Zhang Yongzhi: The Dialectics of Culture and Economy in Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and Its Original Contributions
Any system of cultural thought contains a fundamental stance, basic principles, developmental laws, and practical paths regarding cultural development and construction, which together constitute its methodology for these areas. According to the Marxist perspective, an inquiry into this methodology must first unfold within the dialectical interaction between culture and the economy. While culture possesses its own internal laws of development and relative independence, it is invariably grasped on the basis of economic development. Economic factors play the decisive role in social and historical development, yet economic development and transformation also necessarily encompass the influence and effects of culture. As Engels pointed out:
"We regard economic conditions as that which ultimately conditions historical development... The development of politics, law, philosophy, religion, literature, art, etc., is based on economic development. But all these react upon one another and also upon the economic base. It is not that the economic situation is cause, solely active, while everything else is only passive effect. Rather, it is a mutual interaction on the basis of economic necessity, which ultimately always asserts itself." The principle of the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure in historical materialism is the theoretical foundation for grasping the laws of cultural development and construction. In the cultural and economic construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, the logic and methodology of their interconnection can be clearly grasped. Taking the scientific method of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as its theme, and proceeding from the practice of cultural and economic construction in the New Era, this article attempts to provide a theoretical interpretation of the dialectics of culture and the economy within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. It analyzes its significance for the New Era, its enrichment and development of Marxist cultural theory, and demonstrates its original contributions.
I. The Interweaving and Interaction of Cultural and Economic Construction in the New Era
Against the backdrop of the world undergoing changes unseen in a century and socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a New Era, the development of world culture, the evolution of Chinese civilization, and the construction of a socialist cultural powerhouse have all entered new stages. The interweaving and interaction between culture and the economy are more intense than in any previous era, even exhibiting a distinct trend toward the integrated development of economy and culture. As the American scholar Fredric Jameson remarked, the culturalization of the economy and the economization of culture are often regarded as one of the well-known features of postmodernity. The theoretical and practical relationship between culture and the economy has gradually become a "prominent theme" in human existence and the development of human civilization.
First, in the development of world history, the relationship between culture and the economy has become increasingly complex and profound. Economic globalization has brought about cultural pluralism, making the diversity, differences, and comparability of cultures among various countries and nations more prominent. This inevitably presents new topics for cultural and economic development, such as cultural modernization, cultural subjectivity and cultural identity, the relationship between cultural soft power and economic hard power, and the deep integration of cultural and economic factors. Internal links exist between economic globalization and cultural pluralism, particularly containing tensions and conflicts of cultural values that impact the economic and cultural self-consistency of all countries and nations. In the process of economic globalization, cultures intersect and collide; how to rationally handle cultural conflicts and contradictions to adapt to economic globalization, and how to reflect a civilizational dimension in the improvement of economic growth models, have become core issues for cultural and economic development. It is particularly worth noting that the "spiritual and cultural poverty" [1] of economic development that once troubled humanity is gradually being alleviated. Culture is becoming a powerful factor of spiritual motivation for economic development. Furthermore, national cohesion, vitality, attractiveness, and influence based on culture—namely, cultural soft power—are increasingly becoming vital components of a country's comprehensive national strength.
Correctly viewing and responding to economic globalization, cultural pluralism, and the high degree of integration between culture and the economy are new situations and problems encountered by China in the context of the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "To respond to common challenges and move toward a better future, we need both economic and technological strength, as well as cultural and civilizational strength." The close interaction between the economy and culture, the "ensemble" of economic and cultural forces, is the important cornerstone of national and ethnic development. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture profoundly grasps the new characteristics and new positioning of cultural construction in the New Era. It focuses on advancing the building of a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, "solving the problem" within the context of world history and economic globalization, while insisting on the leadership of the new development philosophy of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It constructs a new development pattern and closely integrates the construction of a cultural powerhouse with high-quality development. On one hand, it emphasizes cultural factors within economic construction—such as value orientation, spiritual support, and social atmosphere—providing a brand-new interpretation of socialist economic construction with Chinese characteristics. On the other hand, it emphasizes economic factors within cultural construction—such as industrial attributes and economic benefits—putting forward brand-new conclusions regarding cultural innovation and creation in the New Era.
Second, the interweaving and interaction of culture and the economy are deeply coupled with the development of productive forces. This new trend in contemporary social development has profoundly reshaped the relationship between culture and the economy in the process of social reproduction, driving a qualitative leap in productive forces. In the 1990s, phenomena such as the culturalization of the economy, the economization of culture, and the integration of the economy and culture had already emerged in China's economic and social development. Today, these continue to expand and have taken on new characteristics of the age of intelligence. The formation and development of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture have further advanced scientific research into the economic functions of culture and the cultural factors of the economy, revealing the profound impact of the high degree of integration between culture and the economy on the development of productive forces. Especially today, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the pace of the development of productive forces is increasing daily. Both material productive forces and cultural productive forces need to be re-grasped and understood. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "In the coordinated advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four Comprehensives, culture is an important component; in promoting high-quality development, culture is an important fulcrum; in meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life, culture is an important factor; in overcoming various risks and challenges on the road ahead, culture is an important source of strength." Within the three-dimensional structure of culture, the economy, and productive forces, culture exhibits a unique function and power, thereby giving the relationship between the three new characteristics.
