Promoting the socialist advanced culture is an important direction and content of Xi Jinping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Under this set of thoughts, Chinese cultural development direction were to develop Marxism, to promote outstanding traditional Chinese culture and to review “western studies”. The image of the socialist advanced culture was confident, healthy, rational and thriving.
Theories need to be innovated continuously to be full of vitality. The CPC’s glorious responsibility was to push forward the development of Marxism and to continuously combine Marxism with the new Chinese reality and the new practice of Chinese people. It’s shown by the fact that the socialist advanced culture develops along with the Marxism. For Marxism, perseverance is for the development in the right direction which is in turn for the best perseverance. The general secretary Xi Jinping stressed multiple times the need to develop the Marxism for the contemporary China and to develop the Marxism for China in the 21st Century.
Xi Jinping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era opens up a new field for the Marxism in the contemporary China and the 21st Marxism. Since it’s establishment, it indicates a bright future for all causes of the socialism with Chinese characteristics, including the socialist advanced culture.
The top-level design of advanced socialism is guided by theories related to China dream, ideology, socialist core value and related ideas, the improvement of national cultural soft power, traditional culture, art and literature, Marxist political economics, philosophy and social science, internet and information industry and ideological and political work in universities. These series of systematic scientific thoughts is a plan for cultural construction and the core achievement for ideological theory in the cultural construction.
Developing Marxism is the soul for cultural construction to develop the Marxism for China and in the 21st century. In the symposium of the work relating to philosophy and social science, Xi Jinping stressed that “insisting to see Marxism as the guidance is the fundamental difference between Chinese philosophy and social science in the contemporary China and other kinds of philosophy and social science. So we need to always follow it” as well as “in China, without the guidance of Marxism, philosophy and social science will lose soul and direction, so it can’t play it’s role.” Marxism is the soul and direction of Chinese philosophy and social science and of the Chinese socialist advanced culture. As long as the soul is lofty and strong, the direction will be clear and settled, then Chinese socialist advanced culture can have a prosperous image.
Since the 18th CPC national congress, Chinese cultural and ideological construction has witnessed important progress and significant achievements which are also evidence. Xi Jinping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the Chinese Marxism in the current era. Under it’s guidance, China’s main theme is louder; positive energy is stronger; cultural confidence is showed; national cultural soft power and influence of Chinese culture is improved and solidarity of thoughts for the society and the CPC is strengthened.
Chinese government needs to promote the outstanding traditional Chinese culture. It should be alleviated to the height of “Chinese national gene”, “national cultural vein”, “Chinese nation’s spiritual vein” and “Chinese unique spiritual mark”. This is an important judgement of the significance of the outstanding traditional Chinese culture of the innovative transformation and development in cultural confidence; the exploration of it’s human emotion, world significance and contemporary value; cultural concentration and cultural influence and socialism with Chinese characteristics in Chinese cultural inheritance in a new era.
Xi Jinping not only promotes the outstanding traditional Chinese culture, but also accepts wisdom from the outstanding traditional culture in the governance of the countries. Taken as an example, Xi Jinping sticks to the ecological civilization, stressing that man and nature belongs to a “community for life” and that the government should “realize the harmonious co-existence between man and nature”. Clearly, it’s an inheritance and transition of the traditional Chinese culture that man is an integral part of nature and that man should respect nature. He quoted a poetry of Su Zhe, meaning that “eliminating difficulties faced by people is like curing a critical disease of your own”, so as to express that people-centered belief and solving problems for people are important in the strengthening Party self-discipline in all aspects as well as in the combating corruption and building a clean government. He quoted form “Guan Zhen” (“Official Admonition”) that “being an official indicates only three principles, namely, being integral, prudent and hard-working”, standards he required all officials to follow. He also quoted a statement of Confucius meaning that “people will follow integral officials’ orders without being giving instruction, but won’t follow immoral ones’ even when instruction is given”, highlighting that officials themselves must behave.
When it comes to the nurturing of the national soft power, Xi Jinping stressed that the outstanding traditional Chinese culture is a prominent advantage of Chinese nation as well as the most profound cultural soft power. Improving the national cultural soft power requires us to solidify it’s foundation; to show the unique charm of Chinese culture; promoting spirits with the long-lasting value transcending time and nation and promote contemporary Chinese cultural innovative achievement that inherits the outstanding traditional culture, improves the spirit of the era, bases on China’s condition and faces the world. In the process of pushing forward the belt and road initiative, he brought up the human community with a shared future, stressing that “countries should coexist in harmony”. This is a strong representative of Chinese nation’s soft power and a contribution of Chinese wisdom to the global governance. This is the contribution and the practice of the outstanding traditional Chinese culture in the construction of a new type of international relation in the current era.
Of course, Xi Jinping has other statements. “The most basic cultural gene should adapt to the current culture and to the modern society.” “Inheriting Chinese culture is not a simple revival of ancient culture, nor blindly opposing foreign culture, but adapting ancient and foreign culture to China’s current need; inheriting and abandoning parts of culture in a dialect way; shaping new parts from old ones; abandoning negative factors and inherit positive thoughts. Just like an old Chinese saying that ‘using ancient rules to start a new image of our life’, Chinese culture needs to realize innovative transformation and development.” These statements promote the scientific development and point a right direction for the development of the outstanding traditional Chinese culture in socialist practice with Chinese characteristics.
For some time, the wide penetration and influence of western culture, especially the “western study” has been giving rise to a certain degree of westernization and desinicization in certain fields of social life, cultural construction and academic construction. This is obviously inconducive to the construction and development of socialist culture. Since the 18th CPC national congress, Xi Jinping has alleviated the cultural confidence to the height of national fate, cultural safety and the independence of national spirit. It represents his deeply worry of the erosion of desinicization to cultural confidence. Xi Jinping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era conducts an overall review of western culture’s influence in cultural construction, which is not only helpful for us to learn from foreign cultures, especially western cultural ideas, but also beneficial for us to take the initiative and to have firm cultural confidence.
In terms of the shaping of morality and value, Xi Jinping said, “If our people can’t insist to follow the morality and value formed and developed on the land of China, but say ‘yes’ to western counterparts blindly and discriminately, it’s time to bring up the issue that whether or not Chinese nation and nationality would lose our spiritual independence. Without it, the independence in politics, ideology, culture, system and other aspects will lose it’s foundation.”
In art and literature creation, Xi Jinping strictly criticized the desinicization tendency in some art and literature works. He said that there’s no future in viewing western works as the superior; pursuing western awards for one’s work as the ultimate goal; following others’ steps and being keen in decreasing ideology, value, history, main stream and Chinese element.
In terms of philosophy and social science, Xi Jinping stressed that we need to learn beneficial theory, idea and academic result created by all people, but it doesn’t mean we should see one theoretical idea and academic result as the “only principle”, nor to attempt to use on model to transform the whole world. Some theories and ideas can explain the developing process of some countries and nationalities, but it’s absurd if we impose them on other nationalities and see them as standards to judge others. Foreign theory, concept, statement and method must be analyzed to figure out whether they are suitable.
Xi Jingping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the essence of our era and the pearl on the crown of Chinese culture and ideology in the current era. Under their guidance, our socialist advanced culture will have a beautiful future matching the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation.