Mao Zedong and the Historical Evolution of the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation

As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a New Era, the Communist Party of China, having traversed a century of struggle, has become even more robust and powerful through revolutionary tempering. The Chinese people’s driving force for progress has grown stronger, their conviction in victory more steadfast, and their historical consciousness and initiative more intense. China’s development now possesses a more solid material foundation, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process. This has created more favorable conditions and laid a deeper foundation for building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. December 26, 2023, marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great leader of the Chinese people, Chairman Mao Zedong. As a great patriot and national hero of modern China, a great pioneer in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, and a great figure who led the Chinese people to fundamentally change their own destiny and the face of the country, Mao Zedong, in the course of leading the Chinese people through the New Democratic Revolution, the socialist revolution, and socialist construction, adhered to integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities. He made indelible contributions to the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese culture from tradition to modernity, laying an important ideological and theoretical foundation for the Party to propose “building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation” in the New Era.

中国特色社会主义进入新时代，走过百年奋斗历程的中国共产党在革命性锻造中更加坚强有力，中国人民的前进动力更加强大、必胜信念更加坚定、历史自觉和历史主动精神更加强烈，我国发展具备了更为坚实的物质基础，中华民族伟大复兴进入了不可逆转的历史进程，为建设中华民族现代文明创造了更为有利的条件，奠定了更加深厚的基础。2023年12月26日，是中国人民的伟大领袖毛泽东主席诞辰130周年。毛泽东作为近代以来中国伟大的爱国者和民族英雄、马克思主义中国化的伟大开拓者，作为领导中国人民彻底改变自己命运和国家面貌的一代伟人，在领导中国人民进行新民主主义革命、社会主义革命和建设的过程中，坚持把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合，为中华文化从传统向现代的创造性转化和创新性发展作出了不可磨灭的贡献，为党在新时代提出“建设中华民族现代文明”奠定了重要的思想理论基础。

I. The Context of the Emergence of the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation

一、中华民族现代文明形态的出场语境

The Chinese nation has created a splendid civilization spanning more than five thousand years. It is an ancient and great nation in the world and has made outstanding contributions to the progress of human civilization. However, facing the great changes in world and Chinese historical development since modern times and the collision of civilizational forms they brought, Chinese civilization confronted a severe test of survival. The question of where Chinese civilization was headed became a major issue urgently needing resolution for the Chinese nation, especially the Communist Party of China. Thus, the exploration of the “modern civilization of the Chinese nation” as a form began.

中华民族创造了绵延五千多年的灿烂文明，是世界上古老而伟大的民族，为人类文明进步作出了卓越的贡献。然而，面对着近代以来世界和中国历史发展的大变局及其所带来的文明形态碰撞，中华文明面临着严峻的生存考验。中华文明向何处去成为中华民族尤其是中国共产党亟须解决的重大课题，“中华民族现代文明”形态的探索由此展开。

1. The Great Changes in Modern World Development and the Collision of Chinese and Western Civilizational Forms

1. 近代世界发展的大变局及中西文明形态的碰撞

China is one of the greatest countries in the world and one of the ancient civilizations. It is a country with a vast population formed by the union of multiple ethnic groups. “In the history of the development of the Chinese nation, there have been well-developed agriculture and handicrafts, many great thinkers, scientists, inventors, statesmen, military strategists, writers, and artists, and a rich collection of cultural classics,”[1]1 The “Kangxi-Qianlong Flourishing Age” (c. 1681–1796) refers to a period of relative peace, prosperity, and territorial expansion under the Qing Dynasty emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong. which nurtured a rich ancient Chinese civilization. “China’s feudal society lasted for about three thousand years. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, due to the invasion of foreign capitalism, that major changes occurred within this society.”[2]2 The "October Revolution" refers to the 1917 Russian socialist revolution led by the Bolshevik Party under Vladimir Lenin, which established the world's first socialist state. *On New Democracy* (1940) is a key work by Mao Zedong outlining the theory of new-democratic revolution as a transitional stage to socialism in China.

中国是世界上最伟大的国家之一，也是世界文明古国之一，是一个由多民族结合而成的拥有广大人口的国家。“在中华民族的开化史上，有素称发达的农业和手工业，有许多伟大的思想家、科学家、发明家、政治家、军事家、文学家和艺术家，有丰富的文化典籍”，[1]孕育了丰厚的中华古代文明。“中国的封建社会继续了三千年左右。直到十九世纪的中叶，由于外国资本主义的侵入，这个社会的内部才发生了重大的变化。”[2]

In the mid-17th century, Britain took the lead in establishing an advanced capitalist system through the bourgeois revolution. With the rapid development of the capitalist economy, the demand for cotton textiles in domestic and foreign markets grew swiftly, spurring improvements in production methods, and the Industrial Revolution quietly ensued. After the 1760s, while the Industrial Revolution was underway in Britain, the independence movement and the great revolution broke out in the United States and France, respectively, and the capitalist system was historically established in these countries as well. After the mid-19th century, the United States experienced its second bourgeois revolution, the American Civil War, and Japan quickly embarked on the path of capitalist development through the Meiji Restoration. The capitalist system and its civilizational form were continuously consolidated and expanded. Western capitalist countries, leveraging their economic and institutional advantages, frantically seized raw material sources and commodity markets in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. “It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production.”[3]3 The Four Big Families (四大家族) refers to the Chiang, Soong, Kung, and Chen families, who controlled the political and economic power of the Nationalist government (Kuomintang) in the Republic of China era. The capitalist world system was gradually taking shape and expanding rapidly, pushing the global temporal and spatial field into an unprecedented period of great change. Within this great change, the capitalist system and the civilizational form it spawned were the most critical variable.

17世纪中叶，英国率先通过资产阶级革命确立了先进的资本主义制度。伴随着资本主义经济的迅速发展，国内外市场对棉纺织品的需求迅速增长，催生了生产方式的改进，工业革命便悄然发生了。18世纪60年代后，在英国进行工业革命的同时，美国、法国相继爆发了独立运动和大革命，资本主义制度在美国和法国也得以历史性确立。19世纪中叶后，美国发生了第二次资产阶级革命即美国南北战争，日本通过明治维新也迅速走上了发展资本主义的道路，资本主义制度及其文明形态不断得以巩固和扩大。西方资本主义国家利用其经济、制度优势，疯狂地在非洲、亚洲等地抢占原料产地和商品倾销市场，“它迫使一切民族——如果它们不想灭亡的话——采用资产阶级的生产方式”。[3]资本主义世界体系正在逐步地形成和快速拓展，推动世界范围的时空场域处于前所未有的大变局之中。在这个大变局中，资本主义制度及其滋生的文明形态是最大的关键变量。

From the perspective of the evolution of civilizational forms, the progression from ancient civilization, brought about by the formation of classes, the use of metal tools, and the development of writing, to the emergence of bourgeois civilization, brought about by the Industrial Revolution, “is the product of a long process of development, the product of a series of revolutions in the mode of production and exchange,”[4]4 The Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC was held in March 1949, on the eve of the nationwide victory of the Chinese Civil War, and laid out the Party's policy for shifting from rural to urban work and for post-war economic reconstruction. conforming to the objective law of human society’s development from lower to higher levels. From the perspective of the role of civilizational forms in social development, the capitalist system and its civilization, established through bourgeois revolutions or national liberation movements, politically overthrew the oppression of feudal systems or colonial rule, opposed autocracy, and replaced them with free competition and its corresponding social and political systems, spreading bourgeois values of freedom, equality, and democracy. Compared with the feudal system and its civilizational form, this represented outstanding historical progress. Economically, capitalist civilization shattered the original “feudal, patriarchal, and idyllic” social relations of production. The innovation in production methods created social productive forces far beyond what feudal society could match, and by opening up the world market, it made its own civilization global, greatly promoting the process of world history and the development of human civilization. Culturally, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment were essentially bourgeois cultural movements. The emerging bourgeoisie opposed feudal theology, and humanism and rational spirit sought to liberate people from religious shackles, creating a splendid culture, awakening a progressive spirit of the times, and opening a new chapter in world civilization. Amid the great changes in world development, China, as a major country in the world, could not remain unaffected. The ancient and traditional Chinese civilization struggled to move forward in the world’s tremendous upheaval, encountering an unprecedented civilizational crisis.

