Chen Jianbo: The Communist Party of China Leads the Construction of a New Form of Human Civilization
Since its founding in 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has established its original aspiration and founding mission [1] to "seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation." For over 100 years, the CPC—proceeding from the perspective of the great trends of human development, the grand pattern of world change, and the long arc of China's historical development—has persisted in taking Marxist theory as its guide. It has continuously advanced the Sinicization and modernization [2] of Marxism, kept its feet planted on Chinese soil, carried forward Chinese culture, and innovated Chinese civilization. Shouldering the historical mission of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Party has consistently maintained that the development of the country and the nation must rest on the bedrock of its own strength. It has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country to achieve great successes in the New Democratic Revolution, the socialist revolution and construction, reform and opening up and socialist modernization, and the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. It has created a new quality of human civilization, launched the process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation into an irreversible historical course, and contributed Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to world development.
I. The Victory of the New Democratic Revolution Led by the CPC Rescued Chinese Civilization from the Fate of Decline
The Chinese revolution is of China, and it is also of the world. Mao Zedong pointed out that the New Democratic Revolution led by the CPC was "part of the proletarian-socialist world revolution" and specifically emphasized that "the Chinese revolution is a great part of the world revolution." The great victory of the Chinese revolution allowed the Chinese people to escape the fate of enslavement, possessing epoch-making significance for the promotion of the development of Chinese civilization and the progress of human civilization.
First, from its very birth, the CPC possessed historical consciousness and cultural confidence regarding the creation of a new quality of human civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The Chinese nation has a continuous history of civilization stretching back more than 5,000 years, has created the profound and extensive Chinese culture, and has made indelible contributions to the progress of human civilization." However, in modern times, due to the continuous aggression of Western powers and the increasing decay of feudal rule, China gradually descended into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The Chinese people lived in dire straits [3], and the Chinese nation faced a deep crisis of national subjugation and racial extinction. After the Opium War, the barbaric aggression of Western imperialism and the profound suffering of the Chinese people attracted the close attention of Marx and Engels. They highly affirmed the contribution of Chinese civilization to the progress of human civilization and predicted that "Chinese socialism" and a "Republic of China" would appear. Marxism revealed the laws of human social development and is the scientific truth with which we understand and transform the world. In 1917, the victory of the October Revolution led by Lenin opened a new era in human history. Mao Zedong pointed out: "The salvos of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism." As early as July 1920, in the article "Launching the Cultural Book Society," Mao Zedong pointed out that while everyone was "clamoring for a New Culture," they did not understand what New Culture actually was: "Nowhere in China is there yet a New Culture. Nowhere in the world is there yet a New Culture. A small flower of New Culture has been found in Russia on the shores of the Arctic Ocean." It can be said that the early Chinese Communists, born in the tide of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, held a distinct cultural position. "Marxism and the Russian Revolution were actually treated by them as the model of the New Culture and a new quality of civilization to be studied, pursued, practiced, and created." In 1921, along with the great awakening of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and through the integration of Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese workers' movement, the Communist Party of China was born. The establishment of the CPC provided the core leadership force for the Chinese people to carry out the struggle against imperialism and feudalism and to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, laying the organizational and leadership foundation for the generation and creation of a new quality of human civilization.
Second, the Chinese revolution led by the CPC reshaped the spiritual and cultural world of the Chinese nation, historically transforming the spirit of the Chinese nation from passive to active. Marxism is the "highest wisdom of humanity"; it has not only profoundly changed the world but also profoundly changed China. Advancing the Sinicization of Marxism is an important basis and fundamental content of the generation and creation of a new quality of human civilization. The Sinicization of Marxism underwent an arduous historical process of exploration, from the accumulation of practical experience to the formation of theoretical frameworks. In the struggle of the Chinese revolution, the Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their chief representative, integrated the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete reality of China. Through tortuous and arduous exploration, they found the correct path for the Chinese revolution and established Mao Zedong Thought, pointing the way forward for the victory of the New Democratic Revolution. In 1940, in On New Democracy, Mao Zedong clearly pointed out that under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people would surely "build a new society and a new state for the Chinese nation," thereby realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. "In this new society and new state, there will be not only a new politics and a new economy, but also a new culture. That is to say, we want not only to change a China that is politically oppressed and economically exploited into a China that is politically free and economically prosperous, but also to change a China which is being kept ignorant and backward under the sway of the old culture into a China that will be enlightened and progressive under the sway of a new culture. In short, we want to build a New China." Here, Mao Zedong placed culture alongside politics and the economy, creatively proposing an integrated framework for a New Democratic society. Mao Zedong was the "outstanding representative of our heroic proletariat and the outstanding representative of the fine traditions of our great nation." Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought nurtured and shaped the great spirit of the Chinese Communists, providing ideological guidance and laying a solid spiritual and cultural foundation for the generation and creation of a new quality of human civilization. The Chinese revolution led by the CPC is an important component of the cause of human civilization's progress. In the revolutionary struggle, the Party promoted the Great Founding Spirit of the Party—"upholding the truth and staying true to our ideals, fulfilling our original aspiration and founding mission, fighting bravely without fear of sacrifice, and remaining loyal to the Party and faithful to the people"—subsequently forming a series of great spirits such as the Jinggangshan Spirit, the Soviet Area Spirit, the Long March Spirit, the Yan'an Spirit, and the Spirit of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. These reached a new height of the human spirit and possess important revelatory significance for the Chinese nation and all people in the world who pursue progress and lofty ideals. From the perspective of the development of human civilization, the spiritual and cultural resources of the Chinese revolution are the great contribution of the CPC to the Chinese nation and all of humanity.
