He Ming: Deeply Understanding the Dialectical Relationship Between Chinese Culture and the Cultures of Various Ethnic Groups; Establishing and Highlighting Shared Chinese Cultural Symbols
In March 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping conducted an inspection tour of Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. During the inspection, General Secretary Xi repeatedly emphasized the significant value of ethnic cultures, pointing out that the cultures of ethnic minorities are an indispensable component of Chinese culture, and that we must protect and pass on fine traditional Chinese culture [1]. This serves as a model for applying the basic tenets of Marxism to analyze the relationship between Chinese culture and the cultures of various ethnic groups. It provides a dialectical method of thinking for the correct understanding, research, and handling of the relationship between Chinese culture and ethnic cultures, and offers a fundamental guideline for the work of protecting and inheriting cultural heritage in the New Era.
The relationship between Chinese culture and ethnic cultures is one of the whole and its parts
The relationship between Chinese culture and the cultures of various ethnic groups is the dialectical relationship between the whole and its parts. Whether referencing "culture" in the context of "Chinese culture" or "ethnic cultures," the signifier differs from "culture" as used in "cultural undertakings," "public culture," or "cultural departments." The latter is a narrow usage with a relatively clear and easily grasped connotation, while the former is a broad usage.
According to statistics, in the 80 years between the introduction of the concept of "culture" by British scholar Edward Tylor in 1871 and 1951, the academic community proposed over 160 definitions of culture, illustrating just how complex and subtle the meaning of "culture" is. The reason for this lies in culture's systemic nature, complexity, and multidimensional composition. Every culture is a complex system embedded in every aspect and field of its carriers. The composition of this system can be understood through various dimensions, such as the "tripartite method" dividing it into material, institutional, and spiritual culture; the "binary method" distinguishing between explicit lifestyles and implicit values; the "tripartite semiotic analysis" of signifier, signified, and code; as well as "regional methods" and "ethnic methods" based on geographic and group composition, respectively.
Chinese culture is long-standing, profound, and continuous. Culture represents a system of values and norms of behavior formed through historical accumulation and recognized, shared, and followed by a specific group. The Chinese nation is a national community formed through the interaction, exchange, and blending [2] of various ethnic groups on the Chinese land over thousands of years; thus, Chinese culture is necessarily a cultural system formed through the convergence, fusion, and cohesion of the cultures of all ethnic groups.
The basic tenets of Marxism hold that the whole and the parts exist in a dialectical relationship of mutual dependence. The whole is composed of parts, and without parts, there is no whole; conversely, the whole defines the parts, and without the whole, there are no parts. Therefore, the cultures of various ethnic groups cannot exist independently of Chinese culture. If ethnic cultures were detached from Chinese culture, they would lose their inherent value and meaning, and would be unable to sustain themselves or develop. As a holistic entity, Chinese culture is composed of the cultures of various ethnic groups and likewise cannot exist independently of them. Chinese culture possesses the characteristic of "diversity" and, more importantly, the nature of "unity." Only by placing ethnic cultures within the whole or system of Chinese culture can we comprehensively and correctly perceive and understand them; only through a deep and correct perception of ethnic cultures can we truly perceive and understand Chinese culture.
The modalities of the relationship between Chinese culture and ethnic cultures
Various states exist in the relationship between Chinese culture as the whole and ethnic cultures as the parts.
First, Chinese culture as a whole possesses functions and significance that individual ethnic cultures do not. For example, a car is assembled from various parts. If a single part is missing, the car may not run smoothly, safely, or comfortably, or it may not run at all. While each part has its own function, no individual part possesses the function and significance of the car as a whole. One of the theoretical bases for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and promoting the construction of the Chinese national community is precisely the holistic functions and significance possessed by Chinese culture that individual ethnic cultures lack.
Second, the function and significance of Chinese culture as a whole are greater than the sum of its parts (ethnic cultures). Ethnic cultures constitute Chinese culture, and Chinese culture contains ethnic cultures, but the relationship between the two is far from a simple "1+1=2." The optimization principle of systems theory shows that when the components and elements of a system undergo optimal combination and close coordination, the resulting efficiency and creativity often exceed the maximum limit of the sum of those parts or elements. Whether it is the resilience of Chinese culture that has continued for thousands of years without interruption, its attractiveness as a "metropolis of ten thousand nations" [3], its capacity to integrate and converge the fine cultures of various ethnic groups, or its cohesive force in uniting all ethnic groups to resist foreign enemies and seek common development—these are far beyond what a simple summation of ethnic cultures could achieve. This sufficiently proves that the functions and significance of Chinese culture transcend the sum of its parts.
