“The Second Integration” Consolidates the Cultural Foundation of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “the Second Integration” is another ideological emancipation, enabling us to fully utilize the precious resources of fine traditional Chinese culture within a broader cultural space to explore theoretical and institutional innovations oriented toward the future. General Secretary Xi’s important discourse points the way forward for continuing to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and for continuously developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era on the new journey. In the process of Chinese-path modernization promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, “the Two Integrations” provide directional guidance and effective pathways for the continuous development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. In particular, “the Second Integration” strengthens cultural confidence, advances cultural consciousness, and opens up the direction forward; it is the “only way” to continuously develop socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.

习近平总书记强调，“第二个结合”是又一次的思想解放，让我们能够在更广阔的文化空间中，充分运用中华优秀传统文化的宝贵资源，探索面向未来的理论和制度创新。习近平总书记的重要论述，为我们在新时代新征程继续推进马克思主义中国化时代化、不断发展新时代中国特色社会主义文化指明了前进方向。中国式现代化推动中华民族伟大复兴过程中，“两个结合”为不断发展新时代中国特色社会主义文化提供了方向指导和有效路径，尤其是“第二个结合”，坚定了文化自信，推进了文化自觉，开拓了前进方向，是不断发展新时代中国特色社会主义文化“必由之路”。

Continuing the “Root” of Fine Traditional Chinese Culture

赓续中华优秀传统文化“根脉”

Civilization is like a river, flowing from history to the present. Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era originates from the fine traditional Chinese culture nurtured by the more than five thousand years of Chinese civilization. At the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development, General Secretary Xi distilled the “five prominent features” of Chinese civilization, with “continuity” ranked first. [1]1 The “five prominent features” of Chinese civilization, as articulated by Xi Jinping at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development on June 2, 2023, are continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peaceful nature. If we do not understand China from the perspective of its long-standing historical continuity, it is impossible to comprehend ancient China, modern China, or future China. Looking back over the five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilization, the people and their subjects in each era bear the cultural imprint of their time and have consciously inherited the historical and cultural traditions of the nation. In particular, the cultural essence and spiritual symbols that have withstood the test of time and the sifting of the waves, with their robust vitality, are integrated into people’s daily practices, leading the nation’s civilization to flourish unceasingly.

文明如江河，从历史流向现代。新时代中国特色社会主义文化，源自中华民族五千多年文明历史所孕育的中华优秀传统文化。在文化传承发展座谈会上，习近平总书记提炼出中华文明的“五个突出特性”，其中“连续性”居于首位。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。纵观中华五千年文明史，每个时代的人及其主体，都有他们那个时代的文化烙印，也自觉传承了民族的历史的文化传统，尤其是经时代检验、大浪淘沙的文化精髓和精神标识，以其强劲的生命力，融入人们的日用常行之中，引领民族文明生生不息。

The essence of culture is not the materialization of human intelligence but the use of “culture” to transform people, emphasizing the stimulation of people’s subjective creative power. Civilization is the product of culture reaching a certain stage and degree of development; it is the totality of cultural factors and elements that embody human progress, rationality, and science. People of different eras create and generate civilization, which is also the inheritance and promotion of advanced culture. “The Second Integration” assists in the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era; it is the continuation and inheritance of Chinese civilization and Chinese culture, essentially embodying cultural confidence. “Cultural confidence” is the conscious reflection, conscious experience, and conscious evaluation of the essence and spiritual symbols of national culture; it is the conscious inheritance of fine national traditional culture and the conscious correction of national cultural dross. It embodies the unity of national subjectivity and cultural subjectivity, the unity of national cultural inheritance and critique, and the unity of the creative transformation and innovative development of fine national culture.

文化的本质并非人的智能的物化，而是以“文”“化”人，强调激发人的主体性创造力量；文明则是文化发展到一定阶段、一定程度的产物，是体现人类进步性、科学性和理性的文化因素要素的整体。不同时代的人们创生创造文明，也就是在传承和弘扬先进文化。“第二个结合”助力新时代中国特色社会主义文化建设，是对中华文明、中华文化的赓续与传承，本质上体现的是文化自信。“文化自信”是对民族文化精髓和精神标识的自觉反思、自觉体验和自觉评价，是对民族优秀传统文化的自觉传承、对民族文化糟粕的自觉修正，体现着民族主体性与文化主体性相统一、民族文化继承性与批判性相统一以及民族优秀文化创造性转化和创新性发展相统一。

