Wang Xiaofeng: An Interpretation of the Historical Materialist Perspective on the Complex Correlation Between Cultural Forms and Epochal Development and Its Contemporary Implications
The "Introduction to the Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy" (hereafter referred to as the Introduction) serves as the "general introduction" written by Marx for his work A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. In the Introduction, Marx "explained a series of important ideas regarding the relationship between the ideological superstructure and the economic base, and between literature and art and material production." Taking Ancient Greek art as his focal point, Marx analyzed the complex correlation between an era and its culture. This academic topic, rich in theoretical connotation, concerns the fundamental theories of building a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics and how to achieve the "Second Combination" [1]; as such, it merits deep exploration by contemporary scholars.
I. Classical cultural and artistic production "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form that characterizes world history"
Marx pointed out in the Introduction that "with regard to certain forms of art, such as the epic, it is even recognized that they can never be produced in the world-historic, epoch-making, classical form in which they appear as art production once it has set in as such." He further employed the metaphor: "A man cannot become a child again, or he becomes childish." These are Marx's expressions interpreting the complex correlation between era and culture from the perspective of historical materialism.
First, the emergence and extinction of cultural phenomena in any given era are determined by the conditions of social production of that time. In his 1883 preface to the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Engels pointed out that "the economic production and the structure of society of every historical epoch necessarily arising therefrom constitute the foundation for the political and intellectual history of that epoch," demonstrating that the spiritual culture of a specific era must be based on its specific material conditions and social structure. In the Introduction, Marx provided a profound explanation of the relationship between era and culture based on the history of the rise and fall of Ancient Greek art and mythology. On one hand, he revealed the epochal roots of Ancient Greek mythology: "All mythology overcomes and dominates and shapes the forces of nature in the imagination and by the help of the imagination." In the childhood of human history, whether it was the Ancient Greeks living by the Aegean Sea or the people of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties [2] hunting and farming in the Yellow River basin, all lived in an era of underdeveloped productive forces. Their understanding of the laws of the external world and their own activities was in a state of blindness. During this period, people viewed the alien natural laws that dominated them as being in opposition to themselves. Natural phenomena where "violent storms suddenly arise, then an instant later the sky is clear for ten thousand miles" [3] felt inconceivable and terrifying to the Ancient Greeks and the people of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou, as if some mysterious god of fate governed their life and death. Lacking the capacity to control nature, they could only "overcome the forces of nature in the imagination and by the help of the imagination," and thus mythology was born out of "fantasy." Ancient Greek mythology became the womb of Greek art; thus Marx said: "Greek art presupposes Greek mythology, that is, nature and the social forms themselves already reworked in an unconsciously artistic way by the popular imagination." On the other hand, he also believed that Ancient Greek mythology vanished along with the disappearance of the epochal conditions that produced it. With social progress and the advancement of science and technology, humanity gradually improved its ability to understand the external world, moving away from the state of "overcoming natural forces through imagination." The era of flourishing Ancient Greek mythology became a historical ruin, as those immature social conditions could never return. Marx asked in the Introduction: "Is the view of nature and of social relations which shaped Greek imagination and thus Greek mythology possible in the age of automatic machinery, railways, locomotives and electric telegraphs? ... Does not song and saga and the muse necessarily come to an end with the printer’s bar, and do not the necessary conditions of epic poetry disappear?" The fundamental reason why Ancient Greek art, birthed from mythology, is difficult to reproduce in later ages is that advanced modes of production changed humanity's superficial understanding of nature, society, and itself, moving from a stage of ignorance toward an era of scientific understanding.
Second, this reveals the essence of numerous cultural phenomena titled "Renaissance" or "Revivals" in the cultural history of China and the West. According to Marx's view that classical culture "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form," those cultural phenomena labeled as "revivals" throughout history may have absorbed the achievements of past cultures, yet they are not simple repetitions. Rather, they are new cultures developed under new historical conditions, possessing new epochal content. For example, the Renaissance that rose in 14th-century Europe, though carrying the banner of reviving Ancient Greek culture, did not in essence revive it. Instead, it created an emerging bourgeois culture compatible with the capitalist mode of production. It produced a vast number of great artists and humanist scholars that could not have appeared in any period of Ancient Greek civilization, along with a multitude of great works significant to the histories of art, literature, and thought, marking another peak in the historical development of Western culture. Not only was the Renaissance unable to duplicate Ancient Greek culture, but the Renaissance itself—once its generative conditions vanished—could hardly be reappeared in subsequent history. As Engels pointed out, "in Italy there was an undreamt-of flowering of art, which seemed like a reflection of classical antiquity and was never again to be attained." Following the Renaissance, another peak of thought and culture appeared in Europe from the 17th to the 18th century—the Enlightenment. The thinkers of the Enlightenment carried forward the anti-superstition traditions of Ancient Greece and Rome and absorbed the humanist essence of the Renaissance, yet no one considers the Enlightenment a replay of Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman, or Renaissance culture. Thus, the cultures produced during several flourishing periods in Western intellectual history—Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment—present content with their own epochal characteristics and cannot substitute for one another. Engels believed that modern socialism "in its theoretical form, it at first appears as a further and allegedly more consistent development of the principles established by the great French philosophers of the Enlightenment," [4] but Engels certainly would not have considered modern socialism a mere carbon copy of Enlightenment thought.
