Striving to Construct China’s Autonomous Knowledge System

Proposing distinctive concepts is both a condition for theoretical and ideological innovation and a marker of innovative thought and theory. The National Conference on Propaganda, Ideology, and Cultural Work, held from October 7 to 8, 2023, first proposed and systematically elaborated Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. [1]1 Xi Jinping, “Speech at a Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences,” May 17, 2016. Xi Jinping Thought on Culture contains a series of distinctive concepts, which also serve as markers of its innovativeness. Among them, “China’s autonomous knowledge system” is one of the representative distinctive concepts in Xi Jinping Thought on Culture.

Profoundly Embodying the Objective Requirements of China’s Cultural Development

Being adept at understanding Chinese civilization from a historical perspective and emphasizing the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture are notable features of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. Ancient China not only created a splendid material civilization and institutional civilization but also produced a unique knowledge system reflecting that civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out: “In the course of civilization development spanning more than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation created world-renowned scientific and technological achievements. Our ancestors formed a systematic knowledge system in fields such as agriculture, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics, and produced a large number of inventions and creations represented by the Four Great Inventions.” [2]2 Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, formally articulated at the National Conference on Propaganda and Cultural Work in October 2023. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, China had formed a knowledge system centered on the “Six Arts” [3] and structured around the basic framework of the “Four Categories” of classics, histories, masters, and collections. [4] However, after the Opium War, [5] China suffered the impact of Western culture in terms of ideology and culture. Among these, the traditional knowledge system bore the brunt and faced a crisis of disintegration. Especially after the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, [6] aligning with Western scholarship became the mainstream view in China’s intellectual circles, initiating a transformative shift in the knowledge system. General Secretary Xi Jinping, summarizing this historical process, stated: After the Opium War, “our country and nation experienced a bitter and unforgettable history, and traditional Chinese thought and culture underwent the pains of drastic transformation. In seeking strategies for national salvation and survival, Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan, Yan Fu, and others turned their gaze to the West, from ‘learning from the barbarians to control them’ to ‘Chinese learning as the essence, Western learning for practical use,’ from the Westernization Movement to the New Culture Movement. [7] Western philosophy and social sciences were translated and introduced into China, and many began to use modern social science methods to study China’s social problems, gradually leading to the development of various disciplines of social science in China.”

After the Opium War, China objectively faced the task of reconstructing its knowledge system. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, modern Western philosophy and social science knowledge were established within China’s educational system, and various disciplines of philosophy and social science gradually began to be established and developed in China. However, the knowledge based on these disciplines failed to adequately explain or solve China’s problems and did not complete the task of reconstructing China’s knowledge system.

The concept of “China’s autonomous knowledge system” proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping directly addresses this historical task of reconstruct

Since modern times, the West has achieved global expansion through its gunboats and steel. Consequently, Western knowledge, built on the foundation of Western historical development, has gradually formed a global discursive hegemony. On the one hand, the West believes that its own experience and knowledge system are universally applicable, generating a strong sense of cultural superiority when confronting the non-Western world. This has given rise to the "Western-centrism" and the "end of history" thesis within Western intellectual circles, which explain human history and future development, as well as "Orientalism," which interprets and constructs the future development of the non-Western world based on these paradigms of thought. On the other hand, because the non-Western world is relatively backward and passive compared to the West, it has been difficult for the non-Western world itself to produce its own knowledge system, or to form a knowledge system capable of guiding itself toward a better future. Consequently, in some non-Western worlds, a paradigm of thought has also emerged that uses Western knowledge to interpret and regulate their own future development.

The concept of an "independent Chinese knowledge system" within Xi Jinping Thought on Culture scientifically resolves the problem of how to handle the relationship with the Western knowledge system in the process of constructing a Chinese knowledge system. Since modern times, Chinese intellectual circles have had to confront the question of how to treat the Western knowledge system. However, due to historical limitations, the intellectual circles of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China never truly resolved the issue of their relationship with the Western knowledge system in their practice of constructing a Chinese knowledge system. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, and especially since reform and opening up, along with the historic success of the practice of Chinese-path modernization, the concept of an "independent Chinese knowledge system" has scientifically answered the major question of how to view and handle the Western knowledge system. This concept first emphasizes taking China as the foundation, putting ourselves first, and constructing a knowledge system that reflects China's actual conditions, absolutely refraining from copying the Western knowledge system wholesale

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “The positive achievements of philosophy and social sciences in all countries of the world can serve as beneficial nourishment for philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics.” [1]1 Xi Jinping, “Speech at a Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences,” May 17, 2016. It can be seen that the concept of an “independent Chinese knowledge system” does not reject the Western knowledge system. On the contrary, this concept emphasizes the borrowing and absorption of the reasonable components within the Western knowledge system. In the practical process of moving toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Chinese nation has blazed a new path that neither copies the Western knowledge system wholesale nor fails to absorb and draw upon all the achievements of civilization from human society. This determines that the “independent Chinese knowledge system” can well borrow and absorb all the excellent achievements of civilization created by all of humanity.

The “independent Chinese knowledge system” embodies a spirit of embracing the world with a broad mind. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “Only by solving the problems of the nation can we have a stronger ability to solve the problems of the world; only by summing up China’s practice well can we have a stronger ability to provide ideas and methods for solving the problems of the world.” “The Communist Party of China is a party that seeks happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and it is also a party that seeks progress for humanity and harmony for the world.” In the New Era, we must not only solve China’s practical problems by constructing an independent Chinese knowledge system, but also contribute Chinese wisdom to solving the “questions of the world.”

In summary, the “independent Chinese knowledge system” is an important identifying concept in Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. [2]2 Xi Jinping Thought on Culture is a component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, formally articulated at the National Conference on Propaganda and Cultural Work in October 2023. This concept not only embodies a profound summary of the laws of development of the Chinese knowledge system, but also reflects a deep insight into the construction of an independent Chinese knowledge system, and further manifests an accurate grasp of the trend of constructing a Chinese knowledge system against the backdrop of exchanges and mutual learning among human civilizations. In the New Era, Chinese philosophy and social science workers must consciously take answering the questions of China, the questions of the world, the questions of the people, and the questions of the times as their academic mission, and take manifesting China’s path, China’s governance, and China’s principles as their intellectual pursuit.

(The author is a professor at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC and director of the school journal editorial department.)

Online editor: Zhang Jian