从文明形态的演进来看，从阶级的形成、金属工具的使用、文字的发展造就的古代文明，到工业革命造就的资产阶级文明的产生，这“是一个长期发展过程的产物，是生产方式和交换方式的一系列变革的产物”，[4]符合人类社会从低级向高级发展的客观规律。从文明形态对社会发展的作用来看，通过资产阶级革命或民族解放运动建立起的资本主义制度及其文明，在政治上，推翻了封建制度或殖民统治的压迫，反对专制，代之以自由竞争及与其相适应的社会制度、政治制度，传播资产阶级自由、平等、民主价值理念，相比较封建主义制度及其文明形态来讲，具有突出的历史进步性；在经济上，资本主义文明打破了社会原有的“封建的、宗法的和田园诗般的”社会生产关系，生产方式的革新使所创造的社会生产力远非封建社会所能比拟，并通过开拓世界市场而使自身文明成为世界性的，极大地推动了世界历史发展和人类文明发展的进程；在文化上，文艺复兴、宗教改革和启蒙运动实质都是资产阶级文化运动，新兴资产阶级反对封建神学，人文主义、理性精神试图将人从宗教束缚中解放出来，创造了灿烂的文化，唤醒了积极进取的时代精神，开辟了世界文明的新篇章。在世界发展大变局中，中国作为世界发展大国也不可能独善其身，古老而传统的中华文明在世界振幅巨大的变局中步履维艰，遭遇到了空前未有的文明危机。

2. The Great Changes in Modern Chinese Development and the Arduous Exploration of a Modern Civilizational Form

2. 近代中国发展的大变局及对现代文明形态的艰难探索

In the same era, China’s feudal society and feudal autocratic monarchy were still in a state of development. From the late 17th century through the entire 18th century, China under the Qing Dynasty was experiencing the “Kangxi-Qianlong Flourishing Age,”[n1] pushing traditional Chinese society to a “new peak” in politics, economy, and culture. In fact, “for several thousand years before the Industrial Revolution, China’s economy, science and technology, and culture had always been at the forefront of the world.”[5]5 "Two bombs, one satellite" (两弹一星) refers to China's successful development of the atomic bomb (1964), the hydrogen bomb (1967), and the first artificial satellite (1970), symbolizing major breakthroughs in national defense and science and technology. For a long period, China had been a world leader in economic development. Even by the 18th century, China’s comprehensive national strength stood at the forefront of the world, accounting for one-third of the world’s population and gross product. Unfortunately, the Qing government’s policies of seclusion and isolation, and emphasis on agriculture over commerce, caused China to miss the opportunity for an Industrial Revolution. Placed amid the unprecedented great changes of world capitalism, China gradually fell behind. Politically, the historical limitations and corruption of feudal autocratic monarchy plunged society into a state of rigidity and semi-rigidity. Economically, the powerful feudal landlord landownership system became a shackle on capitalist development. Culturally, the feudal rulers’ arrogance and self-imposed ideological constraints led to the gradual decline of Chinese civilization. Due to the increasingly backward mode of production and the growing corruption of the system, China’s feudal society and its institutional form ultimately reached a dead end. As Marx pointed out: “Such an empire is doomed to be finally defeated in a life-and-death struggle.”[6]6 “Two Hundreds” policy (双百方针): The policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend,” proposed by Mao Zedong in 1956 to encourage diversity in the arts and sciences. Ultimately, in the mid-19th century, the invasion of foreign capitalism opened China’s door, and China was passively drawn into the great changes of the world and turned toward modern society.

在同一时代，中国封建社会和封建君主专制统治依然处于发展之中。17世纪末至整个18世纪，清朝时期的中国正经历“康乾盛世”，在政治、经济、文化等方面将中国传统社会推向了一个“新的高峰”。事实上，“在工业革命发生前的几千年时间里，中国经济、科技、文化一直走在世界的第一方阵之中”。[5]中国曾在很长一段时期内处于世界经济发展的领先地位，即便到了18世纪，中国的综合国力也站在世界前列，无论是人口还是生产总值，均占有世界1/3的份额。但遗憾的是，清政府闭关锁国、重农抑商等政策使中国错失了发展工业革命的契机。置身于世界资本主义空前发展的大变局中，中国逐渐走向了落后。在政治上，封建君主专制的历史局限性及其腐败使社会陷入了僵化半僵化的状态；在经济上，强大的封建地主土地所有制成为资本主义发展的桎梏；在文化上，封建统治者的夜郎自大及其自身的思想禁锢导致了中华文明日渐衰微。由于生产方式的日渐落后和制度日趋腐败，中国封建社会及其制度形态还是走到了穷途末路。正如马克思所指出的：“这样一个帝国注定最后要在一场殊死的决斗中被打垮。”[6]最终，19世纪中期，外国资本主义的入侵打开了中国大门，中国被动卷入世界大变局并转向了近代社会。

The great changes in world development have brought tremendous impact and

世界发展大变局对中国社会制度及其文明形态带来了巨大的冲击和挑战，资本主义文明和传统古老的中华文明发生了空前激烈的交锋。在一次又一次的帝国主义暴力入侵过程中，中华传统文化日渐式微，近代中国节节败退，国家蒙辱、人民蒙难、文明蒙尘。败退和衰微的不仅表现在政治、经济方面，更体现在文化和文明方面。由此，一部分先进的中国人开启了寻觅救国救民方案和现代文明形态的艰难探索之旅。19世纪40年代至20世纪初期，追求进步的中国人开始学习西方的新道理、新文明，试图改造我们国家的制度和文明形态。因为“那时的外国只有西方资本主义国家是进步的，它们成功地建设了资产阶级的现代国家”，[7]因而学习的“新学”即西方资产阶级民主主义的文化。而“新学”中的社会学说和自然科学与中国封建文化即“旧学”是截然对立的。先进中国人从“旧学”或“中学”、“新学”或“西学”的文化论争中探求近代中国社会变革和中华文明的出路，如从魏源在《海国图志》开篇直陈“师夷长技以制夷”，到张之洞在《劝学篇》中系统阐述“中学为体、西学为用”，从主张昌明旧学以挽救国家危亡的“国粹主义”或文化保守主义的“旧教条”，到主张以“全盘西洋化”、“全盘苏化论”救治中国危亡的“洋教条”，均未行得通，理想总是不能实现。无论是激进还是保守，这些文化形态的探索都没有科学地处理好中华文明与西方文明、传统文化与现代文化的关系问题，其救国实践方案和文明形态探索均以失败告终。中华文明将如何推陈出新？如何建设中华民族现代文明？历史重担落在了中国共产党人的肩上。

3. The Basic Approach and Plan of the Communist Party of China for Constructing the Modern Form of Chinese National Civilization