Third, materialist dialectics and systems theory tell us that if the structure between the parts or elements of a whole is irrational or in conflict, it may lead to a state of mutual consumption between them, causing the function of the whole to weaken or even become less than the sum of its parts. Therefore, to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, we must comprehensively promote the building of a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation and drive the creative transformation and innovative development of ethnic cultures. On the premise of enhancing commonality, we must respect and accommodate diversity, ultimately ensuring that the function of Chinese culture as a whole is greater than the sum of the functions of the various ethnic cultures.
Exchange and blending of ethnic cultures birth shared symbols of Chinese culture
Traditional Chinese culture contains a simple dialectical way of thinking that treats all things as universally connected and in a state of constant change, forming a dynamic and inclusive view of culture. In ancient texts, the term "culture" (文化, wenhua) is composed of the two morphemes wen (文) and hua (化). The earliest use of these two morphemes in the same context appears in the Yijing (Book of Changes), in the "Commentary on the Decision" for the Bi Hexagram: "Observe the human patterns (wen) to transform (hua) and complete the world." [4]
Here, wen is a substantive morpheme. The Yijing ("Appended Phrases II") says: "Things mingle with one another, hence they are called wen." The Shuowen Jiezi [5] says: "Wen means crisscrossing strokes, representing intersecting patterns." From this, meanings such as symbols, writing, and classical records are derived. The Zuo Zhuan (1st Year of Duke Zhao) mentions: "Refined patterns (wen) on the shield; insects in a vessel make a bowl of poison." When Fuxi created the Eight Trigrams and written records, the Shangshu ("Preface") stated: "From this, literary records (wenji) were born." This further derived into meanings of decoration, aesthetics, and cultivation. The Analects ("Yong Ye") says: "When substance outweighs refinement (wen), one is uncouth; when refinement outweighs substance, one is a mere clerk. Only when refinement and substance are in balance does one become a gentleman." This was further abstracted into the system of rites and music (liyue). The Analects ("Zi Han") records: "When the Master was under apprehension in Kuang, he said, 'Since King Wen is dead, does not the cause of culture (wen) rest here with me? If Heaven intended this culture to perish, a latecomer like me could not have obtained it. If Heaven does not intend this culture to perish, what can the people of Kuang do to me?'" Zhu Xi noted: "That which manifests the Dao is called wen; it refers to the system of rites and music." This meaning already approaches the broad definition of "culture."
The other morpheme, hua, is a verbal morpheme. The Yijing ("Appended Phrases II") says: "Male and female intermingle their essence, and all things are transformed and born (huasheng)." The Liji (Record of Ritual) says: "Harmony prevails, therefore the hundred things are all transformed (hua)." Its meaning is to cause to generate, evolve, or change, which is essentially the same as the morpheme hua in modern Chinese words like bianhua (change) or zhuanhua (transformation). The basic meaning formed by combining wen and hua into a single term can be understood as "to transform through culture" (以文化之, yi wen hua zhi), which is what anthropology calls "enculturation."
In summary, it is evident that ancient Chinese people defined culture through a process-oriented methodology, viewing the boundaries of culture as constantly flowing and expanding rather than fixed.
The cultural practices of the Chinese nation feature the characteristics of "incorporating a hundred rivers" and "all-inclusiveness." In the long process of interaction, exchange, and blending, the Central Plains, the border regions, and various ethnic groups have learned from one another. Many cultural phenomena have transcended the boundaries of a single ethnic group to become culture shared by many, and subsequently, shared symbols of Chinese culture. For example, the Wa ethnic group's "Qing Opera" (清戏, Qingxi), a national-level intangible cultural heritage, vividly demonstrates the process of cross-regional and cross-ethnic cultural dissemination and sharing. Between the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, people from Hubei developed a local opera genre called Qing Opera (also known as "Hubei Gaoqiang") based on the ancient Qingyang tunes, which circulated in Xiangyang, Jingzhou, and Huanggang. Soldiers and merchants from Hubei stationed in the border regions of western Yunnan brought Qing Opera to the Tengchong area. The local people loved it and studied it earnestly, integrating it with traditional Wa culture to develop "Wa Qing Opera." Many of the surviving repertoires of Wa Qing Opera are drawn from Han folk stories. Another example is the transformation of the huqin [6] from an instrument of the northern and northwestern regions into the main accompaniment for Peking Opera, the "national essence of China." This presents a vivid process of how the musical cultures of various regions and ethnic groups have blended and evolved into symbols of Chinese culture.
Correctly grasping the relationship between Chinese culture as the whole and ethnic cultures as the parts has methodological significance. To correctly handle this relationship, we must deeply recognize that the fine traditional cultures of all ethnic groups are components of Chinese culture. Chinese culture is the trunk, and the ethnic cultures are the branches and leaves; only when the roots are deep and the trunk is sturdy can the branches and leaves flourish.