Yang Shouwei: "Create Outstanding Works Worthy of the Times and the People"
Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is a magnificent undertaking that shakes both the past and the present; it requires an indomitable great spirit, and it also necessitates soul-stirring great works. During his tenure in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping attached great importance to the creation and production of cultural masterpieces. Standing at the height of the era and the overall situation, he conducted profound reflection and holistic planning at the provincial level regarding the prosperity and development of cultural undertakings and the promotion of cultural masterpiece creation. He proposed many strategic and forward-looking ideological viewpoints and carried out a series of major practical explorations, encouraging the vast number of literary and art workers to “create excellent works worthy of the era and the people,” providing guidance to ensure that Zhejiang’s creation of cultural masterpieces stood at the forefront. During this period, Zhejiang’s cultural construction made great strides, with several important indicators of cultural development ranking among the top in the country. According to incomplete statistics, from late 2002 to early 2007, a total of over 230 excellent works from Zhejiang won awards in international and national competitions, with literary and artistic masterpieces emerging continuously. These theoretical reflections and practical explorations by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his time in Zhejiang are permeated with the position, viewpoints, and methods of the Marxist view of literature and art, providing an important theoretical and practical foundation for the formation and development of the General Secretary’s important discourses on literary and art work.
I. High emphasis on the role of cultural masterpieces, clearly proposing that “cultural masterpieces are an important hallmark of the level of cultural development of a country, a region, and an era, and are the most important and fundamental elements in the writing of cultural history.”
Cultural masterpieces are the vivid manifestation and important hallmark of cultural soft power. During his time in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping persisted in planning cultural construction from a holistic and strategic height. He regarded the power of culture as an important cornerstone for national survival and prosperity, and treated the capacity for creating and producing cultural masterpieces as an important indicator of Zhejiang’s comprehensive competitiveness and soft power. He emphasized that “culture is an important component of comprehensive strength and international competitiveness, and cultural productive forces are an important component of social productive forces.” Comrade Xi Jinping treated the prosperity and development of literary and art undertakings as an essential part of accelerating the construction of a major cultural province [1], promoting development at a higher level through the systematic construction of culture. In June 2005, during an investigation and research symposium with the provincial propaganda and cultural system, Comrade Xi Jinping addressed Zhejiang's glorious history of profound cultural heritage and its legacy of producing masters and celebrities, noting: “If Zhejiang culture is to recreate its glory, it must create and produce a batch of cultural masterpieces that achieve a perfect unity of ideological and artistic quality—a batch of enduring works that can withstand the test of history, and a batch of masterpieces that reflect the characteristics of the era, represent the national level, and embody Zhejiang’s unique features—making them important ‘calling cards’ of Zhejiang’s status as a major cultural province.” The Eighth Plenary Session of the 11th Provincial Party Committee made arrangements to accelerate the construction of a major cultural province, taking the creation of cultural masterpieces as a key component. It proposed supporting and promoting the production of cultural masterpieces in fields such as literature and art, social sciences, news, and publishing, and launched the “Eight Major Projects” of cultural construction, such as the Cultural Masterpiece Project, thereby constructing the “four beams and eight pillars” [2] of Zhejiang’s cultural construction. In November 2005, Comrade Xi Jinping attended the Sixth Congress of the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and delivered an important speech, making specific arrangements for the prosperity and development of Zhejiang’s literary and art undertakings. He expressed his earnest hope that the vast number of literary and art workers would “consciously shoulder the historical responsibility of being the bearers, disseminators, and creators of Chinese and Zhejiang culture, strive to dedicate masterpieces to the era and the people, and make due contributions to the prosperity and development of Zhejiang’s literature and art and the advancement of the construction of a major cultural province.”
II. High emphasis on leading the correct direction of creation, clearly proposing that “the guiding position of Marxism must be maintained, and the forward direction of advanced culture must be firmly grasped.”
Firmly grasping the forward direction of advanced culture is a fundamental issue in socialist cultural construction and a basic principle that Comrade Xi Jinping consistently upheld when overseeing the creation of cultural masterpieces. As an important aspect of ideological work, the creation of cultural masterpieces concerns the consolidation of the Party’s ideological foundation for governance. Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: “Adhering to the forward direction of advanced culture relates to the comprehensive construction of socialist spiritual civilization, the development and prosperity of Chincse-path socialist culture, and the future and destiny of the cause of reform, opening up, and modernization.” He emphasized that in the new historical period, “it is all the more necessary to persist in the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, consolidate the common ideological foundation of the whole society, the dominant values of the state, and the spiritual pillar of the nation. While acknowledging and developing pluralism and diversity, we must maintain the unification of guiding ideology and dominant values.” We must “raise high the banner of advanced culture, correctly lead the direction of literary and art work, command the soul of literary and artistic works, and vigorously develop a socialist literature and art that is oriented toward modernization, the world, and the future, and is national, scientific, and popular in nature.” He stated that “on fundamental issues of principle involving political orientation and literary guidance, one’s position must be firm and one’s banner distinct.” He attached particular importance to the issue of the “advanced nature” of cultural products, profoundly pointing out that “advanced cultural products should be able to embody both an advanced nature and a mass nature; they should neither ‘pursue profit and pander to the vulgar’ [3] nor lose the market.” He noted that “the ideological attributes and industrial attributes of cultural products are consistent; occupying the market and occupying the position [4] are consistent; social benefits and economic benefits are consistent; and the advanced nature of cultural products is consistent with the realization of the cultural interests of the masses.”
