The Historical Materialist Implications of Building the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation

General Secretary Xi Jinping, standing at the historical juncture where national rejuvenation intersects with changes unseen in a century, has put forward the new cultural mission for the New Era of building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, has indicated the basic principles and fundamental laws for building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, and has demonstrated the rich ideological content and major theoretical achievements of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. In fact, the proposal of this new cultural mission of building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is deeply rooted in the theoretical foundation of historical materialism, and is what the development of the times requires and what historical progress necessitates. To build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, we must deeply grasp the role of culture with respect to the economic base and the various elements of the superstructure, and continuously advance theoretical innovation in the process of inheriting and developing historical materialism. Therefore, basing ourselves on Marx's theory of historical materialism and deeply revealing the historical materialist implications of building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation will provide important theoretical inspiration and ideological guidance for us to comprehensively grasp the theoretical essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, thereby better shouldering the new cultural mission and creating a new culture belonging to our era.

习近平总书记站在民族复兴与百年变局相交织的历史方位，提出了建设中华民族现代文明这一新时代新的文化使命，指明了建设中华民族现代文明的基本原理和根本规律，展现了习近平文化思想的丰富思想内涵和重大理论成果。事实上，建设中华民族现代文明这一新的文化使命的提出，厚植于历史唯物主义的理论地基之上，是时代发展之所需和历史进步之必然。建设中华民族现代文明，必须深入把握文化对于经济基础及上层建筑诸要素的作用，在继承和发展历史唯物主义的进程中不断推进理论创新。因此，立足马克思的历史唯物主义理论，深入揭示建设中华民族现代文明的历史唯物主义意蕴，将为我们全面把握习近平文化思想之理论精髓，从而更好地担负起新的文化使命、创造属于我们这个时代的新文化提供重要的理论启迪和思想指引。

The Historical Necessity of Building the Modern Civilization of the Chinese Nation

建设中华民族现代文明的历史必然性

Through critical reflection on the theoretical viewpoints of old materialism and idealism, Marx realized that "the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness." The economic base has an ultimately determining role over the superstructure; the development of ideology and culture cannot, in the final analysis, be separated from the state of social economy and the development of productive forces. Starting from the ultimately determining role of the economic base, we can see that the reason why the Chinese nation was in the historical predicament of "the East being subordinate to the West" in modern times, suffering national humiliation, the people's suffering, the tarnishing of its civilization, and a crisis of cultural subjectivity, was fundamentally directly related to the underdeveloped level of productive forces and the backward state of the social economy at that time. Therefore, in this specific historical stage, although many people of insight also recognized the importance of defending Chinese cultural traditions, the economic base and level of development of the entire society were not yet sufficient to support the true emergence of cultural subjectivity.

通过对旧唯物主义和唯心主义理论观点的批判性反思，马克思意识到，“物质生活的生产方式制约着整个社会生活、政治生活和精神生活的过程。不是人们的意识决定人们的存在，相反，是人们的社会存在决定人们的意识”。经济基础对于上层建筑具有归根到底的决定作用，思想文化发展归根到底不能与社会经济和生产力发展状况相脱离。从经济基础归根到底的决定作用出发，我们可以看到，中华民族之所以在近代处于“东方从属于西方”的历史境遇，遭遇国家蒙辱、人民蒙难、文明蒙尘与文化主体性危机，从根本上是与当时不发达的生产力发展水平和落后的社会经济状况直接相关的。因而，在这一特定的历史阶段之中，尽管很多仁人志士也看到了捍卫中华文化传统的重要意义，但整个社会的经济基础和发展水平尚不足以支撑文化主体性的真正凸显。

In its century-plus struggle, the CPC has always adhered to applying historical materialism to systematically, concretely, and historically analyze the laws of movement and development of Chinese society, firmly grasped the basic law of the ultimately determining role of the economic base, and led the Chinese nation to achieve the historic leap from standing up, becoming prosperous, to becoming strong, attaining development achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC points out: "On the basis of long-term exploration and practice since the founding of the People's Republic of China and especially since reform and opening up, and through theoretical and practical innovations since the 18th National Congress, our Party has successfully advanced and expanded Chinese-path modernization." In the comprehensive advancement of Chinese-path modernization, China's social and economic conditions and the level of productive forces have achieved significant development, and the Chinese nation has ushered in a bright prospect for realizing great rejuvenation. In fact, it is precisely the rapid development of the social economy that has made the issue of building a culturally strong country increasingly clearly prominent.