“The Second Integration” is a full recognition and comprehension of the development of Chinese civilization over more than five thousand years. Chinese culture, with its long history and profound depth, is a cultural ecosystem forged by the people of all ethnic groups in China through arduous exchanges and collisions based on the requirements of the times. It displays the deepest life wisdom and most unique spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation. The many elements and components contained in fine traditional Chinese culture—such as “advocating benevolence, valuing the people, keeping good faith, upholding justice, promoting harmony, and seeking common ground,” [2]2 This phrase is a condensed formulation of traditional Chinese ethical and political values, often cited in official discourse to summarize the essence of fine traditional Chinese culture. “the social ideal of a world for all and great harmony,” “the governance thought of the people as the foundation of the state and ruling with virtue,” “the tradition of unity under a single center and diversity within unity across the nine provinces,” [3]3 “Nine provinces” (九州) is a classical term for the territories of ancient China, used here to denote the entire realm. and “the family-nation sentiment of cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and pacifying the world, with a sense of responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation” [4]4 “Cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and pacifying the world” (修齐治平) is a Confucian ideal from the *Great Learning* (《大学》). “Rise and fall of the nation” (兴亡有责) alludes to a famous saying by the Ming-Qing scholar Gu Yanwu: “The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of every individual” (天下兴亡，匹夫有责).—are the “root” and “source” of the Chinese nation, the crystallization of its wisdom and spiritual home, and the solid foundation for the Chinese nation to stand firm amid the turbulence of world cultures. Without the profound and extensive Chinese culture, it would have been impossible to nurture and give birth to the brilliant ancient Chinese civilization. Without constructing China’s modern revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture on the basis of inheriting and developing fine traditional Chinese culture, contemporary China could not have achieved the historical leap from “standing up” and “becoming prosperous” to “becoming strong.” Therefore, “Chinese civilization, having lasted for thousands of years without interruption and enduring repeated hardships without decline, is a miracle of human civilization and the source of our confidence. To strengthen cultural confidence is to insist on taking our own path.”

“第二个结合”是对中华民族五千多年文明发展的充分体认和感悟。中国文化源远流长、博大精深，是中华各族人民基于时代要求，历经千辛万苦地交流碰撞而铸就的文化生态系统，展现了中华民族最深沉的生命智慧和最独特的精神气质。中华优秀传统文化蕴涵的诸多元素与要素，如“讲仁爱、重民本、守诚信、崇正义、尚和合、求大同”，“天下为公、天下大同的社会理想”“民为邦本、为政以德的治理思想”“九州共贯、多元一体的大一统传统”“修齐治平、兴亡有责的家国情怀”等，是中华民族的“根”和“源”，是中华民族的智慧结晶和精神家园，是我们在世界文化激荡中站稳脚跟的坚实根基。如果没有博大精深的中华文化，就不可能孕育和诞生古代辉煌灿烂的中华文明；如果没有在传承和发展中华优秀传统文化基础上建构起中国近现代革命文化和社会主义先进文化，当代中国也不可能实现从“站起来”“富起来”到“强起来”的历史跨越，因此说，“中华文明历经数千年而绵延不绝、迭遭忧患而经久不衰，这是人类文明的奇迹，也是我们自信的底气。坚定文化自信，就是坚持走自己的路”。

Promoting the Modern Transformation of Fine Traditional Chinese Culture

推动中华优秀传统文化现代转化

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must continue the Chinese cultural lineage through creative transformation and innovative development. We must elevate the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation, and protect, promote, and develop the treasures of Chinese civilization that have endured through the vicissitudes of history.

习近平总书记强调，要在创造性转化和创新性发展中赓续中华文脉。高扬中华民族的文化主体性，把历经沧桑留下的中华文明瑰宝呵护好、弘扬好、发展好。

Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics is the creative transformation and innovative development of the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation. Traditional Chinese culture, formed over the long-term development of the Chinese nation and embodying its characteristics, contains cultural factors that nourished the traditional agricultural civilization of the Chinese nation, as well as advanced elements that transcend agricultural civilization. Among these, fine traditional Chinese culture consists of spiritual concepts, value ideas, modes of thinking, and psychological paradigms that, despite dynastic changes in China, still manifest the wisdom of the Chinese nation and propel its progress. The scientific attitude toward traditional Chinese culture is to inherit it critically and develop it dialectically, rationally promoting the modern transformation of fine traditional Chinese culture. This is “cultural consciousness.” It is a dialectical philosophy of culture that neither completely negates nor completely affirms, that both inherits and develops, and that both has confidence in its vitality and endows it with the vitality of the times.

