Tang Aijun: On the Triple Logic of Cultural Subjectivity
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "For any culture to stand firm and go far—to possess leading power, cohesive power, formative power, and radiative power—it must possess its own subjectivity." Cultural subjectivity is a vital component of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and constitutes its fundamental stance. "Cultural subjectivity reflects a country and a nation’s self-awareness of its own culture and its initiative in cultural innovation and creation." As a highly original and hallmark concept within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, cultural subjectivity possesses an extremely profound and rich connotation. We can understand it through the following triple logic.
Historical Logic
From the perspective of historical logic, the subjectivity of Chinese culture is first verified by the prominent continuity of Chinese civilization. "Chinese civilization is the only great civilization in the world that has developed continuously to this day in the form of a state. This fully proves that Chinese civilization possesses the cultural subjectivity and vigorous vitality to develop itself, respond to challenges, and open up new situations." That Chinese civilization has endured for thousands of years without interruption, and has remained resilient despite repeated periods of distress and hardship [1], is a miracle of human civilization and a confirmation of its cultural subjectivity. The German scholar Norbert Elias once pointed out that civilization (or civilizing) is a kind of "national self-consciousness." To lose cultural subjectivity is inevitably to lose this "national self-consciousness," the consequences of which are extremely grave. "A nation that abandons or betrays its own history and culture cannot possibly develop; moreover, it is likely to play out one historical tragedy after another." Following the dawn of the modern era, Chinese civilization suffered the massive impact of foreign civilizations and encountered a profound crisis in which the continuity of the civilization was jeopardized. Previously, the so-called "law of civilization" dictated that barbarians were "always conquered by the superior civilization of the peoples they conquered." However, the civilizational invasion of the Eastern world by Western civilization broke this law. Since 1500, and particularly since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, Western modern civilization achieved "absolute right" in the process of world history. As Marx pointed out, "It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst." Facing the powerful Western civilization, the entirety of Eastern civilization faced the question of whether it could survive and what path it should take. After 1840, in the face of challenges from Western civilization, Chinese civilization continuously managed and responded. From the Self-Strengthening Movement [2], which responded at the level of physical implements; to the Hundred Days' Reform [3], which responded at the level of institutions; and then to the New Culture Movement [4], which responded at the level of culture—all were seeking a way out for the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization. Proposals such as "learning the superior techniques of the barbarians to control the barbarians" [5], "Chinese learning for the essence, Western learning for application" [6], "total Westernization," and "the diverging paths of Chinese and Western cultures" were all aimed at saving the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization.
What truly and thoroughly terminated the decline of Chinese civilization and activated its internal vitality was the integration of Marxism with China’s specific realities, "using the proletarian world outlook as the instrument for observing a nation's destiny and reconsidering one's own problems." Marxism brought advanced ideological theory to China, activating the genes of Chinese civilization with the light of truth, leading China into the modern world, and promoting the renewal and modern transformation of Chinese civilization. Under the guidance of Marxism and nourished by Chinese civilization, we successfully forged the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, "enabling the Chinese nation, with its more than 5,000 years of communal history, to move toward modernization in all respects, and allowing Chinese civilization to radiate new and vigorous vitality in the process of modernization." A key criterion for judging whether a culture possesses subjectivity is whether it can adhere to its own logic of cultural development and absorb new cultural strengths when facing the impact of foreign cultures. From this point of view, compared with other ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization has extremely strong adaptability and a vigorous vitality for dealing with the "Other" while holding fast to the "Self." Under the activation of Marxism, Chinese civilization has gained a firm foothold amidst the turbulence of world cultures and continued its cultural lineage. The more than 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization is the result of our adherence to cultural subjectivity; one could also say that adhering to cultural subjectivity is the reason Chinese civilization has never been interrupted.
