Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses a national conference on publicity and ideological work in Beijing, capital of China. The conference was held in Beijing from 21st to 22nd in August, 2018.
Xi said it is necessary to promote high-quality development of cultural industry, improve modern systems of cultural industry and market, boost multiple cultural market entities and develop new cultural formats and consumption patterns so as to help people feel more satisfied, happier with high-quality cultural supply.
“To fulfill our mission on publicity and ideological work under new circumstances, we need to strengthen “Four Consciousness” and “Four Confidence” under the guidance of the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics in new era and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. At the same time, we need to stick to the right political direction and shoulder the missions of upholding flag, gathering strength, fostering new generation, reinvigorating culture and showing images. Great efforts should be made in crucial part, such as work quality and level. We should also advance publicity and ideological work and closely connect people in dream, belief, values and moral concepts, committing to greater efforts for our Party and national cause. ”said the President Xi.
He stressed that we should be aware of the law of network spreading in a scientific way and also boost the self-governance of network so as to make the biggest variations of the Internet become the biggest increase of development.
Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting.
“Since the Eighteenth CPC National Congress, we have put the publicity and ideological work on important position. A number of major decisions were made and major measures were implemented. Under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the CPC, it is essential to publicize ideological route and actively take actions to forge ahead with comprehensive theory innovation of the Party. Meanwhile, socialism with Chinese characteristics and Chinese Dream should imprinted in people’s mind and the core value of socialism and fine Chinese traditional culture should be carried forward with increasingly large mainstream and showing of cultural confidence. Great advancement should be achieved in national soft power of culture and Chinese cultural influence, and the unity of thought should be strengthened within the Party and society. It proved that the decisions and deployment made by the Central Committee of the CPC on publicity and ideological work are absolutely right, and the leaders in charge of publicity and ideological work are completely trustworthy.” said Xi.
Xi also noted that we should be aware of the law of publicity and ideological work deeply and put forward a series of new thoughts, ideas and judgments, which is summarized as the Party’s leadership for ideology work. We need to stick to the fundamental tasks of "two consolidations" in ideological work, persist in arming the whole Party and educating the people with the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics in new era, cultivating and practicing the core values of socialism. We should also insist that cultural confidence is a more fundamental, broader, and deeper strength and Self-confidence is a more basic, deeper and more lasting force. At the same time, we need to improve the communication, guidance, influence and credibility of the news and public opinions, adhere to the people-centered writing, and persists in creating the network space full of integrity and justice, as well as telling the Chinese story well and spreading the Chinese voice well. All these thoughts are the fundamental principles that need to be adhered and developed in a long run if we want to do the good job with publicity and ideological work.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered new era, Xi said, adding that we should taking "unity of thinking and gathering strength" as the central part of publicity and ideological work. Currently, our country’s development attains a good momentum. It is essential to further adhere to the confidence, inspire people and strive for the goal of the Nineteenth CPC National Congress with one unity so as to win the victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must take people’s pursuit of good life as our goal and address not only the real problems but also ideological problems in order to boost confidence, unite people, warm up heart and build one unity. In addition, we must actively interpret the Chinese road and Chinese characteristics, and effectively safeguard China's political and cultural security. We must adhere to the principle of independence and breaking through with the latter as priority to constantly enhance the cohesiveness and leadership of socialist ideology. We must be aware of the law of network spreading in a scientific way, and improve the self-governance of network so as to make the biggest variations of the Internet become the biggest increase of development.
Xi stressed that it is our mission to uphold flag, unite people, nurture new generation, boost culture and show image in order to do good job with publicity and ideological work. To uphold flag refers to holding high banner of Marxism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, unswervingly arming the whole Party, educating people and advancing publicity and ideological work with socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics,. Great efforts should be made in comprehending and understanding Marxism to push the Chinese Marxism and 21 century’s Marxism to grassroots level. To unite people refers to firmly grasping the right direction of public opinions, singing the main theme, enlarging the positive energy, expanding and strengthening the mainstream ideology so as to inspire the whole Party and the people of the whole country, invigorate the spirit, and unite as one toward the grand goal set by the Central Committee of the CPC. To nurture new generation refers to fostering people with morality and influencing them with culture. Its aim is to build a socialist spiritual civilization, cultivate and practice the core values of socialism, improve the people's ideological consciousness, moral standards, and civilized qualities, as well as nurture a new generation who can take the responsibility of national rejuvenation. To boost culture refers to sticking to the road of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, advancing the creative transformation and the innovative development of fine Chinese traditional cultures, inheriting the revolutionary culture and developing the advanced socialist culture with for the purpose of tapping the potential of the national cultural innovation and creation, as well as building a socialist cultural power. To show image refers to pushing forward the construction of international spreading ability, telling Chinese story well and spreading Chinese voice well to introduce a real and comprehensive China and boost national soft power and cultural influence.
“To build a socialist ideology with strong cohesiveness and leading force is a strategic task that the entire Party, especially in publicity and ideological work, must shoulder.” said Xi. We must do a good job in strengthening Marxist publicity and education, especially in learning and understanding the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics well in new era. Meanwhile, we must firmly adhere to the "four confidence”, take them as the key to build socialist ideology and stabilize the guiding position of Marxism in the field of philosophy and social sciences to establish philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and Chinese flavor. It is necessary to grasp the correct direction of public opinions, improve the communication, guidance, influence, and credibility of the news and public opinions, and consolidate and expand the mainstream ideology. It is also necessary to advance the means of communication and the innovation of discourse so that the Party's innovative theories “fly into the homes of ordinary people." We must do a good job in establishing county-level fusion media centers to better guide and serve the people. It is necessary to clearly stick to the truth and stand firmly in refuting the fallacy. It is necessary to claim the responsibilities of the Party committees (Party groups) at all levels so that the implementation of tasks is not sloppy, the management of regions is not slack, and the accountability is unambiguous.
