The Multidimensional Shaping of National Identity in the Early Years of the People's Republic of China

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China adopted a series of measures in the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. Through institutional and practical innovation, it rapidly restored the national economy, consolidated the nascent people's political power, and won the heartfelt support of the masses as well as their high degree of identification with the new China.

新中国成立后，中国共产党从政治、经济、社会、文化等方面采取一系列举措，通过制度创新与实践创新，迅速恢复国民经济，巩固新生的人民政权，赢得了人民群众的衷心拥护以及对新中国的高度认同。

Political identity is the core

政治认同是核心

Political identity was the core task in shaping the new China. Starting from the takeover of political power, the Communist Party of China, through institutional design and organizational construction, gradually realized the centralization and standardized operation of state power, established the authority of the central government, and built the political identity of the new China.

政治认同是塑造新中国的核心任务，中国共产党以政权接管为起点，通过制度擘画与组织建设，逐步实现国家权力的集中与规范化运作，树立中央政权的权威，建立起新中国的政治认同。

The establishment of political organizations at all levels effectively promoted the systematic construction of state power. On the eve of the founding of the new China, the Communist Party of China invited representatives from various democratic parties, people's organizations, the People's Liberation Army, different regions, various ethnic groups, and overseas Chinese to convene the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and adopted the *Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference* [1]1 Rectification study (整风学习) refers to a Party-organized campaign of study and criticism aimed at correcting ideological and work-style deviations, a method frequently used by the CPC since the Yan'an Rectification Movement of 1942-1944.. On October 1, 1949, the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was established. On October 19, the third meeting of the Central People's Government Council reviewed and approved the list of appointments for the heads of the first Government Administration Council and its subordinate committees, ministries, and commissions, marking the formal establishment of the organizational structure of the highest administrative organ of the new China. At the local level, a four-tier administrative structure of "Greater Administrative Region—Province—County—Township" was established, which lasted until the Greater Administrative Regions were abolished in 1954. In December 1950, the Government Administration Council promulgated the *General Regulations on the Organization of Township (Administrative Village) People's Governments*, establishing the township as the most basic level of political power organization in China. State power was thus truly extended to rural society, and China initially constructed a state administrative system that was vertically integrated, centralized and efficient, and conducive to exerting a high degree of organizational mobilization. This was a major breakthrough

各级政权组织的建立有力推动了国家政权的系统化建设。新中国成立前夕，中国共产党邀请各民主党派、人民团体、人民解放军、各地区、各民族以及国外华侨等各界代表，召开中国人民政治协商会议，并通过《中国人民政治协商会议共同纲领》。1949年10月1日，中华人民共和国中央人民政府成立。10月19日，中央人民政府委员会第三次会议审议并通过了第一届政务院及其所属各委员会、部委的负责人任命名单，标志着新中国最高行政机关的组织架构正式确立。在地方层面，建立起“大行政区—省—县—乡”的四级行政架构，直至1954年大行政区被撤销。1950年12月，政务院颁布《乡（行政村）人民政府组织通则》，将乡确立为我国最基层的政权组织，国家权力真正延伸至乡村社会，由此我国初步构建起上下贯通、集中高效且便于发挥高度组织动员功能的国家行政体系。这是中国政治结构的重大突破。

The implementation of the democratic system provided important support for the political legitimacy of the new regime. The 1949 Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the 1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China established the state nature of the people's democratic dictatorship and the organizational principles of political power. The Constitution explicitly stipulates that "all power in the People's Republic of China belongs to the people," which provided the basic legal basis for the political reconstruction of the state. In particular, by absorbing representatives from various strata, including workers, peasants, intellectuals, and democratic personages, to participate in deliberation, it expanded the social foundation of the new regime and enhanced the people's sense of identification with the state.

民主制度的实行为新政权的政治合法性提供了重要支撑。1949年的《中国人民政治协商会议共同纲领》和1954年《中华人民共和国宪法》确立了人民民主专政的国家性质与政权组织原则，宪法明确规定“中华人民共和国的一切权力属于人民”，这为国家政治重构提供了基本法律依据。特别是通过吸纳工人、农民、知识分子、民主人士等各阶层代表参与议事，扩大了新政权的社会基础，增强了民众对国家的认同感。

Economic reconstruction is the foundation.

