A Historical Examination of Mao Zedong’s Initiation of the Party’s Cultural Leadership and Its Contemporary Implications

Culture is the soul of a country and a nation; culture as a form of ideology is an important spiritual force for the survival and development of a nation. In periods of intense historical transformation, issues of ideology and culture often become major topics of heated debate. “Innovative propositions on cultural issues are often the public opinion preparation and ideological precursors for political and economic changes.” “The question of what kind of culture to establish, and how to establish a certain kind of culture, essentially raises the question of the nature and direction of social, national, and state transformation.” Looking back at the Party’s more than one hundred years of struggle, the fundamental reason why our Party has been able to lead the people to achieve major accomplishments in various historical periods lies in its grasp of the scientific truth of Marxism and its continuous promotion of theoretical innovation, and lies in its high regard for and adept use of advanced ideology and culture to guide the development of the times and social progress. The Party’s cultural leadership refers to the leadership that the Communist Party of China gradually formed and established in the field of propaganda, ideology, and culture during the historical process of leading the Chinese people in revolution, construction, and reform. It is mainly manifested in the Party’s guidance of the direction of cultural development, the pioneering of development paths, and the management of specific work. Its essence is the Party’s leadership, management, and discursive power over ideological work. “From the very beginning, the Communist Party of China was guided by the most advanced and scientific ideological weapon, Marxism-Leninism, and combined it with the reality of the Chinese revolution, proposing and developing advanced theories and advanced cultures that could greatly mobilize, inspire, and guide the Chinese people.” The theory of New Democratic Culture [1]1 The “one principle” refers to Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People (nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood), which the Kuomintang claimed as the sole guiding ideology for China. The “one party” refers to the Kuomintang’s insistence on its own one-party dictatorship, rejecting the CPC’s role. is a cultural program proposed by the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, by integrating the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete reality of China. This new cultural program was an extremely inspiring ideological banner. It not only established the Party’s leading position in the ideological and cultural field but also guided the historical direction of “where China is heading” since modern times.

文化是一个国家、一个民族的灵魂，作为观念形态的文化是一个民族生存发展的重要精神力量。在激越变革的历史时期，思想文化问题往往成为争论激烈的重大议题。“文化问题上的革新主张，往往就是政治上和经济上变革的舆论准备和思想先导”,“建立什么样的文化，以及怎样建立某种文化，实质上提出的也就是社会、民族、国家变革的性质与方向问题”。回顾党的百余年奋斗史，我们党之所以能够带领人民在各个历史时期取得重大成就，根本在于掌握了马克思主义科学真理并不断推进理论创新，根本在于高度重视并善于运用先进思想文化引领时代发展和社会进步。党的文化领导权就是指中国共产党在领导中国人民进行革命、建设、改革的历史进程中，在宣传思想文化领域逐步形成并确立的领导权，主要体现在党对文化建设前进方向的引领、发展道路的开拓和具体工作的管理上，其本质是党对意识形态工作的领导权、管理权、话语权。“中国共产党从一开始就以马克思列宁主义这个最先进、最科学的思想武器为指导，并将它与中国革命的实际相结合，提出和发展能够对中国人民起到巨大动员、鼓舞和指引作用的先进理论和先进文化。”新民主主义文化论是以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人将马克思列宁主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合提出的文化纲领，这个崭新的文化纲领是一面极具感召力的思想旗帜，不仅确立了党在思想文化领域的领导地位，而且引领了近代以来“中国向何处去”的历史走向。

I. Where It Came From: The Theoretical Basis for Proposing the Party’s Cultural Leadership

一、从何而来：提出党的文化领导权的理论依据

More than 100 years ago, China presented a scene of decline and decay to the world. The Chinese nation, which had once created a splendid civilization, encountered a profound crisis in which its civilization could hardly be sustained. The New Culture Movement [2]2 The Three Principles of the People were originally formulated by Sun Yat-sen. The diehard Kuomintang clique under Chiang Kai-shek distorted them to justify their own rule and oppose communism. and the May Fourth Movement [3]3 Mao Zedong, “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party,” in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 2 (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1965), p. 326. set off a trend of the times in which the Chinese people and the Chinese nation sought truth, resisted oppression, and pursued progress. With the great awakening of the Chinese people, in the process of integrating Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese workers’ movement, the Communist Party of China emerged as the times required. “In different economic and social environments, people produce different ideas and cultures. Although the construction of ideology and culture is determined by the economic base, it in turn exerts a counteractive effect on the economic base. Once advanced ideology and culture are grasped by the masses, they will be transformed into a powerful material force; conversely, if backward and erroneous concepts are not eradicated, they will become fetters on social development and progress.” Since its birth, the Communist Party of China has steadfastly adhered to the Marxist faith and the communist ideal, using the scientific theory of Marxism to observe society, transform China, and lead the times.

100多年前的中国，呈现在世人面前的是一派衰败凋零的景象，曾经创造了灿烂文明的中华民族遭遇文明难以赓续的深重危机。新文化运动和五四运动掀起了中国人民和中华民族寻找真理、反抗压迫、追求进步的时代潮流。随着中国人民的伟大觉醒，在马克思列宁主义同中国工人运动相结合的过程中，中国共产党应运而生。“在不同的经济和社会环境中，人们生产不同的思想和文化，思想文化建设虽然决定于经济基础，但又对经济基础发生反作用。先进的思想文化一旦被群众掌握，就会转化为强大的物质力量；反之，落后的、错误的观念如果不破除，就会成为社会发展进步的桎梏。”中国共产党自诞生以来，始终坚持马克思主义信仰和共产主义理想，运用马克思主义科学理论观察社会、变革中国、引领时代。

During the process of leading the people in revolution, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, profoundly recognized the important role of advanced ideology and culture, and explicitly emphasized the leading position of “proletarian cultural ideology” in New Democratic culture. Mao Zedong pointed out, “The Communist Party must hold propaganda leaflets in its left hand and guns in its right hand to defeat the enemy.” “To grasp ideological leadership is to grasp the first priority of all leadership.” The culture of New Democracy “can only be led by the proletarian cultural ideology, i.e., communist ideology; no other class’s cultural ideology can lead it.” These important assertions by Mao Zedong contain and in fact put forward the proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership.”

以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人在领导人民进行革命的过程中，深刻认识先进思想文化的重要作用，明确强调“无产阶级文化思想”在新民主主义文化中的领导地位。毛泽东指出，“共产党是要在左手拿宣传单，右手拿枪弹，才可以打倒敌人的”,“掌握思想领导是掌握一切领导的第一位”,新民主主义的文化“只能由无产阶级的文化思想即共产主义思想去领导，任何别的阶级的文化思想都是不能领导了的”。毛泽东的这些重要论断蕴含着并实际上提出了“党的文化领导权”这一命题。

Tracing back to the source, the theoretical basis for proposing the proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership” is the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and Marxist cultural theory. In *The German Ideology*, Marx and Engels criticized the idealist conception of history and systematically expounded historical materialism, revealing the starting point of historical materialism that social being determines social consciousness. “This conception of history differs from the idealist conception of history; it does not seek a category in every epoch, but always stands on the basis of real history; it does not explain practice from ideas, but explains various ideological forms from material practice.” In *On New Democracy*, Mao Zedong emphasized this basic viewpoint of historical materialism. He pointed out, “When we discuss the issue of Chinese culture, we cannot forget this basic viewpoint.” “A certain culture is the ideological reflection of a certain society’s politics and economy.”

追本溯源，提出“党的文化领导权”这一命题的理论依据是马克思列宁主义基本原理和马克思主义文化理论。马克思恩格斯在《德意志意识形态》中批判了唯心主义历史观并对唯物史观作了比较系统的论述，揭示了社会存在决定社会意识这一唯物史观的出发点。“这种历史观和唯心主义历史观不同，它不是在每个时代中寻找某种范畴，而是始终站在现实历史的基础上，不是从观念出发来解释实践，而是从物质实践出发来解释各种观念形态”。毛泽东在《新民主主义论》中强调了唯物史观的这一基本观点，他指出，“我们讨论中国文化问题，不能忘记这个基本观点”,“一定的文化是一定社会的政治和经济在观念形态上的反映”。

Marxism holds that the production and reproduction of real life are ultimately the determining factor in the historical process, but factors of the superstructure such as the state, law, and ideology possess relative independence. In his later years, Engels criticized the so-called economic materialism that one-sidedly and vulgarized historical materialism, pointing out that the superstructure exerts a counteractive effect on the economic base, and emphasizing that historical development is the result of the interaction of various factors. In August 1937, in *On Contradiction*, Mao Zedong, starting from the basic principles of historical materialism, pointed out the dialectical relationship between economy, politics, and culture in the development of human society: “When the superstructure such as politics and culture hinders the development of the economic base, political and cultural innovations become the main and decisive things. Does this violate materialism? No. Because we admit that in the general development of history, material things determine spiritual things, and social being determines social consciousness; but at the same time we admit and must admit the counteractive effect of spiritual things, the counteractive effect of social consciousness on social being, and the counteractive effect of the superstructure on the economic base. This does not violate materialism; on the contrary, it avoids mechanical materialism and upholds dialectical materialism.” In *On New Democracy*, Mao Zedong summarized this basic principle as: “A certain form of politics and economy first determines a certain form of culture; then, that certain form of culture in turn exerts influence and effect on a certain form of politics and economy.”

马克思主义认为，现实生活的生产和再生产归根到底是历史过程中的决定因素，但是国家、法、意识形态等上层建筑方面的因素具有相对独立性。恩格斯晚年批判了把唯物史观片面化、庸俗化的所谓经济唯物主义观点，指出上层建筑对经济基础具有反作用，强调历史发展是各种因素相互作用的结果。1937年8月，毛泽东在《矛盾论》中从唯物史观的基本原理出发，指出了经济、政治与文化在人类社会发展中的辩证关系：“当着政治文化等等上层建筑阻碍着经济基础的发展的时候，对于政治上和文化上的革新就成为主要的决定的东西了。我们这样说，是否违反了唯物论呢?没有。因为我们承认总的历史发展中是物质的东西决定精神的东西，是社会的存在决定社会的意识；但是同时又承认而且必须承认精神的东西的反作用，社会意识对于社会存在的反作用，上层建筑对于经济基础的反作用。这不是违反唯物论，正是避免了机械唯物论，坚持了辩证唯物论。”在《新民主主义论》中，毛泽东将这一基本原理概述为：“一定形态的政治和经济是首先决定那一定形态的文化的；然后，那一定形态的文化又才给予影响和作用于一定形态的政治和经济。”

The influence of ideology and culture on politics and economy does not arise out of thin air; it must be realized through practical activities with the masses of the people as the main body. Mao Zedong pointed out that since modern times, the Chinese people and countless people with lofty ideals had painstakingly sought truth to save the country and the people, “but it was not until the First World War and the October Revolution in Russia that they found Marxism-Leninism, the best truth, as the best weapon to liberate our nation, and the Communist Party of China is the advocate, propagandist, and organizer who took up this weapon.” In short, to make Marxism truly an ideological weapon to change China’s destiny, it was necessary to arm the masses of the people with this advanced ideology and apply it to the practice of the Chinese revolution. It can be said that it was precisely because the Communist Party of China awakened the Chinese people to rise up and resist with the truth power of Marxism that the great role of scientific theory in saving the Chinese nation from crisis and reversing China’s destiny was fully brought into play.

