Creating the Cultural Form of Chinese-Path Modernization

General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the important thesis of “persisting in integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation.” [1]1 This quotation is from Marx’s *Grundrisse* (1857–1858), where he discusses the civilizing mission of capital and its inherent contradictions. The Second Integration makes Marxism Chinese, makes the fine traditional Chinese culture modern, and makes the new culture formed through this integration the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. Creating the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization is a major proposition that highly unifies the spirit of the times with the national spirit, carrying significant political significance and profound theoretical connotations. Moreover, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the creative transformation and innovative development of the fine traditional Chinese culture, on integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture, on analyzing and discriminating among new research achievements in foreign Marxism, and on promoting the common values of all humanity, have opened up broad spaces for thought and culture for creating the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. These not only write a new chapter in Marxist cultural theory but also herald a new direction for the development of Chinese culture.

习近平总书记提出“坚持把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合、同中华优秀传统文化相结合”的重要论断。“第二个结合”让马克思主义成为中国的，中华优秀传统文化成为现代的，让经由“结合”而形成的新文化成为中国式现代化的文化形态。创造中国式现代化的文化形态是一个时代精神与民族精神高度统一的重要命题，具有重大的政治意义和深刻的学理内涵。不仅如此，习近平总书记关于中华优秀传统文化进行创造性转化和创新性发展、把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合、对国外马克思主义研究新成果有分析有鉴别、弘扬全人类共同价值的重要论述，为创造中国式现代化的文化形态开辟了广阔的思维空间和文化空间，不仅谱写了马克思主义文化理论的新篇章，而且昭示着中国文化发展的新方向。

The Theoretical Basis and Coordinate of Thought for the Cultural Form of Chinese-Path Modernization

中国式现代化的文化形态的理论依据和思维坐标

Theoretically, the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization is rooted in Marxism and the fine traditional Chinese culture. When Marxism was founded, its main intellectual sources were German classical philosophy, British classical political economy, and French utopian socialist doctrines, which inevitably bore a certain Western cultural coloring to some extent. Chinese Marxists cannot remain at the Western intellectual sources at the time of Marxism’s founding; they should integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture to expand the cultural connotations of Marxism, thereby enabling the Chinese people to identify with Marxism not only scientifically but also culturally.

从理论上看，中国式现代化的文化形态根源于马克思主义和中华优秀传统文化。马克思主义创立时的主要思想来源是德国古典哲学、英国古典政治经济学、法国空想社会主义学说，不可避免地在一定程度上具有西方文化色彩。中国的马克思主义者不能停留在马克思主义创立时的西方思想来源上，而应当把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，以拓展马克思主义的文化内涵，从而使中国人民不仅从科学上认同马克思主义，而且从文化上认同马克思主义。

The integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture is not based on an abstract “must,” but rather on the real possibility of such integration. This possibility lies in the common points and points of convergence between Marxism and the fine traditional Chinese culture. Marx pointed out: “Chinese socialism has as much in common with European socialism as Chinese philosophy has with Hegelian philosophy.” [2]2 This statement was made by Xi Jinping in his address at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in 2015, articulating a vision of shared global values. The relationship between the fine traditional Chinese culture and Marxism is the same; there are likewise “common points” between them. It is precisely these “common points” that make Marxism and the fine traditional Chinese culture “mutually compatible.” General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Marxism and the fine traditional Chinese culture have different origins, but there is a high degree of compatibility between them.” [3]3 This is a direct quote from Xi Jinping, frequently used to justify the theoretical basis for the “Second Integration.” This “high degree of compatibility” is precisely the theoretical premise and theoretical basis for integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture, and it is the inherent stipulation that enables the fine traditional Chinese culture to be integrated with the basic tenets of Marxism. That is to say, integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture is not only necessary but also possible.

