The Yellow River, which has been running for ages, has shaped the national character of the Chinese nation with its indomitable majesty, defying difficulties and dangers and being self-reliant, and is the important foundation of the Chinese nation's firm cultural self-confidence. The Yellow River basin is rich in cultural relics, according to the third national cultural relics census, there are more than 300,000 immovable cultural relics in nine provinces in the Yellow River basin, accounting for 39.73% of the country's immovable cultural relics. At present, there are about 168,000 immovable cultural relics in 69 cities (prefectures) through which the main branches of the Yellow River flow.

The Yellow River culture is an important part of Chinese civilization and the root and soul of the Chinese nation, from which the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization can be clearly perceived. We can better shoulder the new cultural mission by intensifying the excavation and research of the Yellow River culture, and promoting the "Archaeology of China" project in the Yellow River Basin and the project of exploring the origin of Chinese civilization to make significant progress. The Yellow River culture is a typical representative of the "great river civilization" that has survived in the world, reflecting the "outstanding continuity" of Chinese civilization. Since the discovery of the "earliest China" at the Erlitou site in Yanshi, Luoyang, Henan Province, the Yellow River culture has never been interrupted, giving birth to Huangshui culture, Hailuo culture, Guanzhong culture, Qilu culture and other cultural types. In China's 5,000 years of uninterrupted civilization, the Yellow River basin has been the political, economic and cultural center of the country for more than 3,000 years, and despite the rise and fall of dynasties and the change of dynasties, Chinese civilization has always stood in the forest of the world's civilizations. The genealogical continuity and spiritual consistency of the Yellow River culture can help us better understand ancient, modern and future China, and strengthen our confidence that "the Chinese nation is bound to follow its own path".

The Yellow River culture is characterized by the enterprising spirit of observing the righteousness but not the old, and respecting the ancient but not restoring the past, reflecting the "outstanding innovativeness" of Chinese civilization. The Hundred Schools of Thought originated here, and classics such as the Classic of Poetry, Laozi and Historical Records were born here; the Chinese medicine culture represented by the Four Diagnostic Methods of Bianqi and Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Typhoid and Miscellaneous Diseases has become famous for hundreds of years; and major breakthroughs of scientific value such as smelting, construction, astronomy, calendaring, geometry, arithmetic, pottery and other major breakthroughs have influenced the course of human civilization, especially the Four Great Inventions, which have influenced the progress of human civilization, are shining in the Yellow River Basin. This reveals to us that in order to take up the new cultural mission and strive to build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, we should use innovation to add impetus to the development of civilization, activate the source of civilizational progress, and continue to create civilizational achievements that transcend time and space and are rich in eternal charm.

The ancestors of the various ethnic groups in the Yellow River Basin have worked hand in hand and through thickets and thorns to jointly develop their motherland's beautiful rivers and mountains, reflecting the "outstanding unity" of Chinese civilization. The successive generations of ancestors in the Yellow River Basin have fully demonstrated that the history of China is a history of the integration of various ethnic groups into a pluralistic Chinese nation, and the history of various ethnic groups' joint efforts to build, develop and consolidate a united great motherland. After several great ethnic fusions, all the ethnic groups have been developing the land under their feet together, writing a long history together, creating a splendid culture together and cultivating a great spirit together.

Since ancient times, the Yellow River basin has been an important place where Eastern and Western civilizations have met, reflecting the "outstanding inclusiveness" of Chinese civilization. Chinese civilization is an open system formed through continuous exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations, and the reason why it is so brilliant and profound lies in its inclusive nature. Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Luoyang, Kaifeng and other ancient capitals in the Yellow River Basin have always been prosperous capitals where exchanges between inside and outside of the region have blended; the Yellow River Basin has always been a place where economic, trade and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have converged. From the customary "top clothes and bottom skirt" of the frontier people to the prevalence of "top clothes and bottom pants" and hu clothes and hu hats in the Central Plains, as well as today's lion dances and huqin performances, Chinese civilization has always been in the eclecticism of the everlasting new. The outstanding inclusiveness of the Yellow River culture reveals that we should break down the barriers of cultural exchanges with a broad mind of accepting all rivers, draw on the sustenance of other civilizations with an eclectic attitude, promote the localization of foreign cultures, and continue to cultivate and create the socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

The Yellow River culture embodies the way of life of being kind to one's neighbours and friendly to all nations, reflecting the "outstanding peacefulness" of Chinese civilization. From Yao, Shun and Yu's system of cession in the ancient times, to the inscription of the word "peace" on oracle bones and gold stones during the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods of the slave society, to the idea of "peace is the most precious thing" in the doctrines of the sages during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the concepts of "harmony but difference",  "turning warring words into jade and silk", and "national peace and prosperity" have been passed down from generation to generation, and have been deeply influencing every Chinese person. Today, through the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the launching of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, Chinese civilization is actively sharing the concept of "harmony", embracing the world with a more open attitude and providing spiritual guidance to answer the question of where humankind is headed.