On the new journey of the New Era, the relationship between culture, the economy, and productive forces is manifested in the systemic upgrade of culture, the economy, and productive forces for high-quality development. Social productive forces have achieved massive development through the deep integration of culture and the economy. On one hand, the interweaving and interaction of culture and the economy have gradually strengthened due to the improvement in the quality of productive forces. Under the influence of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the development of new quality productive forces is reshaping the transformation model of the integrated development of culture and the economy and reconstructing their relationship. On the other hand, the uncoordinated development of culture and the economy—for instance, economic development neglecting cultural factors or cultural development lacking innovative and creative vitality—inevitably becomes the greatest constraint on the development of productive forces. Therefore, the revolution in the modes of spiritual and material production and their isomorphic effects will inevitably drive the productive forces to achieve a qualitative leap. Entering the New Era, the relationship between culture and the economy exhibits many new features—such as the high integration of cultural industries with economic development and the significant efficacy of cultural productive forces in economic construction—which have catalyzed new theories of productive forces. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes cultural innovation and creation, pursues the humanistic value orientation of high-quality development, and persists in empowering through culture and prospering through literature [2].
Third, the coordinated development and positive interaction of culture and the economy have become important developmental goals for the modernization paths of all countries and nations. "In today's world, culture, economy, and politics are intertwined, and their status and role in the competition of comprehensive national strength are becoming increasingly prominent. The power of culture is deeply fused into the vitality, creativity, and cohesion of a nation." Therefore, whether it is a matter of culture or the economy, the interactive relationship between the two must be considered within a framework of holistic thinking. On one hand, high-quality economic development requires the guidance of advanced culture. For example, the cultural industry injects momentum into economic transformation and, through the integration of technology and culture, significantly increases product added value and promotes high-quality economic development. The transformation of economic modes not only condenses the crystallization of advanced culture but also urgently calls for the transformation, renewal, and creation of cultural structures. On the other hand, the development of culture must take place within high-quality economic development. Theoretical issues regarding the essence of culture, its functions, its status in the social organism, and cultural construction must comprehensively consider the new changes brought about by developments in the economy, science, and technology. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture proceeds from the starting point of consolidating the cultural foundation for building a strong country and national rejuvenation. It follows the trend of information technology development and emphasizes the need to strengthen effective mechanisms for the integration of culture with the economy, science, and technology.
In the practice of Chinese-path modernization, the relationships between the material and spiritual needs of the people, between material and spiritual civilization, and between economic and cultural construction—as well as consolidating Chinese cultural subjectivity and shouldering the new cultural mission of the New Era—have become major issues in urgent need of resolution due to China's new historical coordinates and new conditions of the times. The hierarchical structure and mutual relationship between material and spiritual needs in the historical process must be dialectically examined and grasped within the coordinates of the era. For example, in the context of the New Era, people pursue the comprehensive satisfaction of material and spiritual needs and hold new expectations for spiritual and cultural life, reflecting new trends and characteristics in the development of human needs. Furthermore, how culture can assist economic development and how it can better and maximally exert its efficacy as a spiritual driving force are new requirements placed on cultural construction by economic and social development.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes that the development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics must actively recognize, adapt to, and seek change. On the basis of inheriting, enriching, and developing Marxist cultural theory, it provides profound answers to the phenomenon of cultural and economic interaction in the New Era, prescribing a "cultural remedy" for China's sustained and healthy economic development. First, it enriches and develops the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure in Marxist cultural theory, putting forward landmark concepts, assertions, and viewpoints, such as "culture is the 'booster' of economic development" and "promoting the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilization." Second, it provides creative interpretations of the culturalization of the economy, the economization of culture, and the cultural industry within the phenomenon of cultural-economic interweaving. It highlights cultural factors and the empowering effects of culture within the concept of "new quality productive forces," clearly demonstrating the vital function and active role of culture in promoting economic and social development, thus providing more possibilities and developmental space for the combination of culture and the economy. Third, based on the philosophy of the "Second Integration" [3], it creatively proposes an approach to constructing a new "cultural lifeform." The building of a strong country and national rejuvenation are built upon the deep integration of culture and the economy. The "culture" here refers to a vibrant, new cultural form—a new form that combines the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture—thereby emphasizing the promotion of high-quality economic development through cultural innovation and creation on the basis of ideological emancipation.
II. The Concrete Manifestation of the Dialectics of Culture and the Economy
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is rooted in the concrete reality of the high degree of interweaving and interaction between culture and the economy in the New Era. It enriches and develops the Marxist dialectics of culture and the economy in three aspects: the dialectical unity of material abundance and spiritual wealth; the dialectical unity of economic hard power and cultural soft power; and the dialectical unity of economic cooperation and people-to-people exchange.
