The Systematic Nature of Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought and Its Original Contributions

The systematic construction and theoretical elucidation of a theory are both inherent requirements of theoretical innovation and important pathways for theoretical development. The formation and development of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought is itself a process of continuous systematization and theorization. Thus, deepening the systematic and theoretical research and interpretation of this important thought has become a major mission in the field of ideological propaganda and culture. This article attempts to focus on the theme of “culture,” explore the essential essence of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought, and, by examining the internal logic among the basic viewpoints of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought, grasp its positioning within the entire ideological system, elaborating on its original contributions to enriching and developing Marxist cultural theory and to the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture.

理论的体系化建构与学理化阐释，既是理论创新的内在要求，也是理论发展的重要途径。习近平文化思想的形成与发展，本身即为一个不断体系化和学理化的过程。由此，深化这一重要思想的体系化、学理化研究阐释，成为思想宣传文化领域的重大使命。本文尝试围绕“文化”这个主题词，探讨习近平文化思想的精髓要义，通过考察习近平文化思想基本观点之间的内在逻辑，来把握其在整个思想体系中的定位，阐述它们对丰富和发展马克思主义文化理论、创造性转化和创新性发展中华优秀传统文化作出的原创性贡献。

I. Upholding the Primary Position of the Party’s Cultural Leadership

一、坚持党的文化领导权的首要地位

Concepts and the propositions that serve as their forms of expression are the basic elements constituting a theory. In a specific ideological system, there is often a core concept or proposition that occupies a primary position; this is the key to accurately understanding that ideological system. Looking comprehensively at the periodic theoretical summaries during the formation of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought—from the “Nine Insistences”[1]1 The “seven efforts” (七个着力) refers to seven key tasks for propaganda, ideology, and cultural work outlined by Xi Jinping in 2023, including strengthening leadership, fostering core socialist values, and promoting cultural development. condensing the understanding of the laws of the Party’s propaganda and ideological work during the historical period of the convergence of the “Two Centenary Goals”[2]2 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 95th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China” (July 1, 2016).; to the “Fourteen Emphases”[3]3 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China” (July 1, 2021). summarizing a series of new ideas, viewpoints, and conclusions on cultural construction in the New Era at the beginning of the new journey of the New Era; to the “Seven Efforts”[4]4 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development” (June 2, 2023). elucidating the blueprint and practical methods for the Party’s propaganda, ideological, and cultural work at the time of the formal proposal of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought—all place upholding the Party’s leadership in the primary position. The reason for this lies mainly in the fact that culture, as an important form of expression of the superstructure, possesses distinct ideological attributes. Essentially, cultural leadership is the leadership of ideological work. Upholding the primary position of the Party’s cultural leadership first means our Party’s new self-awareness of the new situation and new challenges in ideological work, that is, “whether we can uphold the Party’s leadership and uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in an increasingly complex international and domestic environment.”[5]5 This is a classical Chinese phrase (明体达用，体用贯通) originating from Neo-Confucian philosophy, where “体” (substance/essence) refers to fundamental principles and “用” (application/function) refers to their practical implementation; it is used here to describe the integrated nature of theory and practice in Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought.

概念以及作为其表达形式的命题，是构成理论的基本要素。在特定的思想体系中，往往会有一个居于首要地位的核心概念或命题，这是准确理解该思想体系的关键。综观习近平文化思想形成过程中的阶段性理论总结，从“两个一百年”交汇的历史时期，“九个坚持”对党的宣传思想工作规律性认识的凝练；到新时代新征程开局之年，“十四个强调”对新时代文化建设一系列新思想新观点新论断的概括；再到习近平文化思想的正式提出之时，“七个着力”对党的宣传思想文化工作蓝图和实践方法的阐明，无不将坚持党的领导放在首要位置。究其原因，主要在于文化作为上层建筑的重要表现形式，具有鲜明的意识形态属性。从本质上看，文化领导权就是意识形态工作领导权。坚持党的文化领导权的首要地位，首先意味着我们党对意识形态工作新形势与新挑战的新自觉，也就是“能不能在日益复杂的国际国内环境下坚持住党的领导、坚持和发展中国特色社会主义”。

The prominence given to the position of cultural leadership in Xi Jinping’s cultural thought fully reflects a profound understanding of the principle of the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure. According to the basic viewpoints of Marxism, the superstructure, including political systems, culture, and ideology, is ultimately determined by the economic base. While emphasizing that the economic base determines culture or ideology, Marxism also affirms the relative independence of the latter. On the premise of this relative independence, various ideologies complement and permeate each other in content, intersect and interact in form, and influence and constrain each other in the process of development, jointly forming the whole of culture as an ideological form, thereby generating powerful spiritual forces that dominate people’s actions. It is in this sense that ideological work plays the role of establishing the heart for the nation and the soul for the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping highly juxtaposes the importance of ideological work with the central task of economic work, emphasizing that “we must not relax or weaken ideological work for a single moment” and “must firmly hold in our hands the leadership, management, and discourse power of ideological work.”[6]6 The “Second Integration” (第二个结合) refers to the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s excellent traditional culture, as distinct from the first integration of Marxism with China’s concrete realities. Adhering to economic construction as the central task does not negate the importance of ideological work. If we do not hold firm to the Party’s leadership over ideological work, the central task will become unsustainable due to the lack of a strong guarantee.

习近平文化思想对文化领导权地位的突显，充分体现了对经济基础与上层建筑辩证关系原理的深刻认识。按照马克思主义的基本观点，包括政治制度、文化、意识形态等在内的上层建筑，归根结底是由经济基础决定的。在突出经济基础决定文化或意识形态的同时，马克思主义也肯定后者所具有的相对独立性。以这种相对的独立性为前提，各种意识形态在内容上相互补充、相互渗透，在形式上相互交叉、相互作用，在发展过程中相互影响、相互制约，共同构成了观念形态的文化的整体，从而产生强大的精神力量，以此支配人们的行动。正是在这个意义上，意识形态工作有着为国家立心、为民族立魂的作用。习近平总书记将意识形态工作的重要性同经济建设这一中心工作高度并提，强调“一刻也不能放松和削弱意识形态工作”，“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”。坚持以经济建设为中心，并不是对意识形态工作重要性的否定。若不坚守党的意识形态工作领导权，中心工作就会由于失去有力保障而难以为继。

Ideology, also known as the conceptual superstructure, is a form of social consciousness. The basic principle that social being determines social consciousness is another major premise of Marxism’s exploration of culture or ideology. In the view of Marx and Engels, people’s consciousness is interwoven with their immediate material life and changes with the changes in their living conditions, social relations, and social being. Within a certain social being, people, due to their vastly different environments and positions, produce diverse and multiple cultural concepts and even ideologies, subsequently forming complex and intricate social consciousness. To provide a rational justification for social being and maintain its unity at the level of consciousness, a dominant culture or ideology is necessary. On the one hand, the dominant culture is nothing more than the cultural expression of the dominant material relations, merely the cultural manifestation of the relations that make a certain class the ruling class, because the foundation of social being lies in material relations. On the other hand, every member of the ruling class also possesses consciousness; they produce as producers of culture or ideology, regulating the production and distribution of culture in the era of that class. This indicates that the culture of this class is the dominant culture of that era. Thus, although Marx and Engels did not directly articulate the concept of cultural leadership, they had already laid the basic principles and the internal basis for its emergence.