中国特色社会主义文化是中华民族优秀传统文化的创造性转化和创新性发展。在中华民族长期发展过程中形成的、体现中华民族特性的中华传统文化，有滋养中华民族传统农耕文明的文化因素，也孕育着超越农耕文明的先进要素，其中的中华优秀传统文化，是历经中华民族朝代更迭却仍然能够彰显中华民族智慧、推进中华民族奋进的精神观念、价值理念、思维模式以及心理范型。对待中华传统文化的科学态度是批判地继承、辩证地发展，理性推动中华优秀传统文化的现代转化。这就是“文化自觉”。它是既不全盘否定也不全盘肯定、既传承又发展、既自信其生命力又赋予其时代活力的文化辩证哲学。

The Communist Party of China has always been the promoter and inheritor of fine traditional Chinese culture. The long-term historical practice of the Chinese Communists leading the Chinese people in revolution, construction, and reform has proven that “only by not forgetting the past can we open up the future, and only by being good at inheritance can we better innovate.” [5]5 This is a standard Party formulation, often used to emphasize the importance of historical continuity and inheritance in cultural and political work. Chinese Communists are neither historical nihilists nor cultural nihilists. In adhering to the scientific doctrine of Marxism and upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, they emphasize the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture.

中国共产党始终是中华优秀传统文化的弘扬者和传承者。中国共产党人带领中国人民进行革命、建设和改革的长期历史实践证明，“不忘本来才能开辟未来，善于继承才能更好创新”。中国共产党人不是历史虚无主义者，也不是文化虚无主义者，而且在坚持马克思主义的科学学说、坚持和发展中国特色社会主义中，注重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。

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “the Second Integration” makes Marxism Chinese and fine traditional Chinese culture modern, and makes the new culture formed through “integration” the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization. “The Second Integration” has realized the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and the Party’s consciousness in promoting cultural innovation through inheriting fine traditional Chinese culture has reached a new height. In the process of advancing the construction of a socialist cultural system with Chinese characteristics, Chinese Communists have endowed fine traditional Chinese culture with new connotations. The trans-temporal concepts of traditional culture have been given new interpretations, and Chinese culture has achieved a “through-connection” from the past to the present, that is, “creative transformation.” The “innovative development” of fine traditional Chinese culture means that, under the guidance of the core socialist values, the basic tenets of Marxism and fine traditional culture are integrated in both directions, forging a new cultural form of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, and traditional culture gains new life.

习近平总书记指出，“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。“第二个结合”实现了中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化和创新性发展，党在传承中华优秀传统文化中推进文化创新的自觉性达到了新高度。中国共产党人在推进建设中国特色社会主义文化体系过程中，赋予中华优秀传统文化以新内涵，传统文化超时代观念被赋予新阐释，中华文化实现了从过去到现在的“贯通”，也就是“创造性转化”；中华优秀传统文化的“创新性发展”，就是在社会主义核心价值观的引领下，马克思主义基本原理与优秀传统文化双向结合，凝铸出新时代中国特色社会主义的文化新形态，传统文化获得新生。

Adhering to the “Soul” of Marxism

坚守马克思主义的“魂脉”

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The major proposition of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times itself determines that we must never abandon the soul of Marxism, nor must we abandon the root of fine traditional Chinese culture. Adhering to this soul and root is the foundation and prerequisite for theoretical innovation.” [6]6 This quotation is from Xi Jinping’s speech at the Central Conference on Theoretical Work in 2023, as part of the broader discussion on “the Two Integrations.” The fundamental way to adhere to the “soul” and the “root” lies in “the Two Integrations.” In particular, driven by “the Second Integration,” the guiding position of Marxism as the mainstream ideology is increasingly consolidated, and the function of fine traditional Chinese culture as the ideological nourishment and spiritual source for the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics is increasingly prominent.

习近平总书记指出：“马克思主义中国化时代化这个重大命题本身就决定，我们决不能抛弃马克思主义这个魂脉，决不能抛弃中华优秀传统文化这个根脉。坚守好这个魂和根，是理论创新的基础和前提。”坚守“魂脉”和“根脉”的根本在于“两个结合”，尤其是在“第二个结合”推动下，马克思主义作为主流意识形态的指导地位越来越巩固，中华优秀传统文化作为中国特色社会主义文化建设思想滋养和精神之源的功能越来越凸显。

Marxism is the soul and banner of our Party. Marxism reveals the universal laws of the development of nature, human society, and human thought, pointing the direction for the progress and development of human society. It insists on realizing the liberation of the people and safeguarding the interests of the people, taking the free and comprehensive development of the individual and the complete liberation of all humanity as its mission, reflecting humanity’s beautiful longing for an ideal life. It reveals the essence, internal connections, and laws of development of things, serving as a scientific ideological weapon for observing the world and analyzing problems. It has a distinct practical character, not only committed to scientifically “interpreting the world” but also actively dedicated to “changing the world.”