Practical Logic
From the perspective of practical logic, adhering to cultural subjectivity means persisting in walking one's own road. Independence and self-reliance are the soul of the Chinese national spirit and are important principles for our Party and country. Chinese-path modernization was explored and opened up by the Chinese Communist Party leading the Chinese people through independence and self-reliance; the Chinese chapter of Marxism was composed by Chinese Communists relying on their own strength. A fundamental point running through this is that China’s problems must take China’s basic national conditions as the starting point and be answered by the Chinese people themselves. This spirit of independent exploration is the spiritual expression of cultural subjectivity, manifesting at the level of practice as persisting in walking one's own road. The so-called "debate between the ancient and the modern, the East and the West" is, in essence, the "struggle over paths" since the beginning of the modern era—solving the problem of "whither China" and exploring the Chinese path, especially the path to modernization. Whether cultural subjectivity can be maintained depends crucially on whether the Chinese people can successfully explore an independent and self-reliant path of development. After the start of the modern era, under the invasion of powerful Western civilizations, the Chinese people struggled to uphold cultural subjectivity and continuously sought the road to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The history of seeking the road to national rejuvenation is a history of continuously exploring an autonomous and feasible path to modernization. From the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, China was in the historical stage of exploring the path to modernization under the old feudal system, which was also the initial stage of this exploration. From the Revolution of 1911 to the founding of New China in 1949, it was the historical stage of exploring the modernization path while the country was fragmented. The founding of New China and the establishment of the basic socialist system created the fundamental social conditions for achieving modernization and laid the fundamental political premise and institutional foundation for modernization construction. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the original theoretical achievements and great successes we achieved around the goal of "striving to build our country into a powerful socialist country with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense, and modern science and technology" provided valuable experience, theoretical preparation, and material foundations for modernization construction. After the Reform and Opening-up, our Party began a "New Long March" [7] toward modernization. How was modernization to be achieved? We did not simply follow in the footsteps of Western countries in imitation; rather, we always emphasized "walking our own road." Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "To walk our own road and build socialism with Chinese characteristics: this is the basic conclusion we have reached after summing up long-term historical experience." "Walking our own road" means that we must both break through the shackles of traditional socialist concepts and systems and avoid the influence of Western capitalist concepts and models. Its positive result was the integration of the basic socialist system with the market economy, establishing the socialist market economy system; and the integration of modernization with socialism, clarifying the direction of common prosperity and the modernization goal of taking the people's interests as the highest value orientation. The exploration during this period provided institutional guarantees full of new vitality and material conditions for rapid development for Chinese-path modernization. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has successfully advanced and expanded Chinese-path modernization, promoting historical achievements and historical transformations in the cause of the Party and the country, providing more complete institutional guarantees, a more solid material foundation, and more proactive spiritual strength for Chinese-path modernization.
We have always persisted in walking our own road and have successfully walked a path of Chinese-path modernization. "Our practice explains a truth to the world: in governing a country and promoting its modernization, the Western institutional model is not the only path; countries can entirely walk their own road." The successful creation of Chinese-path modernization on the profound foundation of more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization is the most powerful illustration of Chinese cultural subjectivity. To walk our own road, we must not only maintain independence and self-reliance in the economic and political spheres but also achieve independence and self-reliance in the spiritual sphere. Chinese-path modernization breaks away from the Western modernization model and avoids dependence upon it. This means not only that we have achieved independence and self-reliance economically and politically, but more importantly, that we have achieved true independence and self-reliance in spirit. Spiritual independence and autonomy of the path are complementary and mutually supportive; both are important components or manifestations of adhering to cultural subjectivity. Mao Zedong once pointed out: "From the time the Chinese people learned Marxism-Leninism, they have pivoted from being passive to being proactive in spirit." Today, under the guidance of Marxism, we have successfully opened an independent and self-reliant path to modernization, which means that the Chinese nation and the Chinese people have completely shaken off their spiritual passivity and truly achieved spiritual proactivity.
Theoretical Logic
From the perspective of theoretical logic, cultural subjectivity must ultimately find expression in theoretical originality and discourse subjectivity. Since the dawn of the modern era, Western countries have progressively formed a world pattern in which "the East is subordinate to the West" through the global expansion of capital. This dominance-subordination pattern is reflected not only in the world economy and international politics but also in academic theoretical systems, narrative discourse systems, and even social value systems. "Under the manipulation of Western values, some countries have been tossed into disarray—some are fragmented, some are embroiled in the flames of war, and some are in a state of chaos all day long." Losing cultural subjectivity inevitably leads to the impact of foreign cultures, endangering national independence and national security. "Theoretical porters" who have lost cultural subjectivity cannot propose subjective and original theories. One of the signs of cultural maturity is to break away from a "state of apprenticeship" in terms of theoretical paradigms and discourse systems and to achieve true "self-assertion."
To adhere to cultural subjectivity is to persist in a Chinese orientation [8] in ideology and theory, and to persist in constructing a disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese flair. "Based on the great historical practice and contemporary practice of the Chinese nation, we must use Chinese logic to summarize Chinese experience and elevate Chinese experience into Chinese theory. We should neither blindly follow various dogmas nor copy foreign theories, but achieve independence and self-reliance in spirit." Facing Western cultural hegemony, the key to effectively adhering to cultural subjectivity lies in whether we can construct a Chinese autonomous knowledge system and build philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The characteristics, style, and flair of philosophy and social sciences are products of development reaching a certain stage; they are signs of maturity, symbols of strength, and manifestations of confidence." The general idea for constructing a Chinese autonomous knowledge system is to take China and the times as the focus of observation, base ourselves on Chinese reality, solve Chinese problems, systematically refine and summarize the new theories and practices of Chinese-path modernization, continuously deepen the systematization and theorization of the Party’s innovative theories, continuously promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and continuously advance innovation in knowledge, theory, and method. The final manifestation of a great modern power, cultural confidence, and cultural subjectivity is the proposal of Chinese theories and discourse with subjectivity and originality, and the construction of a Chinese autonomous knowledge system. Of course, achieving this goal is not something that happens overnight; it requires persisting over the long term.