Jiang Weiping and Yang Binbin: Enhancing the Communication and Influence of Chinese Civilization
Cultural prosperity and revitalization are important hallmarks of Chinese-path modernization. Developing a New Era socialist culture with Chinese characteristics—one possessing strong ideological leadership, spiritual cohesion, values-based appeal, and international influence—and solidly advancing the construction of a cultural power are inherent requirements for the comprehensive buildup of a Great Modern Socialist Country. The "Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," deliberated and adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [1], put forward the strategic task of "stimulating the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation and promoting the prosperity and development of socialist culture." It emphasized "enhancing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization," providing scientific guidance for us to continually strengthen national soft power and elevate our international right to speak.
1. Constructing a Chinese Discourse and Chinese Narrative System
The construction of a Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system aims to actively set agendas and topics, innovate modes of discursive expression, and proactively promote Chinese propositions, disseminate Chinese culture, and display China's image. It seeks to respond to Western prejudice with Chinese narratives, break through Western constraints with Chinese discourse, and enhance international cooperation with Chinese solutions.
Diligently upholding the standpoint of Chinese culture. Currently, as the changes unseen in a century accelerate their evolution, exchanges, integration, and confrontations between diverse world civilizations have become increasingly frequent. In this process, we still face risks and challenges such as Western cultural hegemony, the impact of pluralistic values, the hidden erosion of cultural space in cyberspace, and technical risks to cultural security. The essence of many of these challenges is capital using cultural symbols to implement ideological colonization, aiming to market Western values and institutional models and carry out ideological infiltration. For any culture to stand firm, travel far, and possess the power of leadership, cohesion, shaping, and radiation, it must possess its own subjectivity. Upholding the standpoint of Chinese culture and consolidating cultural subjectivity are key to resisting the infiltration and impact of Western culture; they are also the prerequisite and foundation for constructing a Chinese discourse and narrative system and enhancing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization. To this end, we should hold high the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation, establish a civilizational standpoint and identity, consciously remain vigilant against and resist the erosion of "cultural colonialism" and erroneous trends of thought, and withstand cultural hegemony and ideological infiltration. We must use effective mechanisms and means to respond to cultural challenges brought by economic globalization and earnestly safeguard our country's ideological and political security.
Constructing a system of Chinese civilizational identifiers. Chinese civilizational identifiers are important symbols and cultural carriers of Chinese culture, of great significance for enhancing the pride and cohesion of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Chinese civilization is long-standing and profound; it is the unique spiritual identifier of the Chinese nation, the foundation of contemporary Chinese culture, the spiritual bond maintaining Chinese people worldwide, and a treasure trove for Chinese cultural innovation." "The fine traditional Chinese culture nurtured during over 5,000 years of civilizational development, and the revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture nurtured in the great struggle of the Party and the people, accumulate the deepest spiritual pursuits of the Chinese nation and represent the unique spiritual identifiers of the Chinese nation." An important aspect of constructing a Chinese discourse and narrative system is to refine and display vivid and profoundly meaningful spiritual identifiers of Chinese civilization, constructing a systematic, complete, and comprehensive system of identifiers. This should highlight the core connotations of Chinese civilization and reflect its prominent continuity, creativity, unity, inclusivity, and peaceful nature. It should present to the world the unique values and spiritual pursuits of the Chinese people, as well as the genes and codes condensed in the continuous development of the Chinese nation. We must deeply excavate and elucidate the internal essence of Chinese civilization, continuously expand the international influence of Chinese culture, and promote mutual learning and exchange among human civilizations.