思想文化对政治和经济的影响不会凭空产生，必须通过以人民群众为主体的实践活动才能实现。毛泽东指出，近代以来中国人民和无数仁人志士为救国救民而苦苦追寻真理，“但是直到第一次世界大战和俄国十月革命之后，才找到马克思列宁主义这个最好的真理，作为解放我们民族的最好的武器，而中国共产党则是拿起这个武器的倡导者、宣传者和组织者”。概言之，要使马克思主义真正成为改变中国前途命运的思想武器，就必须用这种先进思想武装人民群众并作用于中国革命的实践。可以说，正是中国共产党用马克思主义的真理力量唤醒了中国人民奋起抗争，才充分发挥了科学理论在拯救中华民族危难和扭转中国前途命运中的巨大作用。

Whether the ideology and culture of the proletariat can play a guiding role in social practice depends, on the one hand, on the advanced nature of this ideology and culture itself, and on the other hand, on the leadership over cultural forces exercised by the proletarian political organization that masters this advanced ideology and culture. In the course of leading the Russian revolution, Lenin recognized the advanced nature of the Marxist worldview, which “correctly reflects the interests, views, and culture of the revolutionary proletariat,” and regarded the cultural force of the proletarian party as an indispensable factor for the proletariat to seize political power and build socialism. In March 1922, Lenin concluded that “the New Economic Policy provides sufficient economic and political guarantees for the possibility of building the foundations of a socialist economy,” and that the “problem ‘only’ lies in the cultural force of the proletariat and its vanguard.” [4]4 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy,” in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 2 (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1965), p. 340. In *On New Democracy*, Mao Zedong grouped “the new cultural force” together with “the new political force” and “the new economic force” as “China’s revolutionary forces.” Mao pointed out that after the May Fourth Movement, [5]5 Ibid., p. 342. “a completely new cultural army” emerged on China’s cultural front, “namely the communist cultural ideology led by the Chinese Communists, that is, the communist world outlook and social revolution theory.” In Mao’s view, there were two fronts—military and cultural—in the revolutionary struggle; revolutionary culture was a powerful weapon for advancing the revolutionary struggle, and revolutionary cultural workers played the important role of commanders.

无产阶级的思想文化要对社会实践活动产生引领作用，一方面取决于这种思想文化本身的先进性，另一方面取决于掌握这种先进思想文化的无产阶级政治组织对文化力量的领导权。在领导俄国革命的过程中，列宁认识到“正确地反映了革命无产阶级的利益、观点和文化”的马克思主义世界观的先进性，他将无产阶级政党的文化力量视为无产阶级夺取政权和建设社会主义不可或缺的重要因素。1922年3月，列宁总结道，“新经济政策在经济上和政治上都充分保证我们有可能建立社会主义经济的基础”,“问题‘只’在于无产阶级及其先锋队的文化力量”。在《新民主主义论》中，毛泽东将“新的文化力量”与“新的政治力量”“新的经济力量”一起归结为“中国的革命力量”。毛泽东指出，五四运动以后，在中国文化战线上“产生了完全崭新的文化生力军，这就是中国共产党人所领导的共产主义的文化思想，即共产主义的宇宙观和社会革命论”。在毛泽东看来，革命斗争中有文武两条战线，革命文化是推动革命斗争的有力武器，而革命的文化工作者充当着指挥员的重要角色。

Marxism holds that ideology and culture, as part of the superstructure, are ultimately determined by the mode of production and are historical and class-based in nature. In May 1942, at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao pointed out: “In the world today, all culture, all literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines.” Mao regarded the literature and art of the proletariat as part of the entire revolutionary cause of the proletariat, just like “the cogwheel and screw that are indispensable to the whole machine.” “The Party’s literary and artistic work occupies a definite and assigned position in the Party’s overall revolutionary work; it is subordinated to the revolutionary tasks prescribed by the Party in a given revolutionary period.” If the theoretical foundation for Mao’s proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership” is Marxist philosophy, then the direct intellectual source for Mao’s comparison of the Party’s literary and artistic work to the “cogwheel and screw” of the entire revolutionary cause of the proletariat is Marxist cultural theory and Lenin’s important theses on proletarian culture and literature and art. In November 1905, in *Party Organization and Party Literature*, Lenin sharply criticized the bourgeois anarchist and intellectual individualist tendency that, under the banner of “absolute freedom of absolutely individual ideological creation,” sought to escape the Party’s leadership and supervision. He pointed out: “Literature must become part of the common cause of the proletariat, a ‘cogwheel and screw’ of the great Social-Democratic machine set in motion by the entire conscious vanguard of the entire working class.” At the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao directly quoted and elaborated on Lenin’s view of the “cogwheel and screw,” demonstrating his inheritance and development of Lenin’s cultural thought.

马克思主义认为，思想文化作为上层建筑，最终是由生产方式决定的，具有历史性和阶级性。1942年5月，毛泽东在延安文艺座谈会上指出：“在现在世界上，一切文化或文学艺术都是属于一定的阶级，属于一定的政治路线的。”毛泽东将无产阶级的文学艺术视为无产阶级整个革命事业的一部分，就像“对于整个机器不可缺少的齿轮和螺丝钉”,“党的文艺工作，在党的整个革命工作中的位置，是确定了的，摆好了的；是服从党在一定革命时期内所规定的革命任务的”。如果说毛泽东提出“党的文化领导权”这一命题的理论基础是马克思主义哲学，那么，毛泽东将党的文艺工作比作无产阶级整个革命事业的“齿轮和螺丝钉”的直接思想来源则是马克思主义文化理论以及列宁关于无产阶级文化和文艺的重要论断。1905年11月，列宁在《党的组织和党的出版物》中着重批评了那种打着“绝对个人的思想创作的绝对自由”的旗号，企图摆脱党的领导和监督的资产阶级无政府主义和知识分子个人主义的倾向。他指出：“写作事业应当成为整个无产阶级事业的一部分，成为由整个工人阶级的整个觉悟的先锋队所开动的一部巨大的社会民主主义机器的‘齿轮和螺丝钉’。”毛泽东在延安文艺座谈会上直接引用并深入阐述了列宁关于“齿轮和螺丝钉”的观点，这表明了他对列宁文化思想的继承和发展。

Possessing the guidance of Marxist scientific theory is a distinctive political character and unique political advantage of the Communist Party of China. “It is precisely because our Party has mastered the scientific truth of Marxism that it has fundamentally gained leadership over ideology and culture and seized the initiative in creating history.” The relevant expositions of Marxist classical writers on the cultural leadership of the proletarian party provide us with scientific positions, viewpoints, and methods based on historical materialism for further understanding and elucidating this issue in light of China’s actual conditions. The proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership” by the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, is the result of our Party mastering and applying Marxist scientific theory, and is the creative application and development of Marxism-Leninism, especially Marxist cultural theory, during the period of the New Democratic Revolution.

拥有马克思主义科学理论指导是中国共产党的鲜明政治品格和独特政治优势。“正是由于掌握了马克思主义科学真理，我们党才从根本上掌握了思想文化的领导权，掌握了创造历史的主动权。”马克思主义经典作家关于无产阶级政党文化领导权的相关论述为我们结合中国实际进一步认识和阐发这一问题提供了基于唯物史观的科学的立场、观点和方法。以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人提出“党的文化领导权”这一命题，就是我们党掌握并运用马克思主义科学理论的结果，是马克思列宁主义特别是马克思主义文化理论在新民主主义革命时期的创造性运用和发展。

II. Why This Is So: Historical Reasons for Striving for the Party’s Cultural Leadership

二、为何如此：争取党的文化领导权的历史缘由

In modern times, China gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Saving the nation from subjugation and rejuvenating the Chinese nation became the common dream of all Chinese people, and the question of “where is China headed” became the question of the era driving China’s social development and progress. This question “manifested itself in the political and ideological sphere as the debate between ‘the ancient and the modern, China and the West,’ the content of which was how to learn from the West and, at the same time, reflect on tradition in order to seek the truth for saving the nation and the people, so as to lead the Chinese nation onto the path of freedom and liberation.” This debate in the ideological sphere “was essentially a reflection of the Chinese people’s real struggle against imperialism and feudalism.”

近代以后，中国逐步沦为半殖民地半封建社会，救亡图存、振兴中华成为全体中国人民的共同梦想，而“中国向何处去”的问题就成为推动中国社会发展进步的时代之问。这一问题“在政治思想领域表现为‘古今中西’之争，其内容就是如何向西方学习，并且对传统进行反省，来寻求救国救民的真理，以便使中华民族走上自由解放的道路”,这一思想领域中的论争，“实质上是中国人民反帝反封建的现实斗争的反映”。

Historically, the proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership” originated from the Communist Party of China’s response to the historical question of “where is China headed” in the course of leading the Chinese people in their struggle against imperialism and feudalism. The reason why “where is China headed” became a question is related to the global pattern of modernization and the historical position of modern China. Modernization is a worldwide historical process, a drastic transformation that human society has undergone since the Industrial Revolution. “This transformation, driven by industrialization, is a global process of the great transition from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society, allowing industrialism to penetrate the economic, political, cultural, and ideological spheres, causing profound and corresponding changes.” Because Western countries started the Industrial Revolution earlier, this led to a global pattern in which modernization originated in the West and was long led by it. The Chinese nation, with a civilization of more than 5,000 years, gradually declined under the influence of the closed-door policy of the late Ming Dynasty and the impact of the Western modernization wave. After the Opium War, [6]6 Ibid., p. 346. China was passively drawn into the global tide of modernization amid unprecedented calamities. “Seeking truth from Western countries” became a consensus reached by advanced Chinese people in their efforts to save the nation from peril and achieve national rejuvenation.

历史地看，“党的文化领导权”这一命题起源于中国共产党在领导中国人民进行反帝反封建斗争过程中对“中国向何处去”这一历史之问的回应，而“中国向何处去”之所以成为一个问题，又与世界现代化格局和近代中国所处的历史方位有关。现代化是一个世界性的历史过程，是人类社会自工业革命以来经历的一场急剧变革。“这一变革以工业化为推动力，导致传统的农业社会向现代工业社会的全球性的大转变过程，它使工业主义渗透到经济、政治、文化、思想各个领域，引起深刻的相应变化”。由于西方国家工业革命起步较早，导致了现代化发端于西方国家并由其长期领跑的世界格局；具有5000多年文明史的中华民族，在明朝后期闭关锁国政策影响和西方现代化浪潮冲击下逐渐走向衰落。鸦片战争后，中国在前所未有的劫难中被动卷入世界现代化潮流，“向西方国家寻找真理”成为先进的中国人为拯救民族危亡、实现民族复兴而达成的一项共识。

Progressive Chinese once worked hard to learn from the West, but this process was full of contradictions and perplexities. Before the Chinese found Marxism, various doctrines that vied for the stage and various schemes for national salvation that were put forward in turn all failed. This failure was directly related to the brutal invasion of China by advanced Western capitalist countries, especially the imperialist powers. To accomplish the task of saving the nation and the people and achieving national rejuvenation, the Chinese had to resist not only deep-rooted feudalism but also overbearing imperialism. The profound suffering inflicted on the Chinese people by national oppression and feudal oppression included the catastrophe of national culture. At that time, the common predicament of China’s advanced elements and insightful people at the level of cultural psychology was: on the one hand, after being subjected to massive aggression by the Western powers, they were emotionally strongly anti-Western, but rationally had to emulate the West, trying to learn the way to save the nation and the people from the West; on the other hand, under this enormous external shock, they deeply felt the decadence and backwardness of feudal autocratic rule, rationally strongly opposed tradition, but emotionally had an inseparable dependence on traditional culture. Regarding this dilemma, Mao Zedong expressed the inner confusion of the Chinese: “The aggression of the imperialist powers shattered the Chinese people’s illusions about learning from the West. It was very strange—why did the teacher always bully the student? The Chinese learned a great deal from the West, but it did not work; their ideals could never be realized.” After the Chinese found Marxism-Leninism, this situation began to change. “Since the Chinese learned Marxism-Leninism, the Chinese have spiritually moved from passivity to initiative. From that time on, the era in modern world history when the Chinese were looked down upon and Chinese culture was despised should come to an end.”

