Xu Baojian: Continuously Improve the Quality of Publicity and Interpretation of Xi Jinping's Economic Thought
The continuous dissemination and interpretation of Xi Jinping’s economic thought is a major political task for the news media, particularly the primary central news units. Since the formation and proposal of Xi Jinping’s economic thought, news units have engaged in its dissemination with a strong sense of responsibility and mission, focusing on the thought’s historical background, core tenets, theoretical value, and practical power. They have produced a series of high-quality works and published interpretative articles characterized by deep thinking and sound writing styles. This indicates that the dissemination and interpretation of Xi Jinping’s economic thought is moving toward high-quality development.
Theoretical dissemination is an essential component of the Party’s propaganda cause. Since the 18th CPC National Congress [1], the interaction between practical and theoretical innovation has been rich and vivid, entering a new stage and yielding even more fruitful results, leading to the creation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed the "Six Musts": we must put the people first, maintain self-confidence and self-reliance, uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, maintain a problem-oriented approach, apply systems thinking, and maintain a global perspective. These "Six Musts" are both important components of the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and major principles that must be upheld in the dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories.
The Party’s theoretical innovation has endowed theoretical dissemination with a major and glorious mission, while simultaneously raising new requirements and bringing new challenges. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, there are currently noteworthy phenomena in theoretical dissemination, such as "reading from the script without understanding" (照本宣科, zhào běn xuān kē), "lacking thorough comprehension," and "floating on the surface." At the same time, General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out the direction for improvement: "convincing people with reason, touching people with emotion, and ensuring the message enters the mind and heart."
First, focus on the global vision of economic theory. "Xi Jinping’s economic thought is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, a systematic theoretical summary of the practical experience of economic development in the New Era, and a precious intellectual crystallization formed through the Communist Party of China’s unremitting exploration of the path of socialist economic development. It has opened up new horizons for political economy with Chinese characteristics, made important original contributions to enriching and developing Marxist political economy, and provided a sharp ideological weapon for promoting high-quality development of our country's economy, scientifically responding to major risks and challenges, and comprehensively building a modern socialist country." This is the great significance of Xi Jinping’s economic thought emphasized in the first volume of the "Selected Works of Xi Jinping on the Economy." In disseminating and interpreting Xi Jinping’s economic thought, we must both base ourselves in China and maintain a global vision. The Chinese economy has increasingly become an inseparable and important part of the world economy, and China’s contribution rate to world economic growth has steadily ranked first in the world. Looking at the Chinese economy requires a world vision; looking at the world economy requires a Chinese perspective even more. As the latest achievement of the innovative development of Marxist political economy, we cannot help but focus on the world significance of Xi Jinping’s economic thought when studying and grasping it. Xi Jinping’s economic thought embodies the distinct characteristics and remarkable advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics, demonstrates Chinese wisdom and the responsibility of a major power, and provides theoretical reference for solving the difficult problems of world economic development and governance dilemmas, as well as cultivating new drivers of world economic growth.
The history of world economic thought is full of masters and diverse viewpoints, quite dazzling to the eye. However, no matter how they promote themselves or what awards they win, they cannot explain the great achievements of China’s economic practice, nor can they solve the problems that China’s economy urgently needs to break through, and they certainly cannot guide the direction of China’s reform, opening up, and development. "Truths" (奉为圭臬, fèng wéi guī niè) [2] that have been revered for decades, a century, or even several centuries have become less effective in the face of China. China’s economic development must produce China’s economic theory, and China’s economic theory will certainly be a world economic theory. From the perspective of global practice, Western economic theories are not only unable to solve the problems of the Chinese economy but also encounter challenges in Western countries themselves. Regarding the purpose of production and development, demand, supply, and consumption, the relationship between the market and the government, and realistic issues and challenges such as innovative development, green development, high-quality development, and globalized development, theoretical innovations based on China’s economic practice answer not only the "China Question" but also the "World Question."
Second, act upon the depths of the thoughts of Party members and cadres. High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. High-quality dissemination is the fundamental requirement for the dissemination of Xi Jinping’s economic thought. What is high-quality dissemination? It is achieving the goal of "entering the mind and heart" as required by General Secretary Xi Jinping.
Only when the Party’s innovative theories resonate and vibrate in the depths of leading cadres' thoughts can they burst forth with great practical power. The prerequisite for "entering the mind and heart" is "entering the eyes and ears." If a message cannot even enter the eyes and ears, how can one expect it to enter the mind and heart? And if it cannot enter the mind and heart, how can we achieve internalizing it in the heart and externalizing it in action? This is the simplest of logic.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the Party's theoretical and practical innovations are very vivid, and our study should also be vivid. Correspondingly, our theoretical dissemination should also be vivid. The vividness of theoretical dissemination is the prerequisite for it entering the mind and heart, and it is also a subject that theoretical dissemination needs to resolve. Under the current requirement to "improve the style of writing" (改文风, gǎi wén fēng) [3], newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and online videos are all facing the requirement of becoming more vivid, and are exploring and practicing according to their respective realities and characteristics. Currently, the dissemination of Xi Jinping’s economic thought is being carried out with heart, emotion, and vigor, making valuable explorations in terms of vividness and visibility, creating good experiences that are worth further summarizing, refining, and elevating to a theoretical level.
Third, activate the development practice to forge the soul and strengthen the bones. In the sentence "China is the world's second-largest economic body," "large" (大, dà) and "body" (体, tǐ) are the two key characters. While "large" and "body" are easily seen, touched, and felt, if we stop at this sentence and are satisfied with being "large," our understanding of the Chinese economy will be incomplete and inaccurate. High-quality dissemination and interpretation focus not only on the "shaping" (形塑, xíng sù) of the Chinese economy but also on the "forging of its soul" (魂铸, hún zhù), allowing thought to be activated in development practice, enabling people to see both the footprints of the Chinese economy’s progress and feel the pulse of its soul. Because it possesses a soul of thought, the Chinese economic body is not just "large," but has become a living organism, full of vitality and energy, making people feel the Chinese spirit that permeates the Chinese economy.
High-quality dissemination and interpretation constantly point to two clues for the Chinese economy: one is "reducing fat, increasing muscle, and shaping the body," and the other is "strengthening tendons, tempering bones, and forging the soul."
The greatness of the Chinese economy is by no means an accumulation of fat or a bloated physical state. The Chinese economy was once "large but hollow" (大而有虚, dà ér yǒu xū). It is precisely because of this "former state" that we have gained a deeper understanding of the phased transition from "development is the absolute principle" (发展是硬道理, fā zhǎn shì yìng dào lǐ) [4] to "high-quality development is the absolute principle of the New Era." Concepts such as the "New Development Philosophy" [5] and "high-quality development" are original and iconic concepts in Xi Jinping’s economic thought, profoundly answering major theoretical and practical questions such as what kind of development China's economy should achieve.
As a living organism, the Chinese economic body has not only flesh and blood but also tendons and bones, and furthermore, a soul. A main thread running through Xi Jinping’s economic thought is the people-centered development philosophy. Our development has never been for the sake of development itself. We must answer well what kind of development is needed, and even more so, for whom development is intended and on whom it relies. Only when this problem is solved can economic development be a development that possesses both form and spirit (形神兼备, xíng shén jiān bèi).
The development of the Chinese economy with both form and spirit requires high-quality dissemination and interpretation, which must not only show the form but, more importantly, convey the spirit.