The Fundamental Guiding Principle for Accelerating the Building of a Socialist Cultural Power

Since the advent of the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has consistently placed cultural development in a prominent position in governance. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, solid steps have been taken toward building a socialist cultural power. In October 2024, at the 17th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping made the major deployment of "accelerating the building of a cultural power." The first and second volumes of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture* systematically present General Secretary Xi Jinping's profound thinking and scientific planning on upholding and developing socialist culture and building a cultural power, and deeply answer a series of major questions such as what kind of cultural power to build in the New Era and how to build it. Reading through the first and second volumes of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, carefully studying the key chapters on cultural power building, and earnestly learning and grasping the strategic considerations, core essentials, and practical requirements contained therein are of major theoretical and practical significance for accelerating the building of a socialist cultural power.

Deeply understanding the major significance of accelerating the building of a socialist cultural power

In the second volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly points out: "Building a cultural power bears on the overall situation of Chinese-path modernization, bears on the great cause of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and bears on enhancing international competitiveness." This important statement reflects General Secretary Xi Jinping's high regard for building a cultural power and clarifies its significance, which we must deeply understand and grasp.

An inherent requirement of Chinese-path modernization. In the second volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of material and cultural-ethical progress in tandem. Material abundance and spiritual enrichment are the fundamental requirements of socialist modernization." In today's era, social structures are undergoing profound adjustment, social thought, concepts, and value orientations are becoming increasingly active and diverse, and digital-intelligent technologies represented by artificial intelligence are profoundly changing the modes of information production and dissemination as well as people's ways of production and life, profoundly reshaping media forms, the ecology of public opinion, and cultural formats, while struggles in the ideological sphere remain complex. Facing the changes of the times, upholding the requirement of Chinese-path modernization that material abundance and spiritual enrichment be unified requires that we use cultural power building to shore up the ideological foundation and ensure that the coordination of material and cultural-ethical progress runs through the entire process of Chinese-path modernization.

An urgent need to satisfy the people's aspirations for a better life. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the people's sense of gain and happiness in culture, and has put forward important requirements regarding major work that bears on the effectiveness of cultural power building, such as the protection, inheritance, and utilization of cultural and natural heritage and the protection of historical and cultural heritage, namely "better satisfying the people's needs for a better life" and "fully playing a role in providing public cultural services and satisfying the people's needs for spiritual and cultural life." At present, Chinese residents' demand for high-quality culture is being released at an accelerated pace. This places higher demands on improving the capacity to supply cultural products and better satisfying the people's growing spiritual and cultural needs. To build a cultural power, we must adhere to a people-centered approach, closely follow the people's new requirements and new expectations, promote the upgrading and improvement of cultural supply, and ensure that the fruits of cultural development are more fully reflected in the enrichment of the people's spiritual world and the enhancement of their sense of happiness in life.

An inherent part of continuing the historical lineage and inheriting Chinese civilization. In the first volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "Only by proceeding from history toward the future and forging ahead by continuing the cultural bloodline of the nation can we accomplish the undertakings of today." Contemporary China is the continuation and development of historical China, and the thought and culture of contemporary China inherently contain the inheritance and elevation of fine traditional Chinese culture. The ideals and struggles of the Chinese people, and the values and spiritual world of the Chinese people, have been established and consolidated through long-term cultural inheritance and development and the continuous progress of civilization. Only by building a cultural power can we better continue the historical lineage and inherit Chinese civilization, engage in cultural creation amid practical creation and achieve cultural progress amid historical progress, thereby building a solid cultural foundation for Chinese-path modernization.

A key force for enhancing national cultural soft power. In the first volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "Enhancing national cultural soft power bears not only on China's position in the global cultural landscape, but also on China's international standing and influence, and on the realization of the 'Two Centenary Goals' and the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." At present, changes unseen in a century are accelerating, the global cultural development landscape and evolutionary trends are undergoing profound adjustment, and the relationship between China and the world is undergoing historic changes. On the one hand, the global influence of Chinese culture is continuously rising, making it an important driving force for the progress of human civilization; on the other hand, competition over international discourse power and cultural soft power is becoming increasingly fierce. Only by accelerating the building of a cultural power can we enhance the cohesion and vitality of Chinese culture, thereby increasing its appeal and influence, and enable Chinese ideas, Chinese wisdom, and Chinese solutions to better promote the development and progress of human civilization.

Grasping the goals and requirements for accelerating the building of a socialist cultural power

The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC explicitly set the grand goal of building a cultural power by 2035 and made clear arrangements for "enhancing cultural confidence and self-reliance and creating new brilliance in socialist culture." To accelerate the building of a cultural power, we must clarify the two basic questions of "what it should look like when built" and "where its strength lies," and grasp them from the two levels of construction goals and basic requirements.