(1) The Dialectical Unity of Material Abundance and Spiritual Wealth
The coordinated development of culture and the economy is essentially rooted in the structure of human existence, demonstrating the unity of human material production activities and spiritual activities, and profoundly reflecting the comprehensive and holistic nature of human social activity. Man is a unity of material and spiritual existence; the two are interconnected, interpenetrating, and interacting, constituting important factors in the development of human history. Man's most basic and important needs are material needs, as these are the foundation of human survival and historical development. "The first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the first fact to be established is the physical organisation of these individuals and their consequent relation to the rest of nature." Engels clearly pointed out: "the material mode of existence... is the primary cause." In man's material production activities, spiritual needs are inevitably and always embodied, and the two develop proportionally. The degree and sense of gain in the satisfaction of material needs are consistent with those of spiritual needs. When man's material needs are greatly satisfied, they are inevitably accompanied by higher expectations for spiritual needs. The great enrichment of man's spiritual world is an important marker of a country's prosperity, the enhancement of a nation's spiritual strength, and the elevation of the level of spiritual civilization of the times.
It is precisely in this sense that Xi Jinping Thought on Culture stands at the height of the development of human civilization and proceeds from the concrete realities of China’s development to emphasize that material abundance and spiritual richness are the fundamental requirements of socialist modernization. This is an innovative conclusion made based on the new developmental stage of socialist modernization. Socialist modernization is fundamentally different from Western modernization, which is centered on capital; in its essence, it is the modernization of the human being. Chinese-path modernization constantly responds to the multi-faceted and multi-layered needs of human development, demonstrating the holistic development and enhancement of both the material and spiritual forces in the construction of a great modern socialist country. Within this new formulation, the concepts of "abundance" (fuzu) and "richness" (fuyou) [4] reflect the new value orientation of human material and spiritual existence in the New Era, while also highlighting the leap in the level of human material and spiritual needs based on the development of social productive forces.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture provides a concrete exposition of the levels, degrees, and dialectical relationship between material and spiritual needs in the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out that "material needs come first," yet the possession of spiritual needs is the greatest distinction between human society and the animal kingdom. The two belong to different spheres and have their own laws of development: "Problems at the material level must be solved by strengthening material forces, and problems at the spiritual level must be solved by strengthening spiritual forces." However, in the process of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, "for a period of time, our application of material force was relatively strong, while our application of spiritual force was relatively weak." Precisely for this reason, on the new journey of the New Era, we must simultaneously resolve problems at both the spiritual and material levels, allowing spiritual and material forces to strengthen in coordination.
On the one hand, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture attaches great importance to the power of the spirit, innovatively developing the Marxist dialectical view that "matter turns into spirit, and spirit turns into matter." [5] This provides the most fundamental theoretical basis for the dialectical unity of material abundance and spiritual richness in socialist modernization. According to this dialectical view, regarding the satisfaction of human needs, both material and spiritual wealth must be greatly enriched; this process is not a simple mechanical combination, but a holistic and synergistic development. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "The needs of the people are multi-faceted. To satisfy the increasing material needs of the people, we must focus on economic and social construction and increase the material wealth of society. To satisfy the increasing spiritual and cultural needs of the people, we must focus on cultural construction and increase the spiritual and cultural wealth of society." Through economic construction, we continuously create more material and cultural products to meet people's needs, steadily improving their material and cultural living standards, enhancing their material abundance, and laying a solid foundation for spiritual richness. Through cultural construction, we continuously enrich people’s inner worlds and meet their growing spiritual and cultural needs, thereby elevating their spiritual richness and providing the spiritual impetus for enhancing material abundance. "Material abundance" and "spiritual richness" do not proceed one after the other, nor are they advanced in isolation; rather, they develop synergistically through close connection, mutual penetration, and mutual interaction. In this sense, the cultural advantage of a society of socialism with Chinese characteristics is necessarily a cultural strength and influence based on economic advantage; simultaneously, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes that "revolutionary ideals reach higher than the heavens," [6] and the economic advantage of a society of socialism with Chinese characteristics exists precisely because its spiritual core is advanced, stable, nourished, and full.
On the other hand, from the height of developing advanced socialist culture and promoting the progress of human civilization, and based on the dialectical unity between material and spiritual civilizations, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture profoundly elucidates the value orientation of the dialectical unity between material abundance and spiritual richness. Elevating the people's material and cultural living standards and raising their spiritual and cultural living standards are closely linked into a unified whole, driving the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations in Chinese-path modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "We must persist in 'grasping with both hands, and both hands must be firm,' and correctly handle the relationship between material and spiritual civilizations with a dialectical, comprehensive, and balanced perspective." [7] In the stage where material productive forces are underdeveloped, vigorously raising people's material and cultural living standards to adapt to more advanced social productive forces is the center of social development and construction. In the stage where material living standards have been greatly improved, the people's spiritual and cultural needs become more urgent; at this point, it is necessary to take spiritual and cultural construction as an important task of social development and construction.