意识形态又称观念上层建筑，是社会意识的一种形式。社会存在决定社会意识的基本原理，是马克思主义探讨文化或意识形态的又一大前提。在马克思和恩格斯看来，人们的意识是同其直接物质生活相交织的，并且随着他们的生活条件、社会关系和社会存在的变动而改变。在一定的社会存在中，人们由于各自所处的环境和地位迥异，而产生多元多样的文化观念乃至意识形态，继而形成错综复杂的社会意识。为了给社会存在提供合理性论证，维系它在意识层面上的统一，必须有占主导地位的文化或意识形态。一方面，占主导地位的文化，不外乎占统治地位的物质关系在文化上的表现，不过是那些使某个阶级成为统治阶级的关系在文化上的表现，因为社会存在的基础在于物质关系。另一方面，统治阶级的每个成员亦皆有意识，他们作为文化或意识形态的生产者进行生产，调节着该阶级所处时代的文化的生产与分配；而这就表明，这一阶级的文化是该时代占主导地位的文化。可见，马克思和恩格斯 虽未直接言明文化领导权，但已奠定了其所遵循的基本原理和产生的内在根据。

Continuing the above line of thought of Marx and Engels, Lenin further pointed out the attribute of Marxism as the ideology of the revolutionary proletariat, revealing that the reason for its world-historical significance lies in its absorption and transformation of all valuable content in human thought and culture. It was precisely on the basis of distinguishing between the ideology of the proletariat and that of the bourgeoisie that Lenin proposed the concept of cultural leadership, specifically discussing effective ways to enhance and consolidate cultural leadership, including instilling proletarian culture and advanced theory into the workers and strengthening the cultural construction of the ruling Party itself. With the introduction of Marxism-Leninism into China and, driven by the May Fourth Movement,[7] its close integration with the Chinese workers’ movement, the Communist Party of China (CPC) emerged as the times required. Since its founding, our Party has regarded the mastery of cultural leadership as an important task, advocating the establishment of a vanguard of proletarian culture to awaken the consciousness of the broad masses. Based on the dialectical relationship between culture and economy and politics, Mao Zedong recognized the importance of the leadership of proletarian ideology, emphasizing that only the proletarian cultural ideology of communism could lead “China’s current new culture,” namely, the new-democratic culture, gradually establishing the revolutionary form of cultural leadership. Subsequently, the CPC continuously engaged in the construction of cultural leadership. From the establishment of the guiding principle of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend,”[8] to the clarification of the development direction of “serving the people and serving socialism,” to the proposal of representing the direction of advanced culture, and up to the emphasis on firmly grasping the leadership and initiative in propaganda and ideological work, all profoundly demonstrate the comprehensive and strong leadership of the CPC over socialist cultural construction.

延续马克思和恩格斯的上述思路，列宁进一步指明了马克思主义作为革命的无产阶级意识形态属性，揭示出它具有世界性历史意义的缘由，就在于吸收并改造了人类思想和文化中全部有价值的内容。正是在区分无产阶级和资产阶级的意识形态的基础上，列宁提出了文化领导权概念，具体论述了提升和巩固文化领导权的有效途径，包括向工人灌输无产阶级文化与先进理论、加强执政党自身文化建设等。随着马克思列宁主义传入中国，并在“五四运动”的推动下同中国工人运动紧密结合起来，中国共产党应运而生。我们党自成立时就将掌握文化领导权视为一项重要任务，主张建立无产阶级文化先锋队来唤醒广大民众的自觉。毛泽东基于文化同经济和政治的辩证关系，意识到无产阶级思想领导的重要性，强调只能由共产主义这一无产阶级的文化思想来领导“中国现时的新文化”，即新民主主义文化，逐步建立起文化领导权的革命形态。此后，中国共产党不断进行着文化领导权的构建。从“百花齐放、百家争鸣”指导方针的确立，到“为人民服务、为社会主义服务”发展方向的明确，再到代表先进文化前进方向的提出，直至对牢牢掌握宣传思想工作领导权和主动权的重视，均深刻展现了中国共产党对社会主义文化建设的全面有力领导。

Since the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has fully inherited the fine tradition of the

新时代以来，习近平总书记充分继承了中国共产党重视文化领导权的优良传统，赋予其新的时代内涵，对丰富和发展马克思主义意识形态理论作出了原创性贡献。从马克思主义关于文化与经济、政治相互关系的基本观点出发，可以推论出文化权力受制于政治经济权力，同时反作用于政治经济权力。与政治领导权等“硬权力”不同，文化领导权作为一种“软权力”，是通过文化的吸引、说服以及认同而形成影响的权力。从内容上看，坚持党的文化领导权实现了文化管理权和文化话语权的有机结合。文化管理权和文化话语权相辅相成、彼此作用。文化领导权的有效运行体现为各种不同形式的管理权，文化领导权的强大程度有赖于文化话语权，也就是文化软实力和文化吸引力的作用发挥。“文化软实力集中体现了一个国家基于文化而具有的凝聚力和生命力，以及由此产生的吸引力和影响力。”

Moreover, the pioneering achievement of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture in upholding the Party’s cultural leadership lies in its simultaneous emphasis on the Party’s comprehensive grasp of cultural leadership and the full exertion of the Party’s cultural leading role. The comprehensive grasp of cultural leadership and the full exertion of the Party’s cultural dominance are both distinct and mutually reinforcing, together constituting the first core essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. This marks a new height in the Chinese Communist Party’s understanding of cultural leadership: cultural leadership is the deeper foundation of political leadership, establishing the issue of political leadership within the cultural sphere and resorting to cultural means to build leadership, thereby strengthening cultural confidence and upholding cultural subjectivity.

不仅如此，习近平文化思想在坚持党的文化领导权上的创举，还在于同时强调党对文化领导权的全面掌握和党的文化主导作用的发挥。全面掌握文化领导权和充分发挥党的文化主导性，既有区分又相互配合，共同构成习近平文化思想的首个核心要义，标志着中国共产党对文化领导权的认识达到了新高度，即文化领导权是政治领导权更为深刻的根基，把政治领导权问题放到文化领域加以确立，诉诸文化手段建立领导权，从而坚定文化自信和坚守文化主体性。

II. The Distinctive Feature of Placing High Importance on Cultural Development

二、对文化建设高度重视的鲜明特色

Every theory is the product of specific historical development and is endowed with distinct contemporary characteristics by history. In the historical orientation of the New Era, cultural development has been placed in a more prominent position, achieving a series of historic accomplishments and realizing profound historic transformations. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture was formed in the great practice of developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era; it is the summary and theoretical distillation of the results tested by the Party’s practice of cultural development in the New Era. Placing cultural development in a prominent position in governance is a distinctive feature of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture.

任何理论皆为特定历史发展的产物，被历史赋予鲜明的时代特色。在新时代的历史方位下，文化建设被摆在更加突出的位置，取得了一系列历史性成就，实现了深刻的历史性变革。习近平文化思想形成于新时代中国特色社会主义文化建设的伟大实践，是党领导新时代文化建设实践检验的成果总结与理论升华。把文化建设摆在治国理政的突出位置，是习近平文化思想的鲜明特色。

The grasp of the role and function of culture is an important manifestation of the distinctive feature of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture’s high emphasis on cultural development. Based on the fundamental view that the essence of culture lies in the objectification of human essential forces, and that the essence of humanity “in its actuality is the ensemble of social relations,” Marxism, while recognizing that culture arises and develops from the production and reproduction of material means of subsistence, also emphasizes the role of culture in social reproduction. It specifies that this role is concentratedly manifested as the means and medium of exchange of essential forces among people, thereby promoting human progress and social development, such as functions like transmitting social experience and maintaining historical continuity, shaping and guiding human cultivation, and consolidating strength for social reproduction. Upholding the basic Marxist views on the essence and role of culture, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture defines culture as the “soul” of a nation and a country, elevating it to a height concerning the foundation of the state and the fate of the nation. It profoundly elucidates that culture contains the power to promote the coordinated development of material and cultural-ethical progress, and plays an intermediary role in integrating the various spheres of economy, politics, culture, society, and ecological civilization into a unified practical totality.