3. 中国共产党构建中华民族现代文明形态的基本思路与方案

The repeated failures of multiple explorations caused advanced Chinese to develop and deepen their doubts about the superiority of Western systems and civilization. Imperialism launched the First World War in order to redivide colonies and compete for world raw material bases and hegemony. The severe economic crisis that broke out in the capitalist world in 1929 further exposed the irreconcilable social contradictions of the West and the drawbacks of its capitalist civilization form based on private ownership. The Chinese Communists, as representatives of China's advanced mode of production, under the guidance of Marxism, gained a deeper understanding of the exploitative nature of capitalist civilization. Capitalism "all progress of civilization, or in other words, every increase in social productive forces (or, what is the same thing, the productive forces of labour itself)… does not enrich the worker, but only enriches capital,"[8]8 “The Two Integrations” (两个结合) refers to the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the best of fine traditional Chinese culture. the capitalist covertly appropriates the worker's surplus labour, and by continuously intensifying the exploitation of the worker's surplus value, realizes the accumulation of his own wealth; capitalism and its institutional civilization are hypocritical and barbaric civilization. The Chinese people began to awaken; the democracy, universal principles, and justice advocated by the Western bourgeoisie were merely diplomatic rhetoric. The illusions of the Chinese people about the capitalist system and its form of civilization began to shatter. Meanwhile, "what was hidden underground and invisible to foreigners in the past," the Russian proletariat, through the October Revolution, created the world's first socialist state. Its adherence to the truth of Marxism-Leninism lit a beacon for the Chinese people's advance, allowing the Chinese to once again see hope and the dawn of saving China's situation and constructing a modern Chinese national civilization. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people completely shifted from revering Western capitalist civilization to the socialist form of civilization.

多次探索的失败，使先进中国人对西方制度及文明先进性的怀疑产生了、发展了。帝国主义为了重新瓜分殖民地、争夺世界原料基地和霸权，发动了第一次世界大战。1929年资本主义世界爆发的严重经济危机，更突出暴露了西方不可调和的社会矛盾及其以私有制为基础的资本主义文明形态的弊端。中国共产党人作为中国先进生产方式的代表，在马克思主义指导下，更进一步认清了资本主义文明的剥削性。资本主义“文明的一切进步，或者换句话说，社会生产力（也可以说劳动本身的生产力）的任何增长……都不会使工人致富，而只会使资本致富”，[8]资本家隐蔽地占有工人的剩余劳动，通过不断加大对工人剩余价值的剥削，实现其自身财富的累积，资本主义及其制度文明是虚伪的、野蛮的文明。中国人民开始醒悟，西方资产阶级所倡导的民主、公理、公正只是外交辞令，中国人对资本主义制度及文明形态的幻想开始破灭。而“过去蕴藏在地下为外国人所看不见的”俄国无产阶级通过十月革命创立了世界上第一个社会主义国家，其坚持的马克思列宁主义真理主张点亮了中国人民前进的灯塔，让中国人重新看到了挽救中国时局、构建中华民族现代文明的希望和曙光。在中国共产党的领导下，中国人民从尊崇西方资本主义文明全面转向到社会主义文明形态。

From its very founding, the Communist Party of China became the leader of the Chinese revolution and the guide for promoting the transformation of Chinese civilization from its traditional form to a modern form. The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their main representative, took Marxism as the theoretical guide for modern Chinese national civilization, scientifically handled the nearly century-long debate over the forms of Chinese and Western cultures, refuted that both "native dogmas" and "foreign dogmas" were intellectual slavery, and clearly pointed out: "It is necessary to integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution completely and appropriately, that is, to combine it with the characteristics of the nation and through a certain national form, for it to be useful. It must never be applied subjectively and formulaically,"[9] thus proposing a new approach to reshaping modern Chinese civilization through the Sinicization of Marxism. In practice, Mao Zedong led the Chinese people in struggling for political revolution, economic revolution, and cultural revolution, aiming to build a new society and a new state for the Chinese nation. In *On New Democracy*, Mao Zedong stated unequivocally: "In a word, we want to build a new China. Building a new culture for the Chinese nation is our goal in the cultural sphere,"[10] that is, to transform a politically oppressed China into a free China, an economically exploited China into an economically prosperous China, and a China ruled by an old culture, ignorant and backward, into a culturally advanced China, creating the basic approach to civilization construction that passes through new democracy to reach socialism. The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their main representative, in the process of integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities, through arduous exploration, founded Mao Zedong Thought, providing the fundamental guiding ideology for saving Chinese civilization from decline and leading the Chinese nation from traditional civilization into modern civilization. The Chinese people, guided by Marxism-Leninism, moved from passivity to initiative in spirit. The era in modern world history when Chinese culture was looked down upon came to an end. "The great culture of the Chinese people has been revived and is being revived,"[11] which has already greatly surpassed the capitalist world's level of understanding of the modern world and human civilization.

中国共产党一经成立，即成为中国革命的引领者，成为推动中华文明从传统形态向现代形态转变的领路人。以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人以马克思主义作为中华民族现代文明的理论指引，科学地处理了近百年的中西文化形态论争，批驳了“土教条”和“洋教条”都是思想上的奴隶，明确指出：“必须将马克思主义的普遍真理和中国革命的具体实践完全地恰当地统一起来，就是说，和民族的特点相结合，经过一定的民族形式，才有用处，决不能主观地公式地应用它”，[9]即提出了以马克思主义中国化的方案重塑中华现代文明的新思路。在实践中，毛泽东领导中国人民为政治革命、经济革命和文化革命而斗争，志在建设一个中华民族的新社会、新国家。毛泽东在《新民主主义论》中旗帜鲜明地讲到，“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”，[10]即把一个政治上受压迫的中国变为自由的中国，把一个经济上受剥削的中国变为经济上繁荣的中国，把一个被旧文化统治而愚昧落后的中国变为文明先进的中国，创造了经由新民主主义而达到社会主义的文明建构的基本思路。以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人在推进马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合的过程中，经过艰苦探索，创立了毛泽东思想，为挽救中华文明衰落、带领中华民族从传统文明步入现代文明提供了根本指导思想。以马克思列宁主义为指导思想的中国人，在精神上由被动转入主动，近代世界历史上看不起中华文化的时代完结了，“已经复兴了并正在复兴着伟大的中国人民的文化”，[11]已大大超越资本主义世界关于现代世界和人类文明的认知水平。

II. Mao Zedong's Historical Contribution to the Evolution of the Modern Form of Chinese National Civilization

二、毛泽东对中华民族现代文明形态演进的历史贡献

The essence of culture belongs to the realm of ideas and spirit, but the connotation of civilization is not limited to the spiritual sphere. "Modern Chinese national civilization" is a broad concept, based on an integrated civilization encompassing material, spiritual, institutional, and other forms of civilization. It refers to the new civilization created by the Communist Party of China since the founding of New China, based on the subject of modern "China" and the "Chinese nation." The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their main representative, put forward theoretical propositions for the construction of a new Chinese national culture, laying the fundamental theoretical foundation for the cultural program of socialism with Chinese characteristics; his concept that Marxism must be combined with the characteristics of the Chinese nation laid the fundamental theoretical principle for the evolution of the modern form of Chinese national civilization; in particular, his specific theories and practices concerning the political, economic, and cultural construction of New China laid the fundamental political prerequisite, solid material foundation, and deep cultural roots for the evolution of the new modern form of Chinese national civilization.