Persisting in the dialectical unity of material abundance and spiritual richness is the basis for correctly handling the relationship between material and spiritual civilizations and highlighting the essential characteristics of Chinese-path modernization. In the view of historical materialism, "Culture and civilization are the basic hallmarks of historical progress. Therefore, developing social culture—or more specifically, developing the material and spiritual civilizations of a society—becomes the basic method and path for promoting historical progress." The material abundance and spiritual richness of socialist modernization constitute the very process of constructing socialist material and spiritual civilizations. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "In a socialist country, a true Marxist party, after taking power, must dedicate itself to developing the productive forces and, on this basis, gradually improve the people’s living standards. This is the construction of material civilization. For a long time in the past, we neglected the development of productive forces, so now we must pay special attention to building material civilization. At the same time, we must also build socialist spiritual civilization; the most fundamental task is to ensure the broad masses of the people have communist ideals, morality, culture, and discipline." Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes that one of the important goals of Chinese-path modernization is to continuously enrich the people’s inner worlds and improve the level of civilization for the whole society on the basis of increasing the nation’s economic strength. "Only when the construction of both material civilization and spiritual civilization are handled well... can the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics move forward smoothly." In the practice of Chinese-path modernization, while keeping a tight grip on material civilization, spiritual civilization is also placed in a more prominent position. This is because "the development of material civilization will place higher demands on the development of spiritual civilization; meanwhile, the development of spiritual civilization will become the impetus for building material civilization—especially as economic diversification brings about the diversification of cultural life. Only by building spiritual civilization well can we satisfy the diverse spiritual and cultural needs of the masses." Xi Jinping Thought on Culture views the development of material and spiritual civilizations as a staged and layered process, advocating for the satisfaction of human material and spiritual needs according to the changes in the level of human needs in different periods. Simultaneously, it places the development of material and spiritual civilizations under the holistic perspective of the needs for well-rounded human development. Only through the balanced development and mutual promotion of material and spiritual civilizations can the multi-faceted needs and various capacities of the human being be satisfied and realized.
(2) The Dialectical Unity of Economic Hard Power and Cultural Soft Power
Economic hard power and cultural soft power are important components of a country's comprehensive national strength and overall competitiveness; only their holistic improvement marks the true strength and prosperous development of a nation. The interconnection between them essentially reflects the dialectical unity of the economic base and the superstructure within the social structure: economic hard power is the foundation of national and ethnic development, building a solid material and technical base; cultural soft power is the spiritual support for national and ethnic development, situated within the superstructure. Moreover, as a non-material form of national power, it possesses its own unique characteristics. If a country possesses only economic strength without cultural influence and cohesion, and lacks progress in spiritual civilization, the construction of material civilization will lack spiritual leadership and developmental momentum, and the development of economic construction will be greatly compromised. In such a case, it cannot be called strong in terms of comprehensive national power and competitiveness on the international stage. During the early modernization processes of the West, there were instances where the accumulation of material wealth coexisted with crises of culture and faith; today, the West remains troubled by the spiritual poverty of modernization. Historical experience proves that as any country advances social modernization, it cannot take economic hard power as the sole indicator of development, but must simultaneously take cultural soft power as an important evaluation index.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture enriches and develops the Marxist view on the dialectical unity of the economic base and the superstructure. It systematically expounds, for the first time, the status and role of cultural soft power within comprehensive national strength, and—proceeding from the reality of the significant strengthening of China's economic hard power—provides an innovative exposition on the laws of construction and concrete paths for cultural soft power.
First, it profoundly reveals the powerful "resultant force" (heli) [8] of economic hard power and cultural soft power based on the elevation of comprehensive national strength. The progress and development of a country’s culture and civilization must be based on economic hard power, while the effective improvement of the endogenous vitality and momentum of economic hard power necessarily involves the strong push of cultural factors; thus, it is ultimately manifested as the simultaneous elevation of both. It is precisely in this sense that General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to focus on both economic hard power and cultural soft power, because "throughout history, the developmental process of any great power is not only a process of increasing hard power, such as economic aggregate and military force, but also a process of increasing soft power, such as values, ideology, and culture." On the one hand, economic hard power remains the "hard truth" (ying daoli) [9] of the New Era, but promoting the achievement of effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth in the economy also cannot take place without the power of culture and civilization. Therefore, to increase economic hard power, culture must be used as an important fulcrum. On the other hand, cultural soft power is the "strong support" of the New Era. The cultural empowerment of the economy—or the "culture + economy" mode—is a prominent manifestation of the mutual promotion and integrated interaction of economic and cultural forces in the New Era. Therefore, to increase cultural soft power, "the economic stage must be set" (jingji datai) [10].
Rooted in the new developmental stage of Chinese-path modernization, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture places the development of cultural soft power in an important position for enhancing comprehensive national power. It emphasizes that cultural soft power concerns the "凝聚" (ningju) [cohesion] of the nation's "spirit, energy, and soul" (jing-qi-shen) [11], and relates to the achievement of the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Mao Zedong once emphasized the "great influence" of culture on economy and politics: "A given culture (as an ideological form) is a reflection of the politics and economy of a given society, and in turn it exerts a great influence and action upon the politics and economy of that society." In the process of world modernization, this "great influence" has demonstrated immeasurable practical power: the spiritual leadership and driving role of culture toward economy and politics have become increasingly strong, and cultural soft power, as a core element of a country's comprehensive national strength, has become more and more prominent, centrally embodying the powerful cohesion and vitality a country possesses based on its culture. Therefore, cultural soft power and its competitiveness are important hallmarks of national prosperity and ethnic rejuvenation. The flourishing of cultural soft power directly concerns the country's influence, attraction, and credibility; it also profoundly affects and promotes the country’s economic and social development. Together with economic hard power, it constitutes and characterizes the country's comprehensive developmental strength.