把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合不是建立在抽象的“必须”上，而是确实存在着这种结合的可能性，这种可能性就在于：马克思主义和中华优秀传统文化之间存在着共同之点、契合之处。马克思指出：“中国的社会主义跟欧洲的社会主义象中国哲学跟黑格尔哲学一样具有共同之点”。中华优秀传统文化和马克思主义的关系同样如此，二者之间同样具有“共同之点”。正是这种“共同之点”使马克思主义和中华优秀传统文化“彼此契合”。习近平总书记指出：“马克思主义和中华优秀传统文化来源不同，但彼此存在高度的契合性。”这种“高度的契合性”正是把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合的理论前提、理论依据，是中华优秀传统文化能够同马克思主义基本原理相结合的内在规定性。这就是说，把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，不仅具有必要性，而且具有可能性。

Overall, traditional Chinese culture focuses on moral principles and ethical order, emphasizing the regulation of relationships between people. Society, in essence, is precisely the relationships between people, especially the relations of production. As Marx stated, “The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness.” [4]4 This is a paraphrase of Marx’s formulation from the Preface to *A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy*. The sum total of relations of production constitutes what is called social relations, constitutes what is called society, and constitutes a society at a specific stage of historical development with unique characteristics. The essence of man, in its reality, is the totality of social relations. This means that human ethical relationships are universal relationships in human society. Precisely because of this, certain rules within traditional Chinese culture have a universal aspect. Moreover, the greater the temporal distance of traditional Chinese culture from the feudal system it once upheld, the weaker its ideological nature becomes, and the more prominent the practical significance of the universal viewpoints it contains becomes.

从总体上看，中国传统文化关注的是道德原则和伦理秩序，重在调整人与人之间的关系，而社会本质上就是人与人之间的关系，尤其是生产关系。正如马克思所说，“生产关系总和起来就构成所谓社会关系，构成所谓社会，并且是构成一个处于一定历史发展阶段上的社会，具有独特的特征的社会”，而人的本质在其现实性上就是社会关系的总和。这就是说，人伦关系是人类社会中的普遍关系。正因如此，中国传统文化中的某些规则就具有普遍性的一面，而且中国传统文化离它所维护的封建制度的时间距离越远，它的意识形态性质就越弱，它所蕴含的具有普遍性观点的现实意义也就越凸显。

Therefore, with the decline of the feudal system and the establishment of the socialist system, the possibility of transforming traditional Chinese culture into an object of study, conducting scientific research and cultural critique on it, and achieving an objective understanding of it becomes greater. On this premise, the possibility of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture also becomes greater. Spiritual production differs from material production. Species continuation using genes as genetic material involves reproduction within the same species, whereas spiritual production and cultural creation can form new cultural forms by absorbing, digesting, and recreating the rational elements of different cultural forms. Just as inbreeding is detrimental to the development of a species, a vibrant cultural form must be a cultural life entity that breaks through a single cultural form, draws on the strengths of many, and innovates.

因此，随着封建制度的衰亡和社会主义制度的建立，把中国传统文化转化为研究对象，对它进行科学研究、文化批判，达到对它客观理解的可能性也就越大。以此为前提，把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合的可能性也就越大。精神生产不同于物质生产。以基因为遗传物质的物种延续是同种相生，而精神生产、文化创造则可以通过对不同文化形态合理因素的吸收、消化和再创造，造就新的文化形态。正像亲缘繁殖不利于物种的发育一样，一种富有生命力的文化形态一定是突破了单一的文化形态、博采众长而创新的文化生命体。

However, Marxism and traditional Chinese culture were after all produced in different eras, possessing different cultural characteristics and social functions. Specifically, Marxism is a product of modern industrial production methods and the market economy, a theory concerning the liberation of the proletariat and humanity. In contrast, traditional Chinese culture, dominated by Confucian doctrine, is a product of ancient agricultural production methods and the natural economy, and overall served to maintain the feudal system. Therefore, to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture, it is necessary to scientifically analyze traditional Chinese culture and distinguish the essence from the dross. Traditional culture itself possesses a dual nature: it has both outdated aspects and excellent aspects. The dual nature of traditional culture in terms of content determines its dual role in social development: the outdated aspects can hinder social development, so social progress inevitably manifests as the transformation of traditional dross; the excellent aspects condense the wisdom of a nation over generations, so social progress inevitably includes the inheritance of excellent traditional culture, along with its creative transformation and innovative development.