经济重建是基础

In the early years of the People's Republic of China, economic reconstruction took stabilizing prices, restoring production, and improving people's livelihoods as its core objectives. Through measures such as rectifying economic order, transforming relations of production, and promoting urban-rural interaction, it gradually reversed the economic decline of old China and constructed a new economic system with public ownership as the main body.

新中国成立初期，经济重建以稳定物价、恢复生产、改善民生为核心目标，通过整顿经济秩序、变革生产关系、推动城乡互动等措施，逐步扭转旧中国的经济颓势，构建起以公有制为主体的新经济体系。

Establishing a socialist state-owned economy was the key to economic reconstruction, and confiscating bureaucratic capital and placing it under state ownership was the most important material prerequisite for establishing the state-owned economy. In newly liberated cities, the military control commissions completely took over the enterprises of bureaucratic capital in accordance with the principle of "unchanged original posts, original salaries, and original systems" and transformed them into state-owned enterprises owned by the whole people. By the beginning of 1951, the work of confiscating bureaucratic capital and establishing a state-owned economy nationwide was completed. The People's Government thereby grasped the economic lifeline of New China and the economic foundation related to the national economy and the people's livelihood.

建立具有社会主义性质的国营经济是经济重建的关键，而没收官僚资本归国家所有，则是建立国营经济最重要的物质前提。在新解放的城市，军管会按照“原职、原薪、原制度”不变的原则，完整接收官僚资本企业，并将其转变为全民所有的国营企业。截至1951年初，在全国范围内没收官僚资本建立国营经济的工作全部完成，人民政府从此掌握了新中国的经济命脉和关系国计民生的经济基础。

Rectifying economic order was a prerequisite for economic recovery. In response to the problem of severe inflation left over from the period of Kuomintang rule, the Central People's Government quickly stabilized prices through a series of measures such as unifying fiscal revenue, unifying cash management, reducing the volume of currency issuance, and rectifying taxation. This created the necessary conditions for restoring and developing production and stabilizing the people's lives. More importantly, it initially constructed a financial and economic management system based on centralized unification. At the same time, it rationally adjusted industry and commerce, properly handled the relationship between the public and private sectors, ensured a smooth transition of the urban economic order, and promoted the division of labor and cooperation among various economic entities under the leadership of the state-owned economy.

整顿经济秩序是恢复经济的前提条件。针对国民党统治时期遗留的恶性通货膨胀问题，中央人民政府通过统一财政收入、统一现金管理，以及减少货币发行量、整顿税收等一系列举措，迅速稳定物价，为恢复和发展生产、安定人民生活创造了必要的条件，更重要的是初步构建起以集中统一为基础的财经管理体制。与此同时，合理调整工商业，妥善处理公私营关系，保障城市经济秩序的平稳过渡，推动了各类经济主体在国营经济领导下分工合作。

Political stability and the rectification of economic order, especially the establishment of the leading position of the state-owned economy over the capitalist economy and the individual economy, provided a rare historical opportunity for large-scale economic construction. In 1951, China began to formulate the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy, a process that took four years. The formulation and implementation of this plan set off the largest and most concentrated wave of industrialization construction in modern Chinese history, greatly enhancing China's industrial capacity and technological level. It provided a path guide for subsequent industrialization construction and even the long-term development of the national economy, and laid a solid material foundation for shaping and consolidating the broad masses of the people's identification with New China.

政治稳定和经济秩序的整顿，特别是国营经济对资本主义经济和个体经济领导地位的确立，为大规模经济建设提供了难得的历史机遇。1951年，我国开始编制国民经济发展第一个五年计划，历经四年。这一计划的制定实施，掀起了近代以来我国规模最大、最集中的工业化建设浪潮，极大提升了我国的工业能力和技术水平，为后来的工业化建设乃至国民经济的长期发展提供了路径指引，为塑造并巩固广大人民群众对新中国的认同奠定了坚实的物质基础。

Social revolution is the guarantee.