In terms of construction goals, since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continuously advanced the building of a socialist cultural power. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC clearly stated that "we must uphold the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics, stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the whole nation, and build a socialist cultural power"; the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC further put forward the goal and task of building a cultural power, emphasizing the need to "build a socialist cultural power around the tasks of holding high the banner, rallying the people's hearts, cultivating new generations, developing Chinese culture, and presenting a good image of China"; the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese-Path Modernization*, deliberated and adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, listed "focusing on building a socialist cultural power" as one of the "seven focal points" of the strategic priorities for further deepening reform comprehensively; and the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee made specific arrangements for solidly advancing the building of a cultural power during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

In this process, the goals of building a cultural power have become increasingly clear and can be understood from the following aspects: clarifying the path of cultural development, namely, following the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics; clarifying the guiding ideology, namely, upholding Marxism as the fundamental guiding ideology, adhering to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, formally proposing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, and forming a more systematic scientific theoretical guide for cultural power building; clarifying adherence to the Two Integrations and proposing the Second Integration, namely, integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture, and realizing the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture; clarifying the mission and tasks, namely, holding high the banner, rallying the people's hearts, cultivating new generations, developing Chinese culture, and presenting a good image of China; clarifying spiritual guidance, namely, upholding core socialist values and carrying forward the Chinese spirit and rallying Chinese strength; clarifying the value orientation, namely, adhering to the people-centered fundamental position and taking the satisfaction of the people's spiritual and cultural needs as the starting point and foothold of cultural development; clarifying the driving force and support, namely, stimulating the cultural innovation and creativity of the whole nation and realizing the flourishing development of socialist culture; and clarifying the world significance, namely, enhancing national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture and making Chinese contributions to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among human civilizations.

In terms of basic requirements, the "strength" of a cultural power has rich, internally unified defining characteristics. In the second volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "continuously developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for the New Era that has strong ideological guiding power, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence." This important statement points the way for us to grasp the basic requirements for building a cultural power in the New Era.

Forge ideological leadership. Ideological leadership determines "what banner to raise and what path to take" in building a culturally strong country, and is embodied centrally in the capacity of scientific theory to persuade, unite, and guide people; it occupies the dominant position among the four kinds of strength. Marxism reveals that social consciousness does not passively reflect social being, but possesses relative independence and exerts an active counter-effect on social being; the direction and intensity of that counter-effect depend on whether the given ideology correctly reflects the developmental trend of social being, as well as on the depth and breadth with which it grasps the masses. Marx pointed out: "Theory, once it grasps the masses, also becomes a material force." Today's China is at a critical juncture in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and more than ever needs to unify thought with advanced ideas and pool strength with scientific theory. To persist in using the latest achievements of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times to unify thought, will, and action means to persist in taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, to grasp deeply its worldview and methodology, and to transform them into a powerful force for understanding and changing the world.

Cultivate the cohesive strength of the national spirit. Spiritual cohesion is the basic driving force and deep foundation by which the Chinese national community is sustained and the people as a whole remain of one heart and one mind. Spiritual cohesion is deeply rooted in the Chinese nation's distinctive historical destiny and civilizational accumulation, and is embodied centrally in core values. The core socialist values reflect the essential requirements of socialism, inherit and develop the fine traditional Chinese culture, absorb the beneficial achievements of human civilization, embody the spirit of contemporary China, and condense the common value pursuits of the entire people. We must treat cultivating and practicing the core socialist values as a project of consolidating the foundations, use core values to integrate social consciousness and build value consensus, construct a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation, and provide deep and enduring spiritual momentum for building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.

Enhance the power of value appeal. Value appeal is the capacity, relying on scientific truth and advanced values, to achieve ideological influence, spiritual inspiration, and value identification. A salient feature of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era is that it takes the core socialist values as its inner core, and through their scientific truth, value legitimacy, and people-centered character, it arouses resonance, identification, and aspiration deep within people's hearts, and inspires them to practice these values consciously. In Volume I of Selected Cultural Works of Xi Jinping, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "The most basic cultural genes of the Chinese nation must be made compatible with contemporary culture and coordinated with modern society, and be promoted in ways that people find pleasing and in which they can participate broadly." This requires us to connect the essential ideas of Marxism with the cream of fine traditional Chinese culture, to integrate them with the common values that the people use daily without conscious awareness, and to embed them organically in literary and artistic creation and in public cultural services, ultimately achieving internalization in the mind and externalization in action, converging into a powerful force that drives Chinese-path modernization steadily forward.