文化的本质属于观念形态、精神领域，但文明的内涵并不局限于精神领域。“中华民族现代文明”是一个广义的概念，是基于物质的、精神的、制度等多种文明形态上的整体性文明，是指新中国成立以来中国共产党基于现代中国和“中华民族”主体而造就的新文明。以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人提出了中华民族新文化建设的理论主张，为中国特色社会主义文化纲领奠定了根本理论基础；他关于马克思主义要同中华民族特点相结合的理念，为中华民族现代文明形态的演进铺垫了根本理论原则；尤其是他关于新中国政治、经济和文化建设的具体理论及实践，为中华民族现代文明新形态的演进奠定了根本政治前提、坚实物质基础和深厚文化根基。

1. Breaking the Old Politics and Establishing New Politics, Laying the Fundamental Political Prerequisite for the Establishment of Modern Chinese National Civilization

1. 破除旧政治、建立新政治，为中华民族现代文明的确立奠定根本政治前提

The old politics was the fundamental shackle on the economic and social development of old China. From the time of imperialist aggression against China, China had become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the politics of society was the old politics of “colony, semi-colony, and semi-feudalism.” In the manifesto of the First National Congress of the Kuomintang in 1924, Sun Yat-sen called for the implementation of the principle of people’s rights whereby political power would be “held in common by the common people,” but the Kuomintang repeatedly violated this declaration and created a situation of grave national calamity. Faced with the arduous historical task of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism in modern China, the Chinese big bourgeoisie represented by the Kuomintang “consistently threw itself into the embrace of imperialism and formed an alliance with feudal forces to oppose the revolutionary people,”[12] not only failing to fulfill this responsibility but also possessing the reactionary character of surrendering to the enemy. Under such historical circumstances, only by breaking the old politics in which a handful of exploiters ruled over the vast majority of the working people, establishing a new type of political system in which political power truly belonged to the broadest masses of the people and truly embodied people’s democracy, and realizing the goal of a new politics characterized by “both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind,”[13] could the humiliations suffered by modern China, the Chinese people, and Chinese civilization be thoroughly washed away.

旧政治是旧中国经济社会发展的根本桎梏。自帝国主义侵略中国始，中国已变成半殖民地半封建社会，社会的政治是“殖民地、半殖民地、半封建”的旧政治。孙中山在1924年国民党第一次全国代表大会宣言中号召实行政治权力“为一般平民所共有”的民权主义，但国民党却一再违背这个声明并造成了国难深重的局面。面对近代中国反帝反封建的艰巨历史任务，以国民党为代表的中国大资产阶级“一直是投入帝国主义的怀抱，并和封建势力结成同盟，反对革命人民的”，[12]不但不能尽此责任，而且具有投降敌人的反动性质。在这样的历史境遇下，唯有破除极少数剥削者统治广大劳动人民的旧政治，建立起政治权力真正为最广大人民所有、真正体现人民民主的新型政治制度、实现“又有集中又有民主、又有纪律又有自由、又有统一意志、又有个人心情舒畅”[13]目标的新政治，才能够彻底荡涤近代中国、中国人民和中华文明所蒙受的耻辱。

The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their main representative, courageously broke with the old politics and established a new politics. This is concentratedly manifested in the following aspects: First, they established the state system of the people’s democratic dictatorship. From the “dictatorship of the proletariat” determined at the First National Congress of the CPC, to the “democratic dictatorship of the workers and peasants”[14] determined during the Agrarian Revolutionary War, to the “joint dictatorship of all revolutionary classes”[15] determined during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and then to the “people’s democratic dictatorship” adopted at the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in September 1948, this fully demonstrated the deepening of Mao Zedong’s understanding of the state system of New China. The people’s democratic dictatorship is “the combination of democracy for the people and dictatorship over the reactionaries,”[16] allowing the broad masses of workers, peasants, the urban petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie to elect their own government under the leadership of the Communist Party, enjoying freedoms such as speech, assembly, and association, and truly realizing democracy for the overwhelming majority of the people. Second, they further confirmed the form of government of the fundamental political system of the people’s congresses. From the former “Soviet congress system”[17] which mechanically copied Soviet terminology, to the “people’s congress system,” the Party’s confirmation of the fundamental political system of the people’s congresses fully demonstrated historical self-awareness. Mao Zedong profoundly pointed out that we should establish a system of people’s congresses at all levels based on democratic centralism, and should not adopt the bourgeois parliamentary system; the people’s congress is the highest organ of state power, which can better ensure the realization of the right of the broadest masses of the Chinese people to be masters of the country. Third, they established the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC. This is a new type of party system that grew out of China’s soil; it is not a one-party system, nor is it the same as the

以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人勇于破除旧政治、建立新政治。这集中体现在以下几方面：一是确立了人民民主专政的国体。从中共一大确定党的“无产阶级专政”到土地革命战争时期确定的“工农民主专政”，[14]从抗战时期确定的“各革命阶级联合专政”[15]再到1948年9月中共中央政治局扩大会议通过的“人民民主专政”，充分彰显出毛泽东对新中国国体的认识在不断深化。人民民主专政就是“对人民内部的民主方面和对反动派的专政方面，互相结合起来”，[16]让广大工人、农民、城市小资产阶级和民族资产阶级在共产党的领导之下选举自己的政府，享有言论集会结社等项的自由权，真正实现了绝大多数人的民主。二是进一步确认了人民代表大会根本政治制度的政体。从过去叫“苏维埃代表大会制度”[17]死搬苏联名词，到“人民代表大会制度”，党对人民代表大会根本政治制度的确认充分彰显了历史自觉性。毛泽东深刻指明，我们要建民主集中制的各级人民代表会议制度，而不能采用资产阶级议会制，人民代表大会是最高权力机构，更能保障中国最广大人民当家作主的权利得到实现。三是确立了中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度。这是从中国土壤中生长出的新型政党制度，不是一党制，更区别于西方多党制。中国人民政治协商会议是多党合作和政治协商的机构，同时更是人民民主的重要实现形式。四是确立了民族区域自治制度。基于多民族大分散、小聚居的实际情况，中国采取了不同于苏联联邦制的民族区域自治制度，让少数民族依法管理本民族的地方性事务，充分保证了在国家的集中统一领导下少数民族的人民实现当家作主。这些政治制度是中华民族现代文明在政治领域的集中表现，为中华民族现代文明的确立奠定了根本政治前提。

2. Breaking Down the Old Economy and Building a New Economy, Providing a Solid Material Foundation for the Development of the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation

2. 破除旧经济、建设新经济，为中华民族现代文明的发展提供坚实物质基础

Politics is the concentrated expression of economics. During the period of Nationalist government rule, China's old economy was on the verge of collapse. On the one hand, excessive currency issuance led to hyperinflation, the people's wealth was cruelly plundered, and the people's lives encountered severe difficulties. On the other hand, under the patronage of imperialism, social wealth increasingly fell into the hands of the Nationalist government and the Four Big Families [3]3 The Four Big Families (四大家族) refers to the Chiang, Soong, Kung, and Chen families, who controlled the political and economic power of the Nationalist government (Kuomintang) in the Republic of China era.. After the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, the bureaucratic capital of the Four Big Families reached its peak, monopolizing the nation's economic lifelines. Under such economic conditions, people urgently aspired to build a new economy, that is, to achieve price stability, improve the people's living standards, restore and enhance the national economy, and build a new socialist modernized economy.

