development. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture was formed in the great practice of socialist cultural development in the New Era; it originates from practice and in turn guides and pushes practice forward. The Outline devotes specific sections to expounding the goals, tasks, guiding principles, strategic paths, and practical requirements of publicity, ideological, and cultural work in the New Era. It unfolds the basic framework and overall layout of this work in an all-around and deep-seated manner, reflecting the consistency of goals and paths, the fusion of the macroscopic and the specific, and the unification of the whole and the key points. It manifests a clear problem-oriented and practice-oriented approach. It not only provides the fundamental practical followance for nurturing and creating a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era—one that possesses powerful ideological leadership, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence—but also injects a powerful ideological impetus into opening new horizons for publicity, ideological, and cultural work and continuously stimulating the innovative and creative vitality of the entire nation.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Understanding the general trend of world development and keeping up with the tide of the times is an extremely important task that is always new." With the deepening development of economic globalization, the patterns and evolution of world culture and human civilization are undergoing profound adjustment and reshaping. Cultural diversity continues to advance globally, and the dialogue and exchange between Chinese culture and other cultures of the world are becoming increasingly broad and deep. Simultaneously, human society still faces common threats of ideological fragmentation and cultural conflict. Taking the study of the Outline as a focal point to implement the practical requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, we must, on the one hand, anchor ourselves to the strategic goal of building a leading cultural nation. Closely combining this with the prominent problems facing China's cultural development, we must think further on the key issues of cultural power construction, exploring effective mechanisms for the integration of culture and technology. We must realize the digital empowerment and informationized transformation of cultural development, growing and strengthening mainstream values, mainstream public opinion, and mainstream culture, ensuring that relations of production in culture are better suited to the productive forces of culture, and continuously shaping the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. On the other hand, we must promote a view of civilization based on equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness. We should actively absorb and borrow the fine achievements of world civilization from the "sum of human knowledge," promoting the idea that all countries should seek common ground while preserving differences and learn from each other's strengths. Simultaneously, we must construct a Chinese system of discourse and narrative, supporting Chinese cultural theory with vivid Chinese cultural practices. We must accurately refine and display the spiritual hallmarks of China’s fine traditional culture, creating a batch of cultural achievements that fuse the ancient and modern and bridge China and the world. We must strengthen the construction of international communication capacity, speed up the construction of a multi-channel and three-dimensional external communication pattern, comprehensively enhance the country’s cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture, and contribute more through more vibrant civilizational achievements to world civilization, writing a brilliant chapter of shared beauty and mutual learning.