但是，马克思主义与中国传统文化毕竟产生于不同的时代，具有不同的文化特征和社会功能。具体地说，马克思主义是现代工业生产方式、市场经济的产物，是关于无产阶级和人类解放的学说，而以儒家学说为主导的中国传统文化则是古代农业生产方式、自然经济的产物，在总体上是维护封建制度的。因此，把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，就必须对中国传统文化进行科学分析，分清精华与糟粕。传统文化本身就具有二重性：既有陈旧的方面，又有优秀的方面。传统文化在内容上的二重性决定了其在社会发展中具有双重作用：陈旧的方面会阻碍社会发展，所以，社会进步必然表现为对传统糟粕的变革；优秀的方面凝聚着一个民族世世代代的智慧，所以，社会进步又必然包含着对优秀传统文化的继承，并对之进行创造性转化、创新性发展。

The crux of the matter is: what to criticize and what to inherit from traditional Chinese culture, what to transform and what to develop from the fine traditional Chinese culture, what to integrate and how to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture—this depends neither on Marxist theory itself nor on the fine traditional Chinese culture itself, but on the practice of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities. Today, it depends on the practice of Chinese-path modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “During its formation and development, traditional culture was inevitably constrained and influenced by the cognitive levels, conditions of the times, and social systems of the people of that era, and therefore inevitably contains elements that are outdated or have become dross. This requires people, when studying, researching, and applying traditional culture, to adhere to the principle of making the past serve the present, weeding through the old to bring forth the new, and making correct choices based on new practices and the requirements of the times.” [5]5 This is a direct quote from Xi Jinping, emphasizing the need for a practical, critical approach to traditional culture. This means we should take the practice of Chinese-path modernization as our coordinate of thought, distinguish the excellent aspects from the outdated aspects of traditional Chinese culture, and then seek out those elements of the fine traditional Chinese culture that share common points and points of convergence with the basic tenets of Marxism. We should then carry out creative transformation and innovative development of these elements, enabling the organic combination and integration of the two. Such a cultural form, which integrates the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture, will inevitably be a new, organically unified cultural life entity. This new cultural life entity is precisely the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization.

问题在于，对中国传统文化批判什么、继承什么，对中华优秀传统文化转化什么、发展什么，马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化结合什么、如何结合，这既不取决于马克思主义理论本身，也不取决于中华优秀传统文化本身，而是取决于马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合的实践，在今天，就是取决于中国式现代化的实践。习近平总书记指出：“传统文化在其形成和发展过程中，不可避免会受到当时人们的认识水平、时代条件、社会制度的局限性的制约和影响，因而也不可避免会存在陈旧过时或已成为糟粕性的东西。这就要求人们在学习、研究、应用传统文化时坚持古为今用、推陈出新，结合新的实践和时代要求进行正确取舍”。这就是说，我们应以中国式现代化的实践为思维坐标，分清中国传统文化中优秀的方面与陈旧的方面，进而寻找那些与马克思主义基本原理具有共同之点、契合之处的中华优秀传统文化，并对之进行创造性转化、创新性发展，使二者有机结合、融为一体。这样一种把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化融为一体的文化形态，必然是一种有机统一的新的文化生命体，这种新的文化生命体就是中国式现代化的文化形态。

The Cultural Form of Chinese-Path Modernization and the Absorption of New Research Achievements in Foreign Marxism

中国式现代化的文化形态与吸收国外马克思主义研究新成果

Integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture to create the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization does not mean rejecting contemporary world Marxism and its cultural theories outright. On the contrary, it involves absorbing their rational elements with analysis and discrimination.

把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，创造中国式现代化的文化形态并不是一概排斥当代世界马克思主义及其文化理论，而是有分析、有鉴别地吸收其中的合理因素。

Historically, modernization was undoubtedly initiated by the Western bourgeoisie, and to date, the countries that have achieved modernization are basically capitalist countries. Therefore, modernization and capitalization have a historical overlap. Temporally, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of an Eastern country carried out after the modernization of Western countries. Spatially, Chinese-path modernization is a socialist modernization coexisting with capitalist modernization. Capitalist modernization has historical progressiveness and once “produced the great civilizing effect of capital,” but the fundamental purpose of capitalist modernization is the formation and expansion of capital; “all the progress of civilization … does not enrich the worker but capital, i.e., it increases the power that dominates labor.” [1]1 This quotation is from Marx’s *Grundrisse* (1857–1858), where he discusses the civilizing mission of capital and its inherent contradictions. To build Chinese-path modernization and create its cultural form, it is necessary to understand and grasp the historical process and development trends of capitalist modernization, to understand the historical contributions and essential limitations of capitalist modernization and its culture, and to deepen research on contemporary capitalism. A very important characteristic of contemporary world Marxist trends is that many of their proponents critically reveal the structural contradictions of capitalism, as well as its contradictions in the mode of production, class contradictions, and social contradictions, and conduct in-depth analyses of capitalist crises, the evolutionary process of capitalism, and the new forms and essence of capitalism. These views help us correctly understand the development trends and fate of capitalism, accurately grasp the new changes and new features of contemporary capitalism, and deepen our understanding of the changing trends of contemporary capitalism. We must pay close attention to and study new achievements in foreign Marxist research, analyzing and discriminating among them, neither adopting a wholesale rejectionist attitude nor engaging in wholesale copying.