追求进步的中国人曾经努力向西方学习，然而这一过程充满了矛盾和困惑。在中国人找到马克思主义之前，争相登场的各种主义和轮番出台的各种救国方案都失败了。这种失败与先进的西方资本主义国家特别是帝国主义对中国的野蛮入侵直接相关。中国人要想完成救国救民和民族复兴的重任，不仅要反抗根深蒂固的封建主义，还要对抗横行霸道的帝国主义。民族压迫和封建压迫给中国人民带来的深重灾难中，包含着民族文化的灾难。当时，中国的先进分子和有识之士在文化心理层面上的普遍困境是：一方面，在受到西方列强的大肆侵略之后，情感上强烈地反西方，但理智上又不得不师法西方，试图向西方学习救国救民之道；另一方面，在这种巨大的外部冲击中深切感受到了封建专制统治的腐朽落后，理智上强烈地反传统，但情感上又对传统文化有着难以割舍的依赖。对于这种窘境，毛泽东表达了中国人内心的困惑：“帝国主义的侵略打破了中国人学西方的迷梦。很奇怪，为什么先生老是侵略学生呢?中国人向西方学得很不少，但是行不通，理想总是不能实现。”在中国人找到马克思列宁主义之后，这种状况开始改变。“自从中国人学会了马克思列宁主义以后，中国人在精神上就由被动转入主动。从这时起，近代世界历史上那种看不起中国人，看不起中国文化的时代应当完结了。”

The full-scale war of aggression launched by Japanese imperialism intensified the deep crisis into which the Chinese nation had fallen in modern times. Under the vigorous promotion of the Communist Party of China, the anti-Japanese national united front based on the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the CPC developed, creating a new situation of nationwide resistance. However, “since the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance against Japan, the question of ‘where is China headed’ not only did not disappear, but, on the contrary, was sharply placed before every Chinese person as the diehard Kuomintang clique deliberately propagated the doctrines of ‘one principle’ and ‘one party’.” [1]1 The “one principle” refers to Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People (nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood), which the Kuomintang claimed as the sole guiding ideology for China. The “one party” refers to the Kuomintang’s insistence on its own one-party dictatorship, rejecting the CPC’s role. At that time, the diehard Kuomintang clique and their hired literati attempted to replace Marxism and communism with a distorted version of the “Three Principles of the People.” [2]2 The Three Principles of the People were originally formulated by Sun Yat-sen. The diehard Kuomintang clique under Chiang Kai-shek distorted them to justify their own rule and oppose communism. Although some representatives of the national bourgeoisie were dissatisfied with the Kuomintang’s dictatorial rule and its ineffective resistance against Japan, they also harbored doubts about the CPC’s propositions and the prospects of the War of Resistance. Against this backdrop, around 1940, Mao Zedong successively published important theoretical works such as “Introducing The Communist,” “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party,” and “On New Democracy.” These works systematically expounded the theories and programs of the CPC, not only guiding the Chinese people’s War of Resistance against Japan but also explaining to the entire Party and the whole nation the Party’s systematic views on the Chinese revolution and the construction of a new China. They theoretically provided a profound answer to the pressing question of “where is China headed.”

日本帝国主义发动的全面侵华战争加剧了中华民族近代以来陷入的深重危机，在中国共产党的力推下，以国共合作为基础的抗日民族统一战线发展起来，形成了全民族抗战的新局面。然而，“全民族抗日战争爆发以来，中国向何处去的问题，不但没有消失，反而随着国民党顽固派刻意宣传‘一个主义’‘一个政党’主张，尖锐地摆在每一个中国人面前”。彼时，国民党顽固派及其御用文人妄图以篡改的“三民主义”取代马克思主义和共产主义，民族资产阶级的有些代表人物虽然对国民党的独裁统治和抗战不力表示不满，但对于共产党的主张和抗战的前途也抱有疑虑。在这种背景下，1940年前后，毛泽东相继发表《〈共产党人〉发刊词》《中国革命和中国共产党》《新民主主义论》等重要理论著作，系统阐释了中国共产党的理论和纲领，不仅指导了中国人民的抗日战争，而且向全党和全国人民说明了党对于中国革命和新中国建设的系统见解，从理论上深刻回答了“中国向何处去”这个迫切需要解决的问题。

In “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party,” Mao Zedong creatively put forward the scientific concept of new democracy. He pointed out that the nature of the Chinese revolution was a “new-democratic revolution,” which was “part of the world proletarian-socialist revolution” and “a revolution of the broad masses of the people led by the proletariat against imperialism and feudalism.” [3]3 Mao Zedong, “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party,” in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 2 (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1965), p. 326. At the beginning of “On New Democracy,” Mao Zedong raised the question of “where is China headed.” He then clearly elaborated on the CPC’s cultural program and outlined the blueprint for cultural construction in a new China. “We want not only to change a politically oppressed and economically exploited China into a politically free and economically prosperous China, but also to change a China which is benighted and backward under the sway of the old culture into a China which is enlightened and progressive under the sway of a new culture. In short, we want to build a new China. To build a new culture for the Chinese nation is our aim in the cultural sphere.” [4]4 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy,” in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 2 (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1965), p. 340. Mao Zedong pointed out that “all culture imbued with the idea of enslavement” belonged to imperialist culture, and “all those who advocate respecting Confucius, studying the Confucian canon, promoting the old ethical code and the old ideas, and opposing the new culture and new ideas” were representatives of semi-feudal culture. [5]5 Ibid., p. 342. Applying the law of the unity of opposites, Mao Zedong elucidated that the “old culture” which had once dominated the “benighted and backward China,” namely the “imperialist culture” reflecting the colonies and semi-colonies and the “semi-feudal culture” reflecting semi-feudal politics and semi-feudal economy, were both things that should be overthrown.

在《中国革命和中国共产党》中，毛泽东创造性地提出了新民主主义的科学概念。他指出，中国革命的性质是“新民主主义的革命”,这种革命“是世界无产阶级社会主义革命的一部分”,“是在无产阶级领导之下的人民大众的反帝反封建的革命”。毛泽东在《新民主主义论》开篇即提出了“中国向何处去”的问题，紧接着他明确阐述了中国共产党的文化纲领并勾勒了新中国的文化建设蓝图。“我们不但要把一个政治上受压迫、经济上受剥削的中国，变为一个政治上自由和经济上繁荣的中国，而且要把一个被旧文化统治因而愚昧落后的中国，变为一个被新文化统治因而文明先进的中国。一句话，我们要建立一个新中国。建立中华民族的新文化，这就是我们在文化领域中的目的。”毛泽东指出，“一切包含奴化思想的文化”,都属于帝国主义文化，“凡属主张尊孔读经、提倡旧礼教旧思想、反对新文化新思想的人们”,都是半封建文化的代表。毛泽东运用对立统一规律，阐明了曾经在“愚昧落后的中国”占统治地位的“旧文化”,即反映殖民地和半殖民地的“帝国主义文化”和反映半封建政治和半封建经济的“半封建文化”都是应该被打倒的东西。

On the basis of summarizing the historical characteristics and experiences of the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong pointed out that before the May Fourth Movement, China’s new cultural movement was led by the bourgeoisie. After the May Fourth Movement, “the cultural ideology of this class, however, lagged even further behind its political ideology; it was utterly incapable of playing a leading role; at most, it could serve to a certain extent as an ally during the revolutionary period, but the qualification of leader had to fall on the shoulders of the cultural ideology of the proletariat.” [6]6 Ibid., p. 346. After the May Fourth Movement, the new culture of the Chinese nation was “a new-democratic culture, which is part of the socialist cultural revolution of the world proletariat.” This culture was “the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal culture of the broad masses of the people led by the proletariat.” [7]7 Ibid., p. 347. Mao Zedong deeply discerned the international and domestic situation at the time, revealing the scientific conclusion that only the proletariat could lead the Chinese revolution to thoroughly complete the tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. From this, he logically put forward the important thesis that the cultural revolution, which ideologically reflects the political and economic revolution, and the new culture reflecting the new politics and new economy, could not be separated from the leadership of the proletariat (through the CPC).

毛泽东在总结中国革命历史特点和经验的基础上指出，五四运动以前，中国的新文化运动是由资产阶级领导的，五四运动以后，“这个阶级的文化思想却比较它的政治上的东西还要落后，就绝无领导作用，至多在革命时期在一定程度上充当一个盟员，至于盟长资格，就不得不落在无产阶级文化思想的肩上”。五四运动以后，中华民族的新文化是“新民主主义性质的文化，属于世界无产阶级的社会主义的文化革命的一部分”,这种文化“就是无产阶级领导的人民大众的反帝反封建的文化”。毛泽东深刻洞察当时的国际国内形势，揭示出只有无产阶级才能领导中国革命彻底完成反帝反封建任务的科学结论，由此顺理成章地提出了作为观念形态上反映政治革命和经济革命的文化革命以及反映新政治和新经济的新文化都不能离开无产阶级(通过共产党)的领导这个重要论断。

The May Fourth Movement was a crucial turning point for China’s transition from tradition to modernity. It was a cultural response by the Chinese people to the influx of Western modernization trends after the country’s doors were forced open, achieving the first comprehensive awakening of the Chinese nation since the Opium War. After the May Fourth Movement, various “isms” vied for the stage, diverse ideological currents clashed, and various cultural construction plans and discourses under the banner of “reviving national culture” emerged one after another. “Those who truly grasped the new essentials of cultural construction” were “the Chinese Communists who had been meticulously exploring China’s future destiny.” “The cultural construction program proposed by the Chinese Communists was Mao Zedong’s theory of new-democratic culture.” [8]8 This is a quotation from a Chinese scholar, likely from a secondary source on the history of CPC cultural policy. Using Marxism as their ideological weapon, the Chinese Communists forcefully refuted and thoroughly analyzed the “new learning ideology” representing the Chinese bourgeoisie and the “restorationist ideology” representing Chinese feudalism. On this basis, they responded to the “ancient-modern, Chinese-Western debate” in the ideological and cultural sphere with the theory of new-democratic culture.

五四运动是中国从传统走向现代的重要转折点，是中国人民对西方现代化潮流涌入国门后的一次文化回应，实现了中华民族自鸦片战争以来的第一次全面觉醒。五四运动之后，各种主义争相登场，各种思潮相互激荡，打着“复兴民族文化”旗号的各种文化建设方案和论调层出不穷。“真正把握住文化建设新要领的”,是“一直在精心探讨中国未来命运的中国共产党人”,“中国共产党人提出的文化建设纲领，就是毛泽东提出的新民主主义文化论”。中国共产党人用马克思主义这一思想武器对代表中国资产阶级的“新学思想”和代表中国封建主义的“复古思想”进行了有力的驳斥和透彻的辨析，在此基础上用新民主主义文化论回应了思想文化领域的“古今中西之争”。

Major debates on ideological and cultural issues and their ultimate outcomes profoundly influence the social landscape, the future of the country, and the destiny of the nation. “In the process of ideological emancipation and contention, a new way of answering the question that had plagued modern China for years regarding the future path of modernization development emerged, namely, carrying out a thorough social revolution under the guidance of Marxism.” [9]9 This is a quotation from a Chinese scholarly work on the May Fourth Movement and ideological debates. The theoretical reflections and practical explorations by the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, during the democratic revolution period to strive for the Party’s cultural leadership were, in essence, a transformation of the Chinese people’s passive response to the “ancient-modern, Chinese-Western debate” under the impact of Western modernization waves since modern times into an active leadership over China’s future and destiny in the course of the Chinese people’s anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle and exploration of the modernization path. As Feng Qi stated: “The Chinese Communists provided a scientific answer to the ancient-modern, Chinese-Western debate of the democratic revolution period from both political and cultural perspectives.” [10]10 Feng Qi (1915-1995) was a prominent Chinese Marxist philosopher. The quotation is from his writings on the history of Chinese philosophy and the modern intellectual transition. Where is China headed? To complete the historical tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism through a new-democratic revolution led by the proletariat (through the CPC), then, under certain historical conditions, transition to socialism, and independently explore and forge a modernization path suited to China’s national conditions—this was the answer given by the Chinese Communists.

思想文化问题上的重大争论及其最终走向，深刻影响着社会风貌、国家前途和民族命运。“在思想解放与争锋的过程中，困扰近代中国多年的关于未来现代化发展道路的问题出现了新的解答方式，即以马克思主义为指导进行彻底的社会革命。”以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人在民主革命时期为争取党的文化领导权而进行的理论思考和实践探索，其实质是中国共产党将近代以来中国人民在西方现代化浪潮冲击下对“古今中西之争”的被动回应转化为在中国人民进行反帝反封建斗争和探索现代化道路过程中对中国前途命运的主动引领。诚如冯契所言：“中国共产党人对民主革命时期的古今中西之争从政治上、文化上作出了科学的回答。”中国向何处去?经过无产阶级(通过共产党)领导的新民主主义革命完成反帝反封建的历史任务，然后在一定的历史条件下向社会主义转变，独立自主探索并走出适合中国国情的现代化道路——这就是中国共产党人给出的答案。

III. How to Realize It: The Practical Essentials of Constructing the Party’s Cultural Leadership

三、如何实现：构建党的文化领导权的实践要义

Marxism holds that practice is the source of knowledge and also its purpose. In the entire cognitive activity of humanity, the deepening of cognitive levels and changes in cognitive forms all serve and are subordinate to the needs of practical development. The proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership” originates both from the theoretical guidance of Marxism and from the practical needs of the Chinese revolution. It is a dialectical unity of theory and practice, history and reality. Realizing the Party’s cultural leadership is concrete, not abstract, and must be implemented in corresponding fields and specific work. How to construct the Party’s cultural leadership in reality? Mao Zedong had profound thoughts and vivid practices on this matter.