对文化的作用及功能的把握，是习近平文化思想高度重视文化建设的鲜明特色的重要表现。基于文化的实质在于人的本质力量的对象化，而人的本质“在其现实性上，它是一切社会关系的总和”这一根本观点，马克思主义在认识到文化产生并发展于物质资料生产和再生产的同时，也强调文化对社会再生产的作用；指明其集中表现为人与人之间本质力量交换的手段和中介，从而促进人类进步与社会发展，诸如传递社会经验并维持历史连续性、塑造人和引导人的教化、为社会再生产凝心聚力等功能。秉承马克思主义关于文化的本质及作用的基本观点，习近平文化思想用民族和国家的“灵魂”来界定文化，把它提升到关乎国本与国运的高度，深刻阐明了文化蕴含着推动物质文明和精神文明协调发展的力量，发挥着将经济、政治、文化、社会、生态文明诸领域，统括为一个实践总体的中介性作用。

To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, immense development of both material and cultural-ethical progress is required, proceeding in parallel. Since reform and opening up, the Chinese Communist Party has attached great importance to the development of socialist cultural-ethical progress, placing it on an equal footing with the development of socialist material progress. Entering the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping, based on the overall situation of the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, correctly grasps the dialectical relationship between material and cultural-ethical progress. He elaborates on the extremely important ontological and epistemological significance of cultural-ethical progress, points out that the essential requirement of socialist modernization lies in both material sufficiency and spiritual abundance, and reveals the law of socialist construction for the coordinated development of material and cultural-ethical progress. Cultural-ethical progress, driven by cultural development, provides strong spiritual motivation, intellectual support, and ideological guarantees for material progress, ensuring the socialist nature and correct development direction of material progress, and realizing the miracle of Chinese-path modernization characterized by long-term economic development and long-term social stability.

实现中华民族伟大复兴，需要物质文明和精神文明相并行的极大发展。改革开放以来，中国共产党高度重视社会主义精神文明建设，将其置于和社会主义物质文明建设同等重要的位置。进入新时代，习近平总书记立足中国特色社会主义事业发展全局，正确把握物质文明和精神文明的辩证关系，阐述了精神文明所具有的极为重要的本体论和认识论意义，指明了社会主义现代化的本质要求既在于物质充足又在于精神富有，揭示出物质文明和精神文明协调发展的社会主义建设规律。由文化建设推动的精神文明建设，为物质文明建设提供强大的精神动力、智力支持、思想保证，确保了物质文明建设的社会主义性质与正确发展方向，实现了经济长期发展和社会长期稳定的中国式现代化奇迹。

General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: “In coordinating the advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, culture is an important component.” It is precisely in the interaction between material and cultural-ethical progress that culture, as an intermediary force, constructs the totality of the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, that is, making the “five spheres” truly an “integrated plan” and continuously reproducing it. Matching the prominent and important position of cultural development in the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, as the cultural chapter of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, demonstrates great power in building a culturally strong country and developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. It is worth noting that placing cultural development in a more prominent position is not contradictory to adhering to economic construction as the central task; rather, it is a full manifestation of the counteractive force of cultural development on economic development. Cultural development is not only a “lubricant” and internal driving force for social development, helping to improve the social environment, promote social harmony, and enhance the sustainability of development, but it can also shape values, enhance innovation capacity, and promote social cohesion, providing important support for economic development. In other words, the power of culture must be integrated into economic construction, making it an important factor in promoting high-quality development.

习近平总书记指出：“统筹推进‘五位一体’总体布局、协调推进‘四个全面’战略布局，文化是重要内容。”正是在物质文明与精神文明之间的相互作用中，文化作为中介性的力量，构建起新时代中国特色社会主义实践的总体性，也就是使“五位”真正成为“一体”并持续进行再生产。与文化建设在“五位一体”总体布局中的突出的重要位置相匹配，习近平文化思想作为习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的文化篇，在建设文化强国、发展新时代中国特色社会主义文化中展现出强大伟力。值得注意的是，将文化建设摆在更加突出位置，同坚持以经济建设为中心并非自相矛盾，而是文化建设对经济发展的反作用力的充分体现。文化建设不仅是社会发展的“润滑剂”与内在动力，有助于改善社会环境、促进社会和谐、增强发展持续性，还可以塑造价值观、提升创新能力、促进社会凝聚力，为经济发展提供重要支撑。换言之，必须把文化的力量融入经济建设中，使之成为推动高质量发展的重要因素。

Placing cultural development in a prominent position in governance, as a distinctive feature of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, also reflects a profound grasp of the laws governing the development of Chinese civilization. It is a revitalization of the excellent factors in traditional Chinese culture that integrate governance and moral cultivation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has explicitly put forward the “seven efforts” [1]1 The “seven efforts” (七个着力) refers to seven key tasks for propaganda, ideology, and cultural work outlined by Xi Jinping in 2023, including strengthening leadership, fostering core socialist values, and promoting cultural development. major requirements for propaganda, ideology, and cultural work, among which “striving to continue the Chinese cultural lineage and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture” is an important aspect. Since ancient times, Chinese culture has emphasized taking morality as the foundation for educating the world, and has formed a tradition of “integration of governance and education” over long-term development, advocating that governance, education, ethics, and culture serve as both means and ends for each other, jointly creating a great pattern of a civilized world. The educational tradition of Chinese civilization and the Marxist view of cultural reproduction have a high degree of compatibility. The high emphasis on cultural development is a model of General Secretary Xi Jinping using Marxism to activate and reshape fine traditional Chinese culture.

把文化建设摆在治国理政的突出位置，作为习近平文化思想的鲜明特色，还体现着对中华文明发展规律的深刻把握，是对中华传统文化中治理与教化相融合的优秀因子的重新焕发。习近平总书记对宣传思想文化工作明确提出“七个着力”的重大要求，“着力赓续中华文脉、推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化和创新性发展”是其中的一个重要方面。中华文化自古强调以道德为教化天下之本，并在长期发展中形成了“治教合一”的传统，主张治理与教化、伦理、文化之间互为手段与目的，共同打造出了天下文明的伟大格局。中华文明的教化传统同马克思主义的文化再生产观点之间，具有高度的契合性。对文化建设的高度重视，是习近平总书记用马克思主义激活和再造中华优秀传统文化的典范。

The formation of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is an inherent need to continue promoting cultural prosperity and development and building a socialist cultural power from a new starting point. On the one hand, placing cultural development in a more prominent position is an inevitable requirement for building a great modern socialist country. “Confidence enables self-strengthening. Only a nation with cultural confidence can stand firm, remain stable, and go far.” The purpose of cultural development is to strengthen cultural confidence, to establish a strong cultural self, and to establish and consolidate cultural subjectivity. As the Chinese nation ushers in the great leap from standing up and growing rich to becoming strong, there is an urgent need to strengthen cultural confidence, establish a culturally independent subjectivity, and provide a fundamental guarantee for defending historic achievements in the economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological spheres. On the other hand, placing cultural development in a more prominent position is a profound grasp of the crucial step in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The transition from standing up to growing rich and then to becoming strong means that the Chinese nation is unprecedentedly close to realizing the goal of great rejuvenation. If standing up reflects political independence, and growing rich emphasizes economic rise, then becoming strong embodies cultural self-reliance and self-strengthening. It can fundamentally avoid losing the capacity to integrate the economic, political, social, and other spheres due to a lack of cultural selfhood.