Second, based on the existence of a "gap between soft power and hard power" in international communication, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes the "balance" and "coordination" between the construction of cultural soft power and economic hard power. Elevating national cultural soft power and building a culturally strong nation (wenhua qiangguo) is a major strategic task proposed by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture based on the current developmental realities of Chinese-path modernization. Proceeding from this, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture has, for the first time, systematically constructed a basic content system for national cultural soft power construction, which includes telling the story of our country's view of economic development. On the basis of profoundly explaining the essence and direction of soft power construction, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture clearly defines national cultural soft power construction in the following four aspects: striving to consolidate the foundation of national cultural soft power; striving to disseminate contemporary Chinese values; striving to display the unique charm of Chinese culture; and striving to improve the international right to speak (huayuquan) [12]. These aspects essentially involve "pushing out our country's standards, rules, and concepts" on the basis of effectively building our country’s culture—what General Secretary Xi Jinping calls "taking shape within" (xing yu zhong) and "manifesting without" (fa yu wai). These standards, rules, and concepts are the concentrated embodiment of the path, theory, and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Elevating national cultural soft power aims to transform our country’s developmental advantages and comprehensive strength into a discourse advantage, enhancing the influence of Chinese culture. Among these, an important strategic task is to tell the China story well; this includes both Chinese culture "going out" and telling the world the New Era story of our country's sustained and healthy economic development.
It must be pointed out here that values are the core of culture. Within the structure and hierarchy of values, core values are the deepest and most enduring force in the development of a country and a nation. Therefore, the focus of cultural soft power construction must revolve closely around core values. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out:
"Core values are the soul of cultural soft power and the focus of its construction. They are the deepest elements determining the nature and direction of a culture. A country's cultural soft power depends fundamentally on the vitality, cohesion, and appeal of its core values." This indicates that core values are the key lever for building national cultural soft power and the hallmark that distinguishes different cultural forms. Consequently, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes that—based on the higher requirements for cultural construction driven by economic and social development, the people's higher expectations for spiritual and cultural life, and the new situations and tasks facing the construction of a powerful socialist culture—we must deepen reform of the cultural system. We must establish the cultivation and practice of socialist core values as an important aspect of the system and capacity for national governance, treating it as a fundamental requirement and key path for enhancing the soft power of Chinese culture.
As seen above, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture innovatively extends the Marxist dialectical unity of economic hard power and cultural soft power, emphasizing the mutual transformation between the two: "Cultural power can ultimately be transformed into material power, and cultural soft power can ultimately be transformed into economic hard power." This does not merely explain economic hard power and cultural soft power from the dialectical relationship between economy and culture; rather, it extends to the level of cultural and material forces, and further expands into the levels of discourse and narrative systems, ideological theory and value concepts, and the vehicles for storytelling and communication philosophies. Therefore, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture underscores that in the economic and cultural construction of the New Era, we must profoundly recognize the decisive role of the economic base on the superstructure and the reaction of the superstructure upon the economic base. We must possess both hard power and soft power.
(3) The Dialectical Unity of Economic Cooperation and People-to-People Exchanges
The prosperity of culture must be closely integrated with economic development. Examining cultural exchange and mutual learning from the perspective of economic development strategies, and systematically investigating the link between the two, represents a significant development of Marxist cultural theory in the contemporary Chinese context. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "At present, it appears we have applied much effort to economic cooperation, but the 'leg' of culture is still generally not strong enough." This is a critical issue in current economic and cultural construction that urgently requires resolution. Therefore, strengthening people-to-people exchanges so that culture plays a greater role in economic and social development has become particularly important. General Secretary Xi Jinping highly stresses that people-to-people exchanges are of equal importance to economic cooperation, explicitly stating: "We must persist in advancing economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges together, and focus on meticulous work [13] in the humanities field." Emphasizing cultural vehicles and cultural factors within economic cooperation to achieve their effective integration is also an important manifestation of enhancing soft power and building a new pattern of opening up in the New Era.
First, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture innovatively elevates people-to-people exchanges to the height of soft power, profoundly explaining their catalytic role in economic activity. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "People-to-people exchange is a manifestation of soft power; when soft power is strong, there will be less resistance to political, diplomatic, and economic activities. Investment in humanities cooperation is small yet its influence is great and long-lasting. The key is to take it seriously and do it in a way that 'sneaks in with the night wind and moistens things silently' [14], promoting the bond between peoples [15] and exerting cultural influence." People-to-people exchange highlights the "human" factor, focusing on mutual understanding, trust, and communication between individuals. Strengthening these exchanges aims to promote "people-to-people connectivity." Humanities exchange is an important way to tell China's story well and actively promote and introduce the path, theory, system, and advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics to the international community. It is a vital path for actively making our voice heard internationally and showcasing the unique charm of Chinese culture. It not only helps enhance national soft power but also creates a favorable social environment and basis of public opinion for conducting economic activities.
