Liu Ailing: Key Focus Areas for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Spiritual Civilization Construction
Socialist spiritual civilization refers to the progressive state of socialist spiritual production and spiritual life. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "in the New Era and on the new journey, the building of spiritual civilization must manifest a new atmosphere and new accomplishments," and that we must "provide a powerful spiritual force for building a strong country and national rejuvenation by promoting the high-quality development of spiritual civilization building." The Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development require "promoting the coordinated development of the economy and society, ensuring that material and spiritual civilizations complement each other, and allowing the achievements of modernization to benefit all people more extensively and equitably." This provides scientific guidance for promoting the high-quality development of spiritual civilization building in the New Era and on the new journey.
Using Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to coagulate the soul and build the spirit. Adhering to the guidance of Marxism is the fundamental hallmark that distinguishes socialist spiritual civilization from the spiritual civilizations of other social formations. Marxism is the guiding ideology of the CPC, and communism is the grand ideal of the CPC. To promote the high-quality development of socialist spiritual civilization building, we must persist in taking Marxism as our guide, firmly establish the grand ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, inspire and unite all people with shared ideals and beliefs, continuously consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, and strengthen the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the entire Party and the people of the whole country. To promote the high-quality development of spiritual civilization building, we must persist in using Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to coagulate the soul and build the spirit. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the building of spiritual civilization constitute a scientific theoretical system. They reveal the extreme importance of the synergistic force of material and spiritual civilization in the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; they point out the task of building a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership against the backdrop of a volatile international situation and a complex, sensitive surrounding environment; they clarify the paths and methods for consolidating the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field and strengthening the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country; and they explain the strategic thinking and implementation strategies for using socialist core values to build consensus and gather strength, and using advanced socialist culture, revolutionary culture, and fine traditional Chinese culture to enlighten wisdom and nourish the heart. On the new journey, we must profoundly grasp the principles, academic logic, and philosophy contained therein, taking them as the ideological guide for doing a good job in building spiritual civilization in the New Era.
Remaining people-centered and continuously enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the people. To carry out the building of socialist spiritual civilization with high quality in the New Era, we must systematically answer the fundamental question of for whom, by whom, and for whom the building of socialist spiritual civilization serves. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "In grasping the building of spiritual civilization, we must perform practical deeds and emphasize actual results, revolving closely around the promotion of the people's well-being, resolutely opposing formalism and bureaucratism [1], and striving to meet the ever-growing spiritual and cultural needs of the masses." To this end, we should persist in being people-centered, taking "everything for the people" as the foothold of spiritual civilization building, and using the satisfaction of the masses as the criterion for measuring its effectiveness. We must stand firm on the people's position, strengthen our sense of purpose, and integrate the promotion of high-quality development of the people's spiritual life throughout the entire process of socialist spiritual civilization work. We should extensively attract all sectors of society to participate in mass spiritual civilization creation activities, relying on the masses, serving the masses, and educating the masses. We must excavate elements for building spiritual civilization from primary-level practice and the masses, stimulating the people’s initiative so that the building of spiritual civilization possesses a broader mass base. Through measures that benefit and warm the hearts of the people, we should actively create spiritual civilization projects that the masses are happy to participate in and from which they generally benefit. We should guide the masses to consciously participate in practical activities such as civilization publicity, education, and volunteer services, achieving full participation in spiritual civilization building and satisfying the people's needs for spiritual and cultural life. By going deep among the masses and into the primary levels, we can summarize and promote advanced experiences in spiritual civilization building that possess local characteristics, meet the needs of the masses, and have significant effects. This ensures that high-quality practices are promoted and high-quality products benefit the masses, driving common prosperity in the people's spiritual life. Taking the New Era Civilization Practice Centers as a grasp [2], we must start from the details and comprehensively strengthen the building of urban and rural spiritual civilization. We should focus on the "urgent, difficult, and anxious" problems [3] of the masses, discovering, supervising, and sorting through issues in a timely manner, and mobilizing the masses to solve them together, striving to meet their common spiritual and cultural needs and enhancing their sense of gain and happiness.
Persisting in establishing virtue and casting the soul to further strengthen the building of civic morality. A civilized moral fashion is a strong aspiration of the masses and an important feature of a modernized society. The degree of modernization of a society and the level of modernization of a country's governance system and capacity depend to a large extent on the ideological and moral quality of all social members. To promote the all-around development of the person, foster harmony between humanity and nature, promote social equity and justice, and maintain social harmony and stability, we must earnestly strengthen the building of spiritual civilization and continuously improve the people’s ideological awareness, moral standards, civilized literacy, and the degree of civilization of the entire society. Efforts should be made to enhance the moral demonstration and leadership of advanced role models. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "We must coordinately promote the cultivation of civilization, the practice of civilization, and the creation of civilization; advance the integrated development of urban and rural spiritual civilization; strengthen the building of civic morality; and give play to the exemplary role of advanced models to further form a social fashion of upward mobility and kindness." To this end, we should sustain and strengthen the selection and commendation of National Moral Models, using vivid images and advanced examples such as "Models of the Times," "Most Beautiful People," "Good People Around Us," and "Good Youth of the New Era" to educate and lead the masses, giving full play to the leading power of moral models. We should carry out actions to care for advanced models, establishing and improving mechanisms for honoring and assisting them through visits, policy support, and financial subsidies, thereby forming a social atmosphere of caring for moral models where everyone strives to become one. We should fully utilize online media, news reports, public service advertisements, and artistic performances to promote the dissemination of the deeds of advanced moral models so they reach the grassroots and move people's hearts. At the same time, traditional Chinese virtues are an inexhaustible source for moral construction; they are unique value concepts and moral views formed by the Chinese nation through long-term social practice, and they constitute a powerful spiritual bond for ensuring the cohesion and centripetal force of the Chinese nation and forming national cultural confidence and identity. We should inherit and carry forward traditional Chinese virtues, deeply conduct publicity and education activities, and guide society toward a good fashion of respecting the elderly and loving the young, diligence and thrift, and honesty and trustworthiness.
Strengthening cultural confidence and consolidating the cultural foundation of spiritual civilization building. Culture is the foundation of civilization, and civilization is the manifestation of culture. The building of socialist spiritual civilization cannot be separated from the prosperity and development of culture and its self-reliance and self-improvement. Therefore, we should strengthen cultural confidence, cultivate and carry forward socialist core values, better meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the masses, and enhance the spiritual strength for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We must excavate the resources of fine traditional Chinese culture, promoting its creative transformation and innovative development [4], allowing the appeal, centripetal force, and cohesion of Chinese culture to burst forth and transform into the spiritual strength of the masses for promoting the construction of a strong country. We must inherit revolutionary culture, make good use of "red resources" [5], continue the "red lineage," and continuously push forward the great practice of struggling for lofty ideals. We must explore the path to prospering socialist advanced culture, strengthening confidence and self-improvement through cultural development, achieving the goals of enlightening the mind and nourishing the heart, and strengthening the foundation and casting the soul, thereby promoting the high-quality development of spiritual civilization building. In accordance with digital trends, we should transform traditional cultural formats, cultivate new cultural forms, promote the deep integration of culture and technology, integrate cutting-edge technology into the entire chain of cultural construction, build a unified and open cultural market, promote the high-quality allocation of cultural resources, and transform the advantages of cultural resources into developmental momentum.