习近平文化思想的形成，是在新的起点上继续推动文化繁荣兴盛发展、建设社会主义文化强国的内在需要。一方面，将文化建设摆在更加突出位置，是社会主义现代化强国建设的必然要求。“自信才能自强。有文化自信的民族，才能立得住、站得稳、行得远。”文化建设的宗旨在于坚定文化自信，在于建立强大的文化自我，确立并巩固文化主体性。随着中华民族迎来强起来的伟大飞跃，亟需坚定文化自信，建立精神独立的文化主体性，为捍卫经济、政治、社会、文化、生态等方面的历史性成就提供根本保证。另一方面，将文化建设摆在更加突出位置，是对中华民族伟大复兴关键一步的深刻把握。从站起来到富起来再到强起来，意味着中华民族前所未有地接近实现伟大复兴的目标。如果说站起来反映的是政治上的独立，富起来强调的是经济上的崛起，那么，强起来体现的则是文化上的自立自强，它能够从根本上避免由于缺乏文化上的自我，而失去对经济、政治、社会等领域的统括能力。

III. The Thematic Orientation of Strengthening Cultural Confidence and Upholding Cultural Subjectivity

三、坚定文化自信和坚守文化主体性的主题定位

The true content of any epoch-making theory is shaped by the needs of the era that produces it. Therefore, a theory used to observe, grasp, and lead the era must correctly reflect the voice of the era, i.e., its problems, and the major problems of the era together constitute the major issues of the times. Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought is no exception. At present, with changes unseen in a century accelerating and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation entering a critical period, strengthening cultural confidence and upholding cultural subjectivity have become the themes of cultural construction in the New Era. On the one hand, with the deepening development of economic globalization, world multipolarity, and cultural diversity, exchanges, collisions, and even conflicts between different civilizations are becoming increasingly frequent, and the world cultural landscape is entering a period of accelerated evolution and deep adjustment. At this historical juncture where civilizational diversity is becoming more pronounced and human civilization faces reconstruction, every country and nation should maintain its own spiritual independence, respect each other’s cultural independence, thereby establish its own cultural subjectivity, build a modern civilization with its own cultural subjectivity, and jointly prosper and develop the “garden of a hundred flowers” of human culture. On the other hand, promoting cultural prosperity and flourishing to strengthen cultural confidence and consolidate cultural subjectivity is a foundational element for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. With a highly self-conscious cultural subjectivity, the Chinese nation will have a solid cultural foundation for national identity, be able to achieve national and ethnic development from its own strength, firmly grasp the destiny of its own development and progress, and advance the historical cause of national rejuvenation.

一切划时代的理论的真正内容，皆因产生它的时代需要而形成。因此，用以观察、把握并引领时代的理论，必须正确反映时代的声音即问题，而时代的主要问题共同构成了重大时代课题。习近平文化思想亦是如此。当前，世界百年未有之大变局加速演进、中华民族伟大复兴进入关键时期，坚定文化自信和坚守文化主体性，成为新时代文化建设的主题。一方面，随着经济全球化、世界多极化、文化多样化深入发展，不同文明的交汇、碰撞甚至冲突日趋频繁，世界文化格局步入加速演变和深入调整期。在文明多样性日趋明显、人类文明面临重构的历史契机下，每个国家和民族都应维护自己的精神独立性，尊重彼此的文化独立性，从而确立自身的文化主体性，建设具有自身文化主体性的现代文明，共同繁荣发展人类文化“百花园”。另一方面，推动文化繁荣兴盛从而坚定文化自信、巩固文化主体性，是实现中华民族伟大复兴的基础性要素。有了高度自觉的文化主体性的中华民族，就有了国家认同的坚实文化基础，就能够在自身力量的基点上实现国家和民族发展，牢牢掌握自己发展进步的命运，把民族复兴的历史伟业推向前进。

Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought is a continuously unfolding, open-ended ideological system, and it runs through a clear main thread: strengthening cultural confidence and upholding cultural subjectivity. So-called strengthening cultural confidence, in short, means insisting on taking one’s own path. General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed strengthening cultural confidence, placing it alongside confidence in the path, confidence in the theory, and confidence in the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and elevating it to an unprecedented height. Adhering to confidence in the path, confidence in the theory, and confidence in the system ultimately boils down to strengthening cultural confidence, because “cultural confidence is a more fundamental, deeper, and more enduring force.” [2]2 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 95th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China” (July 1, 2016). Compared with confidence in the path, theory, and system, cultural confidence is more foundational, extensive, and profound, bearing great significance for the rise and fall of national fortunes, cultural security, and the independence of the national spirit. The fine traditional Chinese culture nurtured in the development of Chinese civilization, as well as the revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture produced in the great struggles of the Party and the people, are the embodiment of the unique spiritual identity of the Chinese nation and the accumulation of its deepest spiritual pursuits. Based on this, strengthening cultural confidence is further summarized in Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought as one of the basic principles for shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era, used to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, inherit and develop revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture, and show new features and new achievements in building a culturally strong country.

习近平文化思想是一个不断展开的、开放式的思想体系，并在其中贯穿着这样一条清晰的主线，即坚定文化自信和坚守文化主体性。所谓坚定文化自信，简言之就是坚持走自己的路。习近平总书记创造性地提出了坚定文化自信，将它与中国特色社会主义的道路自信、理论自信、制度自信并列起来，并且提升到前所未有的高度。坚持道路自信、理论自信、制度自信，归根结底就在于坚定文化自信，因为“文化自信是更基本、更深沉、更持久的力量”。相比于道路、理论和制度的自信，文化自信更为基础、广泛且深厚，具有事关国运兴衰、文化安全、民族精神独立的重大意义。孕育于中华文明发展中的中华优秀传统文化，以及产生于党和人民伟大斗争中的革命文化和社会主义先进文化，是中华民族独特精神标识的表征与最深层精神追求的积淀。基于此，坚定文化自信在习近平文化思想中被进一步归结为担负新时代的文化使命的基本原则之一，用以推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展，传承与发展革命文化、社会主义先进文化，在文化强国建设中展现新气象新作为。

On the path of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, the process of strengthening cultural confidence is also the process of establishing and consolidating cultural subjectivity. The introduction of the concept of cultural subjectivity means that culture is regarded as a living organism. Like all other living organisms, the formation and development of culture is also a process of metabolism, requiring the absorption of “nutrients” from various cultures and civilizations, discarding the dross and selecting the essential, taking the refined and using the macro. Cultural subjectivity, as the fundamental characteristic of a cultural living organism, is the adherence to and development of one’s own cultural traditions, values, spiritual beliefs, etc., and is the organic unity of consciousness, autonomy, initiative, and creativity in cultural inheritance and development. The cultural subjectivity established by the Communist Party of China leading the Chinese people on Chinese soil takes the Two Integrations, especially the Second Integration, as its fundamental path; it is embodied in the promotion of fine traditional Chinese culture, the inheritance of revolutionary culture, the development of advanced socialist culture, and the absorption and reference of all outstanding achievements of human civilization. The cultural subjectivity of the Communist Party of China, the cultural subjectivity of Chinese civilization, and the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation together converge into the profound connotation of the cultural subjectivity of contemporary China; its most powerful manifestation lies in the creation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, a brilliant example of the Two Integrations, and Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought is the concentrated embodiment of this cultural subjectivity.