III. High emphasis on the creation of realism-themed works, clearly proposing that “the principle of the ‘Three Nearnesses’ must always be upheld, and the finest spiritual food must be dedicated to the people.”
Every era has its own literature and art, and every era has its own spirit. During his time in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping placed great importance on the creation of realism-themed literary and artistic works, emphasizing the need to keep pace with the main melody [5] of the era’s development and to delve deep into the fiery reality of life. He pointed out that “being near to reality, near to life, and near to the masses [6] is the call of the era and the requirement of the people; it is an important principle that the vast number of literary and art workers must follow.” He noted, “The history of human cultural development shows that all famous books, music, and paintings, without exception, profoundly express the social life and true emotions of the people of their time.” He urged that “the province’s literary and art workers should deeply experience social practice, deeply reflect on social life, and deeply love the masses, excelling at discovering new themes from the practice of the Zhejiang people’s reform and opening up and their pursuit of a happy life, showcasing new images, and creating excellent works worthy of the era and the people.” It was based on this understanding that Comrade Xi Jinping issued instructions and comments on the production of the film Super Typhoon, which reflects the Zhejiang people’s struggle against natural disasters, and the television drama Ten Thousand Families, which reflects the demeanor of Zhejiang entrepreneurs during the transitional period. He required careful organization and planning, supporting them as key projects of the provincial Cultural Masterpiece Project. Under Comrade Xi Jinping's care, the first China Yue Opera Festival was successfully held in October 2006. Four plays submitted by Zhejiang, including The Butterfly Lovers, won gold medals, accounting for half of the total gold medals. Gongsun Zidu was selected for the 2005–2006 National Stage Art Masterpiece Project’s preliminary list, becoming the only Kunqu opera among the 30 selected works nationwide. While promoting the creation of cultural masterpieces, Comrade Xi Jinping also attached great importance to the creation, production, and dissemination of spiritual and cultural products oriented toward the primary level and the masses, thereby truly putting “serving the people” into practice. On the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, Comrade Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter, encouraging the troupe to “be bold in innovation, brave in surpassing themselves, and create more artistic masterpieces.” At the commemorative meeting for the 100th anniversary of the birth of China’s Yue Opera, Comrade Xi Jinping emphasized that Yue Opera is an important part of Chinese culture and a precious asset for the people of Zhejiang.
IV. High emphasis on stimulating creative and productive vitality through reform, clearly proposing to “gradually establish a cultural management system and operating mechanism that helps mobilize the enthusiasm of cultural workers, promotes cultural innovation, and yields more masterpieces and more talent.”
Correctly handling the relationship between social benefits and economic benefits, and constructing a system and mechanism that puts social benefits first while unifying social and economic benefits, is an important guarantee for promoting the creation and production of cultural masterpieces. During his time in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping addressed prominent issues such as the incompatibility of the cultural system with the socialist market economy, the lack of a cultural industry management mechanism adapted to the market economy, and the shackles of the planned economy’s legacy on the vitality of literary and art troupes. He vigorously promoted cultural system reform oriented toward the masses and the market. In July 2003, he conducted research at units such as the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, the Zhejiang General Troupe of Ballad Singing, Comedy, and Acrobatics, and the Zhejiang Song and Dance Theatre, and organized a symposium on cultural system reform and the construction of a major cultural province. He pointed out: “In principle, all artistic troupes should face the market, follow market and artistic laws to restructure into enterprises, and decouple from cultural administrative departments.” Based on Zhejiang’s advantages—such as the rapid development of the non-public sector, relatively abundant private capital, and high enthusiasm for private investment in cultural industries—he required strengthening guidance, management, and services. He supported social forces in participating in the creation and production of cultural products, encouraged large private enterprise groups to become stronger, guided small and medium-sized private cultural enterprises to accelerate their development, focused on cultivating a group of leading private cultural enterprises, and fostered a group of “specialized, refined, unique, and innovative” private cultural enterprises, creating a favorable atmosphere for the vigorous development of private cultural enterprises. He emphasized, “Culture with a market is not necessarily advanced culture, but culture without a market is certainly not advanced culture.” He added, “Only by turning cultural products into commodities and consumption for the masses can economic value and social benefits be realized.” He attached great importance to the development of the Hengdian film and television cultural industry, visiting Hengdian twice for inspections. He encouraged the Hengdian Group to amplify its base advantages, increase its brand awareness, and build Hengdian World Studios into “China’s Hollywood.” Under Comrade Xi Jinping’s care and attention, the Zhejiang Hengdian Film and Television Industry Experimental Zone was established in 2004, becoming the first national-level film and television industry experimental zone integrating creation, shooting, production, distribution, and trading.
