The Founding of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Is the Strongest Embodiment of Cultural Subjectivity

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Cultural confidence comes from our cultural subjectivity. This subjectivity was established by the Chinese Communist Party leading the Chinese people on Chinese soil; it was established on the basis of creatively transforming and innovatively developing fine traditional Chinese culture, inheriting revolutionary culture, and developing advanced socialist culture, while drawing on and absorbing all outstanding achievements of human civilization; it was established by integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the fine traditional Chinese culture. The founding of Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the strongest embodiment of this cultural subjectivity.”

习近平总书记指出：“文化自信就来自我们的文化主体性。这一主体性是中国共产党带领中国人民在中国大地上建立起来的；是在创造性转化、创新性发展中华优秀传统文化，继承革命文化，发展社会主义先进文化的基础上，借鉴吸收人类一切优秀文明成果的基础上建立起来的；是通过把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际、同中华优秀传统文化相结合建立起来的。创立新时代中国特色社会主义思想就是这一文化主体性的最有力体现。”

This important discourse not only profoundly reveals the three sources from which cultural subjectivity was established, but also points out the intrinsic relationship between Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and cultural subjectivity.

这一重要论述不仅深刻揭示了文化主体性建立起来的三个源头，而且指明了习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想与文化主体性的内在关系。

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era comprehensively and systematically expounds the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization, most powerfully manifesting the subjectivity of Chinese culture

习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想全面系统地阐释了中华文明的突出特性，最有力地彰显了中华文化的主体性

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era applies the Marxist worldview and methodology to summarize that Chinese civilization possesses prominent continuity, prominent innovation, prominent unity, prominent inclusiveness, and prominent peacefulness. Prominent continuity is viewed through the Marxist view of the state; prominent innovation is viewed through the Marxist view of the people; prominent unity is viewed through the Marxist view of politics; prominent inclusiveness is viewed through the Marxist view of civilization; and prominent peacefulness is viewed through the Marxist view of international relations – these five characteristics, revealed under the guidance of Marxism, are precisely the most concentrated embodiment of our fine traditional Chinese culture.

习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想运用马克思主义的世界观和方法论，概括了中华文明具有突出的连续性、突出的创新性、突出的统一性、突出的包容性、突出的和平性。突出的连续性是以马克思主义的国家观来看待的，突出的创新性是以马克思主义的人民观来看待的，突出的统一性是以马克思主义的政治观来看待的，突出的包容性是以马克思主义的文明观来看待的，突出的和平性是以马克思主义的国际观来看待的——以马克思主义为指导揭示出来的这五性正是我们中华优秀传统文化最集中的体现。

As General Secretary Xi Jinping stated, fine traditional Chinese culture contains many important elements. For example, the social ideal of “the world is for all and all under heaven is shared in common”; the governance thought of “the people are the foundation of the state and rule is governed by virtue”; the tradition of great unity where “all regions are administered uniformly and diversity is integrated into unity”; the family-nation sentiment of “cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the state, and bring peace to all under heaven, and the rise and fall of the state is everyone’s responsibility”; the spiritual pursuit of “great virtue carries all things and clarifying virtue promotes the Way”; the economic ethics of “enrich the people and ensure their livelihood, and balance righteousness and profit”; the ecological idea of “unity of Heaven and humanity, and all things grow together”; the philosophical thought of “seeking truth from facts and unifying knowledge and action”; the thinking method of “grasp both ends and use the middle, and maintain equilibrium to achieve harmony”; the way of interaction of “uphold trust and cultivate harmony, and be kind and neighborly.” These elements together shape the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization; these prominent characteristics are highly recognizable and also reflect our cultural subjectivity that does not depend on other cultures.