Similarly, the grand cultural spectacles that appeared in China’s ancient history, such as the "Bronze Culture" of the Shang and Zhou transition or the "Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought" [5] during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, once they declined, could "no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form," as Marx said. Whether it was the "Wei-Jin Grace" [6] during the gaps of fractured chaotic times, the "High Tang Resonance," [7] or the refined and restrained culture of the Two Song Dynasties [8], all were distinctly different from the culture of the "Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought." By the late Qing Dynasty, the feudal system encountered a major crisis. From the Kang-Liang Reform Movement [9] to the New Culture Movement [10] and then the May Fourth Movement, the intellectual world was turbulent. Although later generations called this a "Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought," it was not a reproduction of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period in any substantive sense.
Third, new culture often borrows certain elements and the "outer clothing" of old culture, yet in content, it constitutes a transcendence of the old. The historian Lü Simian believed that "when a new culture replaces an old one, this new culture must have already incorporated the strengths of the old; this is a dialectical truth." The development from an old culture to a new one is a fundamental transformation; the new culture completes the transcendence of the old. A new culture that achieves transcendence needs to absorb the old, but it is not a reappearance of it. In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx on one hand affirmed: "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living." On the other hand, he believed that while history often sees later generations mimicking their predecessors, in many cases, it ends in the manner of a "parody" or "farce": "they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service, borrowing from them names, battle cries, and costumes in order to present this new scene in world history in time-honored disguise and borrowed language." However, Marx saw more clearly that the essence of such scenes is that "the resurrection of the dead served the purpose of glorifying the new struggles, not of parodying the old; of magnifying the given task in the imagination, not of fleeing from its solution in reality; of finding once more the spirit of revolution, not of making its ghost walk again."
The transformation of China's old culture with Marxism has achieved a historical transcendence of the old culture in both content and form. On the eve of the victory of the War of Liberation [11], Mao Zedong wrote in The Bankruptcy of the Idealist Conception of History: "The great, victorious Chinese People's War of Liberation and the great people's revolution have revived and are reviving the great culture of the Chinese people." He believed the victory of the Chinese revolution would create favorable conditions for reviving the "great culture of the Chinese people." However, the culture "already revived and being revived" mentioned here does not mean the wholesale restoration of all ancient culture, including the ideology and concepts of the reactionary ruling classes. Rather, it means the revitalization of the progressive "great culture of the Chinese people" that represents the direction of historical development—namely, fine traditional Chinese culture that has been transformed by Marxism, shifting the Chinese people's spirit from passive to active. In its spiritual aspect, this culture of the Chinese people not only transcends ancient traditional culture but "has already surpassed that of the entire capitalist world." Only this culture, transformed by Marxism, determined that "the era in modern world history in which Chinese people and Chinese culture were looked down upon should come to an end."
Fourth, concerning a theory of cultural progress that is real rather than false. When Marx said that classical culture "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form," he was not denying cultural progress; on the contrary, he was fully affirming it. Marx pointed out in the Introduction that "the concept of progress is not to be taken in the usual abstract form." Progress in this "abstract" sense refers to a progress that does not contain epochal content or the inevitable regressions and detours of certain aspects. Actual cultural progress is precisely a progress that includes epochal content, regressions, and twists. Engels believed that "every kind of thing has a peculiar way of being denied in such a manner that it gives rise to a development." Greek mythology declined, but modern society produced science fiction novels and films; the Greek epic declined, but the elements of the epic were preserved in long-form novels and chapter-based romances [12] within the realm of linguistic and literary art, flourishing to a much broader and deeper extent. Marx did not feel surprised or regretful about the decline of Greek culture which "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form." Instead, he understood the decline of Greek art as its development toward a higher level, because progress is always realized through its own negation. Marx always viewed historical issues from a historical height. As he wrote in The British Rule in India: "Whatever may be the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution... if we feel compelled to say that the misery inflicted by the British on Hindostan is of an essentially different and infinitely more intensive kind... we should not forget... if we may use the words of Goethe: 'Should this torture then torment us / Since it brings us greater pleasure? / Were not through the rule of Timur / Souls devoured without measure?'" Therefore, Marx's view on why certain classical cultures "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form" means that old cultures that fail to keep pace with the times inevitably exit the stage of history, but new cultures that walk in step with the era will necessarily be born.
II. Classical artistic models in the contemporary era "still afford us artistic pleasure"
Since classical culture and art "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form," does this mean that classical culture and art are outdated and have lost their contemporary value? Regarding this question, Marx believed that one cannot simply use "outdated" to describe classical cultures whose grand spectacles are difficult to reproduce. Marx pointed out in the Introduction that classical art "still afford[s] us artistic pleasure and that in a certain respect they count as a norm and as an unattainable model."