马克思主义认为，实践是认识的来源，也是认识的目的。在人类的整个认识活动中，认识层次的深化和认识形式的改变，都服从和服务于实践发展的需要。“党的文化领导权”这一命题既来源于马克思主义的理论指导，又产生于中国革命的实际需要，是理论与实践、历史与现实的辩证统一，实现党的文化领导权是具体的而不是抽象的，要落实到相应的领域和具体的工作中去。如何在现实中构建起党的文化领导权?毛泽东对此有着深邃思考和生动实践。

1. Taking the Adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese Context as the Fundamental Orientation, and Establishing Marxism’s Guiding Position in the Ideological Sphere

1.以马克思主义中国化为根本导向，确立马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位

As an important component of the superstructure, culture inherently possesses an ideological attribute. The Party’s cultural leadership is essentially the leadership of ideological work. At its inception, our Party clearly recognized that in old China, where peasants and the petty bourgeoisie constituted the vast majority of the population and the working class was small in number, to complete the historical tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism and ultimately achieve the fundamental political goal of implementing social revolution as proposed in the Party’s First Program, it was necessary not only to have a vanguard of the working class firmly believing in Marxism but also to effectively arm the working class and other revolutionary masses with Marxist theory. In other words, it was imperative to establish Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological sphere.

作为上层建筑的重要组成部分，文化在本质上具有意识形态属性，党的文化领导权本质上是意识形态工作的领导权。成立之初，我们党清醒地认识到，在农民和小资产阶级占人口大多数而工人阶级人数较少的旧中国，要完成反帝反封建的历史任务并最终实现党的一大纲领所提出的实行社会革命这一根本政治目的，不仅要有一支坚定信仰马克思主义的工人阶级先锋队，而且要用马克思主义对工人阶级以及其他革命群众进行有效的理论武装。也就是说，必须确立马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位。

In the Party’s history, the young Chinese Communist Party once mechanically applied the general principles of Marxism and blindly copied the experience of the Russian Revolution, causing serious setbacks for the Chinese revolution. Mao Zedong came into contact with Marxist theory relatively early and firmly believed in Marxism, but he always opposed the erroneous tendency of treating Marxism as an immutable dogma rather than proceeding from the actual conditions of the Chinese revolution. In *On Practice*, Mao pointed out that “Marxism-Leninism has not ended truth, but is constantly opening up the path to the cognition of truth in practice,” and that this constitutes “the concrete and historical unity of the subjective and the objective, of theory and practice, of knowing and doing.” In October 1938, at the Enlarged Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party, Mao explicitly put forward the proposition of “adapting Marxism to the Chinese context” for the first time, and thereby led the Chinese people in inaugurating the historical process of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. Mao pointed out: “Marxism must be realized through combining with the specific characteristics of our country and through a certain national form. The great power of Marxism-Leninism lies precisely in its connection with the concrete revolutionary practice of each country. For the Chinese Communist Party, it is necessary to learn to apply the theory of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete environment of China.” Mao emphasized that to speak of Marxism divorced from Chinese characteristics is merely abstract, empty Marxism, and that applying Marxism in accordance with Chinese characteristics is a problem urgently requiring solution by the whole Party. These expositions of Mao reveal a profound truth: for the Chinese Communist Party to establish the guiding position of its fundamental guiding ideology, namely Marxism, in the realm of ideology, it must not only demonstrate its scientific character to the masses of the people, but, most fundamentally, it must fully manifest its practical power in the process by which the Chinese people use Marxism to transform Chinese society. To achieve this, it is necessary, under the scientific guidance of Marxism, to continuously advance theoretical innovation on the basis of practice in light of Chinese realities.

在党的历史上，年轻的中国共产党一度简单套用马克思主义一般原理和盲目照搬俄国革命经验，使中国革命遭受了严重挫折。毛泽东较早地接触马克思主义学说并坚定地信仰马克思主义，但是他历来反对不从中国革命实际出发，而把马克思主义当作一成不变的教条的错误倾向。在《实践论》中，毛泽东指出，“马克思列宁主义并没有结束真理，而是在实践中不断地开辟认识真理的道路”,这是“主观和客观、理论和实践、知和行的具体的历史的统一”。1938年10月，在党的扩大的六届六中全会上，毛泽东首次明确提出了“马克思主义中国化”这一命题，并由此带领中国人民开创了马克思主义中国化的历史进程。毛泽东指出：“马克思主义必须和我国的具体特点相结合并通过一定的民族形式才能实现。马克思列宁主义的伟大力量，就在于它是和各个国家具体的革命实践相联系的。对于中国共产党来说，就是要学会把马克思列宁主义的理论应用于中国的具体的环境。”毛泽东强调，离开中国特点来谈马克思主义，只是抽象的空洞的马克思主义，按照中国的特点去应用马克思主义，是全党亟须解决的问题。毛泽东的这些论述揭示出一个深刻的道理：中国共产党要确立其根本指导思想即马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，不仅要向人民大众展示其科学性，而且最根本的是要在中国人民运用马克思主义改造中国社会的过程中充分彰显其实践伟力。要做到这一点，就必须在马克思主义的科学指导下，结合中国实际不断推进实践基础上的理论创新。

The theory of New Democracy is a major theoretical achievement of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. If it can be said that through proposing and elaborating the theory of New Democracy (the theory of New Democratic culture), Mao “enabled many people to gain a clear and distinct understanding of the current goal of struggle and the future direction of China, causing more and more people to flock under the banner of New Democracy,” then the Yan’an Rectification Movement was the key link in Mao’s systematic construction of the Party’s cultural leadership and its implementation in practice. In August 1943, when speaking at the Central Party School, Mao explicitly pointed out that the Rectification Movement was to use proletarian ideology to overcome petty-bourgeois ideology and other non-proletarian ideologies, and that “this is the proletariat’s struggle with the petty bourgeoisie and other classes for ideological leadership.” As a Party-wide Marxist ideological education movement, the Rectification Movement propelled the process of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. “After the Rectification Movement was launched, through in-depth discussion of historical issues, the Party not only recognized that Mao Zedong was, in revolutionary practice, the representative of the Party’s correct line, and that theoretically he had creatively developed Marxism-Leninism as a Chinese-style Marxism, but also found the scientific concept that summarized the rich fruits of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, namely Chinese-style Marxism—Mao Zedong Thought.” The Rectification Movement played a crucial role in strengthening the construction of the proletarian party and establishing the guiding position of Marxism in the realm of ideology.

新民主主义理论是马克思主义中国化的重大理论成果。如果说毛泽东通过提出和阐述新民主主义理论(新民主主义文化论)“使许多人对当前奋斗的目标和中国未来的方向有了清楚明白的了解，使越来越多的人奔集到新民主主义的大旗下来”,那么，延安整风运动则是毛泽东系统构建党的文化领导权并将其付诸实践的关键环节。1943年8月，毛泽东在中央党校讲话时明确指出，整风运动就是用无产阶级思想去克服小资产阶级思想及其他非无产阶级思想，“这是无产阶级同小资产阶级及其他阶级在思想上争领导权”。作为一次全党范围内的马克思主义思想教育运动，整风运动推动了马克思主义中国化的进程。“整风运动开展后，通过对历史问题的深入讨论，党内不仅认识到毛泽东在革命实践上是党的正确路线的代表，在理论上对马列主义有创造性的发展，是中国化的马克思主义，而且找到了概括马克思主义中国化丰硕成果即中国化马克思主义的科学概念——毛泽东思想。”整风运动对于加强无产阶级政党建设、确立马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位起到了至关重要的作用。

In 1945, the Seventh National Congress of the Party established Mao Zedong Thought as the Party’s guiding ideology and wrote it into the Party Constitution: “The Chinese Communist Party takes Mao Zedong Thought—the thought that unifies the theory of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution—as the guide for all its work.” This established the guiding position of Marxism in the realm of ideology in the form of intra-Party regulations and, moreover, in the practice of the revolutionary movement, thereby enabling the whole Party to achieve unprecedented unity on the basis of Chinese-style Marxism—Mao Zedong Thought—and laying a solid ideological and political foundation for the Party to lead the Chinese people in winning the final victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the nationwide victory of the New Democratic Revolution.

1945年，党的七大把毛泽东思想确立为党的指导思想并写入党章，“中国共产党，以马克思列宁主义的理论与中国革命的实践之统一的思想——毛泽东思想，作为自己一切工作的指针”。这就用党内法规的形式而且在革命运动的实践中确立起马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，进而使全党在中国化的马克思主义——毛泽东思想——的基础上达到了空前团结，为党领导中国人民夺取抗日战争的最后胜利和新民主主义革命在全国的胜利奠定了坚实的思想政治基础。

2. Taking intellectuals and cultural and artistic workers as the key force, establishing a cultural army loyal to the cause of the Party and the people

2.以知识分子和文化文艺工作者为关键力量，建立一支忠实于党和人民事业的文化军队

Intellectuals are the inheritors of knowledge and the creators of culture. During the period of the democratic revolution, our Party recognized that intellectuals are a major component of the cultural army under the Party’s leadership and one of the basic forces determining the future of the country and the destiny of the nation. The Fourth National Congress of the Party pointed out that, in the face of the rising revolutionary movement, “it is a very important task to spread proletarian culture among the intellectual circles from the standpoint of Marxism-Leninism.” In Mao Zedong’s view, while spreading Marxism and proletarian culture among the intellectual groups was certainly important, what was even more urgent in the revolutionary struggle was the question of combining the intellectuals, as the vanguard, with the worker-peasant masses, as the main force. Mao pointed out that intellectuals can become a powerful army only when they unite with the broad masses of workers and peasants.

知识分子是知识的传承者和文化的创造者。民主革命时期，我们党就认识到知识分子是党领导下的文化军队的主要组成部分，是决定国家前途和民族命运的基本力量之一。党的四大指出，面对日益高涨的革命运动，“在智识界中以马克思列宁主义的见地传布无产阶级的文化是很重要的一件工作”。在毛泽东看来，在知识分子群体中传播马克思主义和无产阶级文化固然重要，但是，在革命斗争中更为迫切的是，作为先锋队的知识分子和作为主力军的工农民众相结合的问题。毛泽东指出，知识分子只有和广大的工农群众结合在一起，才能成为一支强有力的军队。

The realm of ideology and culture is the area where intellectuals are most densely concentrated. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, regarded cultural and artistic creation as an important bond for combining intellectuals with the worker-peasant masses. After the start of the full-scale War of Resistance, as large numbers of patriotic youth and intellectuals flocked to Yan’an and the various anti-Japanese base areas, various types of literary and artistic associations and cultural works emerged in great numbers. However, literary and artistic workers of intellectual origin had not yet fully integrated with the masses of the people in the base areas, and there existed in literary and artistic creation such undesirable phenomena as detachment from the realities of the base areas and contempt for workers, peasants, and soldiers. Some literary and artistic works revealed individualistic value pursuits and an ideological tendency to reject the Party’s leadership.

思想文化领域是知识分子最为密集的领域。以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人将文化文艺创作视为知识分子和工农民众相结合的重要纽带。全面抗战开始后，随着大批爱国青年和知识分子纷纷奔赴延安和各抗日根据地，各类文艺社团和文化作品大量涌现。但是，知识分子出身的文艺工作者还没有和根据地的人民群众完全结合起来，在文艺创作中存在着脱离根据地实际、轻视工农兵等不良现象，一些文艺作品中流露出个人主义的价值追求和对党的领导加以排斥的思想倾向。

In response to the problems existing in the Yan’an literary and artistic circles, and in order to “seek the correct development of revolutionary literature and art, to seek better assistance from revolutionary literature and art for other revolutionary work, so as to defeat our national enemy and accomplish the task of national liberation,” the Central Committee of the CPC convened the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art in May 1942. Mao Zedong attended the plenary sessions of the forum three times and delivered two important speeches, systematically elaborating on some fundamental directional issues in the literary and artistic movement and focusing on responding to controversial issues in the literary and artistic circles. According to Hu Qiaomu’s recollections, there were some differing opinions and even heated debates at the forum site, “which, in the final analysis, boiled down to the question of whether the Party should and could lead literature and art.” Mao Zedong unequivocally pointed out that revolutionary literature and art and proletarian literature and art are for the masses of the people. Based on the New Democratic cultural program, Mao pointed out: “What truly belongs to the masses of the people must now be led by the proletariat. What is led by the bourgeoisie cannot belong to the masses of the people.” In the anti-Japanese base areas, the recipients and service targets of literary and artistic work were first and foremost the workers, peasants, and soldiers, as well as revolutionary cadres, thereby clarifying the fundamental question of for whom the Party-led revolutionary literature and art are intended.