Second, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture elevates people-to-people exchanges to the height of the opening-up pattern, scientifically explaining their significant impact on an open economy. Deng Xiaoping once pointed out: "The policy of implementing opening up to the outside world in the economy is correct and must be persisted in over the long term. External cultural exchanges must also develop over the long term." This profoundly reveals that cultural opening is the inevitable result and historical trend of economic opening. Deepening people-to-people exchanges is both a significant component of the basic state policy of opening up and an important lever for strengthening the coordination of China's macroeconomic policies; thus, it has become a vital way to improve the quality and level of opening up. For example, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes that the "Belt and Road" Initiative is a major strategic measure for expanding opening up and a top-level design for economic diplomacy. Within this, people-to-people exchange and cooperation are essential components of the "Belt and Road" construction. To truly build the "Belt and Road," a humanities pattern of mutual appreciation, understanding, and respect must be formed among the people of the countries along the routes. Therefore, constructing a pattern of people-to-people exchange and cooperation that is deeply integrated with and mutually promotes opening up is a prerequisite for adapting to new changes in international economic cooperation. In this sense, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture regards people-to-people exchange as a bridge for mutual learning between civilizations, opening a new chapter for cultural fusion and the bonding of hearts between the world's nations, and promoting the breadth and depth of opening up.
From the above, it is clear that Xi Jinping Thought on Culture innovatively elaborates on the dialectical unity of economic cooperation and people-to-people exchange. On one hand, economic cooperation is the material prerequisite for humanities exchange, and expanding the space for economic cooperation is an important foundation for forming common interests. Actively carrying out economic cooperation and exchange to push all countries toward a community of "mutualistic symbiosis" with a shared future is an inevitable trend of world history in the context of economic globalization. As economic cooperation deepens, the people-to-people exchanges between countries will continue to strengthen, and the space for development will become ever broader. On the other hand, deepening people-to-people exchange helps create a favorable social basis and atmosphere for economic cooperation. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly noted: "The situation of international economic cooperation and competition is undergoing profound changes, the global economic governance system and rules are facing major adjustments, and the depth, breadth, and pace of 'bringing in' and 'going out' are incomparable to the past. The pressure to cope with external economic risks and maintain national economic security is also incomparable to the past." Whether dealing with new changes in economic cooperation or responding to external economic risks, we must value the power of the humanities, deepen cooperation in people-to-people exchanges, and make it a major component and strong support for economic development strategies. This is because people-to-people exchange is fundamentally an exchange between cultures and values; mutual understanding and identification in terms of culture and values provide the spiritual support for the smooth implementation of economic cooperation.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture has carried out innovative explorations in establishing a win-win cooperation model between China and other countries, promoting the formation of a brand-new pattern of opening up in China and contributing Chinese wisdom to the resolution of international issues. On one hand, he advocates for the establishment of multi-level and diversified mechanisms for humanities cooperation. "We must establish multi-level humanities cooperation mechanisms, build more cooperation platforms, and open up more cooperation channels." These mechanisms and channels cover dimensions such as educational cooperation, the utilization of think tanks, innovation in cooperation models for culture, sports, and health, as well as making good use of historical and cultural heritage to create tourism products and heritage protection with Silk Road characteristics. On the other hand, "jointly advocating international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation" has been included as one of the "Four Advocacies" of the Global Civilization Initiative, promoting people of all nations to treat each other as friends, understand one another, and grow close, thereby firming up the concept of common development. General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "I proposed the Global Civilization Initiative to push the international community to solve the problem of the imbalance between the material and the spiritual, and to jointly promote the continuous progress of human civilization." In terms of the practical path, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture advocates for enriching exchange content and expanding cooperation channels by building a global network for dialogue and cooperation between civilizations, thereby promoting the facilitation of management for "going out" and "bringing in" and expanding international people-to-people exchange and cooperation.
III. The Theoretical Characteristics of the Dialectic of Culture and Economy
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture values the foundation of cultural development and construction. It both places this within the coordinate system of China's economic development for holistic planning and focuses on the reaction of culture upon the economy, fully considering the massive driving force of culture on the economy. Consequently, it demonstrates a work layout of cultural and economic linkage within the systematic structure of the social organism, and enriches and develops the methodological system of Marxist cultural theory on the basis of combining theory and practice.
(1) Focusing on the Totality of Economy and Culture within the Social Organism
Adhering to the dialectical unity of culture and economy is a core tenet of the Marxist idea of the social organism. Marx compared society to an "organism": "Society is not a solid crystal, but an organism capable of change, and constantly engaged in a process of change." Proceeding from the reality of China's move into a new stage of development, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes the holistic characteristics of cultural and economic construction in the New Era: "Correctly handle major relationships in development and continuously strengthen the totality of development." From the early stages of our country's modernization, when both the economy and culture were in a backward state, to today’s critical stage of entering a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects and marching toward the Second Centenary Goal, our country has consistently faced problems of unbalanced and inadequate development. Therefore, the coordinated development of the economy and culture as a whole is the value orientation of Chinese-path modernization. Proceeding from the specific realities of present-day imbalances and lack of coordination in the economic and cultural fields, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has profoundly grasped the laws governing the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and human civilization. It has coordinated economic and cultural construction as a whole, valuing cultural factors and forces within economic construction and balancing economic and social benefits within cultural construction. Economic construction is the foundation and the center, constituting the "skeletal system" of the social organism; culture, as the ideological superstructure, is the "soul" of the social organism, and the laws governing its development and construction are necessarily inseparable from the primary consideration of the laws of economic development.