Marx argued that the charm of classical art for modern humans "does not contradict the underdeveloped stage of society on which it grew. [It] is rather the result of [that stage], and is inextricably bound up with the fact that the immature social conditions under which it arose, and could alone arise, can never return." This sentence reveals the internal mechanism by which classical culture "still affords us artistic pleasure." In an underdeveloped social stage, people were fully capable of developing a certain art form in a one-sided manner unique to that era, creating a glorious culture. For example, once mature writing systems were formed, it became impossible to produce oracle bone script or cuneiform. Only in the "childhood of humanity," when productive forces were underdeveloped, could oracle bone script—which could only appear in that specific era—be produced, thereby creating a magnificent oracle bone culture that exerts a strong artistic appeal to people today. Ancient China’s brilliant "clan emblem culture" [13] was a product of the abstraction of natural objects into totems for worship; "the painted pottery basins unearthed at Banpo [14] feature human-face fish motifs, both of which were likely totems worshipped by certain clans." Yet, contemporary society can no longer produce the clan emblem culture unique to ancient society.
Whether art possesses a moving charm depends crucially on whether it can reflect the essence of the era and strike a chord in the heart of the viewer, regardless of whether the art is ancient or modern. Even a modern work of culture or art, if it fails to truly and vividly embody the essence of the era and instead reduces art to a plaything for the artist’s pastime and pleasure, will find it difficult to produce a lasting artistic infection among the masses. Conversely, even an artist living thousands of years ago, as long as they refined true life into art and fully reflected the essence and spiritual outlook of their era, will see their work bring spiritual resonance and artistic pleasure to viewers both ancient and modern. Viewers may be shocked by the exquisite skill displayed in classical art, or they may be led by it into a deep meditation on the essence of an era. All works that reflect truth, goodness, and beauty, and all works that meet the requirements of historical progress, occupy a lofty position in history and continuously exude a captivating charm. This is why Marx said classical artistic paradigms "still afford us artistic pleasure."
There are several circumstances under which classical art "still affords us artistic pleasure."
First, classical art more easily evokes emotions of nostalgia in the modern viewer. Classical architecture, painting, and sculpture are living fossils of ancient civilizations, serving as carriers that connect the production and life scenes of ancestors with modern society. Some classical works are solemn and grave, others passionate and unrestrained; some lead through winding paths to secluded spots, while others are grand and magnificent; some are subtle and reserved, others humorous and grotesque... yet all can pluck at one's heartstrings. Confucius’s remark, "It passes on just like this, not ceasing day or night!" [15] and Chen Zi'ang’s [16] lines, "Where are the sages of the past? I see them not. Where are the greats of the future? They do not come. Thinking of the eternity of heaven and earth, alone in my sorrow, my tears fall," express lamentations over the flow of the universe and the changes of time. These allow people to feel the relationship between the natural universe and humanity, attaining a philosophical aesthetic experience. This is the charm of classical art. The older the classical art, the more it can stir emotions of historical retrospection, and the more unique its charm becomes.
Second, if classical art reflects human emotions that are common to both ancient and modern times, it can provide artistic pleasure to contemporary people. Artistic works created by ancient artists, such as Su Dongpo’s [17] "The moon has its phases of dimness and brightness, roundness and wax; people have their sorrows and joys, partings and reunions," allow people to reach a high degree of integration between man and nature, man and society, within an atmosphere of a bright moon in a vast, lonely sky. Another example is the famous sculpture in the ancient Greek style, Laocoön and His Sons. Through the life-and-death struggle of Laocoön and his sons as they are entwined by giant serpents, it expresses human feelings of dread, terror, and sympathy, striking the depths of the viewer's soul. Consequently, it holds indispensable significance in the study of Western art history and aesthetics. "From Michelangelo to the Baroque master Bernini, countless artists over two hundred years observed, studied, and emulated it." Humanity has evolved through dogged struggle; the greatness of the spirit of struggle and sacrifice embodied in classical works is soul-stirring and transcends the limits of time and space, inevitably reappearing in the works of later generations.
Third, classical art that expresses the beauty of nature—common to both ancient and modern times—can bring lasting artistic pleasure to contemporary people. Outstanding classical music, painting, and literature of this kind always provide aesthetic experiences of joy, passion, tranquility, desolation, the vicissitudes of time, and visual delight. Engels mentioned the joy brought by natural beauty: "The ancient Greek poets of Sicily, Theocritus and Moschus, once sang of the idyllic life of their contemporaries—the pastoral slaves; no doubt, this was a beautiful, poetic illusion." When people silently recite lines like "The falling sunset glow flies with the lone duck; the autumn water shares the same color as the vast sky," or "The green mountains on both banks emerge to meet each other; a single sail comes from the direction of the sun," or "Apricot blossom rain wets the clothes but does not soak; willow wind blows on the face but is not cold," they also transcend the limits of time and space to feel the wonder of nature and experience joy.
