Striking the Right "Quartet" for Continuing the Historical Thread and Spreading Chinese Culture [1]

On October 28, 2024, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held its 17th collective study session on building a strong cultural country. [2]2 The 17th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: a regular study system of the CPC Central Committee; this session's theme was building a strong cultural country. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, emphasizing the need to anchor the strategic goal of building a strong cultural country by 2035, uphold the fundamental system of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological domain, fully implement the cultural thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era, and develop a socialist culture that is national, scientific, and mass-oriented, facing modernization, the world, and the future. It is necessary to continue the Chinese cultural thread through creative transformation and innovative development, [3]3 Creative transformation and innovative development: a key element of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, referring to the adaptation of fine traditional Chinese culture to contemporary contexts by giving it new forms and meanings. elevate the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation, and protect, promote, and develop the treasures of Chinese civilization that have endured through vicissitudes.

2024年10月28日，中共中央政治局就建设文化强国进行第十七次集体学习，习近平总书记发表重要讲话，强调要锚定2035年建成文化强国的战略目标，坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域指导地位的根本制度，全面贯彻新时代中国特色社会主义文化思想，发展面向现代化、面向世界、面向未来的民族的科学的大众的社会主义文化。要在创造性转化和创新性发展中赓续中华文脉，高扬中华民族的文化主体性，把历经沧桑留下的中华文明瑰宝呵护好、弘扬好、发展好。

General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech is profound in meaning and rich in content, pointing the way forward and providing fundamental guidance for us to shoulder new cultural missions on the new journey and continuously create new brilliance for Chinese culture. On the one hand, we should focus on continuing the historical thread of Chinese civilization, adopt a scientific attitude to protect and pass on cultural heritage, promote cultural prosperity at a new starting point, and build a strong cultural country. On the other hand, we should focus on external communication, making the past serve the present, weeding through the old to bring forth the new, and promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. Using China's excellent cultural heritage as a carrier, we should optimize, strengthen, and enliven external communication, showing the world the enduring charm and contemporary style of Chinese culture.

习近平总书记的重要讲话寓意深远，内涵丰富，为我们在新征程上担负起新的文化使命，不断铸就中华文化新辉煌指明了前进方向、提供了根本遵循。一方面，我们要着眼于赓续中华历史文脉，本着科学的态度，把文化遗产保护好、传承好，在新的起点上推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国；另一方面，要着眼对外传播，古为今用，推陈出新，推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化和创新性发展。以我国优秀的文化遗产为载体，做优做强做活对外传播，向世界展示中华文化的恒久魅力和时代风采。

Compose the "Tune of Integrating Ancient and Modern"

谱好“融汇古今曲”

Integrate into daily life. It is necessary to find the connection point between traditional culture and modern life, allowing the historical thread to further enter the daily life of the people and integrate into their clothing, food, housing, and transportation. In Shixia Village at the foot of the Great Wall, the village is surrounded by the Great Wall on three sides. [4]4 Shixia Village: a village at the foot of the Great Wall in Yanqing District, Beijing, where villagers have long voluntarily protected the Great Wall. For decades, villagers have spontaneously participated in the protection of the Great Wall and established a Great Wall Protection Association. Here, Great Wall protection has been integrated into the daily life of local villagers. They participate in Great Wall protection work and develop homestay industry relying on the Great Wall resources, bringing tremendous changes to the village's appearance. The ancient Great Wall is organically connected with modern life, preserving both historical architecture and local folk customs with strong rural flavor. It is necessary to strengthen the interaction between culture and tourism, focus on enhancing cultural elements in tourism, shape tourism with culture, and highlight culture through tourism. Red tours, food tours, and museum check-ins use culture to upgrade tourism development and better serve economic and social development. Let people see the water, look at the mountains, and remember their nostalgia, continuously meeting the people's growing needs for a better life, so that fine traditional Chinese culture can nourish the soul through daily integration and the gentle influence of spring breeze and rain.