Comprehensively elevating the international right to speak. We must give full play to the role of our country’s philosophy and social sciences in the construction of a discourse system, forming an international right to speak that matches our comprehensive national strength and international status. We should create new concepts, categories, and expressions that bridge China and the outside world, guiding the international academic community to carry out research and discussion. We must strengthen the international academic layout, encouraging philosophy and social science institutions to participate in and establish international academic organizations, actively setting up overseas Chinese academic research institutions, and strengthening exchanges between domestic and foreign think tanks. We should support foreign societies and foundations in studying Chinese issues, concepts, practices, and experiences, and promote overseas China studies [2]. Focusing on issues of common concern to the international community, we should launch and lead research projects to enhance the international influence of China's philosophy and social science research. We support our scholars in participating in international academic conferences, publishing academic articles, and promoting high-level research results abroad. We must tell China's story well, better disseminating China's path, system, concepts, and culture, so that Chinese viewpoints become world vocabulary and international consensus. This will more fully and clearly demonstrate the story of China and the ideological and spiritual power behind it, vividly presenting a credible, lovable, and respectable image of China.
2. Constructing a More Effective International Communication System
The international communication system is an important carrier for enhancing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization. Strengthening international communication capacity is a systematic project. The key lies in breaking the existing international public opinion pattern dominated by Western countries through resource integration, mechanism optimization, and form reshaping, and establishing an international communication system that matches China's international status, comprehensive national strength, and responsibilities as a major power.
Improving the institutional mechanisms for international communication. Enhancing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization is a common task for the entire Party and society. Doing this work well requires improving the leadership and management mechanisms for international communication, and doing a good job in planning, overall coordination, task division, and supervision of implementation. We must establish and improve the responsibility mechanism for international communication work. Party committees and governments at all levels should place the construction of international communication capacity in an important position, earnestly strengthen organizational leadership, and do a good job in cadre placement, talent cultivation, and resource input. We should mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of all regions, departments, and parties to participate in international communication work, gathering a powerful force. We must strengthen the construction of key international communication bases, further improve the "Greater External Propaganda" [3] pattern, and carry out more precise international communication, telling the story of China through vivid Chinese practices.
Promoting the reconstruction of the international communication pattern. We must explore diversified forms of international communication, avoiding simplification, formalization, and stagnation. We should increase the intensity of overall coordination in external propaganda work, integrate various resources, promote the integrated development of internal and external propaganda, and innovate in the development of online external propaganda to construct a multi-channel, multidimensional external communication pattern. We must grasp the trends of mobilization, socialization, and visualization in the field of international communication, adapt to the development and evolution of digital technology, and make full use of the latest achievements in artificial intelligence. By utilizing its characteristics of precision, personalization, and customization, we can empower communication channels through digital technology, enrich content expression, and promote organic cross-media integration, continuously improving our power of communication, guidance, influence, and credibility. We should adopt precise communication methods that are close to different regions, countries, and audiences, promoting globalized, regionalized, and segmented expressions of Chinese stories and voices, enhancing the affinity and effectiveness of international communication so that more foreign audiences can understand, accept, and follow along.
Creating a proactive communication posture. We should focus on cultivating professional talents who are familiar with China's history, cultural traditions, economic and social development, and the principles and policies of the Party and the state, while also being proficient in foreign languages, conversant with international rules, and possessing a global vision and strategic thinking. They should be encouraged to speak out internationally, effectively engage in cross-cultural communication, and proactively provide cognitive supply about China to the world with candor, continuously improving the perception of China by presenting facts and reasoning. We must make friends extensively, unite and win over the majority, and continuously expand the "circle of friends" in international public opinion that knows and is friendly toward China. We should use important international conferences, forums, and overseas mainstream media platforms and channels to make our voices heard, powerfully breaking the Western discourse hegemony through "academic going global," and promoting the international dissemination of China's voice through academic and people-to-people diplomacy. In response to focal points of international public opinion, we should compile concise, academic, and communicable readers to be published and distributed overseas in multiple languages. We should use easy-to-understand language to refute fallacies and heresies in the international arena, restore historical truth, issue the "Right Voice of China," and guide overseas public opinion back on track. We should emphasize the role of think tanks, fully demonstrating their constructive role in researching international issues, setting international agendas, guiding international public opinion, enhancing international exchange, participating in global governance, and influencing foreign-related public policies.