正如习近平总书记所言，中华优秀传统文化有很多重要的元素。比如，天下为公、天下大同的社会理想，民为邦本、为政以德的治理思想，九州共贯、多元一体的大一统传统，修齐治平、兴亡有责的家国情怀，厚德载物、明德弘道的精神追求，富民厚生、义利兼顾的经济伦理，天人合一、万物并育的生态理念，实事求是、知行合一的哲学思想，执两用中、守中致和的思维方法，讲信修睦、亲仁善邻的交往之道等。这些元素共同塑造出中华文明的突出特性，这些突出特性极具辨识度，也体现出我们不依附于其他文化的文化主体性。

Historically, many foreign scholars have especially recognized the subjectivity of Chinese culture. For example, Voltaire, the most outstanding Enlightenment thinker of 18th-century France, wrote an article on Chinese education in his 1764 *Philosophical Dictionary*, holding that the ethical principle of “be cautious in cultivating oneself and be harmonious in nurturing the body” should become a model for Europeans. The social ideal of “the world is for all and all under heaven is shared in common” in Chinese culture was also highly recognized by the famous British historian of science Joseph Needham. In his 1987 book *Within the Four Seas*, he cited much traditional Chinese culture, emphasizing that the Chinese ideal of “the world is for all and all under heaven is shared in common” could guide the development of human society.

历史上，很多国外学者都特别认可中华文化的主体性。比如18世纪法国最杰出的启蒙思想家伏尔泰，在其1764年出版的《哲学词典》中，便写了一篇关于中国教育问题的文章，认为“慎以修身、和以养体”的伦理原则应该成为欧洲人的榜样。中华文化中的“天下为公、天下大同”的社会理想，也被英国著名的科学史学家李约瑟高度认可。他在1987年出版过一本著作《四海之内》，书中就引用了很多中国传统文化，强调中国人“天下为公、天下大同”的理想能够引导人类社会的发展。

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, with a scientific attitude and a clear stance, most powerfully defends the Marxist scientific system and the Chinese cultural system

习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想以科学的态度、鲜明的立场，最有力地捍卫了马克思主义科学体系和中华文化体系

First, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is Marxism of contemporary China and Marxism of the 21st century; it is the essence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit of the times, mainly reflected in two aspects.

首先，习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想是当代中国马克思主义、二十一世纪马克思主义，是中华文化和中国精神的时代精华，它主要体现在两个方面。

On the one hand, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era creatively puts forward the propositions of the core values of scientific socialism, taking root in the essence of Chinese culture of the times. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out: “Fine traditional Chinese culture is extensive and profound, and it is the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese civilization. The ideas contained therein – such as the world is for all, the people are the foundation of the state, rule by virtue, discarding the old and establishing the new, appointing people on merit, unity of Heaven and humanity, self-improvement and virtue-carrying, upholding trust and cultivating harmony, being kind and neighborly – are important embodiments of the Chinese people’s views on the universe, the world, society, and morality accumulated in their long-term production and life. They are highly compatible with the value propositions of scientific socialism.” It is precisely through the elucidation of the value propositions of scientific socialism that the Chinese people’s views on the universe, the world, society, and morality accumulated in long-term production and life have been carried forward.

一方面，习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想创造性地提出了科学社会主义价值观的主张，是中华文化时代精华的落地生根。党的二十大报告指出：“中华优秀传统文化源远流长、博大精深，是中华文明的智慧结晶，其中蕴含的天下为公、民为邦本、为政以德、革故鼎新、任人唯贤、天人合一、自强不息、厚德载物、讲信修睦、亲仁善邻等，是中国人民在长期生产生活中积累的宇宙观、天下观、社会观、道德观的重要体现，同科学社会主义价值观主张具有高度契合性。”正是通过科学社会主义价值观主张的阐释，中国人在长期生产生活中积累的宇宙观、天下观、社会观、道德观……得以发扬光大。