从历史上看，现代化无疑是西方资产阶级发动的，而且到目前为止，已经实现现代化的国家基本上都是资本主义国家。因此，现代化与资本主义化具有历史重合性。从时间上看，中国式现代化是继西方国家的现代化之后进行的东方国家的现代化。从空间上看，中国式现代化是与资本主义现代化并存的社会主义现代化。资本主义现代化具有历史的进步性，曾“产生了资本的伟大的文明作用”，但资本主义现代化的根本目的是资本的形成和增殖，资本主义“文明的一切进步……都不会使工人致富，而只会使资本致富，也就是只会使支配劳动的权力更加增大”。建设中国式现代化，创造中国式现代化的文化形态，需要了解、把握资本主义现代化的历史进程及其发展趋势，需要了解资本主义现代化及其文化的历史贡献和本质局限，需要加深对当代资本主义的研究。而当代世界马克思主义思潮，一个很重要的特点就是他们中很多人对资本主义结构性矛盾以及生产方式矛盾、阶级矛盾、社会矛盾等进行了批判性揭示，对资本主义危机、资本主义演进过程、资本主义新形态及本质进行了深入分析。这些观点有助于我们正确认识资本主义发展趋势和命运，准确把握当代资本主义新变化新特征，加深对当代资本主义变化趋势的理解。对国外马克思主义研究新成果，我们要密切关注和研究，有分析、有鉴别，既不能采取一概排斥的态度，也不能搞全盘照搬。

Overall, a notable feature of contemporary world Marxist trends is their cultural critique of capitalist society. In the history of Marxist development, the first to concentrate on a cultural critique of capitalism was Western Marxism. Based on certain Marxist theories and in light of certain changes in contemporary capitalism, Western Marxism interprets the social crisis of the West as a crisis of Western modernity, and further interprets the crisis of Western modernity as a deep-seated cultural crisis. From this, it launches a cultural critique of contemporary capitalism, and this cultural critique runs through basic social fields such as politics and economics, forming a unique theory of cultural critique. The theory of cultural critique has thus become a notable feature of contemporary world Marxist trends.

从总体上看，当代世界马克思主义思潮的一个显著特征就是对资本主义社会进行文化批判。在马克思主义发展史上，首先集中对资本主义进行文化批判的，就是西方马克思主义。西方马克思主义依据马克思主义的一些理论，根据当代资本主义的一些变化，把西方的社会危机理解为西方现代性的危机，把西方现代性的危机又理解为一种深层的文化危机，由此展开对当代资本主义的文化批判，而且这种文化批判贯穿在政治、经济等社会的基本领域，形成了一种独特的文化批判理论。文化批判理论由此成为当代世界马克思主义思潮的一个显著特征。

Although the cultural critique theory of Western Marxism has various defects, and even deviates from Marxist cultural theory in some respects, its critique of the bourgeois “cultural hegemony” and its emphasis on the proletariat’s “cultural leadership”; its analysis of “mass culture” in capitalist society and its critique of the “culture industry”; its analysis of the “character structure” of people in capitalist society and its critique of the “psychological mechanism of escape from freedom”; its analysis of working-class culture in capitalist society and its critique of “mainstream culture”; as well as the postcolonial Marxist analysis of the “complicit” relationship between Western modern culture and imperialism and its critique of cultural colonialism and “cultural imperialism”—all of these are enlightening for deepening our understanding of the essential characteristics of Western modernization and its cultural form. At the same time, they can also inspire us to more profoundly understand the world-historical significance of Chinese-path modernization and the creation of its cultural form. In this process, we must also localize the foreign culture of new achievements in foreign Marxist research.