Fourth, classical art that expresses the spirit of freedom and liberation yearned for by humans of all ages—while castigating the false, the ugly, and the evil and promoting the true, the good, and the beautiful—"still affords us artistic pleasure." Marx pointed out that the historical stage of the free and well-rounded development of humanity has not yet been realized; the pursuit of freedom and liberation is subject to a triple constraint from nature, society, and the soul. Ancient Greek nude sculptures happened to meet the requirements of the social trend during the Renaissance to break free from the ideological shackles of the Middle Ages and pursue intellectual liberation, possessing immense artistic attraction for humanists. The pastoral poet Tao Yuanming [18] despised fame and fortune, refused to "bend his back for five pecks of rice," and pursued the perfection of inner character. His Account of the Peach Blossom Spring reflects the author’s ideal of pursuing a free and peaceful life and his dissatisfaction with real life, possessing lasting artistic charm. Whether it is the Seventh Fairy in the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, who escaped the restrictions of the Heavenly Court to pursue happiness in the human world; or the White Lady, who fought the monk Fahai, flooded the Jinshan Temple, and was suppressed under the Leifeng Pagoda; whether it is Dou E, whose vows moved heaven and earth to produce "snow in the sixth month"; or Lin Daiyu, who lived under another's roof and sorrowfully buried flower petals—all of them embody the strong desire of the masses to resist feudal oppression and pursue a free and happy life. This coincides with the contemporary human desire for freedom, happiness, and well-rounded development, thereby retaining contemporary value.
Marx believed that the "artistic pleasure" classical culture "still affords us" is a type of pleasure that is not detached from the standards of its era. The Introduction [19] notes: "Does not the naivety of the child give pleasure to the adult? Should he not himself strive to reproduce the child's veracity on a higher plane? In every epoch, does not its inherent character come alive again in its natural truth in the nature of the child? Why should the historical childhood of humanity, where it unfolded most beautifully, not exert an eternal charm as a stage that will never return?" Marx expressed several layers of meaning here: First, just as the naivety of a child pleases an adult, ancient art from thousands of years ago still possesses charm for contemporary people and brings them joy. Second, the child's naivety that pleases adults is a pure authenticity that has not yet experienced the warmth and coldness or the sweetness and bitterness of the human world. Only after passing the tests of the era's hardships can a child move toward maturity and mental wholeness. Classical culture cannot merely remain at the "childhood stage" of bringing pleasure to adults through innocence and naivety—just as a child must grow up, it must continue to shine on a higher and newer stage. Third, contemporary humanity can feel the charm of the excellent traditional culture produced during that underdeveloped historical stage, but humanity cannot temporally return to the childhood of that underdeveloped human society. The charm possessed by traditional culture is a charm linked to those immature social conditions which produced it and can never return.
While putting forward the view that classical art "still affords us artistic pleasure," Marx also proposed another characteristic of classical art: that "in certain respects [it] still constitutes a norm and an unattainable paradigm." This conforms to the artistic characteristics of classical Chinese poetry. To pursue elegance, classical Chinese poetry strove for perfection under strict norms, pushing the beauty of the national language to its peak and forming stable aesthetic styles and metrical paradigms. Rhythmic prose with neat phrases, parallel prose (piánwén) striving for ornate diction, and the Music Bureau (Yuefu) style poems that could be sung or recited, developed to the point where most people could only look up at them with reverence. However, such exquisite and "unattainable" rhetoric and metrical rules actually limited the dissemination and further development of classical culture. During the "great changes unseen in a millennium" [20] since the beginning of the modern era, the classical and elegant formal mantle of traditional poetry lost its vitality, making it difficult to vividly transmit the voice of the era to the masses across a broad social scope. Contemporary Chinese people must study and inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, such as Tang poetry, Song lyrics (ci), and Yuan opera; however, the vitality of classical art exists in the process of continuous innovation to meet the requirements of the times. From the end of the 19th century, when the pioneer of modern Chinese poetry Huang Zunxian advocated for colloquializing poetry, to Liang Qichao calling for a "revolution in the poetic world" to push classical culture toward the masses and transform "literati literature" into "commoner literature." If the obstruction posed by Classical Chinese (wenyanwen) to the masses' acceptance of new ideas was not removed, "democracy" and "science" could not take root in China. The leaders of the New Culture Movement [21] followed the needs of the times and actively promoted the vernacular (baihua), leading to the publication of vernacular novels and New Poetry. During the Yan'an period, Mao Zedong called for the "reform of writing under certain conditions; language must approach the masses. One must know that the masses are the infinitely rich source of revolutionary culture." This promoted linguistic standardization and allowed "unattainable" classical culture to "fly into the homes of ordinary people," forming a national, scientific, and popular culture that took the broad laboring masses as its aesthetic subjects, objects of expression, and reading audience, using forms they loved to see and hear.
III. The Development of Art and Culture is "Bound up with Certain Forms of Social Development"
Regarding the relationship between art and the era, the Introduction puts forward a viewpoint based on the historical facts of ancient Greek art: "Greek art and epos are bound up with certain forms of social development." This is a manifestation of Marx’s consistent adherence to historical materialism in the field of culture and art.
The core of historical materialism was summarized by Engels as follows: "all historical phenomena can be explained in the simplest way, and similarly the conceptions and ideas of each historical period can be explained most simply by the economic conditions of life of that period and by the social and political relations of that period which are in turn determined by these conditions." A feudal society inevitably produces feudal culture, and a capitalist society inevitably produces capitalist culture. This was summarized by Mao Zedong as: "a given culture is the ideological reflection of the politics and economics of a given society." This indicates that the development of culture and art, because it is "bound up with certain forms of social development," is inevitably and deeply branded with the mark of the era.