On the other hand, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era creatively puts forward the theoretical system of Chinese-path modernization, making the Chinese spirit shine brightly. In his important speech at the opening ceremony of the seminar on studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward an important assertion: “The unique views on the world, values, history, civilization, democracy, and ecology contained in Chinese-path modernization, and its great practice, are a major innovation in the world’s modernization theory and practice.” The unique “six views” contained in Chinese-path modernization originate from the Chinese people’s unique view of the unity of Heaven and humanity, the view of harmonizing all nations, the view of harmony in diversity, the view of kindness in the heart and morality, the view of nature as the unity of Heaven and humanity, and the view of history with reverence for the past. Taking the view of history as an example, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that valuing history, studying history, and learning from history is a fine tradition in the more than 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization. We look at history not from a short-term perspective but from a grand historical perspective; only a grand historical perspective can manifest cultural subjectivity. Sometimes, from a short-term perspective, a cultural subject may have some problems here and there, but from a long-term perspective, our cultural subjectivity becomes even clearer.

另一方面，习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想创造性地提出了中国式现代化理论体系，让中国精神熠熠生辉。习近平总书记在学习贯彻党的二十大精神研讨班开班式上的重要讲话中提出了一个重要论断：“中国式现代化蕴含的独特世界观、价值观、历史观、文明观、民主观、生态观等及其伟大实践，是对世界现代化理论和实践的重大创新。”中国式现代化蕴含的这独特“六观”，来源于中国人独有的天人合一的宇宙观、协和万邦的国际观、和而不同的社会观、人心和善的道德观、天人合一的自然观、敬畏过去的历史观。以历史观为例，习近平总书记指出，重视历史、研究历史、借鉴历史是中华民族5000多年文明史的一个优良传统。我们看待历史，不是短期的，而是从大历史观出发，只有大历史观才能彰显文化主体性。有时候，文化主体从短期看可能有一些这样那样的问题，但从长期看，我们的文化主体性就显得更加清晰。

Second, the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era clearly opposes historical nihilism and cultural nihilism. General Secretary Xi Jinping has on many occasions profoundly pointed out the political essence and harm of historical nihilism and emphasized “establishing a correct view of Party history” and “clearly opposing historical nihilism.” In the past, many people believed that Chinese cultural tradition was conservative and backward. Our Party has always used the standpoint and method of historical materialism to view the inheritance of Chinese national history and to promote fine traditional Chinese culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping has always emphasized that Chinese Communists are not historical nihilists or cultural nihilists; he pointed out: “Viewed from the grand historical perspective of several thousand years, change and opening up are generally the norm in Chinese history, and the Chinese nation continues to march toward the future with the posture of reform and opening up.”

其次，习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想伟大旗帜鲜明地反对历史虚无主义和文化虚无主义。习近平总书记多次深刻指出历史虚无的政治本质及其危害，并强调“树立正确党史观”“旗帜鲜明反对历史虚无主义”。过去，很多人认为中国文化传统保守、落后。我们党历来用历史唯物主义的立场观点来看待中华民族历史继承、弘扬中华优秀传统文化。习近平总书记一直强调，中国共产党人不是历史虚无主义者，也不是文化虚无主义者，他指出：“以数千年大历史观之，变革和开放总体上是中国历史常态，中华民族以改革开放的姿态继续走向未来。”

“Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” is the core value concept of Xi Jinping’s thought on ecological civilization in the New Era. The picture shows the main peak of the Jianfengling Scenic Area in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. Photo by Chen Yuancai.

“绿水青山就是金山银山”是习近平新时代生态文明建设思想的核心价值观。图为海南热带雨林国家公园尖峰岭景区主峰。陈元才/摄

The spirit of change and openness of “As Heaven moves with vigor, the gentleman constantly strengthens himself; as Earth is broad and firm, the gentleman carries all things with great virtue” has made Chinese civilization the only brilliant civilization in human history that has continued for more than 5,000 years without interruption; the broad-mindedness of “all under heaven is shared in common” and “harmonizing all nations” has confidently and generously carried out exchanges with foreign peoples and cultural interactions, once composing the grand song of the thousand-mile camel bells and waves of the Silk Road, creating the heyday of the Tang Dynasty when “all nations’ envoys gathered in Chang’an,” and also painting the picture of Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Seas and opening the ten-thousand-li tea road that stretched to the banks of the Neva River. Chinese merchants in the Qing Dynasty connected the tea trade route from Wuyi Mountain in the south to St. Petersburg, Russia, in the north, greatly promoting the development of China’s tea planting and transportation industries. This shows that even the “closed-door” Qing Dynasty had a certain degree of openness.