针对延安文艺界存在的问题，为了“求得革命文艺的正确发展，求得革命文艺对其他革命工作的更好的协助，借以打倒我们民族的敌人，完成民族解放的任务”,中共中央于1942年5月召开了延安文艺座谈会。毛泽东先后三次参加座谈会全体会议，两次发表重要讲话，比较系统地阐述了文艺运动中的一些根本方向问题并着重回应了文艺界存在的争议问题。根据胡乔木的回忆，座谈会现场有一些不同意见乃至激烈争论，“归根到底，是党要不要领导文艺，能不能领导文艺的问题”。毛泽东旗帜鲜明地指出，革命文艺和无产阶级的文艺是为人民大众的。毛泽东依据新民主主义的文化纲领指出：“真正人民大众的东西，现在一定是无产阶级领导的。资产阶级领导的东西，不可能属于人民大众。”在抗日根据地，文艺工作的接受者和服务对象首先是工农兵以及革命的干部，由此阐明了党领导的革命文艺为什么人这个根本问题。

On the question of how to serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers, Mao Zedong, basing himself on Marxism-Leninism, launched an incisive analysis from the angle of the popularization and elevation of literary and artistic work. Mao Zedong pointed out that social being determines social consciousness, and that the life of the people is the sole source of all literature and art. At that time, the practical problem confronting the workers, peasants, and soldiers was that they were in the midst of struggle against the enemy; therefore, “they urgently demand a widespread enlightenment movement, and urgently demand cultural knowledge and literary and artistic works that they need and can readily accept, in order to heighten their fighting enthusiasm and confidence in victory, strengthen their unity, and enable them to fight the enemy with one heart and one mind.” [17]17 Mao Zedong, “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” (May 1942), Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, p. 861. [18] Ibid., p. 861. [19] Ross Terrill, Mao: A Biography (Revised Edition), Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2006, p. 195. [20] Mao Zedong, “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art,” Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, pp. 874-875. [21] Ibid., p. 877. [22] Mao Zedong, “Speech at the Yan’an Senior Study Group on Rectification” (May 28, 1942), Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 2, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993, pp. 425-426. [23] Takeuchi Minoru, “Mao Zedong and the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art,” in Takeuchi Minoru, Mao Zedong, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1971, p. 145. [24] Ding Ling, “Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art,” People’s Daily, May 23, 1972. [25] Mao Zedong, “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art,” Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, p. 866. [26] Li Zehou, “The Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art and the Construction of Cultural Leadership,” Modern Chinese History Studies, No. 3, 2005, p. 45. [27] Deng Xiaoping, “Speech at the National Conference on Propaganda Work” (March 30, 1979), Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 2, p. 255. [28] “First Resolution of the Chinese Communist Party” (July 1921), Selected Documents of the Chinese Communist Party, Vol. 1, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1982, p. 1. [29] Mao Zedong, “On the Propaganda Work of the Party” (March 1942), Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, p. 844. [30] Mao Zedong, “The Role of the Press in the Work of the Party” (April 1944), Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 4, p. 1319. [31] Mao Zedong, “On the Propaganda Work of the Party” (March 1942), Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, p. 845. Hence, under the conditions of the time, the popularization of revolutionary literature and art was more urgent. Applying the basic principles of historical materialism, Mao Zedong revealed the truth that “the objective reality of class struggle and national struggle determines our thoughts and feelings.” Mao Zedong stressed that for literary and art workers to serve and educate the workers, peasants, and soldiers through literature and art, they must “merge their thoughts and feelings with those of the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers.” To achieve this merging, they “must for a long period of time unreservedly and wholeheartedly go among the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers, into the heat of the struggle, and to the sole, most extensive, and richest source,” [18]18 A classical allusion from the Tang dynasty writer Li Han’s preface to the *Collected Works of Han Changli* (Han Yu), meaning that literature (wen) is the vessel (qi) that conveys the Way (dao). only then can they engage in literary and artistic creation and have their works accepted by the masses.

关于如何为工农兵服务的问题，毛泽东基于马克思列宁主义，从文艺工作的普及和提高这个角度入手，展开了深入浅出的剖析。毛泽东指出，社会存在决定社会意识，人民生活是一切文学艺术的源泉。当时，摆在工农兵面前的现实问题是他们正在和敌人作斗争，所以，“他们迫切要求一个普遍的启蒙运动，迫切要求得到他们所急需的和容易接受的文化知识和文艺作品，去提高他们的斗争热情和胜利信心，加强他们的团结，便于他们同心同德地去和敌人作斗争”。因此，在当时的条件下，革命文艺的普及工作更为迫切。毛泽东运用历史唯物主义基本原理，揭示出“阶级斗争和民族斗争的客观现实决定我们的思想感情”的道理。毛泽东强调文艺工作者要用文艺服务和教育工农兵，就要使自己的“思想感情和工农兵大众的思想感情打成一片”,要打成一片，就“必须长期地无条件地全心全意地到工农兵群众中去，到火热的斗争中去，到唯一的最广大最丰富的源泉中去”,然后才能进行文艺创作并使作品被人民群众接受。

As the American scholar Ross Terrill pointed out, Mao Zedong “was intensely aware that ideas are the wheels that move society forward into the new world, and so he entered the world of literature,” while some writers and artists in Yan’an “seemed to regard intellectual work merely as a personal preference.” [19]19 Source: Luo Rongqu, “A Macro-Historical Perspective on the Modernization of New China,” in *From “Sinicization” to “Modernization”* (Lanzhou: Lanzhou University Press, 2008), p. 17. Mao Zedong criticized the phenomenon of some intellectuals who clung to individualism and divorced themselves from the masses, “creating their works as an expression of the petty bourgeoisie.” Mao Zedong pointed out that literary and art workers must learn “to observe the world, observe society, and observe literature and art from the standpoint of dialectical materialism and historical materialism,” and then use Marxism to destroy “feudal, bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, liberal, individualist, nihilist, art-for-art’s-sake, aristocratic, decadent, pessimistic, and all other kinds of creative sentiments that are not of the masses or the proletariat,” and at the same time build up new things in the process of destruction. [20]20 Source: Xi Jinping, “Speech at a Symposium on the Work of Philosophy and Social Sciences” (May 17, 2016). At the final plenary session of the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao Zedong pointed out that the Yan’an literary and art circles “need to wage a struggle of the proletariat against the non-proletariat in ideology.” [21]21 A classical Chinese saying from the *Book of Mencius* (Mencius, Teng Wen Gong I), meaning that the unevenness or diversity of things is their natural state.

正如美国学者罗斯·特里尔指出的，毛泽东“强烈地意识到思想是向新社会前进的车轮而进入文学的世界”,而延安的一些作家和艺术家“似乎把脑力工作只当作个人的偏爱”。毛泽东对一些坚持个人主义的知识分子脱离群众，“把自己的作品当作小资产阶级的自我表现来创作”的现象进行了批评。毛泽东指出，文艺工作者要学会“用辩证唯物论和历史唯物论的观点去观察世界，观察社会，观察文学艺术”,进而运用马克思主义去破坏“封建的、资产阶级的、小资产阶级的、自由主义的、个人主义的、虚无主义的、为艺术而艺术的、贵族式的、颓废的、悲观的以及其他种种非人民大众非无产阶级的创作情绪”,在破坏的同时建设起新东西来。在延安文艺座谈会最后一次全体会议上，毛泽东指出，延安文艺界“需要展开一个无产阶级对非无产阶级的思想斗争”。

After the Forum, Mao Zedong on two further occasions concentrated his opinions on cultural and literary issues, supplementing and elaborating on the content of his talks. At a meeting of the Senior Study Group for Rectification held on May 28, 1942, Mao Zedong frankly stated that the purpose of convening the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art was “to solve the problem of the integration of writers, artists, and literary and art workers with our Party, the problem of their integration with the workers and peasants, and the problem of their integration with the army.” “To achieve integration, it is necessary to overcome the influence of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology and transform it into proletarian ideology.” [22]22 A classical Chinese saying from the *Doctrine of the Mean* (Zhongyong), a Confucian classic, expressing the ideal of harmonious coexistence. The Japanese scholar Takeuchi Minoru believed that Mao Zedong successfully employed a method of combining “high-level ideology (Marxism)” with “everyday life”; this method not only convinced literary and art workers who had previously held dissenting views, but also won broad recognition and support from the revolutionary masses. [23]23 These formulations are drawn from Xi Jinping’s speeches, notably at the UNESCO Headquarters (March 2014) and the High-level Dialogue between the CPC and World Political Parties (March 2023). Ding Ling recalled: “The Party Central Committee convening such an unprecedented forum on literature and art demonstrated the Party Central Committee’s consistent attention to literary and art work, its consistent concern for the healthy growth and development of literary and art workers, and its vigilance and resistance against the erosion and harm of non-proletarian ideology on the literary and art front.” [24]24 A phrase popularized by Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong, expressing an ideal of mutual appreciation and coexistence among different civilizations. In the subsequent Yan’an Rectification Movement in literature and art, the Party Central Committee issued a series of important documents for studying and implementing the spirit of the talks. Guided by the spirit of Mao Zedong’s talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, large numbers of literary and art workers rushed to the front lines of the War of Resistance, went deep into factories, villages, and army units, made contact with the masses, and experienced life. A large number of outstanding works—novels, poems, plays, songs, woodcuts, and others—reflecting the revolutionary struggle and production and daily life sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and the cultural field presented a scene full of vigor and vitality.

座谈会后，毛泽东又在不同场合两次集中发表关于文化文艺问题的意见，对讲话内容作进一步补充和阐释。在1942年5月28日召开的整风高级学习组会议上，毛泽东坦率地指出，召开延安文艺座谈会“目的是解决文学家、艺术家、文艺工作者和我们党的结合问题，和工人农民结合的问题，和军队结合的问题”,“要结合，就必须克服资产阶级、小资产阶级思想的影响，转变到无产阶级思想”。日本学者竹内实认为，毛泽东成功运用了“高层次意识形态(马克思主义)”和“日常生活”相结合的方法，这种方式不仅使得此前持有异见的文艺工作者心悦诚服，而且也得到了革命群众的广泛认同和支持。丁玲回忆道：“党中央召开这样一次空前的文艺座谈会，表明了党中央对文艺工作的一贯重视，对文艺工作者的健康成长和发展的一贯关心，对文艺战线上非无产阶级思想的侵蚀和危害的警惕和抵制。”在随后开展的延安文艺整风运动中，党中央出台了一系列学习贯彻讲话精神的重要文件。在毛泽东延安文艺座谈会讲话精神指引下，广大文艺工作者纷纷奔向抗战前线，深入工厂、农村、部队，接触群众，体验生活，一大批反映革命斗争和生产生活的小说、诗歌、戏剧、歌曲、木刻等优秀作品如雨后春笋般涌现，文化领域呈现出一派朝气蓬勃的景象。

Starting from building a cultural army loyal to the cause of the Party and the people, and taking the integration of literary and art workers (intellectuals) with the workers, peasants, and soldiers as the focal point, Mao Zedong effectively transformed the creativity and cohesion of cultural and literary work into actual combat effectiveness in the revolutionary struggle, truly playing the unique role of “making literature and art a component part of the whole revolutionary machine, serving as a powerful weapon for uniting the people, educating the people, striking at the enemy, and annihilating the enemy, and helping the people fight the enemy with one heart and one mind.” [25] As one scholar pointed out: “The publication of the ‘Talks’ (referring to the ‘Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art’—author’s note) was a key step under the guidance of the New Democracy theory for the Chinese Communist Party to integrate the ‘cultural army’ in order to seize ‘cultural leadership.’” [26] Mao Zedong’s talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art and the Yan’an Rectification Movement not only effectively integrated the ranks of literary and art workers and intellectuals, making this cultural army an important force contributing to the victory of the Chinese revolution, but also promoted the formation of the Party’s fundamental policy for leading cultural and literary work and guided the direction of the development of socialist cultural construction thereafter.