First, culture being "bound up with certain forms of social development" means that a specific culture is the product of a specific era. When people speak of culture, they usually refer to the culture "bound up with certain forms of social development" rather than a culture detached from such forms. In the Introduction, Marx argued that the production of Greek culture had its own specific form of social development: "Greek art presupposes Greek mythology." The forms of social development that produced Egyptian mythology and Greek mythology were different; therefore, "Egyptian mythology could never have been the soil or the womb of Greek art." Marx and Engels also analyzed the close relationship between the artistic works of different artists and the forms of social development of their eras: "Raphael's artistic works were to a large extent connected with the prosperity of Rome under Florentine influence; Leonardo’s works were deeply influenced by the Florentine environment; and Titian’s works were deeply influenced by the entirely different development of Venice." Even the most innovative artists find it difficult to escape the constraints imposed on them by the social development forms of their specific era.
The political, economic, and cultural conditions of a given era, as well as its social and political relations, determine the nature, style, content, and transformation of that era's cultural thought. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods [22], a flourishing and magnificent cultural situation of "the contention of a hundred schools of thought" [23] emerged in China; this was the product of a specific era. At that time, China was in a period of major change in its social system; society was in turmoil, and numerous vassal states stood side by side, such that no single authoritative ideological system could unify the intellectual world. Knowledge was no longer monopolized by a few aristocrats; the practice of opening private schools became prevalent, and many intellectuals emerged from the middle and lower classes of the common people. From among them arose a group of men with great ambitions, and the practice of "itinerant lobbying" became widespread. Ideological representatives of various classes expressed their views on the future social system to lead society in a direction favorable to their own class. During the Spring and Autumn period, princes and high officials competed to recruit talented individuals, and the atmosphere for academic discussion was quite relaxed. These conditions created the cultural wonder of "the contention of a hundred schools of thought." However, after the Qin unified the country, feudal relations of production were gradually established and perfected. In order to consolidate and develop these feudal relations of production, feudal rulers inevitably sought to stifle people's thought. By the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu submitted a memorial upon imperial decree, vigorously arguing for the "Three Strategies on Heaven and Man" [24] and "proscribing the hundred schools while honoring only Confucianism." The ruling class, dedicated to consolidating the feudal system, regarded "the contention of a hundred schools of thought" as a factor threatening the stability of political power.
Second, that culture is "bound up with certain forms of social development" means that culture must be endowed with new contemporary connotations as society progresses. Marx asked: "Is Achilles possible with powder and lead? Or is the Iliad possible with the printing press and let us say the printing machine?" Marx was not saying here that Greek art and epics would lose their value; in fact, "classical" culture, including Greek art, possesses enduring aesthetic value and charm. However, we can discern from this Marx’s viewpoint that culture and art are "bound up with certain forms of social development." Engels pointed out: "The theoretical thought of every epoch, including our own, is a historical product, which at different times assumes very different forms and, therewith, very different contents." For example, the concept of "the people" (民, min) in the history of ancient thought has been endowed with new contemporary connotations alongside social progress. One must never simply equate the connotation of "the people" in the ancient maxim "the people are the foundation of the state" [25] with the connotation of "the people" in the fundamental purpose of the Communist Party of China—serving the people. Mao Zedong profoundly noted that "the 'love for the people' shown by the exploiting classes is much the same as the love for an ox." No matter how brilliant the views of "valuing the people" or "pitying the people" put forward by excellent thinkers and politicians within the ruling class camp, they always placed the masses in a position of being granted favors and receiving pity. The Communist Party of China has achieved a thorough transcendence of the ancient connotation of "the people," regarding those who were viewed as servants in the past as the masters and creators of history.
Third, that culture is "bound up with certain forms of social development" means that cultural phenomena and theoretical propositions produced in ancient or modern times, in China or abroad, emerge in an orderly fashion according to the requirements of the development of the times, rather than appearing in a disorganized way. Every ideological concept has its specific era of emergence: "the real content of all epoch-making systems is formed by the needs of the period in which these systems were generated." In his critique of Proudhon’s idealistic conceptualism, Marx pointed out that if one examines what people were like in the 11th century and what they were like in the 18th century, what their respective needs were, their productive forces, their modes of production, and the raw materials used in production, and finally, what the relations between man and man were that resulted from all these conditions of existence, one would discover that "each principle has had its own century in which to manifest itself. The principle of authority, for example, had the 11th century, just as the principle of individualism had the 18th century." This is not accidental. As Marx pointed out in the Introduction [to the Grundrisse]: "Only in the eighteenth century, in 'civil society', do the various forms of social connectedness appear to the individual as a mere means regarding his private purposes, as external necessity." Not only is the proposition of individualism a product of socio-economic and political conditions, but any cultural phenomenon or theoretical proposition produced in human history is determined by the economic living conditions of a specific era and the social and political relations determined by those conditions.
IV. The uneven relationship between material production and the development of culture and art
Marxism is not mechanical materialism; it does not believe that material production mechanically determines the content and form of culture. In the Introduction, Marx proposed the proposition of "the uneven relationship between the development of material production and, e.g., that of art," and explained specifically: "In the case of art, it is well known that certain periods of its flowering are out of all proportion to the general development of society, hence also to the material foundation, the skeletal structure as it were, of its organization." The proposition regarding the uneven relationship between the development of material production and that of art can be understood from the following aspects.