“天行健，君子以自强不息；地势坤，君子以厚德载物”的变革和开放精神，使中华文明成为人类历史上唯一一个绵延5000多年至今未曾中断的灿烂文明；“天下大同”“协和万邦”的宽广胸怀，自信而又大度地开展同域外民族交往和文化交流，曾经谱写了万里驼铃万里波的浩浩丝路长歌，创造了“万国衣冠会长安”的盛唐气象，也绘就了郑和下西洋的万船竞发，凿开了远漂涅瓦河畔的万里茶道。中国商人在清朝贯通了南起武夷山、北达俄罗斯圣彼得堡的茶叶贸易之路，大力推动了我国种茶业和运输业的发展。由此可见，即便是“闭关锁国”的清朝也具有一定的开放度。

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era integrates the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, most powerfully creating a new cultural life form

习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合、同中华优秀传统文化相结合，最有力地创造了新的文化生命体

The creation of a new cultural life form has gone through the unremitting struggle of generations of Communists. From Comrade Mao Zedong’s “We are Marxist historicists; we should not cut off history. From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we should summarize and inherit this precious legacy,” to Deng Xiaoping’s borrowing the term “moderately prosperous society” from the *Book of Songs* to clearly propose the vision of “building a moderately prosperous society” and “finding a Chinese-style modernization path”; from Jiang Zemin’s “We should inherit and carry forward the fine ideological and cultural traditions of the Chinese nation, absorb all outstanding achievements of human civilization, and create an advanced spiritual civilization for mankind in vivid socialist practice,” to Hu Jintao’s “We must inherit and carry forward the excellent tradition of Chinese culture, vigorously promote Chinese culture, and build the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation”… the new cultural life form gradually took shape on the basis of building a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.

新的文化生命体的创造经过了一代又一代共产党人的不懈奋斗。从毛泽东同志的“我们是马克思主义的历史主义者，我们不应当割断历史。从孔夫子到孙中山，我们应当给以总结，承继这一份珍贵的遗产”，到邓小平借用《诗经》中“小康”一词，明确提出“建设小康社会”“走出一条中国式的现代化道路”的设想，从江泽民的“我们要继承和发扬中华民族优良的思想文化传统，吸收人类文明发展的一切优秀成果，在生动丰富的社会主义实践中，创造出人类先进的精神文明”，到胡锦涛的“必须继承和发扬中华优秀文化传统，大力弘扬中华文化，建设中华民族共有精神家园”……新的文化生命体在建设中国特色社会主义文化基础上逐渐形成。

After the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping placed greater emphasis on the practical role of fine traditional culture, developing the people-oriented requirement that “all things must be based on the root, and the state takes the people as the root” into a people-centered development thought and the worldview and methodology of putting the people first, emphasizing that the nation is the people, the people are the nation; to conquer the nation and defend the nation is to win the hearts of the people. He developed the concept of “all regions under heaven share the same customs and the nine provinces are unified” into the concept of the Chinese national community, emphasizing the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. He developed the simple cognition that “all things coexist alongside each other” into the ecological civilization thought of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, emphasizing that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. He developed the governing pursuit of “before the rain comes, bind the roots with soil and repair the windows” of enriching the people and ensuring their livelihood into the theoretical system of Chinese-path modernization with the goal of continuously satisfying the people’s aspiration for a better life, emphasizing that the essence of modernization is the modernization of people. He developed risk awareness into bottom-line thinking, emphasizing the need to regularly conduct comprehensive investigations of risk factors and to be good at learning from experience, drawing inferences from one instance, and practicing real skills and real abilities in struggle. These series of important discourses have enabled Chinese culture to achieve a leap from tradition to modernity, forming the modern form of Chinese culture.

党的十八大之后，习近平总书记更加强调优秀传统文化的现实作用，把“凡事皆须务本，国以人为本”的民本要求，发展为以人民为中心的发展思想和人民至上的世界观、方法论，强调江山就是人民，人民就是江山，打江山、守江山，守的是人民的心；把“六合同风，九州共贯”的理念，发展成为中华民族共同体理念，强调铸牢中华民族共同体意识；把万物并肩的朴素认知，发展成为人与自然和谐共生的生态文明思想，强调绿水青山就是金山银山；把“迨天之未阴雨，彻彼桑土，绸缪牖户”的富民厚生的治国追求，发展成为以不断实现人民对美好生活的向往为目标的中国式现代化理论体系，强调现代化的本质就是人的现代化；把风险意识发展成为底线思维，强调要定期对风险因素进行全面排查，要善于经一事长一智，由此及彼、举一反三，练就斗争的真本领、真功夫……这一系列重要论述使中华文化实现了从传统到现代的跨越，形成中华文化的现代形态。

The secret of the vigorous vitality of this new cultural life form lies in enriching the cultural life of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, promoting Marxism to continuously achieve new leaps in adapting to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. The enrichment of Marxism’s cultural life by fine traditional Chinese culture is reflected in: First, the unique worldview and methodology of the Chinese people manifested in fine traditional Chinese culture combine with the Marxist worldview and methodology to produce the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. If we had only the Marxist methodology without absorbing and inheriting fine traditional Chinese culture, it would be difficult to produce such a worldview and methodology in thought. It is precisely by fully absorbing the wisdom of state governance, the thinking method of exploring things and exhausting principles, and the moral concepts of self-cultivation and conduct contained in fine traditional Chinese culture that Marxism has been able to develop into a Chinese and modern one. Second, the Two Integrations have created an organic and unified new cultural life form, which has become the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization, forming an advanced socialist culture under the guidance of Marxism. This culture has great dreams, ideals, and unremitting goals of struggle; this culture forever gives the people the power to move upward. The advanced socialist culture further combines with the revolutionary culture under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party to form the spiritual genealogy of Chinese Communists with the great founding spirit of the Party as its source, which is an important spiritual force in our march toward a modern and powerful country.

这个新的文化生命体生机勃勃的奥秘就在于以中华优秀传统文化充实了马克思主义的文化生命，推动马克思主义不断实现中国化、时代化的新飞跃。中华优秀传统文化充实了马克思主义的文化生命，体现在：其一，中华优秀传统文化展现出来的中国人独有的世界观方法论与马克思主义的世界观方法论相结合，产生了习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的世界观方法论。如果只有马克思主义的方法论，没有吸收传承中华优秀传统文化，很难产生出这样一个思想上的世界观方法论。正是充分吸收了中华优秀传统文化中蕴含的治国理政的思想智慧、格物穷理的思想方法、修身处世的道德理念，马克思主义才能发展成为中国的、现代的。其二，“两个结合”造就了一个有机统一的新的文化生命体，成为中国式现代化的文化形态，形成了马克思主义指导下的社会主义先进文化。这种文化有伟大的梦想、理想与不懈的奋斗目标，这种文化永远给人民以向上的力量。社会主义先进文化进而结合中国共产党领导下的革命文化，形成了以伟大建党精神为源头的中国共产党人的精神谱系，这是我们迈向现代化强国的重要精神力量。

(About the author: Xin Xiangyang, President of the Academy of Marxism of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of *Marxist Studies*)

（作者简介：辛向阳，中国社会科学院马克思主义研究院院长、《马克思主义研究》主编）

Online editor: Tong Xin

网络编辑：同心