毛泽东从组建一支忠实于党和人民事业的文化军队出发，以促进文艺工作者(知识分子)同工农兵相结合为着力点，将文化文艺工作的创造力和凝聚力切实转化为革命斗争中的实际战斗力，真正起到了“使文艺很好地成为整个革命机器的一个组成部分，作为团结人民、教育人民、打击敌人、消灭敌人的有力的武器，帮助人民同心同德地和敌人作斗争”的独特作用。正如有学者指出的：“《讲话》(指《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》——引者注)的发表是在新民主主义理论指导下，中国共产党整合‘文化军队’以夺取‘文化领导权’的关键步骤。”毛泽东在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话和延安整风运动不仅有效整合了文艺工作者和知识分子队伍、使这支文化军队成为助力中国革命取得胜利的重要力量，而且推动形成了党领导文化文艺工作的根本方针、引领了此后社会主义文化建设的发展方向。

3. Using media such as Party newspapers and journals as a bridge of communication to achieve the effective integration of propagating the Party’s propositions and reflecting the people’s voices

3.以党报党刊等媒体为沟通桥梁，实现宣传党的主张和反映人民心声的有效融合

Our Party has attached great importance to propaganda work since its founding, actively propagating the Party’s line, principles, and policies through propaganda positions such as Party newspapers and journals. As Deng Xiaoping said, “Our Party started from the very beginning by doing propaganda work.” [27] The “First Resolution of the Chinese Communist Party” clearly stipulated: “All publications, whether central or local, shall be under the leadership of Party members in their publishing work. No publication, whether central or local, shall publish articles that violate the Party’s principles, policies, or resolutions.” [28] In the revolutionary struggle, the Party always placed propaganda, ideological, and cultural work in a very important position, promoting the continuous development of propaganda, ideological, and cultural undertakings through measures such as strengthening Party leadership, formulating propaganda discipline, expanding propaganda positions, and improving working mechanisms.

我们党从成立之日起就高度重视宣传工作，通过党报党刊等舆论宣传阵地积极宣传党的路线方针政策。正如邓小平所说，“我们党从起根发芽时就是从宣传工作做起”。《中国共产党第一个决议》明确规定：“不论中央或地方出版的一切出版物，其出版工作均应受党员的领导。任何出版物，无论是中央的或地方的，均不得刊登违背党的原则、政策和决议的文章。”在革命斗争中，党始终把宣传思想文化工作摆在极为重要的位置，通过加强党的领导、制定宣传纪律、拓展宣传阵地、完善工作机制等举措推动宣传思想文化事业不断向前发展。

In the process of directly leading and engaging in propaganda, ideological, and cultural work, Mao Zedong repeatedly stressed the principle of Party spirit in propaganda work and the political attribute of the press. Mao Zedong clearly pointed out that propaganda work must “fully conform to Party policy, and ensure that our propaganda strengthens Party spirit,” [29] explicitly requiring leading cadres at all levels to fully recognize the important role of news agencies, radio, and newspapers as propagandists and organizers of revolutionary policy and revolutionary work, “to take the newspaper into their own hands and use it as a weapon for organizing all work,” [30] and sternly pointing out that “Party newspapers must unconditionally propagate the line and policy of the Central Committee.” [31]

毛泽东在直接领导和从事宣传思想文化工作的过程中，反复强调宣传工作的党性原则和报刊的政治属性。毛泽东明确指出宣传工作要“完全符合于党的政策，务使我们的宣传增强党性”,明确要求各级领导干部充分认识通讯社、广播及报纸作为革命政策与革命工作的宣传者、组织者的重要作用，“把报纸拿在自己手里，作为组织一切工作的一个武器”,严肃指出“党报必须无条件地宣传中央的路线和政策”。

Engels profoundly pointed out: “We do not know of any force that could force every person in a healthy and sober state to accept a certain idea.” [18]18 A classical allusion from the Tang dynasty writer Li Han’s preface to the *Collected Works of Han Changli* (Han Yu), meaning that literature (wen) is the vessel (qi) that conveys the Way (dao). Leadership at the ideological and cultural level is not a simple political slogan or administrative order, but an art of leadership. Mao Zedong deeply understood that for propaganda departments to propagate the Party’s line, principles, and policies to the masses, they must conform to the needs of the masses and reflect their voices. On how to realize Party leadership, Mao Zedong clarified in a speech on leadership in January 1943: “Party leadership means concentrating the people’s opinions, turning them into the Party’s opinions through reflection and study, and then bringing the Party’s opinions back to the people for implementation. This is what is called the mass viewpoint and the art of leadership, and it is the true connection between theory and practice.” In “Talk with the Editorial Staff of the *Shanxi-Suiyuan Daily*,” a programmatic document on news and propaganda work, Mao Zedong further elaborated on how to master and apply the Marxist-Leninist art of leadership of “turning the Party’s policy into the action of the masses.” Mao Zedong pointed out that “questions concerning policy should, as a rule, be publicized in the Party’s newspapers or periodicals” and “broadcast over the radio so that the broad masses can know them.” “When the masses know the truth and have a common goal, they will work together with one heart.” “The basic principle of Marxism-Leninism is to make the masses recognize their own interests and unite to fight for them.” Mao Zedong criticized the practice of blindly propagating and organizing the masses without regard for their actual ideological conditions. He emphasized the need to implement the mass line in the work of Party newspapers and periodicals, insisting on facing the masses and running newspapers with an open door.

恩格斯深刻指出：“我们不知道有任何一种力量能够强制处在健康清醒状态的每一个人接受某种思想。”思想文化层面上的领导权不是一种简单的政治口号或行政命令，而是一门领导艺术。毛泽东深刻认识到，宣传部门要向群众宣传党的路线方针政策，就要顺应群众需要、反映群众心声。如何实现党的领导 1943年1月，毛泽东在关于领导问题的一次讲演中阐明：“党的领导就是集中人民意见，经过思考研究变成党的意见，然后又把党的意见拿到人民中去实现，这就是所谓群众观点和领导艺术，就是真正理论与实际的联系。”在《对晋绥日报编辑人员的谈话》这篇关于新闻宣传工作的纲领性文献中，毛泽东对如何掌握和运用“把党的政策变为群众的行动”这项马克思列宁主义的领导艺术作了进一步阐释。毛泽东指出，“有关政策的问题，一般地都应当在党的报纸上或者刊物上进行宣传”,“在电台广播，使广大群众都能知道”,“群众知道了真理，有了共同的目的，就会齐心来做”,“马克思列宁主义的基本原则，就是要使群众认识自己的利益，并且团结起来，为自己的利益而奋斗”。毛泽东批评了那种不顾群众思想实际，盲目宣传和组织群众的做法。他强调，要在党报党刊工作中贯彻党的群众路线，坚持面向群众、开门办报。

In the long-term revolutionary struggle, the Communist Party of China, through the scientific nature of its guiding ideology and the advanced nature of its cultural program, gradually established its leading position in the ideological and cultural sphere. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, embedded the Party’s cultural leadership in the practical work of propaganda, ideology, and culture, producing enormous effects of political mobilization, ideological guidance, cultural inspiration, and spiritual encouragement through subtle influence. Ultimately, they transformed advanced ideology and culture into a powerful material force in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, “rousing hundreds of millions of workers and peasants to fight with one heart.” As pointed out in the congratulatory telegram from the Central Committee of the CPC to the All-China Congress of Literary and Art Workers, published by Xinhua News Agency on July 1, 1949, after revision and approval by Mao Zedong: “Our China is in a situation of economic and cultural backwardness. After the victory of the revolution, our main tasks are to develop production and develop culture and education. The victory of the people’s revolution and the establishment of the people’s political power have opened up the path of development for the people’s culture and education and the people’s literature and art.” The victory of the New Democratic Revolution and the establishment of the socialist system laid the fundamental political prerequisite and institutional foundation for our Party to continue leading cultural development and progress.

在长期的革命斗争中，中国共产党以其指导思想的科学性和文化纲领的先进性逐步确立起在思想文化领域的领导地位。以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人将党的文化领导权寓于宣传思想文化工作实际，在潜移默化中产生了政治动员、思想引领、文化感召和精神鼓舞的巨大效用，最终将先进思想文化转化为反帝反封建斗争中“唤起工农千百万，同心干”的强大物质力量。正如1949年7月1日新华社发表的经过毛泽东修改审定的中共中央给中华全国文学艺术工作者代表大会的贺电中指出的：“我们中国是处在经济落后和文化落后的情况中。在革命胜利以后，我们的任务主要地就是发展生产和发展文化教育。人民革命的胜利和人民政权的建立，给人民的文化教育和人民的文学艺术开辟了发展的道路。”新民主主义革命的胜利和社会主义制度的建立，为我们党继续引领文化发展进步奠定了根本政治前提和制度基础。

IV. Contemporary Insights: Upholding and Consolidating the Party’s Cultural Leadership under the Guidance of Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought

四、现实启示：在习近平文化思想指引下坚持和巩固党的文化领导权

The Communist Party of China is a Marxist political party with a high degree of cultural consciousness. In different historical periods, our Party has always been able to put forward its cultural program, cultural goals, and cultural policies in step with the times, promoting the comprehensive development of the Party’s and the people’s cause through new cultural awakenings, new theoretical creations, and new cultural achievements. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, were the first to recognize and take on the historical mission of “building a national, scientific, and mass-oriented new culture of the Chinese nation” during the New Democratic Revolution. In the process of leading Chinese culture forward, generations of Chinese Communists united and led the people of all ethnic groups in unremitting struggle, ultimately forging and successfully expanding the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics. The most essential feature of this path is upholding the Party’s leadership.

中国共产党是具有高度文化自觉的马克思主义政党，在不同历史时期我们党总是能够与时俱进地提出自己的文化纲领、文化目标、文化政策，以思想文化新觉醒、理论创造新成果、文化建设新成就推动党和人民事业全面发展。以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人在新民主主义革命时期率先认识到并肩负起“建设民族的科学的大众的中华民族新文化”这一历史使命。在引领中国文化继续向前发展的进程中，一代代中国共产党人团结带领全国各族人民不懈奋斗，最终走出并成功拓展了中国特色社会主义文化发展道路，这条道路最本质的特征就是坚持党的领导。

1. Uphold the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological domain, and use the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times to consolidate the soul and build the foundation for building a strong cultural country.

1.坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，用马克思主义中国化时代化最新成果为文化强国建设凝心铸魂

At present, competition in national cultural influence is becoming increasingly fierce, and different cultures and civilizations engage in both dialogue and exchange as well as confrontation and conflict. “The various cultural struggles in the world are essentially struggles over values, and also struggles for people’s hearts and for ideology.” History has repeatedly proven that ideology determines the direction and path of cultural development. Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology for our Party to establish the Party and the country, and to rejuvenate the Party and the country; it is the banner and soul of socialist ideology. General Secretary Xi Jinping warns Party cadres:

当前，国家文化影响力竞争日趋激烈，不同文化、不同文明之间既有对话交流也有对抗交锋。“世界上各种文化之争，本质上是价值观念之争，也是人心之争、意识形态之争”。历史反复证明，意识形态决定着文化的前进方向和发展道路。马克思主义是我们立党立国、兴党兴国的根本指导思想，是社会主义意识形态的旗帜和灵魂。习近平总书记告诫党员干部，“必须把意识形态工作的领导权、管理权、话语权牢牢掌握在手中，任何时候都不能旁落，否则就要犯无可挽回的历史性错误”。习近平总书记强调，“意识形态工作是党的一项极端重要的工作”,“宣传思想工作就是要巩固马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，巩固全党全国人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础”。面对错综复杂的形势，我们必须坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域指导地位的根本制度，确保文化建设始终沿着正确的方向前进，旗帜鲜明地建设具有强大凝聚力和引领力的社会主义意识形态。

The history of our Party is a history of continuously enriching and developing Marxism, a history of constantly advancing the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times on the basis of practice, and also a history of consciously using adapted Marxism to guide new practice. Mao Zedong once said with deep feeling: "Any Communist Party in any country, any ideological circle in any country, must create new theories, write new works, and produce its own theorists to serve the current politics; relying solely on the old masters will not do." [18]18 A classical allusion from the Tang dynasty writer Li Han’s preface to the *Collected Works of Han Changli* (Han Yu), meaning that literature (wen) is the vessel (qi) that conveys the Way (dao). Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party's understanding of the phased objectives and tasks of cultural construction has been continuously deepened in practice. In June 2023, at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the clear requirement to continue promoting cultural prosperity and building a strong cultural country from a new starting point, emphasizing the need to work together to create a new culture belonging to our era, thereby marking the cultural coordinates for Chinese-path modernization and anchoring the civilizational direction for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In October 2023, the Party Central Committee convened the National Conference on Propaganda, Ideology, and Cultural Work, which formally proposed and systematically elaborated Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, raising high our Party's cultural banner on the new journey of the New Era. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is the concrete unfolding and concentrated expression of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the field of cultural construction, constituting the cultural chapter of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and is the latest major achievement in adapting Marxist cultural theory to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