社会革命是保障

Social revolution was the primary policy explicitly put forward by the Communist Party of China from the very beginning of its founding. Abolishing the feudal land system, thoroughly breaking the economic shackles that bound the development of rural productive forces, and establishing an economic and social structure compatible with industrialization were among its most fundamental demands. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, carrying out land reform in the newly liberated areas of East China, Central-South China, Southwest China, and Northwest China became an important and urgent task. After preliminary preparations such as eliminating bandits and local tyrants, reducing rent and returning deposits, and pilot land reforms, from the winter of 1950 to the end of 1952, a land reform movement of unprecedented scale in history was carried out in an orderly manner, following the steps of classifying class status, distributing land, building democratic political power, and reviewing the land reform.

社会革命是中国共产党从建党伊始就明确提出的首要政策，废除封建的土地制度、彻底打破束缚农村生产力发展的经济桎梏，建立与工业化相适应的经济社会结构，是其中最为根本的诉求。新中国成立后，在华东、中南、西南、西北等新解放区开展土地改革，就成为一项重要而紧迫的任务。经过清匪反霸、减租退押等前期准备和土改试点后，1950年冬季到1952年底，一场历史上规模空前的土地改革运动按照划分阶级、分配土地、民主建政、土改复查等步骤有序展开。

Land reform was not only an economic revolution centered on the transformation of the land system, but also a profound social revolution, a systematic reconstruction of rural society. It eradicated the economic and social foundations of the old regime, expanded the political participation of rural people, initiated the process of organizing the daily lives of grassroots people, and, in the course of this historical process, powerfully shaped the identification of grassroots rural people with New China.

土地改革不仅是一场以土地制度变革为核心的经济革命，也是一场深刻的社会革命，是对农村社会的系统性重构。它铲除了旧政权的经济基础和社会基础，扩大了乡村民众的政治参与，开启了基层民众日常生活组织化的进程，并在这个历史过程中有力塑造了乡村基层民众对新中国的认同。

Transforming the feudal marriage and family system and its associated concepts was also an important part of the Communist Party of China's promotion of social revolution. The promulgation and implementation of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China on May 1, 1950, liberated women, who constituted half of the population, from the dual oppression of the family and society. It fundamentally shook the feudal marriage system and old family relations, promoted changes in the ideas, concepts, and traditional customs of the broad masses of the people, eradicated the roots of the ruling forces of the old society, and expanded the mass base of the Party's governance.

改造封建的婚姻家庭制度及其观念，也是中国共产党推进社会革命的重要一环。1950年5月1日《中华人民共和国婚姻法》的颁布实施，将占人口半数的妇女从家庭和社会的双重压迫下解放出来，从根本上动摇了封建婚姻制度和旧有家庭关系，促进了广大人民群众思想观念和传统习俗的改变，铲除了旧社会统治力量的根基，扩大了党执政的群众基础。

Banning pornography, gambling, and drug abuse, cleansing the filth and mire that had poisoned the Chinese people for thousands of years under the old society, and purifying social atmosphere were another important mission of the social revolution of the Chinese Communists. As early as the Soviet Area period, the Soviet government had taken multiple measures to rectify pornography, gambling, and drug abuse, achieving unprecedented success. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party and government quickly launched special campaigns to eradicate social ills such as pornography, gambling, and drug abuse. After three years of effort, these chronic social ills, which had been repeatedly prohibited but never eliminated in old China, were basically eradicated. The entire social atmosphere, social life, and people's mental outlook were renewed. The broad masses of the people personally felt the determination and power of the Party and government in carrying out social transformation, and this also strengthened the confidence of the broad masses of the people in following the Party.

取缔黄赌毒，荡涤旧社会毒害中国人民千百年的污泥浊水，净化社会风气，是中国共产党人社会革命的又一重要使命。早在苏区时期，苏维埃政府就曾多措并举，整治黄赌毒，取得空前成功。新中国成立后，党和政府迅速开展了扫除黄赌毒等社会弊病的专项斗争。经过三年的努力，曾在旧中国屡禁不绝的黄赌毒等社会痼疾就被基本禁绝，整个社会风气、社会生活和人们的精神面貌为之一新，广大人民群众切身感受到党和政府进行社会改造的决心和魄力，也坚定了广大人民群众跟党走的信心。

Cultural remolding is the support.