V. High emphasis on innovation based on tradition, clearly proposing that “the laws of literary and artistic development must be earnestly followed, and literary and artistic innovation must be continuously promoted.”
Innovation is the lifeblood of literary and artistic creation and the only way to achieve success in cultural undertakings. Zhejiang’s long cultural tradition and profound cultural accumulation provide rich nourishment for writers and artists and an inexhaustible source for literary and artistic creation. During his time in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping attached great importance to promoting literary and artistic innovation. He required that “the vast number of literary and art workers deeply internalize the precious spirit of the Zhejiang people—their courage to be pioneers and innovators—keep pace with the times, follow artistic laws, dare to break with outdated conventions, continuously expand new horizons, open up new situations, and create new realms.” In his view, “Maintaining and developing the fine traditions of one’s own national culture, actively absorbing the excellent cultural achievements of other nations in the world, and realizing the advancement of culture with the times are major issues related to the future and destiny of the Party and the state.” To this end, he promoted cultural inheritance and development from a strategic height, taking excellent traditional Chinese culture as an important source of literary and artistic innovation. He emphasized that “we must be adept at drawing the essence from the broad and profound traditional culture, from the rich and colorful folk culture, and from the arduous, magnificent, and soul-stirring revolutionary history of Zhejiang’s martyrs over the past century.” While emphasizing the inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese culture, Comrade Xi Jinping stressed that “we must persist in taking ourselves as the core, while actively drawing on the beneficial cultural achievements created by brother provinces and cities, and even by the people of all countries and regions in the world, adopting the strengths of others for our own use.” Furthermore, he pointed out that innovation cannot be separated from a relaxed creative environment, emphasizing the need to “fully promote artistic and academic democracy, support the free development and competition of different artistic forms and styles, and enable different artistic viewpoints to consult with, understand, and improve one another,” truly realizing the policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.” [7]
VI. High emphasis on the supporting role of talent for masterpieces, clearly proposing that “a high-quality contingent of excellent literary and art workers must be created according to the requirement of possessing both professional excellence and moral integrity.”
For culture to develop, high-quality works are the hallmark and talent is the key. During his in-depth investigations, Comrade Xi Jinping discovered that compared to advanced provinces and municipalities across the country, Zhejiang's creative output still faced a certain gap; there were few high-quality masterpieces. The key reason behind this was that the creative environment needed improvement and human resources had not yet fully surged forth. Comrade Xi Jinping regarded talent resources as the "primary resource," vigorously promoted the implementation of the strategy of strengthening the province through talent, and took the cultivation of a high-quality cultural talent workforce as a fundamental long-term plan. He explicitly pointed out that we must "attach great importance to talent cultivation, continuously advance workforce construction, and strive to attract and cultivate various types of cultural creative talent, cultural science and technology experts, and cultural management experts who understand both the laws of cultural development and the laws of market operations, actively creating an entrepreneurial environment conducive to producing more high-quality works, more talent, and more benefits." Comrade Xi Jinping persisted in combining the production of high-quality works with the production of talent, incorporating the "Cultural Talent Project" into the "Eight Major Projects" [8] for accelerating the construction of a major cultural province. By establishing and improving mechanisms for talent cultivation, recommendation and selection, utilization and mobility, introduction and support, communication and service, and evaluation and incentives, he promoted the emergence of outstanding cultural talent, providing a strong human resource guarantee for advancing the creation of high-quality cultural works. He emphasized: "An excellent literary and art workforce is the foundation for the prosperity and development of literature and art." In the process of laying out the accelerated construction of a major cultural province, Comrade Xi Jinping coordinately advanced the construction of a strong province in education, placing education in a strategic position of priority development, and attached great importance to the role of arts academies in cultivating reserve talent for literature and art. From 2002 to 2006, he visited the China Academy of Art many times to investigate discipline construction and talent cultivation, vigorously supporting the Academy in "accelerating its development into a world-class fine arts academy that embodies the highest levels of Chinese cultural and artistic research and teaching." In November 2005, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art and the Zhejiang Art School, he sent a congratulatory letter fully affirming the Academy’s cultivation of a large number of outstanding artistic talents for Zhejiang and even the whole country, expressing hope that the Academy would "seize opportunities, accelerate development, highlight its unique educational characteristics, and improve the quality of education."