我们党的历史，就是一部不断丰富和发展马克思主义的历史，就是一部在实践基础上不断推进马克思主义中国化时代化的历史，也是一部自觉用中国化时代化的马克思主义指导新的实践的历史。毛泽东曾经语重心长地说：“任何国家的共产党，任何国家的思想界，都要创造新的理论，写出新的著作，产生自己的理论家，来为当前的政治服务，单靠老祖宗是不行的。”党的十八大以来，我们党对文化建设阶段性目标任务的认识在实践中持续深化。2023年6月，习近平总书记在文化传承发展座谈会上提出在新的起点上继续推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国的明确要求，强调要共同努力创造属于我们这个时代的新文化，为中国式现代化标注了文化坐标、为中华民族伟大复兴锚定了文明航向。2023年10月，党中央召开全国宣传思想文化工作会议，正式提出并系统阐述了习近平文化思想，在新时代新征程上高举起我们党的文化旗帜。习近平文化思想是习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想在文化建设领域的具体展开和集中体现，构成了习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的文化篇，是马克思主义文化理论中国化时代化的最新重大成果。

Looking at the generation and development of the Party's cultural leadership, Mao Zedong initiated the Party's cultural leadership in both historical and logical terms. From the historical investigation of Mao Zedong's initiation of the Party's cultural leadership, it can be

纵观党的文化领导权的生成发展，毛泽东在历史和逻辑的意义上开启了党的文化领导权。通过对毛泽东开启党的文化领导权的历史考察可以看出，习近平文化思想是坚持马克思主义理论逻辑、中国文化发展历史逻辑和中国式现代化实践逻辑有机结合的必然结果和重大成果。从理论维度看，习近平文化思想是对马克思主义文化理论的丰富和发展；从历史维度看，习近平文化思想是新的时代条件下我们党对“建设民族的科学的大众的中华民族新文化”这一历史使命的坚守和传承；从现实维度看，习近平文化思想是对新时代我们党在中国式现代化进程中领导文化建设实践经验的总结和提炼。正因如此，习近平文化思想以其强大的理论穿透力和实践引领力贯通历史、现在和未来，是我们在新的起点上不断巩固文化主体性、担负起新的文化使命的强大思想武器。

2. Under the new circumstances, strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over propaganda, ideology, and cultural work, uphold the unity of Party spirit and people-centeredness, and continuously open up new prospects for propaganda, ideology, and cultural work.

2.在新形势下加强党对宣传思想文化工作的全面领导，坚持党性和人民性相统一，不断开创宣传思想文化工作新局面

As the primary content and core proposition of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership is both a crystallization of history and a product of the times. It was put forward by Chinese Communists in the New Era on the basis of profoundly summarizing the Party’s historical experience and discerning the general trend of the times. At the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed the major thesis that “what we uphold is the cultural leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” emphasizing precisely the major issue of “upholding the Party’s cultural leadership.” This thereby clarified that upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership over propaganda, ideology, and cultural work is the fundamental political guarantee for cultural construction in the New Era.

作为习近平文化思想的首要内容和核心命题，坚持党的文化领导权既是历史的结晶，又是时代的产物，是新时代中国共产党人在深刻总结党的历史经验、洞察时代发展大势的基础上提出来的。在文化传承发展座谈会上，习近平总书记创造性地提出“守的是中国共产党的文化领导权”这一重大论断，强调的就是“坚持党的文化领导权”这一重大问题，由此明确了坚持和加强党对宣传思想文化工作的全面领导是新时代文化建设的根本政治保证。

In propaganda, ideology, and cultural work, our Party has always stressed the need to adhere to the principle of Party spirit while also serving the people. This essentially requires accurately grasping the relationship between Party spirit and people-centeredness in propaganda, ideology, and cultural work. At present, the environment, targets, scope, and methods of propaganda, ideology, and cultural work have undergone significant changes, but its fundamental principles and fundamental tasks have not changed.

在宣传思想文化工作中，我们党一贯强调既要坚持党性原则，又要做到服务人民，实际上就是要求在宣传思想文化工作中准确把握党性和人民性的关系。当前，宣传思想文化工作的环境、对象、范围、方式发生了很大变化，但其根本原则和根本任务没有变。

The Chinese Communist Party is the leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, occupying a position of overall leadership and coordinating all sides. The Party’s cultural leadership is the inevitable requirement and concrete manifestation of the Party’s overall leadership in the field of cultural construction. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed propaganda, ideology, and cultural work in an important position in overall work, making great efforts to strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over propaganda, ideology, and cultural work. General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly demanded: “All propaganda, ideology

中国共产党是中国特色社会主义事业的领导核心，处在总揽全局、协调各方的地位，党的文化领导权是党的全面领导在文化建设领域的必然要求和具体体现。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央把宣传思想文化工作摆在全局工作的重要位置，着力加强党中央对宣传思想文化工作的集中统一领导。习近平总书记明确要求：“所有宣传思想部门和单位，所有宣传思想战线上的党员、干部都要旗帜鲜明坚持党性原则。”新形势下，坚持党性原则，就要旗帜鲜明坚持党管宣传、党管意识形态、党管媒体、党管互联网，坚持政治家办报、办刊、办台、办新闻网站，在思想上、精神上、文化上筑牢党的执政基础和群众基础。

Being people-centered is the clear main line and value pursuit running through cultural development in the New Era. In essence, Party spirit and people’s character are closely linked, mutually interpenetrating, and internally unified. On this, General Secretary Xi Jinping has provided a profound exposition: “Our Party takes wholeheartedly serving the people as its fundamental purpose and has no special interests of its own. To embody the Party’s will is to embody the people’s will; to propagate the Party’s propositions is to propagate the people’s propositions; to uphold Party spirit is to uphold the people’s character. Party spirit is embedded in the people’s character; there is no Party spirit divorced from the people’s character, nor any people’s character divorced from Party spirit.” It can be said that only by upholding Party spirit can propaganda, ideological, and cultural work have a clear standpoint and fundamental direction; only by upholding the people’s character can propaganda, ideological, and cultural work gain a source of vitality and a foundation of momentum. At present, the principal contradiction in Chinese society is the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. To advance the work of the Party and the state around this principal contradiction, we must respond to the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, continuously enhance the capacity to supply cultural services and products, and enable the people to enjoy a more fulfilling, richer, and higher-quality spiritual and cultural life.

以人民为中心是贯穿新时代文化建设的鲜明主线和价值追求。从本质上看，党性和人民性是紧密联系、相互贯通和内在统一的。对此，习近平总书记作了深刻阐述：“我们党以全心全意为人民服务为根本宗旨，没有自己的特殊利益，体现党的意志就是体现人民的意志，宣传党的主张就是宣传人民的主张，坚持党性就是坚持人民性。党性寓于人民性之中，没有脱离人民性的党性，也没有脱离党性的人民性。”可以说，坚持党性，宣传思想文化工作才能有明确立场和根本指向；坚持人民性，宣传思想文化工作才能获得活力源泉和动力基础。当前，我国社会主要矛盾是人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，围绕这个社会主要矛盾推进党和国家各项工作，就要顺应人民群众日益增长的精神文化需求，不断提升文化服务和文化产品供给能力，让人民享有更加充实、更为丰富、更高质量的精神文化生活。

“Literature is the vessel that carries the Way.” [18]18 A classical allusion from the Tang dynasty writer Li Han’s preface to the *Collected Works of Han Changli* (Han Yu), meaning that literature (wen) is the vessel (qi) that conveys the Way (dao). The propaganda, ideological, and cultural front must unify the expression of the Party’s propositions with the reflection of the people’s voices, combine serving the masses with educating and guiding them, integrate meeting needs with improving literacy, coordinate offline work with online work, and merge traditional media with emerging media. It must promptly reflect the rich and varied production and life practices of the people, evoke resonance in their thinking, strengthen their spiritual strength, stimulate their creative vitality, and better transform the Party’s theories, lines, principles, and policies into the people’s conscious actions in participating in Chinese-path modernization.

“文者，贯道之器也。”宣传思想文化战线要把体现党的主张和反映人民心声统一起来，把服务群众同教育引导群众结合起来、把满足需求同提高素养结合起来、把网下工作同网上工作结合起来、把传统媒体和新兴媒体融合起来，及时反映人民群众丰富多彩的生产生活实践，引起人民思想共鸣，增强人民精神力量，激发人民创造活力，更好地把党的理论和路线方针政策转化为人民群众投身中国式现代化的自觉行动。

3. In the great practice of Chinese-path modernization, promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, deepen exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and other civilizations of the world, and strive to create the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization

3.在中国式现代化伟大实践中推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展，深化中华文明和世界其他文明交流互鉴，努力创造中国式现代化的文化形态

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out with great foresight: “Correctly approaching the civilizations of different countries and nations, and correctly approaching traditional culture and contemporary culture, is a major issue we must grasp well.” The proposition of “the Party’s cultural leadership” originated from the Communist Party of China’s response, in the process of leading the people in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, to the historical question of “where is China heading?” In essence, it is the joint result of various internal and external factors during the New Democratic Revolution period and the “debate between the ancient and the modern, China and the West” that arose in the ideological and cultural sphere since modern times.

习近平总书记高屋建瓴地指出：“正确对待不同国家和民族的文明，正确对待传统文化和现实文化，是我们必须把握好的一个重大课题。”“党的文化领导权”这一命题起源于中国共产党在领导人民进行反帝反封建斗争过程中对“中国向何处去”这一历史之问的回应，本质上是新民主主义革命时期各种内外因素和近代以来思想文化领域产生的“古今中西之争”共同作用的结果。

The question of “the Party’s cultural leadership” raised by the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their main representative, can be seen as a “breaking of the ground” on the “debate between the ancient and the modern, China and the West.” However, constrained by the historical conditions of the time, the older generation of Communists could not and did not completely fulfill the historical task of “solving the problem.” It is precisely for this reason that General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development: “After long-term efforts, we are better positioned than any previous era to resolve the ‘debate between the ancient and the modern, China and the West,’ and we are also more urgently in need than any previous era of a batch of cultural achievements that fuse the ancient and the modern and connect China and the West.” In other words, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership inevitably involves the unavoidable historical issue of the “debate between the ancient and the modern, China and the West.” Chinese Communists in the New Era are better positioned and more responsible than ever to resolve this debate.

以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人提出的“党的文化领导权”问题，可以视为对“古今中西之争”的“破题”,但是，囿于当时的历史条件，老一辈共产党人没有也不可能彻底完成“解题”的历史任务。正因如此，习近平总书记在文化传承发展座谈会上指出：“经过长期努力，我们比以往任何一个时代都更有条件破解‘古今中西之争’,也比以往任何一个时代都更迫切需要一批熔铸古今、汇通中西的文化成果。”换言之，坚持党的文化领导权必然要涉及“古今中西之争”这个无法回避的历史议题，新时代中国共产党人比以往任何时候都更有条件也更有责任破解“古今中西之争”。

Contemporary China is the continuation and development of historical China, and contemporary Chinese thought and culture are also the inheritance and sublimation of traditional Chinese thought and culture. The “Second Integration” in the context of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context is another major proposition put forward by the Chinese Communists, who have traversed a century-long journey, on the basis of the “First Integration.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly grasped the inherent laws of Marxist theoretical innovation and socialist cultural development, and clearly proposed the major proposition of “integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s fine traditional culture.” The “First Integration” resolves the relationship between theory and practice, and between the subjective and the objective; the “Second Integration” resolves the relationship between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the foreign. The “Second Integration” is not only an active response to the “debate between China and the West” in the process of Chinese-path modernization, but also a positive adjustment of the “relationship between the ancient and the modern” from the strategic height of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

当代中国是历史中国的延续和发展，当代中国思想文化也是中国传统思想文化的传承和升华。马克思主义中国化语境中的“第二个结合”,是跨越百年征程的中国共产党人在“第一个结合”的基础上提出的又一重大命题。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记深刻把握马克思主义理论创新和社会主义文化发展的内在规律，鲜明提出“把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合”的重大命题。“第一个结合”解决的是理论与实际、主观与客观的关系，“第二个结合解决的是古与今、中与外的关系”。“第二个结合”既是在中国式现代化进程中对“中西之争”的主动回应，也是站在中华民族伟大复兴战略高度对“古今关系”的积极调适。

The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been forged under the guidance of Marxism and has also emerged from the more than 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization. “It is precisely under the guidance of the Two Integrations that we have successfully opened up and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics, and advanced and expanded Chinese-path modernization.” Moving from tradition to modernity is the development trend of human civilization, and achieving modernization is the common pursuit of people of all countries. Through unremitting efforts, our Party has led the people to successfully forge a path of Chinese-path modernization that suits China’s national conditions. As one scholar has pointed out: “Understanding the internal logic of the modern transformation of fine traditional Chinese culture in the practical creation of Chinese-path modernization will activate the vitality of cultural traditions, endow them with contemporary significance, transform the ‘debate between the ancient and the modern, China and the West’ into cultural continuity between the ancient and the modern and civilizational exchanges and mutual learning, and promote cultural ‘acculturation’ through integration and convergence.” Chinese-path modernization, the most grand and unique modernization practice in human history, provides vast space for cultural innovation and creation and for civilizational exchanges and mutual learning.