Overall, the totality of economy and culture contained within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is mainly reflected in two aspects.
First, grasping the holistic consideration of social economic development laws and social cultural development laws. The laws of social economic development reflect the laws of human economic activity, are permeated by internal human scales, and are the product of intersection and interaction with social elements such as culture, constituting the basis and core of social laws. Proceeding from this, to grasp the internal laws of economic construction for socialism with Chinese characteristics, one must focus on the innovative development of the cultural field. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Culture is an important factor in meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life, and culture is an important source of strength for overcoming various risks and challenges on the road ahead." While the foundational status of the economy is undoubtedly beyond question, the forces driving social historical development and progress certainly include various factors of the superstructure and their synergistic interactions. As noted in the book Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, "The paradox of economic development is that economic values are not sufficient to guarantee economic development... What values a people accept or do not accept belongs to the realm of culture. So we can also say that economic development is a cultural process." China's economy has shifted from a "stage of high-speed growth" to a "stage of high-quality development," the latter of which is necessarily an economic model of intersection and interaction with culture. "High-quality development is development that can well satisfy the people's ever-growing needs for a better life; it is development that embodies the New Development Philosophy; it is development where innovation becomes the primary driver, coordination becomes an endogenous feature, green becomes the universal form, opening up becomes the necessary path, and sharing becomes the fundamental purpose." Economic construction in the New Era embodies a people-centered value orientation, and the unique views on values, civilization, and ecology contained within Chinese-path modernization are its important guiding philosophies.
Therefore, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes that economic development is never abstract or isolated, but concrete and interconnected. In this sense, economic development is never a development that is severed, stratified, or mechanical in relation to culture; rather, it manifests an organic totality. For example, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is not only economic cooperation but also contains an internal pattern of people-to-people exchange. Furthermore, economic development is never about emphasizing a single stage, nor is it a "first economy, then culture" development model; it is a holistic advancement based on the needs of human existence and development. Once major changes occur in the economic base and its development, the ideological superstructure—with culture as a key signifier—must also undergo gradual reform.
In terms of values, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes the dialectical unity of economic and cultural values. For example, economic development's...
"Green" values have become a "defining hallmark" of China's economic development. In the realm of cultural products and cultural industries, focus must also be placed on their commodity attributes to create greater economic value, thereby better integrating them with economic and social development. To take another example, in the practice of rural revitalization, the unification of economic and cultural values has become increasingly prominent: "The beautiful rural environment, lucid waters and lush mountains [16], and good ecology have become scarce resources, and the economic, ecological, social, and cultural values of the countryside are becoming increasingly apparent." It can be said that in the practice of Chinese-path modernization, economic and cultural factors often appear as combined concepts—such as modern economic-culture or modern cultural-economy—demonstrating a holistic consideration of the cultural value orientation within socialist economic operations and the economic value orientation within socialist cultural development.
Second, the holistic efficacy of constructing a modern economic system and nurturing a new cultural lifeform.
Any civilization or socio-cultural formation must be rooted in a specific socio-economic formation, and socio-economic formations continuously evolve with the development of history. Socio-economic formations at different historical stages generate different socio-cultural formations. In the process of Chinese-path modernization, the new economy gives birth to a new culture. While the modern economic system is founded upon a new cultural lifeform, it simultaneously requires this new cultural lifeform to provide spiritual motivation and intellectual support; together, they constitute a whole that characterizes the theoretical and practical features of Chinese-path modernization. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, "Only by observing the contradictory movement of the productive forces and relations of production in conjunction with the contradictory movement of the economic base and the superstructure, and by observing the basic social contradictions as a whole, can we comprehensively grasp the basic features and developmental direction of society as a whole."
On the one hand, efforts must be made to leverage the leading role of economic structural reform to create more endogenous drive and vitality for the construction of a new cultural lifeform. Promoting the qualitative improvement of economic development means that satisfying the people's needs for a better life has shifted from "whether it exists" to "whether it is good." The evaluative standard for this "goodness" involves the cultural value orientation of economic construction. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "From the perspective of political economy, the core of supply-side structural reform is to enable our country's supply capacity to better meet the increasing, upgrading, and personalized material, cultural, and ecological environment needs of the broad masses of the people, thereby realizing the aims of socialist production." This discourse profoundly reflects the importance placed on the material and spiritual-cultural needs of people within economic construction; whether promoting the development of material civilization or spiritual civilization, the people-centered [17] value orientation is always highlighted.