在坚持和发展中国特色社会主义道路上，坚定文化自信的过程也是建立和巩固文化主体性的过程。文化主体性概念的提出，意味着文化被当作生命体来看待。同其他一切生命体一样，文化的形成与发展也是一个新陈代谢的过程，需要吸收各种文化和文明“养分”，去粗取精、取精用宏。文化主体性作为文化生命体的根本特性，是对自身文化传统、价值观念、精神信仰等的坚持与发展，是文化传承发展的自觉性、自主性、能动性、创造性的有机统一。中国共产党领导中国人民在中国大地上建立起来的文化主体性，以“两个结合”特别是“第二个结合”为根本途径；体现于对中华优秀传统文化的弘扬，对革命文化的继承，对社会主义先进文化的发展，对人类一切优秀文明成果的吸收借鉴之中。中国共产党的文化主体性、中华文明的文化主体性和中华民族的文化主体性，共同汇聚为当代中国的文化主体性的深刻内涵；其最有力的体现在于创立习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想这一“两个结合”的光辉典范，习近平文化思想则为这一文化主体性的集中体现。

Beyond this, Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought also profoundly reveals the relationship between historical confidence, cultural confidence, and cultural subjectivity. Specifically, historical confidence is the foundation of cultural confidence, the confidence in the historical achievements and great historical accomplishments that have been made. The historical achievements realized by the Communist Party of China uniting and leading the Chinese people lie in successfully creating and expanding Chinese-path modernization, “creating the miracle of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, and opening up broad prospects for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” [3]3 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Conference Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China” (July 1, 2021). This historical achievement supports the cultural confidence of contemporary China and also reflects a profound self-awareness of the cultural subjectivity of contemporary China.

不止于此，习近平文化思想还深刻揭示了历史自信、文化自信、文化主体性之间的关系。具体而言，历史自信是文化自信的基础，是对所取得的历史功业、伟大历史性成就的自信。中国共产党团结带领中国人民所实现的历史功业，就在于成功开创和拓展了中国式现代化，“创造了经济快速发展和社会长期稳定的奇迹，为中华民族伟大复兴开辟了广阔前景”。这一历史功业支撑着当代中国的文化自信，也体现了对当代中国的文化主体性的深刻自觉。

Cultural subjectivity is the source of cultural confidence. Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought emphasizes that Marxism not only draws nutrients from fine traditional Chinese culture to enrich its own cultural vitality, but also uses the light of truth to activate the genes of Chinese civilization, promoting China’s integration into the modern world and achieving the organic connection between the tradition and modernity of Chinese culture. With the cultural subjectivity thus established, there is a firm self in the cultural sense and a high degree of self-awareness in shouldering the cultural mission, thereby providing a fundamental support for cultural confidence. Without cultural subjectivity, it would be impossible to better absorb the essence of traditional culture, to choose the good from all achievements of human civilization, and it would also be difficult to have the determination and will to adhere to one’s own path. Cultural confidence, as a manifestation of cultural subjectivity, is the subject consciousness and confident attitude revealed on the basis of a profound understanding and high recognition of the starting point and source, formation and development, status and role of one’s own culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “For any culture to stand firm, go far, and have leading power, cohesion, shaping power, and radiating power, it must have its own subjectivity.” [4]4 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development” (June 2, 2023). It is in this sense that upholding cultural subjectivity is of great significance for realizing the independence and autonomy of the national spirit, defending the great achievements in various fields, and creating a new form of human civilization.

文化主体性是文化自信的来源。习近平文化思想强调，马克思主义不仅汲取中华优秀传统文化的营养充实了自身文化生命力，而且用真理之光激活了中华文明的基因，推动中国融入现代世界，实现了中华文化的传统与现代的有机衔接。有了由此建立起来的文化主体性，就有了文化意义上的坚定自我与担负文化使命的高度自觉，从而为文化自信提供根本依托。若无文化主体性，就不能更好汲取传统文化精华、对一切人类文明成果择善而从，亦难以具有坚持走自己的道路的决心和意志。文化自信作为文化主体性的表现，是在对自身文化的起点与来源、形成与发展、地位与作用等深刻理解和高度认同的基础上，所彰显出来的主体意识和自信态度。习近平总书记指出：“任何文化要立得住、行得远，要有引领力、凝聚力、塑造力、辐射力，就必须有自己的主体性。”正是在此意义上，坚守文化主体性对于实现民族精神独立自主、捍卫诸领域伟大成就、开创人类文明新形态，均具有重大意义。

IV. The Fundamental Methodological Significance of the Second Integration

四、“第二个结合”的根本方法论意义

The formation of an ideological system often has obvious markers, usually manifested in the clear proposal and systematization of major theoretical innovations; the latter not only signals the maturity and perfection of the entire ideological system but also lays a solid foundation for subsequent theoretical development and practical exploration. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the continuous refinement, summarization, and enrichment of the main content of the Party’s innovative theory, especially elevating the Two Integrations to the level of scientific method of the Party’s innovative theory and profoundly elaborating its great significance, fully demonstrates that the development of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is a process of continuous systematization and theorization. The various components constituting this scientific system will correspondingly become richer with the deepening of practice. The formation of Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought is precisely like this. The formal proposal of the Second Integration achieved a sublimation from experience to theory, making the summary of the Party’s experience in leading cultural construction in the New Era an ideological system that “illuminates the substance and reaches its application, with substance and application interlinked.” [5]5 This is a classical Chinese phrase (明体达用，体用贯通) originating from Neo-Confucian philosophy, where “体” (substance/essence) refers to fundamental principles and “用” (application/function) refers to their practical implementation; it is used here to describe the integrated nature of theory and practice in Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought. In other words, the Second Integration is an important marker of the maturation of Xi Jinping’s Cultural Thought and the “soul” of this ideological system.

一个思想体系的形成往往具有明显的标志，通常表现为重大理论创新成果的明确提出和系统化；后者不仅昭示着整个思想体系的成熟和完善，还为后续的理论发展和实践探索奠定了坚实的基础。党的十八大以来，对党的创新理论主要内容的不断提炼总结与丰富拓展，特别是把“两个结合”提升到党的创新理论的科学方法高度，深刻阐述它所具有的重大意义，充分表明习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的发展，是一个不断体系化、学理化的过程。构成这一科学体系的各个组成部分，也会相应地随着实践的深化而越来越丰富。习近平文化思想的形成即是如此。“第二个结合”的正式提出，实现了从经验到理论的升华，使得新时代党领导文化建设的经验总结，成为一个“明体达用、体用贯通”的思想体系。换言之，“第二个结合”是习近平文化思想走向成熟的重要标志，是这一思想体系的“灵魂”。

A comprehensive view of the formation process of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought in the New Era reveals that, from the rectification of sources and the setting of direction in cultural construction, through the upholding of fundamental principles and breaking of new ground in the comprehensive advancement of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, to the systematization and theorization of a series of related new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments, “the Second Integration” [6]6 The “Second Integration” (第二个结合) refers to the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s excellent traditional culture, as distinct from the first integration of Marxism with China’s concrete realities. serves as the methodology that runs through the entire process, and it first manifests as the identity of premise and result. As Marx indeed stated: “What at the beginning of the process does not appear as its premise and condition, cannot appear at its end either. But, on the other hand, everything that appears as premise and condition at the beginning of the process must necessarily appear at its end.” The premise of “the Second Integration” lies in mutual compatibility. Here, compatibility refers primarily to the mutual blending, interlinking, and convergence in terms of ideological content, values, and theoretical forms. The excellent factors contained in traditional Chinese culture—such as advocating benevolence, emphasizing the people as the foundation, upholding good faith, esteeming righteousness, promoting harmony, and seeking common ground—are premised on valuing the human being itself and placing the human being within the world. This aligns with the basic Marxist view that proceeds from the real individual and grasps the essence of the human being based on social relations; both oppose seeing the human being as an abstract, isolated individual. Throughout excellent traditional Chinese culture, the fundamental spirit of humanistic transformation runs consistently, which is logically connected to the distinct theme and core essence of Marxism—namely, the realization of the free and comprehensive development of the human being. Furthermore, a series of important concepts inherent in excellent traditional Chinese culture, including the Dao following nature and the unity of heaven and humanity, the world being for all and good faith fostering harmony, the people being the foundation of the state and governance through virtue, discarding the old and embracing the new, and unceasing self-renewal, blend with the value propositions of scientific socialism, such as the dialectical unity of humanity and nature, human liberation, the association of free individuals, and highly developed cultural-ethical progress.