文化重塑是支撑

Cultural remolding aimed to construct an ideological and cultural system compatible with the new society. Through measures such as clearing away the dregs of old culture, popularizing new ideas and concepts, and developing education, it sought to break the old and establish the new in the cultural sphere, providing ideological, cultural, and spiritual support for national reconstruction.

文化重塑旨在构建与新社会相适应的思想文化体系，通过清理旧文化糟粕、普及新思想观念、发展教育事业等措施，实现文化领域的破旧立新，为国家重建提供思想文化和精神支撑。

Faced with the complex and diverse situation of multiple ideologies and mixed ideological currents in the ideological and cultural field of old China, the new people's political power promoted ideological reconstruction through a systematic cultural transformation project. As early as July 1949, the First Congress of Chinese Literary and Art Workers was held. By establishing the guiding position of Mao Zedong's literary and artistic thought, it achieved a historic shift in the guiding ideology of literature and art, clearly articulating the direction of "literature and art serving the people, first and foremost serving the workers, peasants, and soldiers." The formulation of this cultural policy established the direction and principles for the cultural construction of New China.

面对旧中国思想文化领域多元混杂、意识形态纷繁复杂的局面，新生人民政权以系统性的文化改造工程推动意识形态重构。早在1949年7月召开的第一次中华全国文学艺术工作者代表大会，就通过确立毛泽东文艺思想的指导地位，实现了文艺指导思想的历史性转变，明确提出“文艺为人民服务、首先为工农兵服务”的方向。这一文化政策的制定，为新中国的文化建设确立了方向和原则。

The ideological remolding of intellectuals from 1951 to 1952 was a major task of cultural reshaping. On October 23, 1951, in his opening address to the First Session of the First National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Mao Zedong stressed that ideological remolding, first and foremost the ideological remolding of various intellectuals, should be regarded as one of the important conditions for thoroughly realizing democratic reform and gradually realizing industrialization in all respects. In response to Comrade Mao Zedong's call, the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles decided to conduct a rectification study [1]1 Rectification study (整风学习) refers to a Party-organized campaign of study and criticism aimed at correcting ideological and work-style deviations, a method frequently used by the CPC since the Yan'an Rectification Movement of 1942-1944. in literary and art circles starting from late November 1951, initially clarifying the influence of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology on literary and art work. On November 30, the Central Committee of the CPC issued the "Directive on Conducting Ideological Remolding and Organizational Clearance Work in Schools," requiring that preliminary ideological remolding be universally carried out among all school faculty and staff and students at the senior high school level and above. In January 1952, the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference issued the "Decision on Launching a Study Movement for Ideological Remolding among People from All Walks of Life," and the ideological remolding movement gradually expanded from literary and art circles and educational circles to the entire intellectual community. The ideological remolding movement had a profound impact, establishing the guiding position of Marxism in the fields of ideology, culture, and education, and laying the ideological foundation for shaping the cultural identity of New China.

1951年至1952年的知识分子思想改造是文化重塑的一项主要任务。1951年10月23日，毛泽东在政协一届三次会议的开会词中，强调要把思想改造，首先是各种知识分子的思想改造看作各方面彻底实现民主改革和逐步实现工业化的重要条件之一。为响应毛泽东同志的号召，全国文联决定从1951年11月下旬开始，在文艺界进行整风学习，初步澄清文艺工作上资产阶级、小资产阶级思想的影响。11月30日，中共中央发出《关于在学校中进行思想改造和组织清理工作的指示》，要求在所有学校教职员和高中以上学生中普遍进行初步的思想改造。1952年1月，政协全国委员会常务委员会作出《关于展开各界人士思想改造的学习运动的决定》，思想改造运动从文艺界、教育界逐步扩展到整个知识界。思想改造运动产生了深远的影响，确立了马克思主义在思想文化教育领域的指导地位，为塑造新中国的文化认同奠定了思想基础。

(The authors are, respectively, a doctoral student at the School of Marxism, Nanchang University, and a professor at the School of Marxism, Nanchang University.)

（作者系南昌大学马克思主义学院博士研究生；南昌大学马克思主义学院教授）