VII. Attaching great importance to the Party's leadership over literary and art work, and clearly proposing "to always persist in and fully implement the Party's principles and policies for literary and art work"
Literary and artistic creation cannot do without the Party’s strong leadership. During his time working in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping focused on creating a favorable environment for artistic development by strengthening the Party's leadership over literary and art work. He specifically mentioned a statement made by Comrade Deng Xiaoping: "The Party's leadership over literary and art work is not about issuing orders, nor is it about demanding that literature and art be subordinated to temporary, specific, or direct political tasks. Rather, it is about helping literary and art workers obtain the conditions to continuously prosper the cause of literature and art and improve the level of literature and art, according to the characteristics and laws of development of literature and art themselves." He required that Party committees and governments at all levels must, from the height of improving the Party's governing capacity and promoting the well-rounded development of individuals, profoundly recognize the important position of prospering and developing the cause of literature and art within the accelerated construction of a major cultural province. Taking the implementation of the "Eight Major Projects" for cultural construction as the spearhead, they should further care for, value, and support literary and art work. In practice, he emphasized the need to always "be responsible for one’s own territory" [9], effectively strengthening and improving the Party's management of cultural construction. Through ensuring that systems, mechanisms, and responsibilities are in place, they should achieve standardized, scientific, and effective management. At the same time, "recognition and rewards should be given to outstanding literary and artistic works that reflect the characteristics of the times, represent national standards, embody Zhejiang's unique features, and are deeply loved by the masses, as well as high-quality cultural service projects oriented toward the grassroots and the masses, so as to fully mobilize and exert the initiative and creativity of literary and art workers." Furthermore, Comrade Xi Jinping attached great importance to using major projects and important festivals as "grips" [10] to guide and drive the creation of high-quality cultural works. Under Comrade Xi Jinping's support and promotion, Zhejiang took the lead nationally in implementing provincial-level major-theme fine arts creation projects, launched the "Literary Interpretation of Zhejiang Creation Project" and the "Fine Arts Interpretation of Humanistic Zhejiang" large-scale traditional Chinese painting project, and successfully held the first China International Cartoon and Animation Festival and the first China Yue Opera Art Festival. Since then, both festivals have been permanently settled in Zhejiang.
High-quality cultural works are an important grip for consolidating spiritual strength and an effective carrier for promoting mutual learning between civilizations; they are both "soft power" and "hard support." The series of theoretical reflections, strategic planning, and exploratory practices carried out by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his work in Zhejiang regarding the advancement of high-quality cultural creation at the provincial level have not only pointed out the correct direction and provided important experience for Zhejiang’s current vigorous advancement of the practice of "climbing the peaks" [11] of New Era literary and artistic masterpieces, but also provided important enlightenment for the thorough implementation of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourses on literary and artistic creation within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture: Literary and artistic creation possesses distinct ideological attributes; only by firmly establishing a Marxist view of art and guiding practice with developing Marxist literary and artistic theory can we create and produce high-quality works that achieve the organic unity of ideological depth, artistic quality, and popular appeal. Creating high-quality works that depict the spirit of the times is a mission that the literary and art circles and the vast number of literary and art workers should shoulder; rising with the times, changing with the trends, vibrating at the same frequency as the era, and resonating with the people are the basic laws that literary and artistic creation must follow. Socialist literature and art are, in essence, the literature and art of the people; "originating from the people, for the people, and belonging to the people" is the fundamental stance of socialist literature and art. Writing for the people, expressing emotions for the people, and portraying the aspirations of the people are the driving forces for the prosperity and development of socialist literature and art. Fine traditional Chinese culture is an important source for promoting literary and artistic innovation; through the creative transformation and innovative development [12] of fine traditional Chinese culture, we must form more high-quality works with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese flair. Literature and art act upon the human heart, so creators must first mold themselves, ensuring that their personal moral cultivation and social image are unified with the social effects of their works, winning the love and welcome of the people through noble professional ethics, a good social image, and excellent works that are beautiful in both substance and form. The literary and art front is an important front for the Party and the people; persisting in the Party's leadership over literary and art work is an inevitable requirement for upholding the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere and is the fundamental guarantee for the prosperity and development of socialist literature and art.
(The author’s affiliation: Zhejiang Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era) Source: People's Daily, July 31, 2025, Page 9 Online Editor: Tongxin