On the other hand, in the process of constructing a modern economic system, high importance is attached to cultural care. The construction of a modern economic system requires the support of culture and must be combined with the construction of a new cultural lifeform, because "culture endows economic development with profound humanistic value, making human economic activity qualitatively different from the survival behavior of animals; culture endows economic development with extremely high organizational efficacy, promoting communication between social subjects and the formation of social cohesion; culture endows economic development with stronger competitiveness—once advanced culture is combined with the most active factor of the productive forces, the human factor, the quality of the labor force will be greatly improved, the breadth and depth of the objects of labor will be greatly expanded, and the ability and quantity of mankind's transformation of nature and acquisition of wealth will increase geometrically." Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is precisely based on a profound insight into culture's empowerment of economic modernization. It closely integrates the development of our era's new culture with the construction of a modern economic system, highlighting the economic function of culture and thereby placing culture in a more prominent position. The new cultural lifeform is rooted in the realistic needs of building a strong country and national rejuvenation; it is full of creative and innovative vitality and serves as the cultural foundation for the construction of a modern economic system. This highlights a holistic landscape of the interweaving and interaction between culture and economy.
(II) The First Explanation of the Concept of "Cultural Economy" within Humanistic Economics
On the path of building socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, the role of culture in assisting the economy has gradually become prominent, continuously enriching the connotation of the cultural economy. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In places where culture is highly developed, the economy likewise leads the way; the humanistic economics [18] therein can be studied." This innovative judgment reveals the inherent laws of development in the interweaving and interaction between culture and economy. During his time working in local government, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: "The so-called cultural economy is a collective term for the 'culturalization of the economy' and the 'economization of culture'; its essence is the interweaving, interaction, and integrated development of culture and economy." The essence of the cultural economy lies in the dialectical unity of culture and economy. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture provides the first profound exposition of the concept of the cultural economy based on historical materialism. In the process of Chinese-path modernization, the economization of culture and the culturalization of the economy are both search results of historical development and emerging developmental trends in the economic and cultural fields. Both fully embody the important role of culture in promoting high-quality development, demonstrating that culture has become an important factor in the development of productive forces, and even "productive forces themselves." Therefore, the new coordinates composed of culture and economy contain new developmental concepts in the context of the New Era. For instance, the proposal of new quality productive forces contains a profound insight into the transformation of productive forces brought about by culture as an important fulcrum for high-quality development.
The "economization of culture" means that the functions of culture exceed human spiritual and cultural needs and begin to possess economic functions. A culture with powerful economic functions is characterized by its enhanced attributes as a productive force, allowing culture to further elevate its role in promoting social progress. Because culture intervenes more directly in economic life, the laws of cultural development have added new content and presented new features. Precisely for this reason, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to "improve cultural-economic policies and cultivate new types of cultural business models." As a direct product of the economization of culture, the development of cultural industries can create immense economic value. In this sense, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes optimizing the supply of cultural products and services to empower economic and social development through culture. The "culturalization of the economy" means that commodities have acquired cultural characteristics, and economic development is increasingly linked to specific lifestyles. The intervention of culture has triggered a profound transformation in economic development. Factors of production no longer include only natural resources but have added elements such as technology, information, and culture. Xi Jinping Economic Thought creatively proposed establishing and adhering to the new development philosophy of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing. This provides a brand-new interpretation of the cultural value orientation of socialist economic development and demonstrates its interconnection with Xi Jinping Thought on Culture.
Xi Jinping Thought on Culture profoundly reveals that the dialectic of culture and economy ultimately highlights the factor of "man." "The essence of 'cultural economy' lies in the integrated development of culture and economy; in the final analysis, it must highlight the word 'man' [people]. Therefore, in promoting the development of the 'cultural economy,' we must always adhere to the people-centered approach and fully reflect the requirements of the Scientific Outlook on Development [19]." Fundamentally, both culture and economy originate from human practical activity and both take the comprehensive and free development of man as their ultimate goal. Therefore, within the dialectic of culture and economy, man constructs a "three-dimensional space" for their integration. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The development we pursue is development that benefits the people; the prosperity we pursue is common prosperity for all people. Whether the success of reform and development is achieved is ultimately judged by whether the people have collectively enjoyed the fruits of reform and development." The coordinated development of cultural and economic construction in the New Era fully respects the principal status of the people. Its starting point and ultimate goal are to be people-centered, aiming to make the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security more substantial and better guaranteed.
Consequently, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes the primary status of social benefits within the cultural economy. Adhering to the unity of economic benefits and social benefits is a common principle for cultural and economic construction in the New Era. This is determined by the special attributes and functions of the cultural industry. The essence of culture is "humanization" (rènhuà), and more importantly, "transforming people" (huàrén) [20]; it profoundly influences human existence and development. Therefore, cultural products and outcomes must meet the needs of healthy and sound human development. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, we must "grasp the relationship between ideological attributes and industrial attributes, and between social benefits and economic benefits, always adhering to the forward direction of advanced socialist culture and always placing social benefits first." That is to say, the prerequisite for better exerting the economic value of culture is to attach high importance to the social benefits of cultural-economic development. This profoundly reflects a grasp of culture's ideological attributes and its characteristics as spiritual production. In this sense, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture emphasizes deepening the reform of the cultural system to ensure that the development of the cultural economy follows the direction of advanced socialist culture and effectively stimulates the vitality of cultural innovation and creation.
About the Author:
Zhang Yongzhi is an Associate Senior Editor at the Center for Value and Culture Studies and the School of Philosophy, Beijing Normal University.
Source: Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 2025, No. 6.
Editor: Hui Hui