Forge ideological leadership. Ideological leadership determines "which banner to raise and which path to take" in building a culturally powerful country, and is embodied centrally in the capacity of scientific theory to persuade, unite, and guide people; it occupies the dominant position among the four kinds of strength. Marxism reveals that social consciousness does not passively reflect social being, but rather possesses relative independence and exerts an active counter-effect on social being; the direction and intensity of that counter-effect depend on whether the ideology in question correctly reflects the developmental trends of social being, and on the depth and breadth with which it grasps the masses. Marx pointed out: "Theory, once it grasps the masses, also becomes a material force." Today China stands at a critical juncture in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and more than ever needs to unify thought with advanced ideas and pool strength with scientific theory. To persist in using the latest achievements of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times to unify thought, unify will, and unify action is to persist in taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, to grasp deeply its worldview and methodology, and to transform them into a powerful force for understanding and changing the world.

Cultivate the cohesive strength of the national spirit. Spiritual cohesion is the basic motive force and deep foundation by which the Chinese national community is sustained and all the people are of one mind. Spiritual cohesion is deeply rooted in the Chinese nation's distinctive historical destiny and civilizational accumulation, and is embodied centrally in the core socialist values. The core socialist values reflect the essential requirements of socialism, inherit and develop the finest traditional Chinese culture, absorb the beneficial achievements of human civilization, embody the spirit of contemporary China, and condense the common value pursuits of all the people. We must treat cultivating and practicing the core socialist values as a project of consolidating the foundations, use the core values to integrate social consciousness and build value consensus, construct a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation, and provide deep and enduring spiritual momentum for national strength and national rejuvenation.

Enhance the power of value appeal. Value appeal is the capacity, relying on scientific truth and advanced values, to achieve ideological persuasion, spiritual inspiration, and value identification. A salient feature of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era is that it takes the core socialist values as its inner core, and through their scientific truth, value legitimacy, and people-centered character, it arouses resonance, identification, and aspiration deep within people's hearts, and inspires people to practice them consciously. In Volume One of Selected Cultural Works of Xi Jinping, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "The most basic cultural genes of the Chinese nation must be made compatible with contemporary culture and coordinated with modern society, and be promoted in forms that people delight in and that have broad participation." This requires us to connect the essential ideas of Marxism with the essence of the finest traditional Chinese culture, to integrate them with the common values that the people use daily without conscious reflection, and to embed them organically in literary and artistic creation and in public cultural services, ultimately achieving internalization in the mind and externalization in action, converging into a powerful force that drives Chinese-path modernization steadily forward.

Enhance international influence. International influence is the capacity of a country, by virtue of its comprehensive national strength, to guide agendas, shape perceptions, and win recognition in international affairs. In Volume Two of Selected Cultural Works of Xi Jinping, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Cultural soft power and influence are important components of comprehensive national strength." In measuring the effectiveness of building a culturally powerful country, international influence is one of the important criteria. To build a culturally powerful country, on the basis of strengthening the cultural core, we need to focus on forming international discourse power commensurate with our comprehensive national strength and international standing, guiding the international community to better understand China's concepts, China's path, and China's achievements, and contributing more Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength to the progress of human civilization.

The practical guidelines for accelerating the building of a culturally powerful socialist country

Strive to stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation. In the second volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "Make stimulating innovation and creativity the central link in deepening reform of the cultural institutional mechanisms, and accelerate the improvement of cultural management systems and production and operation mechanisms." Cultural institutional mechanisms are an important factor bearing on the flourishing of socialist culture. Advancing reform of cultural institutional mechanisms and stimulating innovation and creativity are dialectically unified: reform can strengthen developmental momentum and enhance creative vitality, while innovation and creativity in turn provide new support for deepening institutional reform and an inexhaustible driving force for building a cultural power. Stimulating cultural innovation and creativity requires systematic measures across production and creation, service and guidance, system improvement, and technological empowerment. In production and creation, it is necessary to uphold the people-centered creative orientation, establish and improve cultural creation and production institutional mechanisms that put social效益 first and unify social and economic benefits, encourage emancipating the mind and bold exploration, innovate in subject matter, content, form, and technique, and continuously produce fine works worthy of the times. In service and guidance, it is necessary to focus on enhancing the capacity for original cultural creation, improve working mechanisms for serving, guiding, and organizing literary and artistic creation and production, actively foster a sound cultural ecology, fully promote academic democracy and literary and artistic democracy, pay attention to flourishing and developing new popular literature and art under internet conditions, and promote the continuous eruption of cultural innovation and creativity. In system improvement, it is necessary to improve the cultural industry system and market system, refine administrative approval and filing management in the cultural field, and improve the system of oversight during and after the fact. In technological empowerment, it is necessary to conform to the trends of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, explore effective mechanisms for integrating culture and technology, actively promote deep integration of culture and technology, thoroughly implement the national cultural digitalization strategy, and achieve digital empowerment and information-based transformation in cultural development. At the same time, it is also necessary to accelerate the development of new cultural business forms, transform and upgrade traditional cultural business forms, cultivate new momentum through cultural innovation, technological innovation, and industrial integration, better leverage culture's role in empowering economic and social development, and more effectively transform cultural resource advantages into cultural development advantages.