综观习近平文化思想在新时代的形成过程，从文化建设的正本清源和举旗定向，到中国特色社会主义文化的守正创新与全面推进，再到一系列相关新思想新观点新论断的体系化与学理化，“第二个结合”是贯穿始终的方法论，并且首先表现为前提与结果的同一性。诚如马克思所言：“凡在过程开始时不是作为过程的前提和条件出现的东西，在过程结束时也不可能出现。但是另一方面，一切作为前提和条件的东西在过程结束时必然会出现。”“第二个结合”的前提在于彼此契合。这里的契合，主要是指思想内容、价值观念以及理论形态等方面的相融、相通、相合。中华传统文化所包含的讲仁爱、重民本、守诚信、崇正义、尚和合、求大同等优秀因子，是以重视人本身并把人安放在天下之中为前提的；这与马克思主义从现实的个人出发、基于社会关系来把握人的本质的基本观点相合，它们皆反对把人看作抽象的、孤立的个体。在中华优秀传统文化中，始终贯穿着人文化成的根本精神，这与马克思主义的鲜明主题和核心要义，即实现人的自由全面发展，在逻辑上是相通的。此外，内蕴于中华优秀传统文化中的一系列重要理念，包括道法自然、天人合一，天下为公、讲信修睦，民为邦本、为政以德，革故鼎新、自强不息等，同科学社会主义的价值主张，如人与自然的辩证统一、人类解放、自由人的联合体、高度发达的精神文明等相融。

The result of mutual compatibility is organic integration and mutual achievement. For Marxism, “the Second Integration” enriches its cultural vitality with excellent traditional Chinese culture, endowing it with a distinct Chinese style and Chinese manner; it realizes another profound Sinicization of Marxism, firmly rooting Marxism in Chinese soil, and contributes Chinese wisdom to the contemporary manifestation of Marxism’s truth. For Chinese civilization, “the Second Integration” activates the value vitality of Chinese culture with the truth force of Marxism, linking the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics with the over five thousand years of Chinese civilization, and propelling Chinese civilization to complete its transformation from tradition to modernity; it provides a civilizational foundation for strengthening cultural confidence and upholding cultural subjectivity, endowing Chinese civilization with distinct cultural characteristics for exchange and mutual learning with other world civilizations. Thus, “the Second Integration” provides the fundamental guidance and scientific method for opening up new horizons in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. As the latest achievement in the Sinicization of Marxist cultural theory, Xi Jinping’s cultural thought, precisely through “the Second Integration,” becomes an organic component of contemporary Chinese Marxism and Marxism of the 21st century, and an important expression of the essence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit of the times.

彼此契合的结果是有机结合、相互成就。对于马克思主义来说，“第二个结合”用中华优秀传统文化充实了它的文化生命力，赋予其以鲜明的中国气派和中国风格；实现了马克思主义的又一次深刻的中国化，使马克思主义牢牢扎根于中国大地，为马克思主义真理性的当代彰显贡献了中国智慧。对于中华文明而言，“第二个结合”以马克思主义的真理力量激活了中华文化的价值生命力，将中国特色社会主义道路同五千多年中华文明贯通起来，推动中华文明完成从传统到现代的转变；为坚定文化自信和坚守文化主体性提供了文明根基，使中华文明具有了同世界其他文明交流互鉴的鲜明文化特征。由此可见，“第二个结合”为开辟马克思主义中国化时代化新境界，提供了根本遵循和科学方法。作为马克思主义文化理论中国化的最新成果，习近平文化思想正是通过“第二个结合”，成为当代中国马克思主义、二十一世纪马克思主义的有机组成部分，成为中华文化与中国精神的时代精华的重要表现。

Apart from being the latest achievement in the Sinicization of Marxist cultural theory, Xi Jinping’s cultural thought is also a theoretical summary of the Party’s leadership over cultural construction in the New Era, marking that the Communist Party of China has reached a new height in its grasp of the laws of cultural inheritance and development and its understanding of the laws of constructing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. In this regard, the fundamental methodological significance of “the Second Integration” manifests as the unity of conformity with laws and conformity with purposes. Taking the foundation of human social existence and development as the production and reproduction of material means of livelihood as its starting point, historical materialism emphasizes the objective laws of social historical development and the selectivity of subjects. Fundamentally, culture is the creation of human social production and life, the sum total of all material and spiritual products created by people in the process of social history; its inheritance and development constitute an important aspect of social historical development, thus possessing both conformity with laws and conformity with purposes. The main viewpoints in Xi Jinping’s cultural thought regarding the methodological significance of “the Second Integration”—such as the necessary path for developing and expanding socialism with Chinese characteristics on the deep foundation of Chinese civilization, the greatest magic weapon for the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the profound grasp of the laws of Chinese civilization’s development—all powerfully embody the conformity with laws of the Party’s theoretical and practical innovations in culture in the New Era.

除却马克思主义文化理论中国化的最新成果，习近平文化思想还是新时代党领导文化建设的理论总结，标志着中国共产党对文化传承发展规律的把握、对中国特色社会主义文化建设规律的认识达到了新的高度。对此，“第二个结合”的根本方法论意义体现为合规律性与合目的性的统一。以人类社会存在与发展的基础在于物质资料生产与再生产为出发点，唯物史观强调社会历史发展的客观规律性和主体选择性。从根本上说，文化是人类社会生产生活的创造物，是人们在社会历史过程中创造的一切物质产物与精神产物的总和；其传承和发展构成了社会历史发展的重要方面，因而同时具有合规律性与合目的性。习近平文化思想中关于“第二个结合”方法论意义的主要观点，诸如在中华文明深厚基础上开辟和发展中国特色社会主义的必由之路、中国特色社会主义取得成功的最大法宝、对中华文明发展规律的深刻把握等，无不有力地体现着新时代党的文化理论和实践创新成果的合规律性。

Attributing “the Second Integration” to the fundamental pathway for establishing and consolidating cultural subjectivity centrally demonstrates the conformity with purposes of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought. On the one hand, through “the Two Integrations” [7], especially “the Second Integration,” the Communist Party of China, leading the Chinese people, establishes cultural subjectivity on Chinese soil, creates “an organically unified new cultural life entity,” and brings forth the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. This combines the promotion and flourishing of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics with the inheritance and innovation of Chinese civilization, expanding the historical depth of the path for developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, and solidifying the foundation for strengthening cultural confidence and consolidating cultural subjectivity. On the other hand, “the Second Integration” is the adherence to and application of the grand historical perspective and the new view of civilization. It not only emphasizes “the historical process of continuous struggle,” thereby linking Party history with the history of civilization, organically integrating the Party’s over one hundred years of struggle into the over five thousand years of Chinese civilization history as a new stage of Chinese civilization’s development; but also uses the concept of “cultural life entity” to redefine civilization and its development, distinguishing internal critique based on the cultural life entity from external negation detached from the cultural life entity, resolving the tension between tradition and modernity, and building contemporary China’s cultural subjectivity upon the body of Chinese civilization.