政治是经济的集中表现。国民政府统治时期中国的旧经济已濒临崩溃，一方面，货币超发引起了恶性通货膨胀，人民的财富被残酷掠夺，人民生活遭遇严重困难；另一方面，在帝国主义扶植下，社会财富日益掌握在国民政府及四大家族手中，四大家族官僚资本在抗战胜利后发展到最高峰，垄断了全国的经济命脉。在这样的经济状况下，人们迫切渴望建设一种新经济，即实现物价的稳定，人民生活水平能得到改善，国民经济能得以恢复和提升，建设社会主义现代化的新经济。

The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their main representative, vigorously broke down the old economy and built a new economy. This is concentratedly reflected in the following aspects: First, they focused on carrying out socialist transformation of the old economic sectors. The Chinese Communists confiscated the bureaucratic capital of the Four Big Families, including their large banks, large industries, and large commercial enterprises, nationalized it, and transformed it into a socialist state-owned economy; by guiding the peasants to carry out mutual aid and cooperative movements, guiding the handicraft industry to gradually develop from supply and marketing cooperative groups to the path of production cooperation, and peacefully buying out capitalist industry and commerce, they realized the socialist transformation of private ownership of the means of production, basically achieved public ownership of the means of production and distribution according to work, truly realized that the state was not "privately owned by a few people," and established a socialist economic system. In the process of transformation, not only was there no damage to the development of productive forces and no severe social upheaval, but it also greatly promoted the development of productive forces. Second, they focused on developing a new socialist modernized economy with industrialization as the core. As early as the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party in 1949, Mao Zedong put forward the idea of "steadily transforming China from an agricultural country into an industrial country." [4]4 The Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC was held in March 1949, on the eve of the nationwide victory of the Chinese Civil War, and laid out the Party's policy for shifting from rural to urban work and for post-war economic reconstruction. Simultaneously with the socialist transformation, the First Five-Year Plan of the national economy was also being implemented. At the First National People's Congress in 1954, Mao Zedong pointed out in his opening address: "We are preparing, within a few five-year plans, to build our country, which is now economically and culturally backward, into a great industrialized country with a high degree of modern culture." [18] He thus proposed the economic development goal of building socialist industrialization. The Eighth National Congress of the Party, based on the situation after the basic completion of China's socialist transformation, clearly pointed out that the main task of the state was to concentrate its strength on developing social productive forces, realizing industrialization, and gradually meeting the people's growing material and cultural needs. On this basis, at the Third National People's Congress, our Party formally proposed the economic construction goal of "building China into a powerful socialist country with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense, and modern science and technology." [19] To this end, it also planned a "two-step" strategic step to realize this modernization vision and led the people to comprehensively carry out large-scale socialist construction. Third, they promoted the achievement of major successes in socialist economic construction. Although the Party experienced severe twists and turns in the process of exploring and leading the people in socialist construction, China's economy still maintained a relatively fast development speed, and its economic strength was significantly enhanced. For example, agricultural production conditions were significantly changed, an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system were basically established, the problem of industrialization "from nothing to something" was fundamentally solved, and breakthroughs were continuously made in cutting-edge national defense science and technology such as the "two bombs, one satellite." [5]5 "Two bombs, one satellite" (两弹一星) refers to China's successful development of the atomic bomb (1964), the hydrogen bomb (1967), and the first artificial satellite (1970), symbolizing major breakthroughs in national defense and science and technology. This gave the social and economic landscape a completely new look and laid a solid material foundation for promoting the development of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation in the new historical period.

以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人大力破除旧经济、建设新经济。这集中体现在以下几方面：一是着力对旧经济成分进行社会主义改造。中国共产党人没收四大家族的大银行、大工业、大商业等官僚资本，将其收归国家所有，改造成为具有社会主义性质的国营经济；通过引导农民开展互助合作运动，引导手工业从供销合作小组逐步发展到走生产合作的道路，和平赎买资本主义工商业等方法，实现了对生产资料私有制的社会主义改造，基本上实现生产资料公有制和按劳分配，真正实现国家不是“少数人所得而私”，建立起社会主义经济制度。在改造的过程中，不仅没有对生产力的发展造成破坏，没有造成剧烈的社会震荡，而且极大地促进了生产力的发展。二是着力发展以工业化为核心的社会主义现代化新经济。毛泽东在1949年党的七届二中全会就提出了使中国“稳步地由农业国转变为工业国”的思想，在社会主义改造的同时，国民经济第一个五年计划也在同步展开。在1954年第一届全国人民代表大会上，毛泽东在开幕式上指出：“准备在几个五年计划之内，将我们现在这样一个经济上文化上落后的国家，建设成为一个工业化的具有高度现代文化程度的伟大的国家”，[18]提出了建设社会主义工业化的经济发展目标。党的八大根据我国社会主义改造基本完成后的形势，明确指出了国家主要任务是集中力量发展社会生产力，实现工业化，逐步满足人民日益增长的物质和文化需要。在此基础上，在第三届全国人民代表大会上，我们党正式提出了“把我国建设成为一个具有现代农业、现代工业、现代国防和现代科学技术的社会主义强国”[19]的经济建设目标，为此，还规划了实现这一现代化构想的“两步走”战略步骤，领导人民全面开展大规模的社会主义建设。三是推进社会主义经济建设取得了重大成就。党在领导人民进行社会主义建设的探索过程中虽历经严重曲折，但我国经济依然保持了较快的发展速度，经济实力显著增强，如农业生产条件显著改变，基本建立了独立的比较完整的工业体系和国民经济体系，从根本上解决了工业化“从无到有”的问题，“两弹一星”等国防尖端科技不断取得突破，使社会经济面貌焕然一新，为新的历史时期推进中华民族现代文明的发展奠定了坚实物质基础。

3. Breaking Down the Old Culture and Developing a New Culture, Providing Profound Cultural Nourishment for the Evolution of the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation

3. 破除旧文化、发展新文化，为中华民族现代文明的演进给予深厚文化滋养

“A given culture is the ideological reflection of a given society’s politics and economy.”[20] Culture belongs to the realm of ideas and is conditioned by the politics and economy of a given society. In old China, under the influence of imperialist domination and the semi-feudal social formation, there simultaneously existed imperialist culture and semi-feudal culture. These cultures contained slavish ideas, promoted old rites and old thought, served imperialism and the feudal classes, and formed a reactionary cultural alliance. In response, Mao Zedong pointed out, “Unless it is toppled, no new culture can be established. Without breaking, there is no establishing; without damming, there is no flowing; without stopping, there is no moving.”[21] He advocated developing a new culture with a socialist nature, guided by communist ideology, rooted in fine traditional Chinese culture, and embodying the subjectivity of the Chinese nation.

“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。”[20]文化属于思想观念形态，受一定社会的政治和经济条件制约。在旧中国，受帝国主义在中国的统治及半封建社会形态的影响，中国同时存在帝国主义文化和半封建文化，这些文化包含奴化思想、提倡旧礼教旧思想，替帝国主义和封建阶级服务，结成文化上的反动同盟。对此，毛泽东指出，“不把这种东西打倒，什么新文化都是建立不起来的。不破不立，不塞不流，不止不行”，[21]倡导发展以共产主义思想为指导、以中华优秀传统文化为根基的、具有社会主义性质的中华民族主体性的新文化。

The Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as their chief representative, made every effort to break down the old culture and develop a new culture. This was concentrated in the following aspects. First, they explicitly put forward the cultural program of New Democracy. In *On New Democracy*, Mao systematically traced the cultural changes in China since modern times, especially since the May Fourth New Culture Movement, and profoundly summarized the historical transformation of the struggle on China’s cultural front. Before the May Fourth Movement, this struggle manifested as a contest between the new culture of the bourgeoisie and the old culture of the feudal classes. After the May Fourth Movement, because bourgeois cultural thought had begun to lag behind, a brand-new cultural force emerged in China, giving rise to “the communist cultural thought led by the Chinese Communists, i.e., the communist world outlook and the theory of social revolution,”[22] which waged a fierce struggle against the old culture represented by imperialist culture and feudal culture. The cultural thought of the proletariat aimed precisely at establishing a new-democratic new culture. What exactly was this new culture like? Mao gave a clear answer: “A national, scientific, and mass culture — that is the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal culture of the broad masses of the people, that is the new-democratic culture, that is the new culture of the Chinese nation.”[23] The formulation of the new-democratic cultural program provided the basic theoretical guidance for the cultural construction of New China and the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. Second, they explicitly put forward the basic attitude and principles for scientifically treating traditional Chinese culture. In the process of constructing the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, it was unavoidable to deal with the question of its relationship with traditional Chinese culture. On this point, Mao, adhering to the principle of historicism, repeatedly stressed that one must never sever history or forget tradition. He explicitly stated, “From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we must sum it all up and inherit this precious legacy,”[24] emphasizing the importance of inheriting historical and cultural legacies for developing the modern civilization of the Chinese nation and enhancing national self-respect and self-confidence. At the same time, based on historical dialectics, Mao proposed a rational distinction between and dialectical treatment of the essence and dross of traditional Chinese culture. “Clean out the process of ancient culture’s development, discard its feudal dross, and absorb its democratic essence”[25] — that is, scientifically inherit “the fine culture of the ancient people, which carries a certain degree of democratic and revolutionary character,” while discarding and eliminating “all the decadent things of the feudal ruling classes.” This scientific attitude toward traditional Chinese culture laid the basic principles for deepening the integration of fine traditional Chinese culture with Marxism and for promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. Third, they explicitly put forward the basic policy for socialist cultural construction. Regarding how to develop and prosper scientific and cultural undertakings in a socialist country, Mao proposed the policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.” In 1951, Mao wrote an inscription for the founding of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Opera: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; weed through the old to bring forth the new.” In April 1956, in his summary report at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, he said, “‘Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend’ — I think this should become our policy. Let a hundred flowers bloom in matters of art, and let a hundred schools of thought contend in matters of academia.”[26] The proposal of the “Two Hundreds” policy brought a flourishing scene to China’s cultural and theoretical circles. Although the implementation of this policy later suffered serious setbacks with the expansion of class struggle, after the ideological rectification following reform and opening up — especially when Deng Xiaoping built on this foundation to propose the “Two For” orientation of literature and art serving the people and serving socialism — the “Two Hundreds” policy was smoothly implemented again and has always remained the basic policy guiding socialist cultural construction. The cultural program and cultural construction policies proposed by Mao laid a profound cultural foundation for the evolution of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.

以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人着力破除旧文化、发展新文化。这集中体现在以下几方面：一是明确提出了新民主主义文化纲领。毛泽东在《新民主主义论》中系统回溯了近代以来特别是五四新文化运动以来中国的文化变迁，深刻总结了中国文化战线斗争的历史转变，即在“五四”前表现为资产阶级的新文化和封建阶级的旧文化的斗争，而在“五四”后，由于资产阶级的文化思想开始落后，中国产生了崭新的文化生力军，催生了“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”，[22]并与以帝国主义文化和封建文化为代表的旧文化展开了激烈斗争。无产阶级的文化思想即在于建立新民主主义的新文化。这种新文化究竟是什么样子？毛泽东对此作出明确回答：“民族的科学的大众的文化，就是人民大众反帝反封建的文化，就是新民主主义的文化，就是中华民族的新文化。”[23]新民主主义文化纲领的提出，为新中国文化建设、中华民族现代文明建设提供了基本理论遵循。二是明确提出了科学对待中华传统文化的基本态度和原则。中华民族现代文明在建设过程中，不可避免地涉及如何处理其与中华传统文化的关系问题。对此，毛泽东坚持从历史主义原则出发，一再强调决不能割断历史、忘记传统，明确提出“从孔夫子到孙中山，我们应当给以总结，承继这一份珍贵的遗产”，[24]突出强调继承历史文化遗产对于发展中华民族现代文明、增进民族自尊心自信心的重要性。同时，毛泽东基于历史辩证法提出对中华传统文化的精华与糟粕进行合理区分和辩证对待。“清理古代文化的发展过程，剔除其封建性的糟粕，吸收其民主性的精华”，[25]即要对“古代优秀的人民文化即多少带有民主性和革命性的东西”进行科学继承，而对“封建统治阶级的一切腐朽的东西”进行摒弃与剔除。这一对待中华传统文化的科学态度，为深入推进中华优秀传统文化与马克思主义的结合，推进中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化、创新性发展奠定了基本原则。三是明确提出了社会主义文化建设的基本方针。在社会主义国家里，如何发展和繁荣科学文化事业，毛泽东提出了“百花齐放、百家争鸣”的方针。毛泽东在1951年为中国戏曲研究院成立题词：“百花齐放、推陈出新。”他在1956年4月中央政治局扩大会上作总结报告时说：“‘百花齐放、百家争鸣’，我看应该成为我们的方针。艺术问题上百花齐放，学术问题上百家争鸣。”[26] “双百”方针的提出使中国文化和理论界出现了繁荣景象。尽管后来随着阶级斗争扩大化使这一方针的贯彻遭到严重挫折，但随着改革开放后思想路线的拨乱反正，特别是邓小平在此基础上提出文艺为人民服务、为社会主义服务的“二为”方向，“双百”方针又得以顺利实行，并始终成为指导社会主义文化建设的基本方针。毛泽东提出的文化纲领和文化建设等方针，为中华民族现代文明的演进奠定了深厚的文化根基。

Beyond this, Mao also put forward important theoretical ideas in the fields of social life, international strategy, and foreign exchanges, which also have very significant guiding significance for the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.

除此之外，毛泽东在社会生活领域、国际战略和对外交往等领域也提出了重要思想理论，对于中华民族现代文明建设也具有十分重要的指导意义。

III. Contemporary Enlightenment from Mao Zedong’s Promotion of the Historical Evolution of the Modern Civilization Form of the Chinese Nation

三、毛泽东推动中华民族现代文明形态历史演进的当代启示

Constructing the modern civilization of the Chinese nation both proceeds from the depths of history and, even more so, responds to the concerns of the times. At the new starting point of building a strong country, we must fully inherit the basic positions, basic requirements, and basic principles proposed by Mao for constructing a new culture of the Chinese nation, continue the historical lineage, strengthen cultural confidence, and properly answer and resolve the major historical and epochal question of how to construct the modern civilization of the Chinese nation in the New Era.

建设中华民族现代文明，既是从历史纵深处走来，更是基于回应时代的关切。在强国建设新的起点上，我们要充分承继毛泽东提出的关于建设中华民族新文化的基本立场、基本要求、基本原则，赓续历史文脉，坚定文化自信，回答好、解决好新时代如何建设中华民族现代文明这一重大历史和时代课题。

1. Always Stand on the Position of the Chinese Nation

1. 始终立足中华民族立场

To construct the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, we must adhere to the position of the Chinese nation — that is, to base ourselves on the great historical practice of the Chinese nation and the historical foundation of fine traditional Chinese culture, combine the lofty communist value ideal of Marxism with the patriotic value core inherent in fine traditional Chinese culture, refrain from copying other cultures, resolutely oppose “slavish foreign culture,” and commit to developing our own national culture. Mao always advocated that cultural construction must adhere to the position of the Chinese nation, emphasizing that a “national” culture is one that “opposes imperialist oppression and upholds the dignity and independence of the Chinese nation. It is our nation’s culture, bearing our nation’s characteristics.”[27] Cultural construction must adhere to the national position, and Marxism must also be integrated with the specific characteristics of the Chinese nation. Furthermore, Mao placed special importance on the inheritance of the Chinese nation’s own history and civilization. He pointed out, “Our nation has several thousand years of history, has its characteristics, and has many precious things,”[28] and “Today’s China is a development of historical China.”[29] Mao’s important thought of always standing on the position of the Chinese nation to construct a new culture of the Chinese nation still has great practical guiding significance today. The Chinese Communists in the New Era continue to take the position of the Chinese nation as the fundamental stance for inheriting historical culture and developing modern civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized this, stating that constructing the modern civilization of the Chinese nation must be based on the great historical practice of the Chinese nation. “If we do not understand China from the perspective of its long-standing historical continuity, it is impossible to understand ancient China, impossible to understand modern China, and even more impossible to understand future China.”[30] We must deepen the project of tracing the origins of Chinese civilization, comprehensively and deeply understand the history of Chinese civilization, examine the development process of the Chinese nation from the perspective of its more than five thousand years of civilization history, profoundly grasp the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization, absorb the ideological essence of fine traditional Chinese culture, and enable Chinese civilization to play an important role in leading the development of human civilization. In continuously promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, the Chinese Communists in the New Era are constantly advancing the cultural construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics and elevating the spiritual realm of the Chinese nation.