中国特色社会主义道路是在马克思主义指导下走出来的，也是从5000多年中华文明史中走出来的。“正是在‘两个结合’的指引下，我们成功开辟和发展了中国特色社会主义、推进和拓展了中国式现代化。”从传统走向现代，是人类文明的发展趋势，实现现代化是世界各国人民的共同追求。经过不懈努力，我们党带领人民成功走出了符合中国国情的中国式现代化道路。正如有学者指出的：“在中国式现代化的实践创造中理解中华优秀传统文化实现现代转化的内在逻辑，就会激活文化传统的生命力，并为之赋予时代内涵，将‘古今中西之争’转换为文化古今相通与文明交流互鉴，以交融会通的方式促进文化‘涵化’。”中国式现代化这一人类历史上最为宏大而独特的现代化实践给文化创新创造和文明交流互鉴提供了广阔的空间。

The modernization process of a country is the result of the interaction of many factors. Broadly speaking, “in the start-up phase of modernization, non-economic factors, especially political factors, take precedence; in the transformation phase, economic and technological factors take precedence; and in the later phase of modernization, especially the phase of social integration, cultural factors, ecological factors, and so on rise to an important position.” [19]19 Source: Luo Rongqu, “A Macro-Historical Perspective on the Modernization of New China,” in *From “Sinicization” to “Modernization”* (Lanzhou: Lanzhou University Press, 2008), p. 17. At present, China has embarked on a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country and has generally entered the middle-to-late stage of modernization development, where the importance of cultural factors is increasingly prominent. Chinese-path modernization is deeply rooted in fine traditional Chinese culture. We must, based on reality, deeply excavate and elucidate the ideological essence contained in fine traditional Chinese culture, and strive to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. It is worth noting that “in the process of its formation and development, traditional culture is inevitably constrained and influenced by the limitations of people’s cognitive levels at the time, the conditions of the era, and the social system, and therefore inevitably contains elements that are outdated or have become dross.” [20]20 Source: Xi Jinping, “Speech at a Symposium on the Work of Philosophy and Social Sciences” (May 17, 2016). From the height of social revolution, only by using the scientific method of Marxism to examine and critique traditional Chinese culture, accurately identifying and thoroughly eliminating the dross parts of traditional culture, can we truly inherit and promote the excellent factors of traditional Chinese culture and manifest their new contemporary value, making them integrate and intercommunicate with contemporary culture, and jointly serve the task of the times of comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization.

一个国家的现代化进程是诸多因素交互作用的结果。大体而言，“在现代化启动阶段，非经济因素特别是政治因素具有占先性；在转变阶段则是经济与技术因素具有占先性；而在现代化后期特别是社会整合阶段，则是文化因素、生态因素等上升到重要地位”。当前，中国已经迈上全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程，总体上进入了现代化中后期发展阶段，文化因素的重要性日益凸显。中国式现代化深深植根于中华优秀传统文化，我们要立足现实深入挖掘和阐发中华优秀传统文化中蕴含的思想精华，着力推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展。值得注意的是，“传统文化在其形成和发展过程中，不可避免会受到当时人们的认识水平、时代条件、社会制度的局限性的制约和影响，因而也不可避免会存在陈旧过时或已成为糟粕性的东西”。站在社会革命的高度来看，只有运用马克思主义的科学方法对中华传统文化加以审视和批判，准确辨识和彻底清除传统文化中的糟粕部分，才能真正继承和弘扬中华传统文化中的优秀因子并彰显其新的时代价值，使之与现实文化相融相通，共同服务于以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴的时代任务。

“It is the nature of things to be unequal.” [21]21 A classical Chinese saying from the *Book of Mencius* (Mencius, Teng Wen Gong I), meaning that the unevenness or diversity of things is their natural state. Differences in history, culture, and social systems among countries have existed since ancient times. Each civilization continues the unique spiritual bloodline of a country and a nation, and also has unique significance for reference. Chinese civilization is an open system formed through continuous exchange and mutual learning with other civilizations. The ideas, humanistic spirit, and moral norms contained in Chinese culture are not only the core of Chinese people’s thoughts and spirit but also have important value for solving human problems. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly quoted the ancient saying “All things are nurtured together without harming one another, and the ways run parallel without contradicting each other” [22]22 A classical Chinese saying from the *Doctrine of the Mean* (Zhongyong), a Confucian classic, expressing the ideal of harmonious coexistence. to express the Chinese concept of treating the diversity of civilizations with an inclusive spirit of harmony in diversity. We must both respect the diversity and differences of civilizations and see that different civilizations have many commonalities in their pursuit of shared values. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on many important international occasions the need to both promote the diversity of world civilizations and promote the common values of all mankind of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom. In March 2023, at the High-level Dialogue between the Communist Party of China and World Political Parties, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly proposed the Global Civilization Initiative, systematically elaborating China’s propositions for promoting the coexistence, exchange, and mutual learning of different civilizations. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to promote a view of civilization characterized by “equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness,” and to uphold the attitude and principle of “transcending estrangement between civilizations through exchanges, transcending clashes between civilizations through mutual learning, and transcending the sense of superiority of civilizations through inclusiveness.” [23]23 These formulations are drawn from Xi Jinping’s speeches, notably at the UNESCO Headquarters (March 2014) and the High-level Dialogue between the CPC and World Political Parties (March 2023). This initiative has significant and far-reaching historical significance for promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges, cultural integration, and people-to-people bonds among countries around the world, and for building a community with a shared future for mankind where “each civilization is beautiful in its own way, and the beauty of all civilizations is shared together.” [24]24 A phrase popularized by Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong, expressing an ideal of mutual appreciation and coexistence among different civilizations.

“物之不齐，物之情也。”各国历史文化和社会制度的差异自古就存在，每一种文明都延续着一个国家和民族的独特精神血脉，也有着独到的借鉴意义。中华文明就是在同其他文明不断交流互鉴中形成的开放体系，中华文化蕴含的思想观念、人文精神、道德规范，不仅是中国人思想和精神的内核，对解决人类问题也有着重要价值。习近平总书记多次引用“万物并育而不相害，道并行而不相悖”这句古话，来表达用和而不同的包容精神对待文明多样性的中国理念。我们既要尊重文明的多样性和差异性，又要看到不同文明在共同价值追求上有诸多相通之处。习近平总书记在多个重要国际场合强调既要促进世界文明多样性，又要弘扬和平、发展、公平、正义、民主、自由的全人类共同价值。2023年3月，习近平总书记在中国共产党与世界政党高层对话会上郑重提出全球文明倡议，系统阐释了推动不同文明包容共存、交流互鉴的中国主张。习近平总书记提出，要弘扬“平等、互鉴、对话、包容”的文明观，秉持“以文明交流超越文明隔阂、文明互鉴超越文明冲突、文明包容超越文明优越”的态度和原则。这一倡议对于推动世界各国人文交流、文化交融、民心相通，构建“各美其美、美美与共”的人类命运共同体具有重大而深远的历史意义。

From a deeper historical perspective and a broader global vision, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership is a profound proposition put forward by the century-old Communist Party of China, which shoulders the heavy responsibility of advancing national modernization and achieving national rejuvenation, in a new spatiotemporal dimension. Its theoretical purport is to resolve the “dispute between the ancient and the modern, and between China and the West” through the Two Integrations, especially the Second Integration. By actively adjusting the “relationship between the ancient and the modern” and proactively responding to the “dispute between China and the West,” it strives to create a cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. Its practical value lies not only in providing powerful spiritual motivation for comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization but also in offering a brand-new Chinese solution for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and advancing the joint progress of human civilizations in the process of world modernization.

从更加纵深的历史视野和更为宏阔的世界眼光来看，坚持党的文化领导权，是中国共产党这个肩负推进国家现代化和实现民族复兴重任的百年大党在新的时空维度中提出的深刻命题，其理论旨趣是经由“两个结合”特别是“第二个结合”去破解“古今中西之争”,通过对“古今关系”的积极调适和“中西之争”的主动回应，努力创造中国式现代化的文化形态，其实践价值不仅在于为以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴提供强大的精神动力，而且在于为在世界现代化进程中推动构建人类命运共同体、促进人类文明携手共进提供崭新的中国方案。

Conclusion

结 语

Throughout the history of human civilization, a flourishing culture leads to a flourishing nation, and a strong culture leads to a strong nation. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires the prosperity and flourishing of Chinese culture. For over 100 years, as an active leader and promoter of China’s advanced culture, the Communist Party of China has both firmly believed in and practiced Marxism and faithfully inherited and promoted fine traditional Chinese culture, striving to restore the glory of Chinese civilization. Promoting cultural prosperity and building a strong cultural country at the new historical starting point is a common task for the entire Party and the whole society. Only by upholding the Party’s cultural leadership can we further consolidate ideological unity within the entire Party and society, work together with one heart and one mind to develop a socialist culture that is national, scientific, and popular, oriented toward modernization, the world, and the future, and provide correct spiritual guidance and strong cultural support for comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization. After an in-depth investigation of the generative logic and practical unfolding of the Party’s cultural leadership, it is not difficult to find that the formation of the Party’s cultural leadership is a historical process, not achieved overnight; we can also foresee that upholding and consolidating the Party’s cultural leadership cannot be accomplished once and for all but will inevitably be a long-term and arduous historical task. On the new journey, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping’s cultural thought, upholding the Party’s cultural leadership, jointly creating a new culture belonging to our era, vigorously advancing the cause initiated but left unfinished by Mao Zedong and other veteran revolutionaries, and ultimately answering the historical question of “Where is China going?” with the successful practice of Chinese-path modernization, is the solemn historical responsibility of Chinese Communists in the New Era.

纵观人类文明发展史，文化兴则国家兴，文化强则民族强，中华民族伟大复兴需要以中华文化繁荣兴盛为条件。100多年来，作为中国先进文化的积极引领者和推动者，中国共产党既坚定地信仰和践行马克思主义，又忠实地传承和弘扬中华优秀传统文化，努力推动中华文明重焕荣光。在新的历史起点上推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国是全党全社会的共同任务，只有坚持党的文化领导权，才能进一步巩固全党全社会思想上的团结统一，齐心协力发展面向现代化、面向世界、面向未来的，民族的科学的大众的社会主义文化，为以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业提供正确的精神指引和强大的文化支撑。在深入考察党的文化领导权的生成逻辑和实践展开之后，我们不难发现，党的文化领导权的形成是一个历史过程，不是一蹴而就的；我们也可以预见，坚持和巩固党的文化领导权也不可能一劳永逸，而必将是一项长期而艰巨的历史任务。新征程上，在习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想特别是习近平文化思想指导下，坚持党的文化领导权，共同创造属于我们这个时代的新文化，奋力推进毛泽东等老一辈革命家开创而又未竟的事业，最终用中国式现代化的成功实践回答“中国向何处去”这一历史之问，是新时代中国共产党人的庄严历史责任。

Author’s bio: Shu Jin, Deputy Director and Researcher of the Institute of Marxist Studies, Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences; Researcher at the Jiangsu Provincial Research Base of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

作者简介：束锦，江苏省社会科学院马克思主义研究所副所长、研究员，江苏省习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心省社科院理论研究基地研究员。