中国共产党在百余年奋斗历程中，始终坚持运用历史唯物主义，系统、具体、历史地分析中国社会的运动发展规律，牢牢掌握经济基础所具有的归根到底的决定作用这一基本规律，带领中华民族实现了从站起来、富起来到强起来的历史性飞跃，取得了举世瞩目的发展成就。党的二十大报告指出：“在新中国成立特别是改革开放以来长期探索和实践基础上，经过十八大以来在理论和实践上的创新突破，我们党成功推进和拓展了中国式现代化。”在全面推进中国式现代化的过程中，中国社会经济状况与生产力水平取得了长足发展，中华民族迎来了实现伟大复兴的光明前景。事实上，正是社会经济的快速发展，使得建设文化强国的问题越来越清晰地凸显了出来。

Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out, "A given culture is the ideological reflection of the politics and economy of a given society." From this perspective, the rapid development of material civilization will inevitably raise the practical need for cultural development, prosperity, and flourishing, and raise the basic requirement for coordinating material civilization and cultural-ethical progress; achieving independence and self-reliance in material production will inevitably further raise the practical requirement for strengthening cultural confidence and achieving spiritual independence and self-reliance. At the same time, the great achievements of Chinese-path modernization have greatly enhanced the cultural confidence of the Chinese nation, providing a solid material foundation for the establishment and consolidation of the Chinese nation's cultural subjectivity. Therefore, from the perspective of historical materialism, the new cultural mission emerges based on China's actual historical development; it is both what the development of the times requires and what historical progress necessitates.

毛泽东同志指出，“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”。从这一角度出发，物质文明的快速发展必然会提出文化发展繁荣兴盛的现实需要，提出物质文明与精神文明相协调的基本要求；物质生产上实现独立自主，必然会进一步提出坚定文化自信、实现精神上的独立自主的现实要求。与此同时，中国式现代化所取得的巨大成就也极大地增强了中华民族的文化自信，使中华民族文化主体性的确立与巩固具有了坚实的物质基础。因此，从历史唯物主义的角度来看，新的文化使命以中国的现实历史发展为基础应运而生，既是时代发展之所需，也是历史进步之必然。

The Important Role of Culture in Social Development

文化对社会发展的重要作用

Although the historical materialism founded by Marx emphasizes the ultimately determining role of the economic base, this by no means implies that historical materialism is an "economic determinism" or "economic materialism" that directly attributes all aspects of human society to economic factors. In fact, precisely to oppose the erroneous emphasis by many scholars on the exclusive determining role of economic factors, Engels pointed out: "The development of politics, law, philosophy, religion, literature, art, etc., is based on economic development. But they all also react upon one another and upon the economic base. It is not that the economic situation is the sole active cause and everything else is merely a passive effect. There is interaction on the basis of economic necessity, which in the last instance always asserts itself." Culture, as an important component of the superstructure, while being influenced by the ultimately determining role of the economic base, also exerts an important influence on the various elements of the superstructure and on the economic base, becoming an important part of the resultant force of historical development.

马克思所创立的唯物史观虽然强调经济基础具有归根到底的决定作用，但这决不意味着历史唯物主义是一种将人类社会的一切方面都直接归因于经济因素的“经济决定论”“经济唯物主义”。事实上，正是为了反对很多学者错误地强调经济因素具有唯一性的决定作用，恩格斯指出：“政治、法、哲学、宗教、文学、艺术等等的发展是以经济发展为基础的。但是，它们又都互相作用并对经济基础发生作用。并非只有经济状况才是原因，才是积极的，其余一切都不过是消极的结果。这是在归根到底总是得到实现的经济必然性的基础上的相互作用。”文化作为上层建筑中的重要组成部分，在受到经济基础的归根到底的决定作用影响的同时，也会对上层建筑诸要素、对经济基础产生重要影响，成为历史发展合力的重要组成部分。

Chinese Communists have always, based on the basic principles of historical materialism, formed a dialectical grasp of the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, and the complex relationship between culture and social development. Comrade Mao Zedong, in "On Contradiction," clearly stated that while adhering to the basic principle that social being determines social consciousness, we "also recognize and must recognize the reaction of spirit, the reaction of social consciousness on social being, the reaction of the superstructure on the economic base. This is not a violation of materialism; on the contrary, it avoids mechanical materialism and upholds dialectical materialism." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping, precisely on the basis of comprehensively mastering the basic principles and methodology of historical materialism, has deeply grasped the important role of culture in social development from the strategic height that culture concerns the foundation and destiny of the country, and has put forward a series of important expositions, including the new cultural mission for the New Era, consolidating cultural subjectivity, and strengthening cultural confidence.