尽管西方马克思主义的文化批判理论有这样或那样的缺陷，甚至在某些方面偏离了马克思主义文化理论，但它对资产阶级“文化霸权”的批判和对无产阶级“文化领导权”的强调，对资本主义社会“大众文化”的分析和对“文化工业”的批判，对资本主义社会人的“性格结构”的分析和对“逃避自由的心理机制”的批判，对资本主义社会工人阶级文化的分析和对“主流文化”的批判，以及后殖民主义的马克思主义对西方现代文化与帝国主义“共谋”关系的分析和对文化殖民主义、“文化帝国主义”的批判等等，对于我们加深对西方现代化及其文化形态本质特征的认识具有重要的启示性。同时，也能启发我们更深刻地理解中国式现代化和创造中国式现代化的文化形态的世界历史意义。在这个过程中，我们又必须使国外马克思主义研究新成果这一外来文化本土化。

The Cultural Form of Chinese-Path Modernization and the Manifestation of the Common Values of All Humanity

中国式现代化的文化形态与彰显全人类的共同价值

Integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture to create the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization does not mean rejecting the common values of all humanity; on the contrary, it must reflect, embody, and manifest the common values of all humanity. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: “Peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom are the common values of all humanity.” [2]2 This statement was made by Xi Jinping in his address at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in 2015, articulating a vision of shared global values. In the contemporary era, for any nation’s culture to truly occupy an important position in the world cultural landscape and truly become a world culture, it must not only reflect, embody, and manifest its own values but also reflect, embody, and manifest the common values of all humanity. Marxism is profound and extensive; in the final analysis, it comes down to one sentence: seeking liberation for humanity. As a theory of human liberation, Marxism itself reflects, embodies, and manifests the common values of all humanity.

把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，创造中国式现代化的文化形态并不是排斥全人类的共同价值，相反，要反映、体现、彰显全人类的共同价值。习近平总书记指出：“和平、发展、公平、正义、民主、自由，是全人类的共同价值”。在当代，任何一个民族的文化要真正在世界文化版图中占据重要位置，真正成为一种世界文化，就不仅要反映、体现、彰显自身的价值，而且要反映、体现、彰显全人类的共同价值。马克思主义博大精深，归根到底就是一句话，为人类求解放。作为关于人类解放的学说，马克思主义本身就反映、体现、彰显了全人类的共同价值。

That is to say, integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture to create the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization should not only reflect, embody, and manifest the core values of the Chinese nation and the essential characteristics of socialism but also reflect, embody, and manifest the common values of all humanity. In the contemporary era, with the informatization of science and technology, the networking of communication, and economic globalization, although humanity lives in a world composed of different cultures, races, skin colors, religions, and social systems, a community with a shared future for mankind has formed in which we are all intertwined. In such a community with a shared future, not only a world market exists, but also a world culture and the common values of all humanity have taken shape. Integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture to create the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization is both rooted in China’s reality and simultaneously promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind; it inevitably must reflect, embody, and manifest the common values of all humanity, thereby creating a new form of human civilization.

这就是说，把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，创造中国式现代化的文化形态不仅应当反映、体现、彰显中华民族的核心价值和社会主义的本质特征，而且应当反映、体现、彰显全人类的共同价值。在当代，随着科学技术信息化、交往网络化、经济全球化，虽然人类生活在不同文化、种族、肤色、宗教和不同社会制度所组成的世界里，但形成了你中有我、我中有你的命运共同体。在这样一个命运共同体中，不仅存在着世界市场，而且形成了世界文化，形成了全人类的共同价值。把马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化相结合，创造中国式现代化的文化形态，既立足中国实际，同时又推动构建人类命运共同体，它必然要反映、体现、彰显全人类的共同价值，从而创造人类文明新形态。

Culture can consolidate the common interests of a country and the ideal pursuits of a nation, generate strong appeal and centripetal force, and thus unite the entire social force. For socialism, cultural construction is of extreme importance. The power of culture is deeply forged into the vitality, creativity, and cohesion of a nation. In the New Era, we must shoulder new cultural missions, create the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization, build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, and create a new form of human civilization.

文化能够凝聚国家的共同利益和民族的理想追求，能够形成强烈的感召力和向心力，从而使整个社会力量凝聚起来。对于社会主义来说，文化建设具有极端重要性。文化的力量深深地熔铸在民族的生命力、创造力和凝聚力之中。在新时代，我们必须担负新的文化使命，创造中国式现代化的文化形态，建设中华民族现代文明，创造人类文明新形态。

(The author is a member of the Academic Committee of the Ministry of Education’s Social Science Committee and a professor at Beijing Normal University)

（作者系教育部社会科学委员会学部委员、北京师范大学教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心