3. Constructing an International Network for Humanities Exchanges and Cooperation
"Humanity only differs in skin color and language; civilizations only differ in their colorful varieties, but there is absolutely no distinction of high or low, superior or inferior." The prosperity of civilization and the progress of humanity are inseparable from exchange and mutual learning. Currently, as the changes unseen in a century accelerate, the calls of people of all countries for peace, development, and cooperation are rising daily. Only through civilizational exchange and mutual learning can we find the recipe to solve global problems and jointly broaden the path of world modernization. In this context, constructing an international network for humanities exchange and cooperation has become an important link in enhancing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization.
Strengthening area and country studies to improve the effectiveness of international communication. This is both an inevitable requirement for serving the national strategy and overall diplomacy and an important support for enhancing the communication and influence of Chinese civilization. To this end, we should strengthen interdisciplinary research, effectively integrate and allocate resources scattered across different disciplines and departments, and conduct comprehensive research on relevant countries or regions to make accurate judgments, providing academic support for building a community with a shared future for humanity. We should strengthen localized research, conduct continuous and in-depth studies of target countries or regions, carry out solid long-term field investigations, and engage in dialogue and collaborative research with relevant institutions and scholars in target countries. We must avoid superficial research based on second- or third-hand materials—research that "scratches the surface" [4] or is conducted "behind closed doors" [5]—and instead produce high-quality research results based on long-term, in-depth frontline investigation. We should cultivate top-tier talents in the field of area and country studies, based on the interdisciplinary nature and field-research characteristics of the discipline, constantly exploring and innovating the talent cultivation system. We should strengthen theoretical research on international communication, master the laws of international communication, construct an external discourse system, improve the art of communication, and achieve efficient integration of existing communication resources.
Conducting in-depth research on major topics to effectively consolidate broad consensus. Focusing on major issues, we must attach great importance to the organization, transformation, and dissemination of materials in areas such as economic cooperation, international peacekeeping, health and epidemic prevention, disaster reduction and poverty alleviation, ecological climate, security and counter-terrorism, and South-South cooperation, fully demonstrating China's role as a promoter, advocate, and contributor to major international affairs. Focusing on universal issues, starting from problems of survival, life, and production that concern people of all countries, we should combine frontier technology with innovative concepts to fully demonstrate China's moral and responsible commitment. Focusing on hot-button issues, based on China's needs for development and security, and the conviction of seeking progress for humanity and the "Great Harmony" [6] for the world, we should adhere to an objective and just position, gradually weakening the discourse hegemony of the West.
Deepening civilizational exchange and mutual learning, and extensively carrying out international humanities exchange and cooperation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "We should jointly advocate for strengthening international humanities exchange and cooperation, explore the construction of a global civilizational dialogue and cooperation network, enrich the content of exchanges, expand cooperation channels, promote mutual understanding and affinity among the people of all countries, and jointly promote the development and progress of human civilization." The enhancement of international communication influence, the appeal of Chinese culture, the affinity of China's image, the persuasiveness of Chinese discourse, and the guiding power of international public opinion are both distinct and interrelated. We must grasp their commonalities, analyze their particularities, and promote cultural development, innovation, and dissemination. In other words, we must both follow the basic laws of civilizational exchange and mutual learning and highlight the national, value, and historical foundations of Chinese civilization. We should cultivate a group of talents who are good at disseminating Chinese culture, introducing a real, three-dimensional, and comprehensive China to the world, making them true messengers who bridge Chinese and foreign civilizations. We should encourage more cultural enterprises and excellent cultural products to go global, promote more cultural products with deep humanistic heritage that reflect the spirit of the times and possess an international perspective to leave the country. We should vigorously develop inbound tourism, extensively carry out rich and colorful cultural exchange activities, and inject fresh vitality into civilizational exchange and mutual learning.