First, an era in which material production is not developed can still create culture of great significance. Generally speaking, the prosperity of material production often brings about cultural prosperity, and culture progresses with the improvement of the political and economic conditions of the era. However, Marx further argued that in every historical period, whether at a developed or underdeveloped stage, humanity is capable of creating the peak culture achievable by that era. Marx wrote in the Introduction: "In the realm of art itself, certain significant art forms are possible only at an underdeveloped stage of artistic development." This statement is confirmed in the history of Greek art. Ancient Greece was at an underdeveloped stage of human society, but this did not preclude certain art forms such as painting, sculpture, mythology, and epics from attaining a considerable degree of development. Humans in ancient times did not understand the nature of natural phenomena like sound, light, and electricity that only modern physics could reveal, let alone electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, or relativity; yet their sense of awe toward the unfathomable mysterious forces of the external world exceeded that of modern people. Combining their own life practices and cognition of the outside world, and using the collective consciousness of ancient people’s intense reverence and fear of deities as material, ancient artists created a romantic and artistically charming world of myths and captivating epic stories that were both formidable and fascinating. Compared to capitalist society, slave society was characterized by the concentration of large numbers of slaves to build grand projects such as massive palaces, theaters, and statues on a large scale. As Engels said, "it was only slavery that made the division of labor between agriculture and industry possible on a larger scale, and thereby also Hellenism, the flower of the ancient world. Without slavery, no Greek state, no Greek art and science." During the Yan'an period [26], the material conditions of the Communist Party of China were extremely difficult. However, workers on the vast cultural front were full of enthusiasm and created a large number of outstanding works beloved by the masses, such as the Yellow River Cantata, The White-Haired Girl, and the March of the Volunteers, which remain famous at home and abroad today.
Second, while culture and art are reflections of social existence and excellent culture and art reflect the essence of the times, the personal talent, interests, and preferences of cultural creators influence the production of cultural products. Culture and art are reflections of realistic material relations of production, but they are also "free spiritual production of a given social formation" by artists. Although material production was underdeveloped in ancient Greece and during China's Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, as long as the basic conditions for life and work were met, craftsmen and artists with exceptional skills could still manifest extraordinary imagination and expressive techniques to create outstanding cultural and artistic works. This is because, in addition to the attribute of being bound up with certain forms of social development, artistic creation also possesses individual characteristics closely related to the creator's personal talent, interests, and preferences. The progress of material production drives the continuous renewal and enrichment of the materials and types of musical instruments. However, as to whether to compose and play an upbeat and optimistic tune or a sorrowful and indignant one, or whether to express vague individual emotions or the hardships of the people—it is the composers and performers themselves who have the greatest say. In an era of material prosperity, artistic masterpieces may emerge in large numbers like bamboo shoots after a spring rain; but in times of war and chaos, when life is hard and circumstances are tragic, a creative cultural giant may instead have more opportunity to experience the hardships of survival and be more driven to create works that "lament the many hardships in the lives of the people" [27], producing cultural and artistic works that are widely read and recited. King Wen developed the Iliad of Changes while imprisoned; Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals while in distress; Qu Yuan composed the Li Sao (Encountering Sorrow) while in exile—all these were works created by sages who directed their indignation into creation when facing difficult circumstances [28].
Third, social consciousness possesses relative independence; many factors within ideological culture interact with each other, and economically backward countries can also create advanced culture. Marx believed that the various elements within culture interact with one another and are not solely constrained by material production. In the Introduction, he proposed that "Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art but also its foundation." This view that internal elements of ideological culture can interact with each other was inherited and profoundly explained by Engels in his later years. The elder Engels believed that the development of philosophy depends not only on socio-economic development but is also influenced by the politics, law, and morality of a specific period. As long as the conditions for the accumulation of intellectual material and the political and legal environment are favorable to the development of philosophy, "economically backward countries can still play first fiddle in philosophy." The history of modern Western ideological culture confirms Marx’s principle of the uneven relationship between material production and cultural development. In the mid-to-late 18th century, Britain completed the Industrial Revolution and capitalist productive forces developed rapidly, yet in France, which was economically far behind Britain, cultural giants such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot appeared. In Germany, where the level of productive forces lagged far behind Britain and France, a philosophical revolution occurred starting from Kant, passing through Hegel, and finally reaching Feuerbach; in literature and art, masters like Goethe, Heine, and Schiller emerged, creating the peculiar situation where "this era was scandalous in political and social terms, but great in terms of German literature"—not to mention the birth of the "thinker of the millennium" Marx and his comrade Engels. It is worth noting that the view that economically backward countries can create advanced culture should not be absolutized. When explaining the principle of the relative independence of social consciousness, Engels pointed out: "In France as in Germany, philosophy, like the general flowering of literature at that time, was also the result of a rising economic development. That economic development is the ultimately supreme power over these areas is to me certain."
V. Revelations of Marx’s investigation into the complex connection between cultural forms and the development of the times for contemporary cultural research
In the Introduction, Marx explored the complex correlation between cultural forms and the development of the times. These ideological viewpoints bring many important revelations to contemporary Chinese cultural research, particularly regarding the research on the "Second Combination" [29].