把“第二个结合”归结为建立和巩固文化主体性的根本途径，集中展现了习近平文化思想的合目的性。一方面，经由“两个结合”尤其是“第二个结合”，中国共产党领导中国人民在中国大地上建立起文化主体性，造就出“一个有机统一的新的文化生命体”，创造了中国式现代化的文化形态。它将中国特色社会主义文化的弘扬与繁荣同中华文明的传承与创新结合起来，拓展了新时代中国特色社会主义文化发展道路的历史纵深，为坚定文化自信和巩固文化主体性夯实了根基。另一方面，“第二个结合”是对大历史观和新文明观的坚持与运用。它不仅强调“接续奋斗的历史过程”，以此贯通党史和文明史，让党的百余年奋斗历程有机融入中华五千多年文明史中，成为中华文明发展的新阶段；而且用“文化生命体”概念来重新界定文明及其发展，将基于文化生命体的内部批判同脱离于文化生命体的外部否定区分开来，解决了传统与现代之间的张力，使当代中国的文化主体性构筑于中华文明肌体之上。

V. The Programmatic and Goal-Oriented Nature of the Cultural Mission of the New Era

五、新时代的文化使命的纲领性和目标性

A clear theoretical orientation, i.e., the ultimate goal within the ideological system, is key to thought becoming the guide for action. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposed cultural mission of the New Era constitutes the cultural chapter of the Party’s historical mission in the New Era and is a significant marker of the formation of Xi Jinping’s cultural thought. Surveying its

明确的理论旨归即思想体系中的最终目标，是思想之所以成为行动先导的关键。习近平总书记提出的新时代的文化使命，构成了新时代党的历史使命的文化篇，是习近平文化思想形成的一个显著标志。概览其百余年奋斗历程，中国共产党通过对文化在革命、建设和改革时期的不同作用的具体考察，先后提出了新民主主义文化、新文化、社会主义精神文明、先进文化、中国特色社会主义文化、新时代中国特色社会主义文化等，赋予它们以具有明确时代特征的不同内涵，相继确立了以建设中华民族的新文化为文化领域的目的，以新文化为新社会和新国家建设的重要内容，以建设高度的社会主义精神文明为社会主义现代化的重要目标，以大力发展社会主义先进文化为全面建成小康社会奋斗目标的具体要求，以发展中国特色社会主义文化为建设文化强国战略目标的核心内容，以继续推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国等为新时代的文化使命的主要内容，从而为不同历史时期的文化建设提供了总纲领。

The cultural mission of the New Era is not only an overall plan based on the strategic overall situation of the Party and the state’s undertakings, but also a historical responsibility and a need of the times for continuing the Chinese civilization. As a highly conscious banner of cultural subjectivity, it can gather the mighty force for building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Contemporary Chinese Communists and the Chinese people should and certainly can take on the new cultural mission, engage in cultural creation in the course of practical creation, and achieve cultural progress in the course of historical progress!” The foundation of a country’s and a nation’s inheritance and development lies in its excellent traditional culture. Continuing to promote cultural prosperity in the New Era means preserving the root of the Chinese nation’s unceasing spiritual vitality, constantly drawing on the nourishment and wisdom of China’s excellent traditional culture, and opening up a brighter future for the Chinese nation. Culture is essentially a product of human social practice and will constantly change with the development of social practice. In other words, the purpose of cultural construction lies in development, and cultural development is the necessary path to cultural prosperity. Therefore, facing practical development, constantly enriching cultural forms, developing the modern form of Chinese civilization, and meeting the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs are also inherent requirements for promoting cultural prosperity in the New Era.

新时代的文化使命不仅是立足党和国家事业发展战略全局的统筹谋划，还是赓续中华文明的历史责任与时代需求。它作为文化主体性的高度自觉的旗帜，能够凝聚起强国建设与民族复兴的磅礴力量。正如习近平总书记所强调的：“当代中国共产党人和中国人民应该而且一定能够担负起新的文化使命，在实践创造中进行文化创造，在历史进步中实现文化进步！”一个国家和民族传承与发展的根本在于优秀传统文化。在新时代继续推动文化繁荣，就是要守住中华民族精神生生不息的根脉，不断汲取中华优秀传统文化的营养和智慧，为中华民族开辟更加美好的未来。文化在本质上是人类社会实践的产物，会随着社会实践的发展而不断变化。易言之，文化建设的目的在于发展，文化发展是文化繁荣的必由之路。由此，面向实践发展，不断丰富文化形态，发展中华文明的现代形态，满足人民日益增长的精神文化需求，也是新时代推动文化繁荣的应有之义。

As the basic support for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, building a strong cultural country is an urgent systematic project. On the new journey of the New Era, unswervingly following the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics and continuously strengthening ideological guidance; continuing the Chinese cultural lineage through creative transformation and innovative development, vigorously stimulating the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation, and constantly consolidating spiritual cohesion; always adhering to cultural construction focusing on and landing on people, and continuously enhancing value appeal; promoting the reconstruction of the international communication pattern, extensively carrying out various forms of international cultural exchanges and cooperation, creating more cultural achievements that integrate the ancient and the modern and connect China and the West, and continuously enhancing international influence—these are all important contents for developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era and consolidating the cultural foundation for building a strong country and national rejuvenation.

作为实现中华民族伟大复兴的基础支撑，建设文化强国是一项紧迫的系统工程。在新时代新征程上，坚定不移走中国特色社会主义文化发展道路，不断增强思想引领力；在创造性转化和创新性发展中赓续中华文脉，着力激发全民族文化创新创造活力，不断夯实精神凝聚力；始终坚持文化建设着眼于人、落脚于人，不断增进价值感召力；推进国际传播格局重构，广泛开展形式多样的国际人文交流合作，创造更多熔铸古今、汇通中外的文化成果，不断提升国际影响力等，皆为发展新时代中国特色社会主义文化，筑牢强国建设、民族复兴的文化根基的重要内容。

The realization of programs and goals depends on the guidance of basic principles. Facing the major fundamental issues in the process of shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era, especially how to correctly handle the relationships between tradition and modernity, independence and external reference, and consolidating the foundation and innovation, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture profoundly elucidates three basic principles. Among them, strengthening cultural confidence and further consolidating cultural subjectivity are the fundamental basis for shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Chinese civilization has lasted for thousands of years without interruption and has endured repeated hardships without decline. This is a miracle of human civilization and the source of our confidence.” Upholding the independent national spirit and unswervingly following our own path is the meaning of strengthening cultural confidence and consolidating cultural subjectivity. Its primary task lies in adhering to the great historical and contemporary practices of the Chinese nation as the foundation, using Chinese principles to summarize Chinese experience and elevate it into Chinese theory, and resolutely avoiding blind adherence to various dogmas and the wholesale copying of foreign theories. Chinese principles, which contain a complete worldview, values, and even modes of thinking, are both the cultural basis for Chinese experience to acquire theoretical form and the methodological premise for the generation of Chinese theory; they have a profound embodiment in Chinese civilization and are the cultural genes that the Chinese nation uses daily without being fully aware of them. Therefore, strengthening cultural confidence and consolidating cultural subjectivity also require integrating cultural confidence into the spiritual temperament of the entire Chinese nation, internalizing cultural subjectivity into the modern form of Chinese civilization, and comprehensively cultivating an uplifting spiritual outlook and a rational and peaceful social mentality.

