General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that propaganda, ideology and culture is an extremely important work that concerns the future destiny of the Party, the long-term stability of the country, and the cohesion and centripetal force of the nation. Looking back to the year 2023, the propaganda, ideology and culture front, bearing in mind the wishes of the General Secretary, held high the banner of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, and consciously took up a new cultural mission. Over the past year, it has centered on the implementation of the strategic plan of the 20th Party Congress on cultural construction, strengthened ideological leadership, constantly kept the right and innovative, vigorously sang the main theme of strong confidence, and provided strong ideological guarantee, powerful spiritual force, and favorable cultural conditions for the development of the Party and the national cause.
Located at the northern end of Beijing's central axis, the Central Headquarter of the National Publications of China, a piece of cultural relics inscribed with the long history of Chinese civilization, recounting the magnificent course of the Chinese nation's unswerving and continuous struggle, has become a new national cultural landmark guarding the roots of civilization and nurturing cultural self-confidence.
In June 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited and researched the National Archives of China and the Chinese Academy of History, attended the Symposium on the Development of Cultural Inheritance, and delivered an important speech, in which he distinctly put forward the five salient characteristics of Chinese civilization with a cultural self-awareness that is consistent with both the past and the present, and explained in depth the great significance of the "Two Combinations," especially the "Second Combination," stressing that to continue to promote cultural prosperity, to build a great socialist cultural country, and to build a modern civilization of the Chinese people from the new starting point are our new cultural mission in the new era. In October 2023, the National Conference on Propaganda, Ideology and Culture was held in Beijing, and the most important outcome of this conference was the formal presentation and systematic elaboration of Xi Jinping's Cultural Thought, which is a milestone in the history of the Party's propaganda, ideology and culture development.
The year 2023 is the opening year for the comprehensive implementation of the spirit of the 20th Party Congress. In this year, the propaganda, ideology and culture front has comprehensively and systematically publicized and explained Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, transformed General Secretary Xi Jinping's request for the propaganda, ideology and culture front of the "Seven Efforts" into practical actions, deepened the thematic education, and set off a learning fervor, and continuously pushed the Party's innovative theories into the people's hearts and minds and into the root of the soil.
This year, the central and local mainstream media have continued to consolidate and strengthen mainstream ideological opinion in the new era, vividly explaining the new concepts and strategies of the CPC Central Committee in governing the country, and showcasing the charisma and sentiment of General Secretary Xi Jinping as a leader of a large party and a large country in an all-round way. Mainstream media have insisted on unity, stability, encouragement and positive propaganda, innovated and integrated means of communication, and depicted the broad picture of the Chinese ship breaking the waves through powerful facts and vivid cases, so as to broadly gather consensus on the promotion of high-quality development and the synergy of promoting Chinese-style modernization.
From telling the stories of exemplary deeds and displaying the character of heroic models, to planting fertile spiritual soil and nurturing civilization with socialist core values, to promoting the construction of a clean network ecology, accelerating the cultivation of a healthy and upward network culture, and constructing concentric circles both on and off the Internet, the spirit of upward movement and goodwill of the whole society has been continuously converged.
During the year, China's efforts of protecting cultural relics and cultural heritage continued to increase, and significant progress was made in projects such as the Chinese Civilization Exploration Project and Archaeology China. With the successful bidding for the cultural landscape of the ancient tea forests of Mount Jingmai in Pu'er, the number of China's world heritage sites increased to 57, and 43 intangible cultural heritage items were inscribed on the UNESCO list of the intangible cultural heritage of humankind, which continues to rank first in the world.
This year, new-age literary and art workers have adhered to the position of Chinese culture, cultivated deeply and thickly in the real life, with film and television works such as The Search of Ancient China, China in Intangible Cultural Heritage, Full River Red and 30000 miles in Chang’an repeatedly hitting the ratings and box office, and a large number of artistic and literary masterpieces such as the opera The Ballad of the Canal expressing the people's passionate struggles and transmitting the highlight of the nation's spirit. Over the past year, new forms and new scenes have promoted the vigorous development of cultural undertakings and industries; mass cultural activities such as Village Super and Village Evening are full of energy; and new "small and beautiful" public cultural spaces such as the "Shared Reading Space" and the "Digital Cultural Experience Hall" have been closer to the people's growing spiritual and cultural needs.
In March 2023, at the high-level dialogue between the Communist Party of China and the world's political parties, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Civilization Initiative for the first time. In that year, a series of events such as the China-Central Asia Summit, the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the World University Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games were successfully held to enhance mutual understanding among civilizations and promote people-to-people exchanges. The multi-language version of Classic Quotes by Xi Jinping - Xi Jinping's favorite allusions (Season 2) has been broadcast in more than 80 countries around the world, and the documentary Road to Prosperity has shown the vivid practice of China and co-constructing countries in the past ten years of building together for mutual benefit and win-win situation, which has triggered a warm response and has been viewed nearly 6 billion times around the globe.
Chinese modernization has given modern strength to Chinese civilization, and Chinese civilization has given Chinese modernization a profound foundation. History has written down a glorious past, and time has opened a brand new page. Standing on a new starting point, the propaganda, ideology and culture front, holding high the banner of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, and shouldering the lofty mission of forging a new splendor of socialist culture, will be vigorous and courageous, and will continue to write a wonderful chapter worthy of the times.