First, Marx’s view that the flourishing cultures of the past "can no longer be produced in that epoch-making, classical form in which they made their appearance in the world" is highly instructive for promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture.
SinceAny "renaissance" of culture, whether ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, is in essence a culture that travels in tandem with its era and is endowed with new epochal content; therefore, the "cultural renaissance" currently discussed in Chinese theoretical circles is not, in its essence, a reappearance of ancient culture in a totalizing sense. Rather, it is necessarily a new culture formed through creative development, integrated with the needs of the economic base and superstructure of China in the New Era. Thus, regarding the discussion on combining the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, the key issue is not whether to "combine," nor even why to "combine," but rather how to "combine." In combining the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, we must guard against two tendencies: one is to possess a treasure at home but see it as a "worn-out broom" [30], describing Chinese traditional culture as a "filthy sauce vat" [31]. This view exaggerates the negative factors within Chinese traditional culture while ignoring its positive factors, which is detrimental to the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture. The other tendency is to possess a "worn-out broom" but see it as a treasure, one-sidedly exaggerating the positive elements of Chinese traditional culture and elevating them to an inappropriate height, even believing that socialist thought could have emerged in the small-scale peasant economy of ancient China.
Regarding how to realize the "Second Combination," General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out a scientific path: namely, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. So-called creative transformation means "transforming those connotations and outdated forms of expression that still possess value for reference today in accordance with the characteristics and requirements of the times, endowing them with new epochal connotations and modern forms of expression to activate their vitality." Innovative development means "supplementing, expanding, and perfecting the connotations of fine traditional Chinese culture in accordance with the new progress and developments of the era, enhancing its influence and appeal." Marxism remains the unsurpassable peak in the history of human thought to this day: "In the history of human thought, no other ideological theory has exerted such a broad and profound influence on humanity as Marxism." Therefore, to realize the "Second Combination," we must examine fine traditional Chinese culture using Marxist stances, viewpoints, and methods. We oppose both the hyper-epochal, de-historicized, and supra-class beautification of fine traditional Chinese culture, as well as the tarnishing of fine traditional Chinese culture by Western-centrists.
Second, Marx’s viewpoint that the culture of humanity’s "childhood" "exerts an eternal charm" inspires us that fine traditional Chinese culture possesses an eternal charm. The spirit of fine traditional Chinese culture, contained within its vast treasury, still emits a dazzling brilliance for our times.
The outstanding myths and stories of China possess eternal charm. Lacking scientific knowledge of agriculture and nomadic herding, the Huaxia [32] ancestors felt that the success or failure of the harvest rested entirely with "Heaven" (天 tian); thus, "Heaven" became in the minds of the ancestors an entity possessing human character and will. Rational yet romantic, the Huaxia ancestors constructed a heavenly palace and divine courts centered on the "Purple Forbidden Enclosure" (紫薇垣 Ziwei Yuan), with the "Three Enclosures, Four Symbols, and Twenty-eight Mansions" [33] as the main structure—sacred, solemn, orderly, and captivating. The "Heavenly Market" and "Heavenly Street" were bustling; the "Heavenly Fields" could be tilled and woven; and lovers on the two banks of the "Heavenly River" (the Milky Way) gazed at each other from afar: "Separated by only a stretch of clear water, they gaze tenderly but cannot speak." The rulers of ancient China followed this "Purple Forbidden" culture, calling the Imperial Palace the "Purple Forbidden City" (the Forbidden City). As a whole, the Forbidden City is a work of art—with carved beams, painted rafters, grand scale, and majestic momentum, yet highly harmonious and unified—and thus "exerts an eternal charm." Artistic figures from ancient mythology such as Wukong [34] and Nezha, endowed with a new spirit of the times by contemporary people, can likewise "exert an eternal charm."
Furthermore, fine traditional Chinese culture is a vast treasury containing a cultural spirit that benefits the present day. The spirit of fine traditional Chinese culture belongs to that culture, yet the culture itself is not directly identical to its spirit. The spirit is distilled from the culture and embodies its essence. Marx’s view that Greek art, which originated in the childhood of humanity, "even for some aspects serves as a norm and an unattainable model" in place where it developed most perfectly, points us toward the correct direction for inheriting and carrying forward the spirit of fine traditional Chinese culture in the New Era. This spirit still "exerts an eternal charm" in the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics and is a precious spiritual wealth that contemporary people must inherit and develop. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we must "connect the essence of Marxist thought with the cream of fine traditional Chinese culture." The "cream" (精华 jinghua) mentioned here is distinct from the general body of traditional culture; it encapsulates the spirit of fine traditional Chinese culture.
The "exemplary character of the gentleman" (君子风范 junzi fengfan) left by our ancestors—"As Heaven’s movement is ever vigorous, so must the gentleman ceaselessly strive for self-improvement; as the Earth’s capacity is great, so must the gentleman sustain all things with great virtue" [35]; the "noble spirit" (浩然正气 haoran zhengqi) of "Since ancient times, who has escaped death? Let my loyal heart shine in the pages of history" [36]; the "familial and national concern" (家国情怀 jiaguo qinghuai) of "being the first to worry about the world’s troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures" [37]; the "integrity warning" of "observing former sages, states, and families—success comes from diligence and thrift, while failure stems from extravagance"; and the "expansive realm" of "remaining firm though in poverty, never abandoning one’s high aspirations"—these have, through thousands of years of wind and rain, sublimated into the spirit of fine Chinese culture. Mencius was not a proletarian thinker, but he left behind the "awe-inspiring integrity" (凛然风骨 linran fenggu) of being "uncorrupted by wealth and honors, unswerving in poverty and low status, and unyielding before force." At the level of cultural spirit, this accords with what Mao Zedong said: "We the Chinese nation have the spirit to fight the enemy to the last drop of our blood, the determination to recover our lost territory on the basis of self-reliance, and the ability to stand among the nations of the world." In the various struggles against foreign aggression in modern history, in the Great War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, on the Long March, and when facing natural disasters, the world has felt the spirit of the Chinese nation—sustaining all things with virtue and ceaselessly striving for self-improvement—through the soul-stirring and tenacious struggles of the Chinese people.
Third, Marx’s view that classical culture "can still afford us artistic enjoyment and that in a certain respect [it] even counts as a norm and an unattainable model" points the way for our inheritance of fine traditional Chinese culture.
Our ancestors left a vast number of classic and beautiful writings, including Chu Ci [38], Han fu (rhapsodies), Tang poetry, Song ci (lyrics), and Yuan qu (arias). In particular, classical poetry pushed the beauty of the Chinese language to its peak, forming stable aesthetic styles and rhetorical norms, emphasizing rhyme, tonal patterns (平仄 pingze), and parallelism, drawing on classics in their opening lines, and creating elegant and beautiful imagery, all of which provide artistic enjoyment to the contemporary Chinese people. Within classical culture, there remain many concise and pithy aphorisms and maxims that express profound principles of personal cultivation, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. While "still being able to afford us artistic enjoyment," they provide us with inspiration for nourishing moral character and contemplating the Great Way (大道 Dadao) of the world. Laozi’s "Misfortune is what fortune leans upon; fortune is where misfortune hides," Confucius’s "Governing by virtue," Zhuangzi’s "Following the natural laws of Heaven and grounding oneself in what is inherently so," Xunzi’s "The water can carry the boat, but it can also overturn the boat," and Sunzi’s "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles"—these have become widely circulated maxims. With their exquisite language and profound insights, they have had a far-reaching influence, nurturing the national character of the Chinese people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Chinese aesthetics emphasizes using objects to express one’s will and embedding truth within emotion; it emphasizes being concise, pithy, and restrained; it emphasizes the unity of form and spirit and the depth of imagery; and it stresses the unification of knowledge, emotion, will, and action." We must boldly inherit this excellent culture which "can still afford us artistic enjoyment, and in some aspects even counts as a norm and an unattainable model." A portion of fine traditional Chinese culture consists of substantive facilities that carry traditional culture, such as the Great Wall, the Dujiangyan irrigation system, the Grand Canal, and the Forbidden City—these magnificent great works belong to the "norm and unattainable model." They are directly connected to social productive forces, do not belong to the category of ideology, and can directly serve reform and socialist modernization. Furthermore, the inventions of papermaking, gunpowder, printing, and the compass by our ancestors profoundly influenced the process of human civilization. The exquisite crafts of carving, weaving, paper-cutting, chess, calligraphy, painting, lantern-making, embroidery, sculpting, and cooking demonstrate the diligence, wisdom, and creativity of the ancient Chinese people. The traditional festivals left to us—the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival—possess rich cultural connotations and carry the unique and beautiful sentiments and firm national cultural identity of the Chinese people. All of these "can still afford us artistic enjoyment and, in some aspects, even count as a norm and an unattainable model."
Fourth, Marx’s view that culture is "bound up with certain forms of social development" inspires us to pay attention to the epochal differences in the content and form of culture from different eras.
Since "certain forms of social development" possess epochal characteristics, one must be skilled at distinguishing the epochal content and substantive meaning of ancient and modern concepts, avoiding simple and superficial lexical comparisons. The connotations of many concepts differ greatly between ancient, modern, and contemporary times. In the preface to The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx opposed the popular German practice of ignoring the historical connotations of concepts in favor of superficial comparisons, reminding people to pay attention to the epochal differences in the connotations of the concept of "class struggle" between ancient and modern times: "Owing to this complete difference between the material, economic conditions of the ancient and the modern class struggles, the political figures produced by them can as little be compared with one another as the Archbishop of Canterbury with the High Priest Samuel." Today, we can still obtain artistic enjoyment from the tonal patterns, classical allusions, and imagery of old poetry, and we can enhance persuasion and appeal by quoting concise classical verses in speeches and writing. Therefore, in treating traditional culture, we must persist in a discriminative treatment and an inheritance characterized by sublation [39], which "requires both the passing of the torch from generation to generation and, more importantly, advancing with the times and having the courage to innovate." In accordance with the new requirements of continuous progress, we must promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture in terms of both content and form to activate its vitality.
In conclusion, in his "Introduction," Marx examined the complex correlation between era and culture and put forward extremely valuable arguments that shine with the light of truth, providing an inspiring path for the discussion of the "Second Combination." This is a path of promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and it is also a path of recreating Chinese culture while adhering to Marxism as its guide.