融入日常。要找到传统文化和现代生活的联结点，让历史文脉进一步走进民众的日常生活，融入人们的衣食住行。长城脚下的石峡村，村庄三面被长城包围。数十年来，村民自发参与长城保护工作，组建长城保护协会。在这里，长城保护已经融入当地村民的日常生活，他们参与长城保护工作，依托长城资源发展民宿产业，乡村面貌发生巨大变化。古老的长城与现代生活有机衔接，既保护历史建筑，也保护具有浓厚乡土气息的地方民俗。要强化文旅互动，注重增强旅游中的文化元素，以文塑旅、以旅彰文。红色之旅、美食之旅、打卡博物馆，以文化推动旅游业发展升级，更好服务经济社会发展。让人们看得见水、望得见山、记得住乡愁，不断满足人民群众日益增长的美好生活需要，使中华优秀传统文化在融入日常、春风化雨中润泽心灵。

Systematic research. It is necessary to strengthen systematic research, coordinate research forces, strengthen research planning, focus on the philosophical thoughts, humanistic spirit, and contemporary values behind cultural heritage and historical remains, prioritize key areas, and implement the Project to Trace the Origins of Chinese Civilization, the major project "Archaeological China," the Xia-Shang Civilization Research Project, etc., [5]5 Project to Trace the Origins of Chinese Civilization, Archaeological China, Xia-Shang Civilization Research Project: major national archaeological research initiatives aimed at exploring the origins and development of Chinese civilization. and strengthen archaeological research on core sites. Strengthen support for the inheritance of national quintessence and the protection of intangible cultural heritage, strengthen research on the history and culture of ethnic minorities, and further consolidate the consciousness of the Chinese national community. [6]6 Consciousness of the Chinese national community: the sense of identity of all ethnic groups in China as part of a single national community. Through organized scientific research, strengthen innovation in research methods, promote deep synergy and integration of archaeological exploration, documentary research, and scientific and technological means, reveal the historical implication, cultural spirit, and contemporary value of the Chinese nation embodied in cultural heritage and historical remains, and provide strong cultural support for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.

系统研究。要加强系统研究，统筹研究力量，强化研究规划，聚焦文化遗产和历史遗存背后蕴含的哲学思想、人文精神、现代价值等开展研究，突出重点，实施好中华文明探源工程、“考古中国”重大项目、夏商文明研究工程等，加强核心遗址考古研究；加强对国粹传承和非物质文化遗产保护的支持和扶持，加强对少数民族历史文化的研究，进一步铸牢中华民族共同体意识；通过开展有组织科研，加强研究方法创新，推动考古探索、文献研究和科学技术手段的深度协同结合，揭示文化遗产和历史遗存蕴含的中华民族的历史意蕴、文化精神、现代价值，为新时代坚持和发展中国特色社会主义提供有力的文化支撑。

Scientific management. Cultural relics and cultural heritage are non-renewable and non-replaceable resources. We must uphold a spirit of being responsible to history, the people, and future generations, and comprehensively improve the level of protection and utilization of cultural relics. It is necessary to establish and improve the management system for historical and cultural heritage resource assets, build a national cultural relics resource database, strengthen overall guidance on the general survey and publication of cultural relics resources in related fields, and construct a cultural relics resource management system that combines comprehensive survey, special investigation, spatial control, and dynamic monitoring. Improve the protection mechanism for immovable cultural relics, incorporate cultural relic protection management into the formulation and implementation of territorial spatial planning, and coordinate rescue protection with preventive protection, protection of the body with protection of the surroundings, and protection of individual sites with protection of clusters. Thoroughly learn from domestic and foreign cultural relic management experience, supervise and inspect the implementation of main responsibilities, strengthen hazard rectification, and enhance the protection capacity of historical and cultural heritage. Strengthen the awareness of protection first, achieve reasonable utilization and sustainable development on the basis of full protection, further improve the level of public cultural services, and meet the people's spiritual and cultural needs.

科学管理。文物和文化遗产是不可再生、不可替代的资源，要秉持对历史、对人民群众、对子孙后代负责的精神，全面提升文物保护利用水平。要建立健全历史文化遗产资源资产管理制度，建设国家文物资源大数据库，加强相关领域文物资源普查、名录公布的统筹指导，构建全面普查、专项调查、空间管控、动态监测相结合的文物资源管理体系；要健全不可移动文物保护机制，把文物保护管理纳入国土空间规划编制和实施，统筹好抢救性保护和预防性保护、本体保护和周边保护、单点保护和集群保护等；要深刻汲取国内外文物管理经验，督察落实主体责任，强化隐患整治，增强历史文化遗产防护能力；要强化保护第一的意识，在充分保护的基础上合理利用、可持续发展，进一步提升公共文化服务水平，满足人民精神文化生活需求。

Fill in the "Lyrics of Digital Empowerment"

填好“数字赋能辞”

Digital protection. "Paper lasts a thousand years but has its limit." [8]8 "Paper lasts a thousand years but has its limit": a Chinese saying meaning that paper can last a long time but not forever, used to emphasize the vulnerability of cultural relics. Many ancient texts, historical sites, and artifacts of long standing face the problem of damage due to factors such as erosion and weathering. The development of digital technology provides an important path for effectively protecting these cultural resources. Through digital protection measures such as taking photos and on-site video recording, and through digital means such as digital microscopy and 3D virtual technology, carrying out digital protection work such as restoration, transformation, and storage, so that ancient texts and other precious historical relics on the verge of disappearance can be effectively inherited and protected. Digitally restore damaged or lost historical documents, aggregate fragmented information, construct a systematic digital resource library of cultural heritage, achieve digitization and visualization, and carry out three-dimensional reconstruction and vivid reproduction.

数字保护。“纸寿千年终有期”，许多历时久远的历史文化古籍、古迹、古物，因岁月剥蚀、风化腐蚀等因素的影响，面临损毁的问题。数字技术的发展，为有效保护这些文化资源提供了重要路径。通过拍摄图片、现场录像等数字化保护举措，通过数码显微技术、三维虚拟技术等数字化手段，进行修复、转化、存储等数字化保护工作，让古籍等濒临消失的珍贵历史文物得到有效传承保护；对出现缺损或丢失的历史文献进行数字化修复，把碎片化信息聚合起来，构建系统的文化遗产数字资源库，实现数字化、可视化，进行立体重构和生动再现。

Digital exhibition. Innovate the display methods of fine traditional Chinese culture, and strive to create high-quality boutique digital exhibitions. In recent years, multiple "digital cultural relic rejuvenation" projects such as Digital Dunhuang, Digital Palace Museum, Digital Great Wall, and Digital Sanxingdui have presented the revitalized Chinese civilization to the world, [7]7 Digital Dunhuang, Digital Palace Museum, Digital Great Wall, Digital Sanxingdui: projects that use digital technology to protect and display cultural heritage sites such as the Mogao Caves, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Sanxingdui ruins. leading visitors to tour cultural sites such as the Great Wall, Dunhuang, and Sanxingdui in fresh and interesting forms with real and perceptible experiences, using digital technology to improve exhibition methods and optimize the user experience of cultural heritage. These digital "cloud tour" display methods, on the one hand, use virtual space technology to generate realistic, real-time, three-dimensional virtual scenes, creating an immersive viewing experience, making up for the regret that audiences cannot visit in person. On the other hand, they effectively reduce the number of on-site visitors and lower the damage caused by human intervention to cultural heritage. These digital exhibitions use visualized presentation, interactive dissemination, and immersive experience to improve the display form of digital content of cultural relics. It is necessary to adhere to the unity of political nature, ideological nature, and artistic nature, enhance expressiveness, dissemination power, and influence. Further strengthen the interactivity and sense of participation of digital exhibitions, maintain the correct orientation, focus on the theme, let historical facts speak, meet the audience's needs for perception and interaction, and deepen the audience's understanding and cognition of fine traditional Chinese culture.

数字展陈。创新中华优秀传统文化展示方式，着力打造高质量精品数字展陈。近年来，数字敦煌、数字故宫、数字长城、数字三星堆等多个“文物数字焕新”项目将活化后的中华文明展现在全世界面前，以新鲜有趣的形式、真实可感的体验带领参观者游遍长城、敦煌、三星堆等文化遗址，利用数字技术改进展陈方式，优化文化遗产的用户体验。这些数字化“云游”的展示方式，一方面，利用虚拟空间技术等生成逼真、实时、三维虚拟场景，创造了身临其境的观感体验，弥补观众无法亲临现场的遗憾；另一方面，有效减少现场参观人数，降低人为干预对文化遗产带来的损害。这些数字展陈利用可视化呈现、互动化传播、沉浸式体验，完善文物数字内容的展示形态。要坚持政治性、思想性、艺术性相统一，增强表现力、传播力、影响力。要进一步强化数字展览互动性和参与感，把好导向、聚焦主题，用史实说话，满足观众的感知和互动需求，深化观众对中华优秀传统文化的认知和理解。

Digital narrative. Rely on digital technology to tell the contemporary stories of cultural sites. Digital narrative is the reinterpretation, re-exploration, and re-creation of the content of cultural sites, an innovative narrative mode based on content embedding and integration into contemporary people's aesthetic habits. Continuously upgrade the narrative means, narrative framework, and narrative mode of digital expression of cultural sites, promote comprehensive innovation in narrative logic, narrative techniques, and narrative strategies, combine grand narratives with individual narratives and the era background, making the stories of cultural sites more moving, infectious, and persuasive. Empowered by the two-way integration of "content + technology," integrate live streaming, artificial intelligence, etc., into the practice of storytelling about cultural sites, use the most novel and cool forms and means to make ancient cultural heritage "flashy," "trendy," and "cool," [9]9 "Flashy," "trendy," and "cool": Chinese internet slang terms (xuan, chao, ku) used to describe something eye-catching, fashionable, and impressive. making the image of Chinese cultural sites more attractive and touching.

数字叙事。依托数字技术，讲好文化遗址的当代故事。数字叙事是对文化遗址内容的再阐释、再发掘与再创造，在内容互嵌、融入当代人们审美习惯的基础上创新转化的叙事模式。要不断升级文化遗址数字化表达的叙事手段、叙事框架、叙事模式，推进叙事逻辑、叙事技巧、叙事策略的全面创新，将宏大叙事与个体叙事、时代背景同构结合，让文化遗址的故事更加打动人、感染人、说服人。以“内容+技术”双向融合赋能，将网络直播、人工智能等融入文化遗址故事讲述实践，用最新颖炫酷的形式手段让古老的文化遗产“炫”“潮”“酷”起来，让中国文化遗址形象更能吸引人、打动人。

Tune the "Melody of Connecting China and the World"

调正“联通中外调”

Focus on "translation" and build a national translation innovation highland. Language is the best key to understanding a country, an important force for enhancing international understanding, and a key bond for promoting cultural exchange. It is necessary to combine basing ourselves on China with looking at the world, form a national force for the translation of cultural heritage, translate and promote China's unique historical and cultural sites so that more foreign friends can know these Chinese treasures. At the same time, do a good job in global language education, research, service, and protection. Strengthen foreign language education, enhance global language strategic capabilities. Formulate plans for learning and using foreign language varieties, build a national multilingual language talent resource bank. Enhance communication between China and the people of all countries, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, assist in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and a community with a shared future for mankind, and make new contributions in promoting China to better go global and the world to better understand China.

聚焦“翻译”，建设国家翻译创新高地。语言是了解一个国家最好的钥匙，是增进国际理解的重要力量、推动文化交流的关键纽带。要将立足中国与放眼世界相结合，组建文化遗产翻译的国家力量，把中国特有的历史文化遗址翻译推介出去，让更多的国外友人知晓这些中华瑰宝。同时，做好全球语言的教育、研究、服务和保护工作。加强外语教育，提升全球语言战略能力。制定外语语种学习和使用规划，建设国家多语种语言人才资源库。增强中国与世界各国人民的沟通，促进文明交流互鉴，助力“一带一路”和人类命运共同体建设，在推动中国更好地走向世界、世界更好地了解中国中作出新的贡献。

Highlight "self-shaping" and define key common discourse. Sort out and condense Chinese cultural sites represented by the Great Wall, Dunhuang, and the Palace Museum, and Chinese symbols, Chinese discourse, and Chinese expressions represented by Chinese language, script, literature, art, clothing, etiquette, tea culture, martial arts, etc., give play to their cultural role that transcends time, space, and national boundaries, combine with the characteristics of overseas communication, form key common discourse with Chinese style, Chinese characteristics, and Chinese spirit, disseminate more value symbols and cultural products that carry Chinese culture and Chinese spirit, and create new concepts, new categories, and new expressions that integrate Chinese and foreign elements. Enhance the ability of "self-shaping," disseminate the innovative achievements of contemporary Chinese culture that both inherit fine traditional Chinese culture and carry forward the spirit of the times, that base themselves on the country and face the world. Strengthen cultural confidence, base on the great historical practice and contemporary practice of the Chinese nation, use Chinese rationale to summarize Chinese experience, and elevate Chinese experience into Chinese theory.

突出“自塑”，定义关键共通话语。把以长城、敦煌、故宫为代表的中国文化遗址和以中国的语言、文字、文学、艺术、服饰、礼仪、茶文化、武术等为代表的中国符号、中国话语、中国表达梳理凝练起来，发挥其跨越时空、超越国度的文化作用，结合海外传播特点，形成具有中国气派、中国特色、中国精神的关键共同话语，传播更多承载中华文化、中国精神的价值符号和文化产品，打造融通中外的新概念、新范畴、新表述。增强“自塑”能力，把继承中华优秀传统文化又弘扬时代精神、立足本国又面向世界的当代中国文化创新成果传播出去。坚定文化自信，立足中华民族伟大历史实践和当代实践，用中国道理总结好中国经验，把中国经验提升为中国理论。

Play the "Symphony of External Communication"

奏响“对外传播交响乐”

Strengthen "inclusiveness" and do a good job of connecting global discourse. Using China's excellent cultural heritage as a carrier, optimize, strengthen, and enliven external communication. Chinese civilization has outstanding inclusiveness. The inclusiveness of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines the historical orientation of the Chinese nation's interactions, exchanges, and integration. Chinese civilization is a common culture formed by the convergence of diverse cultures, advocating harmony through communication, coexistence and mutual progress, and preserving great harmony, forming the open-mindedness of Chinese culture to absorb all that is good from world civilizations. The exhibition "The Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles: Sino-French Exchanges in the 17th and 18th Centuries" is themed on the diplomatic, cultural, and artistic exchanges between China and France. [10]10 "The Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles: Sino-French Exchanges in the 17th and 18th Centuries": an exhibition held at the Palace Museum in Beijing in 2024, showcasing the history of cultural and diplomatic exchanges between China and France. Through the shared historical and cultural memories of the Palace Museum and the Palace of Versailles, it shows a century of political exchanges based on mutual respect and appreciation, and cultural exchanges based on mutual learning. In international communication, attention should be paid to starting from things familiar to both sides, finding common historical memories of both sides, reflecting the common points of discourse and converging points of interests between China and the international world, enhance consensus, share consensus, and construct a narrative logic with common value foundation that can be widely accepted. Use "empathy" to enhance emotions, use "commonality" to consolidate consensus, use "sharing" to resolve conflicts, seek common ground while reserving differences in full communication, and broaden the shared space of meaning.

强化“包容”，做好全球话语衔接。以我国优秀的文化遗产为载体，做优做强做活对外传播。中华文明具有突出的包容性，中华文明的包容性从根本上决定了中华民族交往交流交融的历史取向。中华文明是由多元文化汇聚成共同文化，倡导交通成和、共生并进、保合太和，形成中华文化对世界文明兼收并蓄的开放胸怀。“紫禁城与凡尔赛宫——17、18世纪的中法交往”展览，就是以中法两国外交、文化和艺术交流为主题，通过故宫博物院、凡尔赛宫共有的历史文化记忆，展现百年间双方彼此尊重、相互欣赏的政治交往史，彼此借鉴、相互学习的文化交流史。在国际传播中，应当注意从双方都熟悉的事物出发，寻找双方的共同历史记忆，反映中国与国际世界的话语共同点、利益交汇点，增进共识、共享共识，构建具有共同价值基础、能被广泛接受的叙事逻辑。以“共情”增进情感，以“共通”凝聚共识，以“共享”化解冲突，在彼此充分沟通中求同存异，拓宽共通的意义空间。

Strengthen "integration" and optimize the pluralistic and unified external communication system. Promote the restructuring of the international communication pattern, innovate online external publicity, and build a multi-channel, three-dimensional external communication pattern. Use Chinese cultural sites as a medium to integrate multi-party dialogue. For example, invite foreign journalists and editors to experience China firsthand, see Chinese cultural sites with their own eyes, feel the origins of civilization at Liangzhu and Erlitou, experience the inheritance of Chinese writing through oracle bones from the Yin Ruins, appreciate the treasures of Chinese culture on site at Sanxingdui, touch the historical thread at the National Archives of Publications and Culture, etc., [11]11 Liangzhu, Erlitou, Yin Ruins oracle bones, Sanxingdui, National Archives of Publications and Culture: Liangzhu (Zhejiang) and Erlitou (Henan) are archaeological sites; Yin Ruins (Henan) are the source of oracle bone inscriptions; Sanxingdui (Sichuan) is a Bronze Age site; the National Archives of Publications and Culture in Beijing is the national repository of publications and cultural artifacts. to further understand a comprehensive and three-dimensional China. Strengthen dialogue with world-renowned experts and scholars, dialogue with mainstream media in Western countries, and seek guidance in diverse expressions. Grasp the trends of mobile, social, and visual development in the field of international communication, take emerging media as the focus of building external discourse carriers, and combine "building ships to go to sea" with "borrowing ships to go to sea." [12]12 "Building ships to go to sea" and "borrowing ships to go to sea": metaphors for building one's own communication platforms and using existing international platforms to conduct external communication. Deeply grasp the trends of mobile, social, and visual development in international communication, take overseas well-known social media platforms as the focus of work, form special teams, increase communication efforts, actively contact overseas Chinese-language media, and carry out external promotion and interpretation of China's path and China's theory in multiple languages, multiple channels, multiple formats, multiple platforms, and multiple methods. Strengthen targeted communication. Tell the stories of Chinese cultural sites and the story of Chinese-path modernization. More actively promote China's propositions, spread Chinese culture, and display China's image. Based on socialism with Chinese characteristics, vividly show China's path, China's model, China's concepts, etc., so that Western society can understand more about China's basic national conditions, and promote dialogue and exchange between Chinese and Western development models. According to the different social and cultural backgrounds of each country, formulate different propaganda strategies, guide the international community to enhance understanding and recognition of China's path, China's governance, and China's rationale.

增强“融合”，优化多元一体对外传播体系。推进国际传播格局重构，创新开展网络外宣，构建多渠道、立体式对外传播格局。以中国文化遗址为媒，融合多方对话。譬如，邀请国外的记者编辑来中国真实体验，亲眼看看中国文化遗址，在良渚、二里头感受文明起源，通过殷墟甲骨体验中国文字传承，在三星堆现场欣赏中华文化瑰宝，在国家版本馆触摸文脉，等等，进一步了解全面、立体的中国。加强与世界知名专家学者的对话，与西方国家的主流媒体对话，在多元表达中寻求引导。要把握国际传播领域移动化、社交化、可视化的趋势，把新兴媒体作为对外话语载体建设的重点，将“造船出海”“借船出海”相结合。要深刻把握国际传播领域移动化、社交化、可视化趋势，把海外知名社交媒体平台作为工作重点，组建专门团队，加大传播力度，积极联系海外华文媒体，多语种、多渠道、多业态、多平台、多方式开展中国道路和中国理论的对外宣介和阐释解读。加强精准化传播。讲好中国文化遗址故事、中国式现代化故事。更加主动地宣介中国主张，传播中华文化，展示中国形象。立足中国特色社会主义，生动展现中国道路、中国模式、中国理念等，让西方社会更多地了解中国的基本国情，推动中西发展模式的对话与交流。根据每个国家不同的社会文化背景，制定不同的宣传策略，引导国际社会增进对中国之路、中国之治、中国之理的理解与认同。

(The authors are Deputy Party Secretary of the University of International Business and Economics; Deputy Party Secretary of the School of Chinese Language and Literature, University of International Business and Economics)

（作者系对外经济贸易大学党委副书记；对外经济贸易大学中国语言文学学院党委副书记）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