建设中华民族现代文明，必须坚守中华民族立场，即立足于中华民族的伟大历史实践和中华优秀传统文化的历史底蕴，把马克思主义的共产主义崇高价值理想与中华优秀传统文化内蕴的爱国主义价值内核结合起来，不照搬其他文化，坚决反对“洋奴文化”，致力于发展本民族的文化。毛泽东一直倡导文化建设要坚持中华民族立场，强调“民族的”文化就是“反对帝国主义压迫，主张中华民族的尊严和独立的。它是我们这个民族的，带有我们民族的特性”，[27]文化建设必须坚守民族立场，马克思主义也要和中华民族的自身特点相结合。此外，毛泽东还特别重视对中华民族自身的历史及文明的传承，他指出，“我们这个民族有数千年的历史，有它的特点，有它的许多珍贵品”，[28]“今天的中国是历史的中国的一个发展”。[29]毛泽东始终立足于中华民族立场建设中华民族新文化的重要思想，在今天依然具有重大的现实指导意义。新时代中国共产党人继续将中华民族立场作为传承历史文化、发展现代文明的根本立场，习近平总书记对此多次强调，建设中华民族现代文明必须立足于中华民族的伟大历史实践，“如果不从源远流长的历史连续性来认识中国，就不可能理解古代中国，也不可能理解现代中国，更不可能理解未来中国”，[30]要深化中华文明探源工程，全面深入了解中华文明的历史，以五千多年文明史的角度审视中华民族的发展历程，深刻把握中华文明的突出特性，吸取中华优秀传统文化的思想精髓，让中华文明在引领人类文明发展中发挥重要作用。新时代中国共产党人在不断推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展中，不断推进中国特色社会主义文化建设，提升中华民族的精神境界。

2. Firmly Rely on the Strength of the Chinese People

2. 紧紧依靠中国人民力量

The broadest masses of the Chinese people are the subjects of building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. To build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, it is necessary to firmly stand on the proletarian standpoint, i.e., the people’s standpoint, and adhere to the fundamental position, viewpoint, and method that cultural construction is for the people and relies on the people. Mao Zedong consistently insisted that the construction of a new culture must firmly uphold the people’s standpoint, serving the people and relying on the people. For example, Mao Zedong proposed that “the new-democratic culture is popular, and therefore democratic. It should serve the toiling masses of workers and peasants, who make up more than 90 percent of the entire nation, and gradually become their culture.”[31] Literary and artistic workers on the cultural front must “stand on the side of the proletariat and the masses of the people,”[32] must not lose their correct standpoint, must not alienate themselves from the masses, must earnestly learn the language of the masses, and that the life of the people is the most vivid and richest source of artistic material. “They must go among the masses, must go unconditionally and wholeheartedly for a long time into the midst of the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers, into the heat of struggle, into the sole, richest, and broadest source.”[33] This raised the issue of the mass-line method for cultural construction, clearly embodying the essential attributes of socialist culture. These valuable ideas still possess distinct contemporary value in advancing the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation in the New Era. In the New Era, Chinese Communists have implemented the people’s standpoint in the fields of culture and civilization construction, taking the satisfaction of the people’s spiritual and cultural demands and the promotion of people’s all-round development as value goals, and taking the production and life practices of the broadest masses of the Chinese people as the inexhaustible source of cultural development, theoretical innovation, and civilization construction. They emphatically stress that “the broad and profound Chinese civilization was created by the Chinese people,”[34] and that “we must stand firm on the people’s standpoint, grasp the people’s aspirations, respect the people’s creativity, and pool the people’s wisdom,”[35] integrating Marxism with the values that the people use daily without conscious awareness, focusing on mobilizing the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of all the people, and fully relying on the main force of the Chinese people to advance the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. It is precisely by consistently adhering to serving the people in everything and relying closely on the people’s strength that the modern civilization of the Chinese nation has been able to manifest such a vigorous and powerful vitality.

中国最广大人民是建设中华民族现代文明的主体。建设中华民族现代文明，必须站稳无产阶级立场即人民立场，坚持文化建设为了人民、依靠人民的根本立场、观点和方法。毛泽东始终坚持新文化建设要牢牢坚守人民立场，为了人民、依靠人民。如毛泽东提出，“新民主主义的文化是大众的，因而即是民主的。它应为全民族中百分之九十以上的工农劳苦民众服务，并逐渐成为他们的文化”，[31]文化战线中文艺工作者要“站在无产阶级的和人民大众的立场”，[32]不能失掉了自己的正确的立场，不能使自己脱离群众，要认真学习群众的语言，人民生活是最生动、最丰富的艺术原料，“必须到群众中去，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”，[33]提出了文化建设的群众路线方法问题等，鲜明体现了社会主义文化的本质属性。这些宝贵思想在新时代推进中华民族现代文明建设中依然具有鲜明的时代价值。新时代中国共产党人把坚持人民立场贯彻到文化和文明建设领域，以满足人民的精神文化诉求、促进人的全面发展为价值目标，以中国最广大人民的生产生活实践作为文化发展、理论创新、文明建设的不竭源泉，突出强调“博大精深的中华文明是中国人民创造的”，[34]“要站稳人民立场、把握人民愿望、尊重人民创造、集中人民智慧”，[35]把马克思主义与人民群众日用而不觉的价值观念融通起来，注重发挥全体人民的积极性、主动性和创造性，充分依靠中国人民的主体力量推进中华民族现代文明建设。正是始终坚持一切为了人民、紧紧依靠人民力量，中华民族现代文明才得以彰显出如此朝气蓬勃的强大生命力。

3. Unswervingly Follow Our Own Path

3. 坚定不移走自己的道路

In its genesis and historical evolution, Chinese civilization has traversed a path different from the development of other world civilizations, cultivating a uniquely distinctive and broad and profound Chinese culture. To build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, it is necessary to maintain originality and subjectivity, persist in continuing to inherit and promote fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and develop advanced socialist culture under the guidance of Marxism, and adhere to following our own path. In the process of advancing the construction of a new Chinese culture, Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized that fine traditional Chinese culture must not be discarded, that excellent revolutionary culture must be continuously formed and created, and that other foreign cultures and ideas should be “adopted according to specific conditions, making them suitable for China’s reality,”[36] and that “we must use our own brains to think and decide what things can grow in our own soil.”[37] This in fact put forward the clear thesis that the construction of a new culture must follow its own path. In the New Era, in the process of advancing the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, Chinese Communists have fully inherited this major thesis of Mao Zedong on independent and self-reliant civilization construction. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “For any culture to stand firm, go far, and have guiding power, cohesion, shaping power, and radiating power, it must have its own subjectivity,”[38] profoundly elucidating the profound implication that the modern culture of the Chinese nation contains subjectivity. That is, this culture “was established by the Chinese Communist Party leading the Chinese people on Chinese soil; it was established on the basis of creatively transforming and innovatively developing fine traditional Chinese culture, inheriting revolutionary culture, and developing advanced socialist culture, while drawing on and absorbing all the outstanding achievements of human civilization; it was established through combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture.”[39]