Always uphold that cultural development focuses on people and lands on people. In the second volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "The 'strength' of a cultural power must ultimately be reflected in the people's ideological realm, spiritual state, and cultural cultivation." At present, the people's spiritual and cultural needs continue to rise, and the principal contradiction in cultural supply has shifted from "whether there is enough" to "whether it is good," and high-quality cultural products from "whether they exist" to "whether they are refined." It is necessary to uphold a people-centered approach, focus on meeting the people's diverse, multi-level, and multi-faceted spiritual and cultural needs, continuously flourish and develop cultural undertakings and the cultural industry, enhance the capacity to supply cultural services and cultural products, and strengthen the people's sense of cultural gain and happiness. Attention should be paid to giving play to culture's role in nurturing the will and cultivating sentiment, fostering the whole nation's spirited and vigorous spiritual temperament, and enriching the people's spiritual world and strengthening their spiritual strength through high-quality cultural supply. Uphold cultural benefits for the people, implement actions to improve the quality and efficiency of public cultural services, promote the direct delivery of high-quality cultural resources to the grassroots, and guide social forces to participate in public cultural services. Uphold the cultivation of talent and the building of teams as an important and urgent strategic task, accelerate the building of a high-level cultural talent team that is large in scale, reasonable in structure, and keen on innovation, fully respect the laws of talent growth, establish and improve a scientific, authoritative, open, and transparent evaluation system for literature, art, and academia, and improve talent selection, cultivation, use, and incentive mechanisms suited to the characteristics of the cultural field, so as to provide a steady stream of talent support for building a socialist cultural power.

Continue the Chinese cultural lineage through creative transformation and innovative development. In the second volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "Strive to continue the Chinese cultural lineage and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture." Fine traditional Chinese culture embodies the genes and code of the Chinese nation's continuous development. Upholding the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation, and protecting, promoting, and developing the treasures of Chinese civilization preserved through the vicissitudes of history, is the historical responsibility and sacred mission of contemporary Chinese Communists. Uphold the "Two Integrations," especially the "Second Integration,"[n] deeply excavate and elucidate the spiritual connotations of fine traditional Chinese culture, use Marxism to activate the fine elements in traditional Chinese culture and endow them with new contemporary connotations, and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. Make great efforts to implement the project for inheriting and developing fine traditional Chinese culture, accelerate the construction of a system of symbols for Chinese civilization, and answer well the important questions of "what to distill," "how to express," and "how to advance systematically." Uphold a heart of reverence for history and love for culture, adhere to the principles of protection first, rational utilization, and minimal intervention, promote the systematic protection of cultural heritage, strengthen the overall protection and living inheritance of famous historical and cultural cities, districts, and towns and villages, deepen research through protection, enhance protection through research, and manifest value through revitalization. Continue to promote deep integration of culture and tourism, uphold shaping tourism with culture and promoting culture through tourism, develop red tourism, rural tourism, wellness tourism, and industrial tourism in accordance with local characteristics and local conditions, continuously strengthen the improvement of tourism public services, the regulation of the tourism market, and the enhancement of consumer experience, and promote the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry.

Continuously enhance national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. In the first volume of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture*, General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: "If China is to enhance its national cultural soft power, it must make contemporary Chinese values go global." It is necessary to advance the restructuring of the international communication landscape, increase coordination in external publicity work, innovate in carrying out online external publicity, build a multi-channel, multi-dimensional pattern of external communication, and more proactively present China's propositions, spread Chinese culture, and display China's image. Accelerate the construction of a Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system, centering on Chinese-path modernization and a community with a shared future for mankind, closely following the practice of actively implementing the four major initiatives of global development, global security, global civilization, and global governance, create new concepts, new categories, and new expressions that connect China and the world, and tell well the stories of the CPC's governance, the Chinese people's struggle to realize their dreams, and China's adherence to peaceful development. Extensively carry out diverse forms of international people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation, promote people-to-people bonds, more actively and proactively learn from and draw on all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, create a batch of cultural achievements that fuse the ancient and the modern and connect China and the world through mutual learning among civilizations, and display a credible, lovable, and respectable image of China in promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, injecting profound cultural strength into building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The publication and distribution of the first and second volumes of *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Culture* provides authoritative teaching materials for the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups across the country to deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping's cultural thought. To accelerate the building of a cultural power, it is necessary to anchor the strategic goal of completing the building of a cultural power by 2035, further strengthen the study, research, publicity, and interpretation of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, further consolidate the ideological foundation for building a cultural power, and provide stronger and more solid support for the great cause of building a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

(The author is a researcher at the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Central Party School (National Academy of Governance))