Third, the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) began a new journey for the revitalization of Chinese civilization and led new developments in the worldwide movement for national independence. On the eve of the founding of the PRC in September 1949, Mao Zedong pointed out in his opening address to the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: "We have a common feeling, that is, our work will be written in the history of humanity; it will demonstrate that the Chinese people, who make up a quarter of humanity, have stood up." The founding of the PRC realized national independence and the liberation of the people, completely ending the history of old China as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. It achieved the great leap from several millennia of feudal autocratic politics to people's democracy, opening a new era for the development and progress of the Chinese nation. It can be said that a new quality of human civilization based on a new social system also began to gradually brew and manifest on Chinese soil. Simultaneously, from the perspective of the progress of human civilization, the CPC led the Chinese people to creatively find the correct path of encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing political power by armed force. Ultimately achieving victory in the revolutionary struggle and establishing the New China, this greatly changed the global paradigm after the Second World War, inspiring and encouraging the struggles of oppressed nations and peoples throughout the world for freedom and liberation. It also prepared sufficient historical conditions and struggle experience for the generation and creation of a new quality of human civilization.
II. The Great Achievements of the Socialist Revolution and Construction in the New China Demonstrated a New Atmosphere for Socialist Civilization
After the founding of the PRC, the CPC led the vast masses of the people to complete the socialist revolution and advance socialist construction, accumulating rich experience and laying an important foundation for the generation and creation of a new quality of human civilization.
First, the socialist system established under the leadership of the CPC laid the fundamental prerequisite for the revitalization of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization. After the founding of the PRC, the Chinese Communists with Mao Zedong as their chief representative united and led the people to restore the economy, heal the wounds of war, and consolidate the fledgling people's political power. They achieved a fundamental improvement in the fiscal and economic situation and won the great victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea [4]. Through land reform and other democratic reforms, the national economy, which had once suffered severe destruction, was fully restored. All of this prepared the conditions for carrying out large-scale planned economic construction. In 1953, the Party formally proposed the General Line for the Transition Period. By the end of 1956, China had completed the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce, establishing the basic socialist system. This successfully realized the most profound, greatest, and most extensive social transformation in Chinese history, laying the fundamental political prerequisite and institutional foundation for all development and progress in contemporary China, and further strengthened the forces of the world socialist camp. Mao Zedong clearly pointed out that in addition to favorable factors such as a vast territory, abundant resources, and a large population, China had also implemented socialism; furthermore, "compared with capitalism, socialism has many superiorities, and the economic development of our country will be much faster than that of capitalist countries." Under the leadership of the CPC, the people chose the socialist system—a social system more advanced than capitalism—opening a new and great journey toward realizing national prosperity, national revitalization, and the people's happiness.