马克思主义是我们党的灵魂和旗帜。马克思主义揭示了自然界、人类社会、人类思维发展的普遍规律，为人类社会发展进步指明了方向；坚持实现人民解放、维护人民利益，以实现人的自由而全面的发展和全人类解放为己任，反映了人类对理想生活的美好憧憬；揭示了事物的本质、内在联系和发展规律，是观察世界、分析问题的科学思想武器；具有鲜明的实践品格，不仅致力于科学“解释世界”，而且致力于积极“改变世界”。

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “In the history of human thought, no theory has had such a broad and profound impact on the progress of human civilization as Marxism.” Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology for the founding of our Party and the building of our country. The reason why the Communist Party of China has been able to accomplish the arduous tasks that no other political force in modern times could accomplish lies precisely in its consistent adherence to Marxism as its guide to action, its grasp of historical initiative, and its advancement of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. Marxism is the fundamental guide for the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It has contributed the wisdom of dialectics, the wisdom of the view on practice, the wisdom of the view on truth, and the wisdom of historical materialism to the Chinese people’s journey in modern times from poverty, cowardice, inferiority, humiliation, and oppression toward prosperity, courage, confidence, self-respect, and biding one’s time while building up strength.

习近平总书记指出：“在人类思想史上，还没有一种理论像马克思主义那样对人类文明进步产生了如此广泛而巨大的影响。”马克思主义是我们立党立国的根本指导思想。中国共产党之所以能够完成近代以来各种政治力量不能完成的艰巨任务，就在于始终把马克思主义作为行动指南，把握历史主动，推进马克思主义中国化时代化。马克思主义是中国特色社会主义道路的根本指导，为近代以来中国人民走出贫穷、走出懦弱、走出自卑、走出屈辱、走出压迫，走向富强、走向英勇、走向自信、走向自尊、走向韬光养晦，贡献了辩证法智慧、实践观智慧、真理观智慧和唯物史观智慧。

“The Second Integration” reveals the inherent necessity of upholding and developing Marxism under the system where Marxism serves as the fundamental guiding ideology in the ideological sphere. The basic tenets of Marxism are universal truths with eternal ideological value, but the classical Marxist writers did not exhaust the truth. The Chinese Communists “timely sum up the fresh experience gained by the Party in leading the people, continuously open up new realms for adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, and let contemporary Chinese Marxism radiate even more brilliant rays of truth.”

“第二个结合”揭示了马克思主义作为意识形态领域根本指导制度下，坚持和发展马克思主义的内在必然。马克思主义基本原理是普遍真理，具有永恒的思想价值，但马克思主义经典作家并没有穷尽真理，中国共产党人“及时总结党领导人民创造的新鲜经验，不断开辟马克思主义中国化新境界，让当代中国马克思主义放射出更加灿烂的真理光芒”。

“The Second Integration” has realized the grounding and rooting of the basic tenets of Marxism in China, endowing Marxism with a discursive mode of expression with Chinese characteristics. It has promoted the exchange and integration of socialist civilization and Chinese civilization, enabling socialist civilization to flourish in China and giving hope to the rejuvenation of ancient Chinese civilization. The construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the New Era has thus been transformed from a possibility into a reality.

“第二个结合”实现了马克思主义基本原理在中国落地、扎根，让马克思主义拥有了中国特色的话语表达方式，推动了社会主义文明和中华文明的交流融汇，社会主义文明在中国发扬光大、古老中华文明复兴看到了希望，建设新时代中国特色社会主义文化由可能变为现实。

Promoting the Construction of a New Form of Human Civilization

推动构建人类文明新形态

Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics is not a culture that grows anew by severing the history of the Chinese nation, nor is it a culture of “arrogance” that is complacent and self-satisfied. Rather, it is the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, a new form of human civilization that contemplates the common good of the world and exalts a humanistic vision.

中国特色社会主义文化不是割断中华民族历史而重新生长的文化，也不是故步自封的“自大”文化，而是中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化和创新性发展，是观照世界大同、高扬人类情怀的人类文明新形态。

“The Second Integration” promotes the continuity of ancient and modern Chinese civilization, the exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations, and the harmonious fusion that forges socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. For example, the system of people’s congresses and the system of political consultation are deeply connected with the people-oriented thought of Chinese civilization, the tradition of “republican” and “consultative” governance, and the political wisdom of “inclusiveness and seeking common ground while reserving differences.” The establishment of a unitary state form and the implementation of the system of regional ethnic autonomy follow the developmental trend of the Chinese nation toward internal cohesion and pluralistic unity, inheriting the great unification tradition of Chinese culture, where “all under heaven is governed as one, the six directions share the same customs, and the four seas are one family.”