中华文明在生成及历史演进中，走过了不同于世界其他文明发展历程，培育了独具特色、博大精深的中华文化。建设中华民族现代文明，必须保持原创性、主体性，坚持在马克思主义指导下继续传承发扬中华优秀传统文化、革命文化和发展社会主义先进文化，坚持走自己的路。在推进中华民族新文化建设的过程中，毛泽东一再强调不能丢掉中华优秀传统文化，不断形成和创造优秀的革命文化，并对于其他外来的文化和思想要“根据具体条件加以采用，使之适合中国的实际”，[36]要“用我们自己的头脑进行思考，并决定什么东西能在我们自己的土壤里生长起来”，[37]事实上提出了新文化建设必须走自己的道路的鲜明论断。新时代，中国共产党人在推进中华民族现代文明的建设过程中，充分继承了毛泽东关于独立自主进行文明建设这一重大论断。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”，[38]深刻阐明了中华民族现代文化蕴含了主体性的深刻意蕴。即这一文化“是中国共产党带领中国人民在中国大地上建立起来的；是在创造性转化、创新性发展中华优秀传统文化，继承革命文化，发展社会主义先进文化的基础上，借鉴吸收人类一切优秀文明成果的基础上建立起来的；是通过把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际、同中华优秀传统文化相结合建立起来的”。[39]

It is necessary to strengthen the subjectivity of Chinese culture, adhere to the cultural sense of self, “establish a disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system for the study of civilization with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese manner,” use Chinese principles to summarize Chinese experience and elevate it into Chinese theory, achieve spiritual independence and self-reliance, build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation in the practice of adhering to the “Two Integrations” and advancing Chinese-path modernization, and provide strong theoretical support for a new form of human civilization.

要坚定中华文化的主体性，坚守文化意义上的自我，“建立中国特色、中国风格、中国气派的文明研究学科体系、学术体系、话语体系”，用中国道理总结中国经验，并将其上升为中国理论，实现精神上的独立自主，在坚持“两个结合”、推进中国式现代化的实践中建设中华民族现代文明，为人类文明新形态提供有力的理论支撑。

4. Treat the Achievements of Human Civilization with an Open Attitude

4. 以开放的态度对待人类文明成果

To build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, it is necessary to uphold an open and inclusive attitude, absorb and draw lessons from all achievements of human civilization, and promote the localization of foreign cultures. Although Chinese national culture has its national character, the more national it is, the more it belongs to the world. Mao Zedong always treated the achievements of human civilization with an open attitude in building a new Chinese culture. In *On New Democracy*, Mao Zedong clearly stated, “China should absorb large quantities of foreign progressive culture as raw material for its own cultural food,” and “for example, the culture of the Enlightenment period in various capitalist countries, everything that we can use today should be absorbed.”[40] However, in the process of absorption, it is necessary to distinguish between the coarse and the fine, the superior and the inferior, and not to engage in “wholesale Westernization” or formalistic absorption. It is also necessary to make foreign culture possess Chinese characteristics and promote its localization. Mao Zedong’s correct attitude towards the achievements of human civilization still has far-reaching significance for guiding the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation in the New Era. In the New Era, Chinese Communists continue to uphold an open and inclusive attitude towards world civilizations, adhere to the distinctive cultural characteristic of Chinese civilization in exchange and mutual learning, resolve the cultural “dispute between China and the West,” and clearly propose “replacing estrangement with exchange, replacing conflict with mutual learning, and replacing superiority with coexistence among civilizations.”[41] They emphasize the equality of all civilizations, absorb and draw lessons from advanced theories of Western civilization, while also focusing on “promoting the localization of foreign cultures, continuously cultivating and creating socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for the New Era,”[42] continuously enhancing the cohesion, influence, and appeal of Chinese civilization. With a broad mind embracing the world, they are leading the Chinese people to continuously forge new brilliance for Chinese civilization.

建设中华民族现代文明，必须秉持开放包容的态度，吸收和借鉴一切人类文明成果，并要促进外来文化的本土化。中华民族文化虽然具有民族性，但越是民族的越是世界的。毛泽东始终坚持以开放的态度对待人类文明成果，建设中华民族新文化。毛泽东在《新民主主义论》中就明确提出，“中国应该大量吸收外国的进步文化，作为自己文化食粮的原料”，“例如各资本主义国家启蒙时代的文化，凡属我们今天用得着的东西，都应该吸收”，[40]但是，在吸收的过程中，要对其粗细、优劣进行鉴别，不能“全盘西化”或形式主义地吸收，还必须让外来文化具有中国的特点，促进其实现本土化。毛泽东科学对待人类文明成果的正确态度，对于指导新时代中华民族现代文明建设依然具有深远意义。新时代中国共产党人继续秉持开放包容的态度对待世界文明，坚守中华文明交流互鉴的鲜明文化特性，破解文化“中西之争”，明确提出“以文明交流超越文明隔阂，以文明互鉴超越文明冲突，以文明共存超越文明优越”，[41]强调各文明具有平等性，吸收借鉴西方先进文明理论，同时注重“促进外来文化本土化，不断培育和创造新时代中国特色社会主义文化”，[42]不断提升中华文明的凝聚力、影响力和感召力，正以胸怀天下的博大胸襟带领中国人民不断铸就中华文明新的辉煌。

The major historical contributions made by the Chinese Communists, with Mao Zedong as the main representative, to the historical evolution of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation have laid down fundamental theoretical principles and provided important directional guidance for our Party to uphold and develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics that is oriented towards modernization, the world, and the future, that is national, scientific, and popular, and to construct a new form of modern civilization of the Chinese nation in the new period of socialist modernization and the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. On the new journey of the New Era, for the Chinese Communist Party to continue advancing the building of a modern socialist power and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it must take the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation as its cultural mission, “more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture”; it must adhere to the “Two Integrations,” and adhere to Marxism, especially Marxism adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, as the theoretical guide for the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation; it must coordinate the balanced development of material civilization, political civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization, and promote the exchange and mutual learning between the modern civilization of the Chinese nation and modern human civilization. All of this requires us to draw valuable experience and inspiration from Mao Zedong’s theory on the construction of a new Chinese culture.

以毛泽东为主要代表的中国共产党人对于中华民族现代文明形态的历史演进所作出的重大历史贡献，为我们党在社会主义现代化建设新时期、中国特色社会主义新时代坚持和发展面向现代化、面向世界、面向未来的，民族的科学的大众的中国特色社会主义文化，以及构建中华民族现代文明新形态奠定了根本理论原则，提供了重要方向引领。新时代新征程，中国共产党要继续推进社会主义现代化强国建设和中华民族伟大复兴，就要把建设中华民族现代文明作为自己的文化使命，“更有效地推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展”；就要坚持“两个结合”，坚持以马克思主义尤其是中国化时代化马克思主义作为中华民族现代文明建设的理论遵循；就要统筹推进物质文明、精神文明、政治文明、社会文明、生态文明的协调发展、推进中华民族现代文明与人类现代文明的交流互鉴。所有这些，都需要我们从毛泽东关于中华民族新文化建设的理论中汲取宝贵的经验和启示。

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心