Xi Jinping emphasized that publicity and ideological work is people-oriented, and it is an important to foster new generation who assume the responsibility of national rejuvenation in new era. The priority is to build a spiritual foundation with firm ideals and beliefs, and strengthen faith in Marxism, faith in socialism and communism, and confidence in the socialist road, theory, system, and culture with Chinese characteristics. On the other hand, our task is to strengthen education guidance, practice development, and institutional guarantees and integrate socialist core values with all aspects of social development. Therefore, people will comply with them consciously. Meanwhile, adolescent should be guided to buckle the first button of their lives when they are in the crucial period of value formation. Besides, extensive model learning and publicity activities are still needed to create a strong atmosphere of worshiping heroes, learning from heroes, defending heroes, and caring for heroes. We should carry forward the new fashion of the times, advance ideological and moral construction, especially the civic moral construction, strengthen and improve ideological and political work for the purpose of establishing civilized practice center and continuously improving the people's ideological consciousness, moral standards, civilization quality and the degree of civilization of the whole society. A new civilized look of village will unfold as we advocate the new fashion of integrity and discard old customs to nurture civilized village, good family style and simple people.
The president also said that artists are encouraged to dig out life and be rooted in people with high quality works as its life. Great attention should be paid in writing this great era and producing fine works that praise the Party, the country, the people and the heroes to write a new epic of the Chinese nation. At the same time, artists are guided to establish the right outlook on history, nation, country and culture. Besides, they should consciously appear to be polite, tasteful, and responsible with social benefits as the first priority. They should also abide by national laws and regulations, and strengthen moral quality free of the pollution of vulgarity, using healthy works and the way of doing things to cultivate sentiment, enlighten the mind, and lead the fashion. More healthy online works with good quality are still needed. It is necessary to promote the standardization and equalization of public cultural services with government leadership, social participation. Meanwhile, we should shift the focus downwards, improve the public cultural service system though discussion and collaboration, and expand the coverage and application of basic public cultural services. We should push forward the high-quality development of the cultural industry and improve the modern cultural industrial system and market system so as to develop various cultural market entities, foster new cultural formats and consumption patterns as well as raise people's cultural sense of acquisition and happiness with high-quality cultural supply. We must unswervingly push the reform of the cultural system to a deeper level, and constantly stimulate cultural vitality of innovation and creation.
Xi stressed, we need to improve the Chinese culture influence, seize the general trend, distinguish objects, and lay out precise policies. At the same time, we need to actively introduce the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics in new era and tell the story of the Chinese Communist Party's governance , the story of the Chinese people's fighting for a dream, as well as the story of China's insistence on peaceful development and win-win cooperation so that the world can better understand China. The fine part of traditional culture is the root of the Chinese nation. Its ideological concepts including humanistic spirit and moral norms are not only the core of our Chinese people's thoughts and spirits, but also of great value in solving human problems. Therefore, it is essential to extract and display the spiritual identity of the fine parts and the cultural essence with contemporary values and world significance. They are also encouraged to improve the international communication pattern communication and to innovate concepts and operational mechanisms so as to accumulate more resources.
Xi noted that full leadership of the Party must be strengthened in publicity and ideological work, and we should clearly adhere to the Party's management of publicity and ideology. Meanwhile, we must take the Party's political construction as the guiding principle, firmly establishing the "four consciousnesses” and resolutely safeguarding the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the central committee in order to grasp the right political direction. It is also necessary to strengthen the work style and resolutely correct the practice of four formalities, especially bureaucratism and formalities. Publicity and ideology cadres must constantly learn new knowledge, be familiar with new fields, broaden horizons and enhance their ability. Besides, cadres are encouraged to strengthen investigation and research, and constantly enhance their strength, eyesight, brain, and writing to build a publicity and ideological team with strong politics, extraordinary abilities, and capability of fighting to win.。
Wang noted that Xi's speech, from a whole picture of the Party and nation’s development, concludes the historical achievement and reform in the Party's publicity and ideological work since the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC. This speech deeply describes the historic position and mission of the Party under the new circumstances and answers questions that are directional, fundamental, comprehensive and strategic. Meanwhile, it lays out the significant deployment for the Party's publicity and ideological work. This speech serves as a guideline with a general view of the whole situation, long vision, rich connotations and deep thoughts under the new circumstances. We need to study it and put all efforts to the implementation of tasks through the integration of thoughts and actions with the speech.
In his closing speech at the meeting, Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, pledged to thoroughly implement the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics, the spirits of the Nineteenth CPC National Congress as well as the important instructions given by Xi in publicity and ideological work. We should also enhance the "four consciousness" and strengthen the "four confidences", consciously shoulder the task of publicity and ideological work under the new circumstances. Besides, it is essential to forge ahead with reform and innovation, take responsibility for our action, and strive to create a new landscape of publicity and ideological work so that we can provide the strong spiritual strength to the development of the Party and the country.
Comrades from the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, People’s Daily, China Media Group, Beijing and Guangdong made exchanging remarks.
Some members of the Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee attended the meeting.
Members of the leading group of the publicity and ideological work of the CPC Central Committee and comrades from provinces, cities and cities specifically designated in the state plan, Xinjinag Production and Construction Corps, the institutions of cultural systems on publicity of the Central Committee, the relevant departments of the Central Committee and nation , relevant groups, state-managed financial enterprises, part of the important stated-owned enterprises and universities, and relevant institutions of PLA also attended the meeting. (Translated by Wang Jingcheng with the Cultural Exchange Organization of Presenting China to the World)