纲领和目标的实现有赖于基本原则的指引。面对担负新时代的文化使命过程中的重大基本问题，特别是如何正确处理传统与现代的关系、自主与外鉴的关系、固本与革新的关系，习近平文化思想深刻阐释了三个基本原则。其中，坚定文化自信，进一步巩固文化主体性，是担负新时代的文化使命的根本基点。习近平总书记指出：“中华文明历经数千年而绵延不绝、迭遭忧患而经久不衰，这是人类文明的奇迹，也是我们自信的底气。”秉持独立自主的民族精神，坚定不移地走自己的道路，是坚定文化自信和巩固文化主体性的意指所在。其首要任务在于，坚持以中华民族的伟大历史实践与当代实践为基础，用中国道理总结好中国经验并使之提升为中国理论，杜绝对各种教条的一味盲从和对外国理论的照搬照抄。包含着完整的世界观、价值观乃至思维方式的中国道理，既是中国经验获得理论形态的文化基础，又是中国理论得以产生的方法论前提；它在中华文明中有着深厚的体现，是中华民族日用而不觉的文化基因。因此，坚定文化自信和巩固文化主体性，还要将文化自信融入整个中华民族的精神气质中，使文化主体性内化于中华文明的现代形态，全面养成昂扬向上的精神风貌和理性平和的社会心态。

Upholding openness and inclusiveness and promoting mutual learning among civilizations are the essential requirements for shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era. The prominent hallmark of cultural subjectivity and cultural confidence lies in openness and inclusiveness. It is precisely through continuous exchange and mutual learning with other civilizations that Chinese civilization has become an open system that embraces all rivers. It is also due to the spiritual character of openness and inclusiveness that Chinese civilization has been able to gather diverse cultures into a common culture throughout history, transcend the boundaries of regions and localities, break the constraints of blood lineage, and free itself from the shackles of religious beliefs, “integrating the vast territory and diverse peoples with great internal differences into a pluralistic and integrated Chinese nation.” On the new journey of the New Era, upholding openness and inclusiveness indicates that Chinese civilization will embrace the outstanding achievements of other civilizations with an open mind, transcend the “ancient-modern, Chinese-Western debate,” and integrate the ancient and the modern, connecting China and the West; it means continuously promoting the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, and on the basis of inheriting China’s excellent traditional culture and promoting the localization of foreign cultures, constantly cultivating and creating socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for the New Era that has strong ideological guidance, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence.

秉持开放包容，推动文明交流互鉴，是担负新时代的文化使命的本质要求。文化主体性和文化自信的显著标志在于开放包容。正是在同其他文明的不断交流互鉴中，中华文明成为一个海纳百川的开放体系。也正是由于开放包容的精神品格，中华文明才能够在历史长河中将多元文化汇聚成共同文化，并且超越地域乡土的界限，打破血缘世系的制约，摆脱宗教信仰的束缚，“把内部差异极大的广土巨族整合成多元一体的中华民族”。在新时代新征程上，秉持开放包容，表明中华文明将以开放的胸怀对其他文明的优秀成果兼收并蓄，超越“古今中西之争”，熔铸古今、汇通中西；意味着持续推动马克思主义中国化时代化，在传承中华优秀传统文化和促进外来文化本土化的基础上，不断培育和创造具有强大思想引领力、精神凝聚力、价值感召力、国际影响力的新时代中国特色社会主义文化。

Adhering to upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, and grasping the dialectical unity of “change” and “constancy,” are the fundamental guidelines for shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era. Upholding fundamental principles means preserving the foundation and root, which falls within the scope of “constancy”; breaking new ground is the aspect of “change,” requiring active pursuit of change, seeking novelty within change, advancing through novelty, and making breakthroughs through advancement. In the course of over five thousand years of civilization development, the Chinese nation has continuously carried out the great historical practice of developing through inheritance and breaking new ground while upholding fundamental principles, constantly responding to and overcoming the civilizational challenges of different historical periods. Shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era while upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is not only a transcendence and elevation of traditional culture but also an overcoming of the dogmatization of Marxism. “Under the guidance of Marxism, we must truly make the past serve the present, make foreign things serve China, make a dialectical selection, and weed through the old to bring forth the new, achieving an organic connection between tradition and modernity.” Only in this way can the cultural foundation for adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times be continuously consolidated, and Marxism be firmly rooted in the land of China.

坚持守正创新，把握“变”与“不变”的辩证统一，是担负新时代的文化使命的根本遵循。守正是守住本源和根基，属于“不变”的范围；创新则是“变”的方面，要求主动求变、变中求新，新中求进、进中突破。在五千多年文明发展的历程中，中华民族不断展开在继承中发展、在守正中创新的伟大历史实践，持续回应与克服不同历史时期的文明挑战。在守正创新中担负起新时代的文化使命，不仅是对传统文化的超越与升华，还是对把马克思主义教条化的克服。“要在马克思主义指导下真正做到古为今用、洋为中用、辩证取舍、推陈出新，实现传统与现代的有机衔接。”唯此，马克思主义中国化时代化的文化根基方可不断夯实，马克思主义方可牢牢扎根于中国大地。

Conclusion

结语

The internal relationship between the essential essences of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture fully demonstrates its organic unity as a system of thought. This important thought establishes the Party’s cultural leadership as its first core essence, places cultural construction in a prominent position in governance, and emphasizes the establishment of leadership through culture; it clarifies that the purpose of adhering to cultural leadership is precisely to uphold cultural subjectivity; it profoundly grasps the theme of cultural construction in the New Era, namely, strengthening cultural confidence and upholding cultural subjectivity; it reveals the ideological liberation significance and methodological height of the “Second Integration,” [6]6 The “Second Integration” (第二个结合) refers to the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s excellent traditional culture, as distinct from the first integration of Marxism with China’s concrete realities. pointing out that it is the fundamental path for establishing and consolidating cultural subjectivity, the fundamental source for strengthening cultural confidence, and thus provides guidance for shouldering the cultural mission of the New Era. From the systematicity manifested in its primary viewpoints, distinctive features, consistent theme, fundamental methodology, and programmatic goals, it is not difficult to see the original contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture in enriching and developing Marxist cultural theory, realizing the creative transformation and innovative development of the Chinese civilization’s tradition of education and transformation, and deepening the understanding of the laws governing the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. Thus, it holds significant milestone importance in the history of the development of Marxism, the history of the development of Chinese civilization, and the history of the development of the Party’s innovative theory.

习近平文化思想的精髓要义之间的内在关系，充分表明它作为思想体系的有机统一性。这一重要思想将坚持党的文化领导权确立为首个核心要义，把文化建设摆在治国理政的突出位置，强调诉诸文化来建立领导权；阐明坚持文化领导权的目的就在于坚守文化主体性；深刻把握新时代文化建设的主题，即坚定文化自信和坚守文化主体性；揭示出“第二个结合”所具有的思想解放意义与方法论高度，指出它是建立和巩固文化主体性的根本途径，是坚定文化自信的根本来源，进而为担负新时代的文化使命提供引领。从其首要观点、鲜明特色、一以贯之的主题、根本的方法论、纲领性目标所彰显的体系性中，不难看出习近平文化思想在丰富和发展马克思主义文化理论、实现中华文明教化传统的创造性转化与创新性发展、对中国特色社会主义文化建设的规律性认识等方面的原创性贡献，从而在马克思主义发展史、中华文明发展史、党的创新理论发展史中，均具有重要的里程碑意义。

Online Editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