Second, the great achievements of socialist construction in the New China laid an important material and cultural foundation for the revitalization of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization. After the founding of the PRC, the CPC integrated the basic principles of Marxism with China's reality and carried out large-scale socialist construction, including cultural construction. In April 1956, Mao Zedong pointed out: Now that we have our own preliminary practice and the experience and lessons of the Soviet Union, we should emphasize proceeding from China's national conditions and carry out a "second integration" of Marxism with Chinese reality to find the correct path for socialist revolution and construction in China. The era in which the Chinese people were considered uncivilized has passed; the Chinese nation will appear in the world as a nation with a high degree of culture. In November 1956, in the article "In Memory of Mr. Sun Yat-sen," Mao Zedong pointed out: "China should make a greater contribution to humanity." Looking at it today, this great contribution is to provide a new civilizational choice for human development and progress. After the establishment of the basic socialist system, how to build socialism in China was a brand-new task facing the CPC. Mao Zedong conducted arduous exploration into a socialist construction path suitable for China's conditions. On the Ten Major Relationships preliminarily summarized the experience of our country's socialist construction, emphasizing the need to take the Soviet experience as a warning and establishing the basic policy of mobilizing all positive factors to serve the cause of socialist construction. In September 1956, the Eighth National Congress of the Party was successfully held, pointing out the direction for the development of our country's socialist cause and the building of the Party. In his speech at the 1962 "Seven Thousand Cadres Conference," Mao Zedong again clearly proposed that we must integrate the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete reality of China's socialist construction—and as far as possible, with the concrete reality of the future world revolution—to gradually understand the objective laws of struggle through practice. In December 1964, Zhou Enlai delivered the Government Work Report at the First Session of the Third National People's Congress, emphasizing the need to "build China into a powerful socialist country with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense, and modern science and technology." Additionally, in September 1949, Mao Zedong predicted at the Political Consultative Conference that along with the high tide of economic construction, a high tide of cultural construction would inevitably appear. In particular, the basic principles of socialist cultural construction proposed by Mao Zedong—"making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China"—as well as the policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" [5], promoted the integration, interaction, creative development, and fusion of the basic principles of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture. Under the leadership of the CPC, the people of all ethnic groups across the country high-spiritedly threw themselves into the tide of socialist construction. Tremendous changes occurred in Chinese society, and China became a major power with significant influence in the world. These achievements laid an important foundation for the CPC to lead the Chinese people in opening the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the generation and development of a new quality of human civilization.
III. The Great Practice of Reform and Opening Up Created and Developed a New Quality of Socialist Civilization with Chinese Characteristics
The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, convened in December 1978, achieved a strategic shift in the focus of the Party and state’s work, inaugurating the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization. Reform and opening up constitute a great revolution in the history of the development of the Chinese nation; they also represent a major experiment and a significant achievement in the history of human development.
First, the Communist Party of China created the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and world socialism. Following the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, Chinese Communists, with Deng Xiaoping as their chief representative, established Deng Xiaoping Theory and successfully initiated socialism with Chinese characteristics. Deng Xiaoping also pioneered the new concept of "Chinese-path modernization." In early 1992, Deng Xiaoping conducted inspection tours of Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shanghai, delivering speeches that provided new theoretical generalizations on a series of major issues concerning the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He emphasized that the essence of socialism is to liberate and develop the productive forces, eliminate exploitation, do away with polarization, and ultimately achieve common prosperity. This laid the preliminary foundation for the developmental orientation of the new form of civilization inherent in socialism with Chinese characteristics. From the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee to the 16th National Congress, Chinese Communists, with Jiang Zemin as their chief representative, formed the "Theory of Three Represents," propelling socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century. Through the period from the 16th to the 18th National Congress, Chinese Communists, with Comrade Hu Jintao as their chief representative, formed the Scientific Outlook on Development, persisting in and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. Deng Xiaoping Theory, the "Theory of Three Represents," and the Scientific Outlook on Development form a continuous lineage while also advancing with the times. They scientifically answered a series of fundamental questions regarding the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, constituting the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and realizing a new leap in the Sinicization of Marxism. Socialism with Chinese characteristics also shook off the historical shadow of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe [6], becoming the mainstay of the cause of world socialism, possessing great significance and profound influence on the development and progress of human civilization.
Second, China's reform and opening up greatly stimulated the vitality of world development, caused the global center of gravity to shift toward the East, and promoted the generation and shaping of a new form of human civilization. After the start of reform and opening up, the CPC made a scientific judgment on the characteristics of the era and the international situation, replacing the previous judgment of an era defined by "war and revolution" with one defined by "peace and development." The Party actively promoted the establishment of a just and rational new international political and economic order to promote lasting world peace and common prosperity. China joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in December 1991 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Furthermore, it joined multiple international and regional economic organizations such as the ASEAN Plus Three (10+3) and the G20. Under the leadership of the Party, through the continuous advancement of reform and opening up, our country achieved a historical transformation from a highly centralized planned economy system to a vibrant socialist market economy system, and from being closed or semi-closed to all-around opening up. In the short span of just over 30 years from the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 to the 18th National Congress in 2012, China's GDP jumped from 364.5 billion yuan in 1978 to 51.89 trillion yuan in 2012; per capita GDP increased from 381 yuan in 1978 to 38,420 yuan in 2012. By 2010, the total economic volume ranked second in the world... achieving the great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up to becoming prosperous. For many years, China's contribution to world economic growth has exceeded 30%, making it the largest contributor to global growth. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the CPC has persisted in taking Marxism as its guide, promoting fine traditional Chinese culture, inheriting and developing China’s revolutionary culture, and absorbing all the excellent achievements of human civilization. It has created and developed a socialist culture that is geared toward modernization, the world, and the future—a culture that is national, scientific, and popular—and has embarked on a path of construction and development for socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. A series of great spirits born during the period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization—such as the Reform and Opening-up Spirit, the Special Economic Zone Spirit, the Flood Fighting Spirit, the Earthquake Relief Spirit, the Manned Spaceflight Spirit, and the Women’s Volleyball Spirit—not only advanced the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics but also endowed the national spirit with new characteristics of the era, adding creative and vital contemporary Chinese elements to the exploration of a new form of human civilization.