“第二个结合”推动实现中华文明古今接续、中西文明交流互鉴，和合凝铸出中国特色社会主义文化。如人民代表大会制度、政治协商制度与中华文明的民本思想、天下共治思想，“共和”“商量”的施政传统，“兼容并包、求同存异”的政治智慧深刻关联；确立的单一制国家形式，推行的民族区域自治制度，是顺应向内凝聚、多元一体的中华民族发展大趋势，承继了九州共贯、六合同风、四海一家的中华文化大一统传统。

The “Integration” has opened up space for innovation. “The Second Integration” has activated the vitality of the Chinese nation’s wisdom of “harmony” (hehe). “Harmony” is the essence of Chinese culture, first seen in the *Discourses of the States: Zheng Yu*: “Shang Qi was able to harmonize the five teachings, thereby protecting the people.” Shang Qi extended the family ethics represented by father’s righteousness, mother’s kindness, elder brother’s fraternity, younger brother’s respect, and filial piety to social governance and state management, achieving harmony in people’s lives and social stability. The *Discourses of the States: Zheng Yu* also states: “Harmony indeed generates things; sameness leads to no continuation.” Only through the blending and harmonization of diverse things can all things be generated. Harmony is the unity of opposites among many heterogeneous factors and elements; it is the complementarity and win-win of “all things growing together without harming each other, and paths running parallel without contradicting each other.” It is the fusion of many high-quality factors and elements, selecting the positive components and excellent elements that can promote the generation of new things. It is an organic and orderly creation and rebirth, a self-coordination, self-organization, self-regulation, and self-adaptation among elements. Harmony is both a continuous, repeated “process” of constantly creating new things and the “result” of the harmonious movement, integration, and creation among elements and factors.

“结合”打开了创新空间，“第二个结合”激活了中华民族“和合”智慧的生命力。“和合”是中华文化的精髓，最早见诸《国语·郑语》，“商契能和合五教，以保于百姓”。商契将父义、母慈、兄友、弟恭、子孝所代表的家庭伦理推行于社会治理、国家管理，实现天下百姓的生活和谐与社会安定。《国语·郑语》还言：“夫和实生物，同则不继。”唯有多元事物交融和合，万物才会生发。和合是诸多异质因素、要素的对立统一，是“万物并育而不相害，道并行而不相悖”的互补和双赢；是诸多优质因素与要素的融合，撷取能推动产生新事物的积极成分和优秀要素；是有机有序的创生和新生，是要素间的自我协调、自我组织、自我规范、自我适应。和合既是连续的、反复的、不断创生新事物的“进程”，更是要素与因素之间和合运动、融通创生的“结果”。

“The Second Integration” advances the harmonious fusion of the ideological essence of Marxism with the excellent elements of Chinese civilization into socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, creating the “common values of all mankind” with “peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom” as their core tenets, leading the global trend. The “common values of all mankind” advocate mutual care and fraternal assistance among the people of all countries, inheriting and developing the Chinese value of “the benevolent love others.” With the establishment of a just and reasonable new global governance order as its core orientation, it is the upholding and innovation of the Chinese value of “the world is for all.” With the establishment of “a community with a shared future for mankind” as its value vision, it is the distillation and sublimation of the Chinese value of “harmony in diversity.” The “common values of all mankind” respect the diversity of civilizations, address global challenges through civilizational exchange, mutual learning, and coexistence, and represent “Chinese wisdom” that leads in solving the difficulties of human civilizational development.

“第二个结合”推进马克思主义思想精髓与中华文明优秀要素“和合”融通为中国特色社会主义文化，创构了以“和平、发展、公平、正义、民主、自由”为要义的“全人类共同价值”，引领了世界潮流。“全人类共同价值”倡导世界各国人民彼此关怀、友爱互助，是中华民族“仁者爱人”价值观的传承与发展；以建立公正、合理的全球治理新秩序为核心指向，是中华民族“天下为公”价值观的守正与创新；以建立“人类命运共同体”为价值愿景，是中华民族“和而不同”价值观的凝练与升华。“全人类共同价值”尊重文明多样性，以文明交流、文明互鉴和文明共存应对全球性挑战，是引领解决人类文明发展难题的“中国智慧”。

(The author is Dean and Professor of the School of Marxism at China University of Petroleum (East China))

（作者系中国石油大学（华东）马克思主义学院院长、教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