中国共产党人始终立足历史唯物主义基本原理，对经济基础与上层建筑的关系、对文化与社会发展之间的复杂关系形成辩证把握。毛泽东同志在《矛盾论》中就明确指出，我们在坚持社会存在决定社会意识这一基本原则的基础上，“同时又承认而且必须承认精神的东西的反作用，社会意识对于社会存在的反作用，上层建筑对于经济基础的反作用。这不是违反唯物论，正是避免了机械唯物论，坚持了辩证唯物论”。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记正是在全面掌握历史唯物主义基本原理和方法论的基础上，从文化关乎国本、国运的战略高度深刻把握文化在社会发展中所具有的重要作用，提出了新时代新的文化使命和巩固文化主体性、坚定文化自信等一系列重要论述。

Taking the building of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation as the new cultural mission for the New Era opens up the self-conscious dimension of grasping the issue of cultural subjectivity, which has major historical materialist implications. The establishment and consolidation of cultural subjectivity certainly cannot be separated from material foundations such as economic development, but cultural subjectivity does not spontaneously grow out of the process of economic development, nor does culture itself automatically play the role of promoting the coordinated development of various social fields in the process of economic development; both await people's self-conscious construction. Contemporary Western capitalist society has shaped a basic structure in which capital subjectivity dominates culture, and through culture, it plays a role in promoting capital exploitation and accumulation, thereby achieving exploitation and plunder on a global scale using culture as a carrier. This not only fails to promote the coordinated development of various social fields but will gradually turn culture into a new fetter hindering the further development of productive forces. Therefore, only by establishing, consolidating, and developing cultural subjectivity, and creating a firm self in the cultural sense, can we truly unleash the important functions of culture in educating the masses and integrating society, and the important role of culture in promoting social and economic development, thereby coordinating the advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, promoting the coordinated development of culture and society, and advancing the comprehensive progress of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

以建设中华民族现代文明作为新时代新的文化使命，开启了把握文化主体性问题的自为性维度，具有重大的历史唯物主义意蕴。文化主体性的确立和巩固固然离不开经济发展等物质基础，但文化主体性并不会在经济发展的过程中自发地生长出来，文化本身也并不会在经济发展的过程中自动地发挥促进社会各领域协调发展的功能，这都有待人们的自为性建构。当代西方资本主义社会塑造了以资本主体性来宰制文化的基本结构，并通过文化发挥促进资本剥削和积累的作用，进而以文化为载体实现世界范围内的剥削和掠夺。这不仅不能推动社会各领域的协调发展，反而会逐渐使文化成为阻碍生产力进一步发展的新的桎梏。因此，我们只有确立、巩固和发展文化主体性，造就文化意义上的坚定自我，才能真正发挥文化所具有的教化众生、统合社会的重要功能，发挥文化所具有的推动社会经济发展的重要作用，从而统筹推进“五位一体”总体布局，推动文化与社会的协调发展，推动中国特色社会主义事业的全面进步。

The Ideological and Cultural Traditions Accumulated in the History of the Chinese Nation

中华民族历史积淀的思想文化传统

Historical materialism opposes economic determinism. While emphasizing that the superstructure exerts an important counteractive force on the economic base and that the various factors of the superstructure influence one another, it also attaches importance to the relative independence possessed by forms of social consciousness. Engels pointed out that philosophy and other “higher ideologies, that is, such as are still more remote from the material economic base,” while being conditioned by the economic base, also contain a series of intellectual resources and historical traditions handed down by predecessors. “Every philosophy, however, as a definite sphere of division of labor, has as its premise certain thought material handed down to it by its predecessors, from which it takes its start.” [1]1 See Friedrich Engels, “Letter to Conrad Schmidt,” October 27, 1890, in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *Selected Works* (in three volumes), vol. 3 (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2012), p. 428. [2] Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage,” June 2, 2023. Therefore, the full content of these specific thought materials cannot be simplistically interpreted in an economic-determinist manner. Instead, one must recognize that forms of social consciousness possess relative independence, and that different countries and nations each have unique ideological and cultural content accumulated from their different historical and cultural traditions.