IV. Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era Creates a New Form of Human Civilization and Leads New Developments in Human Civilization
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the Chinese people into the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Under the leadership of the CPC, China in the New Era has radiated strong historical confidence, historical consciousness, and historical initiative; a new form of human civilization has been created and continues to be enriched and developed. Therefore, from any perspective, the great changes of the decade of the New Era hold milestone significance in the history of the CPC, the history of the New China, the history of reform and opening up, the history of socialist development, and the history of the development of the Chinese nation.
First, the CPC created Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which has guided the great creation of a new form of human civilization. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era persists in applying the Marxist worldview and methodology. With a high degree of cultural consciousness, firm cultural confidence, a strong sense of cultural responsibility, and a brand-new cultural mission, it grasps the spiritual pursuits, spiritual traits, spiritual lineages, and value appeals that are consistent within the genetic makeup of Chinese civilization. It creatively transforms the achievements of Chinese civilization at the cultural level into an important foundation for cultural confidence; it creatively transforms the achievements of Chinese civilization at the level of values into the Core Socialist Values; it creatively transforms the achievements of Chinese civilization at the level of the historical outlook into historical confidence in the Chinese path; and it creatively transforms the achievements of Chinese civilization at the level of institutions into an important support for the modernization of the state governance system and governance capacity. It continuously endows scientific theory with distinct Chinese characteristics and continuously opens new horizons for the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. In short, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era comprehensively and deeply promotes the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture (the "Two Combinations") [7]. It has formed a brand-new theoretical form of contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st-century Marxism, opening a new realm in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. It guides the creation of a new path for Chinese-path modernization and a new form of human civilization, greatly advancing the historical process of the Chinese nation toward great rejuvenation. It has driven the modernization of Chinese civilization, becoming the theoretical essence of a new form of human civilization and displaying the brilliant prospects for the development of human civilization. It is the latest theoretical contribution of the Chinese Communists to the progress of human civilization and has earned high attention from the entire world.
Second, the CPC has led the construction of the "Five Civilizations" in China during the New Era, highlighting the integrity and coordination of the new form of human civilization. Since the 18th National Congress, the material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations of socialism with Chinese characteristics have been interconnected, mutually constrained, mutually reinforcing, and developing together. China’s economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national power have reached new heights; the economy has embarked on a path of development characterized by higher quality, greater efficiency, increased fairness, more sustainability, and enhanced security. The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics has become more mature and stable, and the level of modernization of the state governance system and governance capacity has significantly improved. The superiorities of the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics have been better utilized, the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has been continuously improved, and the Party's ability to lead and govern the country through the rule of law has been markedly strengthened. Core Socialist Values have been widely disseminated, fine traditional Chinese culture has undergone creative transformation and innovative development, and the cultural confidence and spiritual outlook of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups have become more vigorous. Social construction has been comprehensively strengthened, and the people's lives have been improved in all aspects, writing a new chapter in the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization has led to historical, transformative, and comprehensive changes in China's ecological civilization construction, resulting in bluer skies, greener mountains, and clearer water. In short, the Party's leadership in promoting the coordinated development of the "Five Civilizations" has allowed the new form of human civilization created by socialism with Chinese characteristics to radiate burgeoning vigor and vitality.