历史唯物主义反对经济决定论，在强调上层建筑对经济基础有重要的反作用、强调上层建筑诸因素之间相互影响的同时，重视社会意识形式所具有的相对独立性。恩格斯指出，哲学等“更高地悬浮于空中的意识形态的领域”在受到经济基础制约的同时，也存在着一系列由前人所流传下来的思想资源和历史传统，“每一个时代的哲学作为分工的一个特定的领域，都具有由它的先驱传给它而它便由此出发的特定的思想材料作为前提”。所以，不能以经济决定论的方式简单地来解读这些特定思想材料的全部内涵，而是应看到社会意识形式有相对独立性，不同国家和民族都有不同历史文化传统所积淀下来的特有的思想文化内容。

Xi Jinping Thought on Culture deeply grasps the “five prominent features” of Chinese civilization, emphasizes the need to profoundly understand the great significance of the “Two Integrations,” and points out that the “Second Integration” is another ideological emancipation. It inherits and develops the historical materialist view on the relative independence of culture, forming a deep understanding of Chinese civilization and fine traditional Chinese culture. While the degree of cultural prosperity is conditioned by the economic base, culture can also achieve its own renewal and succession based on relative independence. Over the course of a million years of human history, ten thousand years of cultural history, and more than five thousand years of civilization history, the Chinese nation has accumulated its own unique civilizational and cultural content, forming a Chinese civilization characterized by continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peace. It continuously builds the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation with fine traditional Chinese culture.

习近平文化思想深刻把握中华文明的“五个突出特性”，强调要深刻理解“两个结合”的重大意义，指明“第二个结合”是又一次的思想解放，继承并发展了历史唯物主义关于文化所具有的相对独立性的观点，形成了对中华文明和中华优秀传统文化的深入理解。在文化繁荣程度受到经济基础制约的同时，文化也会基于相对独立性实现自身的更新演替。中华民族在百万年的人类史、一万年的文化史、五千多年的文明史进程中，积淀了自己独特的文明和文化内容，形成了以连续性、创新性、统一性、包容性、和平性为突出特性的中华文明，不断以中华优秀传统文化构筑着中华民族共有的精神家园。

Therefore, to continuously open up new horizons in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and to steadily advance the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must not only attach importance to socioeconomic factors but also form a profound grasp of the relatively independent ideological and cultural traditions. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: “Only by comprehensively and deeply understanding the history of Chinese civilization can we more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, more forcefully advance the cultural construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.” [2] Only by accurately grasping the prominent features of Chinese civilization can we understand the inherent compatibility between fine traditional Chinese culture and the basic tenets of Marxism, and see the inevitable result of their mutual integration and mutual achievement. Marxism has activated the genes of Chinese civilization with the light of truth, while fine traditional Chinese culture has enriched the cultural life of Marxism, ultimately giving birth to a new cultural life-form in their mutual achievement. Further, this determines that to shoulder the new cultural mission, we must take the “Two Integrations,” especially the “Second Integration,” as the fundamental guideline. Based on the unique historical and cultural traditions constructed by the relative independence of culture, we must continuously promote the deep integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture, thereby creating a new culture belonging to our era and building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. This is both a full inheritance and application of the basic principles of historical materialism and a further development and advancement of historical materialism.

因此，不断开辟马克思主义中国化时代化新境界，推进中国特色社会主义道路行稳致远，决不能仅仅重视社会经济因素，同时也要对具有相对独立性的思想文化传统形成深刻把握。习近平总书记指出：“只有全面深入了解中华文明的历史，才能更有效地推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展，更有力地推进中国特色社会主义文化建设，建设中华民族现代文明。”也只有基于对中华文明突出特性的准确把握，我们才能理解中华优秀传统文化与马克思主义基本原理之间的内在契合性，看到两者彼此结合、互相成就的必然结果。马克思主义以真理之光激活了中华文明的基因，中华优秀传统文化也充实了马克思主义的文化生命，最终在两者的互相成就中造就新的文化生命体。进一步来说，这也就决定了担负新的文化使命必须以“两个结合”尤其是“第二个结合”为根本遵循，以文化的相对独立性所构筑的独特历史文化传统为基础，持续推进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的深入结合，从而创造属于我们这个时代的新文化，建设中华民族现代文明。这既是对历史唯物主义基本原理的充分继承和运用，也是对历史唯物主义的进一步发展和发扬。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