Third, upholding the "Four Confidences" in socialism with Chinese characteristics has allowed for the striving to write a brand-new chapter in comprehensively building a modern socialist country. Upholding confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the internal driving force for continuously advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the fundamental guarantee for realizing the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continuously deepened its understanding of the laws governing the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It has proposed a series of major theoretical innovations, overcome many long-standing difficult problems, accomplished many major tasks concerning long-term interests, and found the "second answer" to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall—namely, self-revolution. The cause of the Party and the state has achieved historical achievements and undergone historical changes, pushing our country onto a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. In 2019, the decision adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee for the first time systematically summarized thirteen aspects of the significant advantages of China’s state system and governance system. These cover Party leadership, the people as masters of the country, law-based governance, concentrating resources to accomplish large undertakings, ethnic unity, the economy, culture, people's livelihoods, reform and innovation, talent, national defense and the military, "One Country, Two Systems" and national reunification, and diplomacy. These are specific manifestations of the essential characteristics of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Notably, since the 18th National Congress, we have welcomed the centenary of the founding of the CPC, entered the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, completed the historical task of poverty alleviation and the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society (Xiaokang), and achieved the First Centenary Goal. We have also given birth to a series of spirits, such as the Poverty Alleviation Spirit, the Scientist Spirit, the Entrepreneur Spirit, the New Era Beidou Spirit, and the Beijing Winter Olympics Spirit, demonstrating to the world the uplifting spiritual outlook and incredibly firm spiritual strength of the Chinese people in the New Era. Upholding the "Four Confidences" means recognizing, thinking about, and believing in the historical necessity and immense superiority of socialism with Chinese characteristics from the height of human civilization.
Fourth, Chinese-path modernization is a great creation of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC and a major contribution to the development and progress of human society. Using Chinese-path modernization to comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is an important strategic deployment of the 20th National Congress of the CPC. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out in the report to the 20th National Congress: "The essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization are: upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics, pursuing high-quality development, developing whole-process people's democracy, enriching the spirit of the people, achieving common prosperity for all, promoting harmony between humanity and nature, building a community with a shared future for humanity, and creating a new form of human civilization." Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement (harmonizing material and spiritual civilizations), of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development. Practice has proved that Chinese-path modernization is a modernization path consistent with China's national conditions; it transcends the inherent models of Western modernization, allowing China to complete the journey in just a few decades that took Western developed capitalist countries several centuries. The overall entry of China’s population of more than 1.4 billion into a modern society—a scale exceeding the sum of the populations of existing developed countries—will be an extraordinary and important contribution to the progress of human civilization and is a prominent advantage of the new form of human civilization.
Fifth, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has proposed the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, making significant contributions to the construction of a world characterized by lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, and beauty. Matteo Ricci, the Italian missionary who came to China during the Ming Dynasty, once remarked: "I have carefully studied China's 4,000-year history, and I must admit that I have never seen records of such conquests, nor have I heard of them expanding their national borders." the famous British scholar Bertrand Russell once suggested that if China adopted the Western outlook on life and values, it would embark on a path of external expansion and follow in the footsteps of the Western Great Powers [8]. However, he argued that the Chinese people would not take such a path, and "therefore, the Chinese should be held in the highest esteem by all those who love humanity." Former U.S. President Richard Nixon believed that "China, with one billion of the world's most talented people and vast natural resources, will not only become the world's most populous nation but also the world's most powerful nation." At present, the great changes unseen in a century [9] are accelerating; the world has entered a period of turbulence and transformation, with instability and uncertainty rising significantly, and unilateralism and protectionism on the rise, posing serious threats to world multipolarity and economic globalization. This urgently requires all countries to earnestly safeguard multilateralism, strengthen communication and coordination, and unite to actively respond to major challenges. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has scientifically grasped the general trend of contemporary world development, conformed to the tide of the times characterized by peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, comprehensively advanced major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, and actively promoted the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. It has further promoted the common values of humanity—peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom—leading the trend of human progress and embodying the significant advantages of the new form of human civilization created by the people under the leadership of the CPC. The concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity is rooted in the open and inclusive "civilizational genes" of fine traditional Chinese culture; it further enriches and develops the Marxist theory of community [10], meets the expectations and interests of the vast majority of countries and peoples in the world, and effectively promotes mutual learning and integration among different cultures and civilizations. It fully demonstrates the theoretical, historical, realistic, and institutional logic of the Chinese people creating a new form of human civilization under the leadership of the CPC.
The CPC is the core force leading the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, as well as the core force leading the emergence, creation, and development of this new form of human civilization. The CPC insists on combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture [11], leading the Chinese people along the path of Chinese-path modernization, continuously achieving new development successes, and progressively creating a new form of human civilization. This new form of human civilization, created under the leadership of the CPC, is permeated with the historical wisdom of over 5,000 years and embodies the superiority of the socialist system. Through continuous reform, struggle, and innovation, it continues to explore better social systems and civilizational forms for humanity, providing more Chinese experience, solutions, and wisdom, and driving the wheels of history toward a bright future.
(The author is an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Marxism Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)