The Value Implications of Building a Socialist Cultural Power

Culture is the soul and spiritual gene of a country and a nation, and a unique marker that distinguishes one country and nation from another. The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform and Comprehensively Advancing Chinese-Path Modernization," reviewed and approved at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, has made comprehensive arrangements for building a cultural power from the strategic height of strengthening the country and rejuvenating the nation. [1]1 A line from Mao Zedong's 1963 poem "Reply to Comrade Guo Moruo," expressing urgency in the face of historical tasks. Knowledge is the beginning of action. An important prerequisite for implementing these important arrangements is to accurately grasp the value implications of building a socialist cultural power. This can be understood from five dimensions: the country, the nation, the political party, the individual, and humanity.

文化是一个国家、一个民族的灵魂和精神基因，是一个国家和民族区别于其他国家和民族的独特标识。党的二十届三中全会审议通过的《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》，站在强国建设、民族复兴的战略高度，对建设文化强国进行了全面部署。知者行之始。把重要部署落到实处，一个重要前提，就是准确把握建设社会主义文化强国的价值意蕴。对此，可以从国家、民族、政党、个体、人类等五个维度进行理解。

1. The Country Dimension

1.国家维度

Chinese-path modernization is socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China, and it is modernization that coordinates material civilization and cultural-ethical progress. The great modern socialist country we aim to build is one that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful, where "prosperous and strong" points to the economy, "democratic" to politics, "culturally advanced" to culture, "harmonious" to society, and "beautiful" to ecology. The new form of human civilization we aim to create is a form of civilization where material civilization, political civilization, cultural-ethical progress, social civilization, and ecological civilization develop in coordination. For this reason, the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC explicitly set "building China into a leader in education, science and technology, talent, culture, sports, and health" as one of the overall goals for China's development by 2035. [2]2 The 19th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2017, where Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was enshrined in the Party Constitution. The report of the 20th National Congress also proposed "accelerating the building of a strong manufacturing country, a strong quality country, a strong aerospace country, a strong transportation country, a strong cyber country, and a digital China," and called for accelerating the building of a strong agricultural country, a strong maritime country, a strong trade country, and so on. Thus, building a cultural power is an important goal in building a great modern socialist country.

中国式现代化是中国共产党领导的社会主义现代化，是物质文明和精神文明相协调的现代化。我们要建设的社会主义现代化强国是富强民主文明和谐美丽的现代化强国，其中，“富强”指向经济，“民主”指向政治，“文明”指向文化，“和谐”指向社会，“美丽”指向生态。我们要开创的人类文明新形态，是物质文明、政治文明、精神文明、社会文明、生态文明协调发展的文明形态。正因为如此，党的二十大报告明确将“建成教育强国、科技强国、人才强国、文化强国、体育强国、健康中国”作为到2035年我国发展的总体目标之一。党的二十大报告还提出，“加快建设制造强国、质量强国、航天强国、交通强国、网络强国、数字中国”，要求加快建设农业强国、海洋强国、贸易强国，等等。由此可见，建设文化强国是建设社会主义现代化强国的重要目标。

At the same time, the inherent tension and contradictory movement formed by the five civilizations—material civilization, political civilization, cultural-ethical progress, social civilization, and ecological civilization—drive the progress of human society's overall civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, "Without the flourishing and development of socialist culture, there will be no socialist modernization." [3] In the process of building a great modern socialist country, culture runs through the entire process and all aspects of modernization, integrating into the economy, politics, society, and ecology, providing spiritual motivation, intellectual support, and talent guarantees for modernization in other fields. In coordinating the advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, culture is an important component; in promoting high-quality development, culture is an important fulcrum; in meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life, culture is an important factor; in overcoming various risks and challenges on the path forward, culture is an important source of strength. Therefore, building a socialist cultural power is a necessity for advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Only by building a cultural power can we truly build a great modern socialist country.

与此同时，物质文明、政治文明、精神文明、社会文明、生态文明这五个文明形成的内在张力和矛盾运动，推动着人类社会整体文明的进步。习近平总书记指出，“没有社会主义文化繁荣发展，就没有社会主义现代化”。在建设社会主义现代化强国进程中，文化贯穿于现代化建设全过程、各方面，融入经济、政治、社会、生态之中，为其他领域的现代化提供精神动力、智力支持和人才保障。统筹推进“五位一体”总体布局、协调推进“四个全面”战略布局，文化是重要内容；推动高质量发展，文化是重要支点；满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，文化是重要因素；战胜前进道路上各种风险挑战，文化是重要力量源泉。因此，建设社会主义文化强国是推进中国特色社会主义伟大事业的需要。只有建成文化强国，才能真正建成社会主义现代化强国。

2. The Nation Dimension

2.民族维度

A truly promising and powerful country and nation must necessarily possess a splendid civilization and brilliant culture. The ancient civilizations in human history all had their brilliant cultures; although some civilizations experienced ruptures in their development, the influence of their cultures has been transmitted to the present day. The philosopher Karl Jaspers believed: "Humanity has always lived by what was produced, thought, and created during the Axial Age. Every new leap forward looks back to this period and is rekindled by its flame... In China, India, and the West, returning to this beginning is a constantly recurring event." [4]

真正有前途、有力量的国家和民族，必然有其灿烂的文明、辉煌的文化。人类历史上的文明古国均有其灿烂的文化，虽然有的文明在其发展历程中出现断裂，但其文化的影响力却传世至今。哲学家雅斯贝尔斯认为：“人类一直靠轴心期所产生、思考和创造的一切而生存。每一次新的飞跃都回顾这一时期，并被它重燃火焰……在中国、印度和西方，复归这一开端是不断发生的事件。”

Over thousands of years of historical evolution, the reason the Chinese nation has been able to become a great nation, always standing tall among the nations of the world, and the reason it has been able to become more resilient and rise up after repeated hardships and tribulations, is crucially due to the creation of the brilliant and world-renowned Chinese civilization, and the cultivation and development of the broad, profound, and enduring Chinese culture, which has provided rich nourishment for the endless life and development of the Chinese nation; it is also due to the unique characteristics and distinctive advantages of Chinese civilization, such as its outstanding continuity, innovativeness, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness. The historian Qian Mu once said: "From the time of the Duke of Zhou three thousand years ago, from the time of Confucius two thousand five hundred years ago, through many periods of decline and chaos, the Chinese nation has repeatedly fallen and risen again, relying on this one tradition until today, and will rely on this tradition to revive in the future." [5]

在几千年的历史演进中，中华民族之所以能够成为伟大的民族，始终屹立于世界民族之林，之所以历经磨难而愈挫愈勇、奋发奋起，很重要的就在于创造了熠熠生辉、光耀世界的中华文明，培育和发展了博大精深、历久弥新的中华文化，为中华民族生生不息、发展壮大提供了丰厚滋养；就在于中华文明所具有的突出的连续性、创新性、统一性、包容性、和平性等独有特性和独特优势。历史学家钱穆曾说：“远从周公以来三千年，远从孔子以来两千五百年，其间历经不少衰世乱世，中国民族屡仆屡起，只是这一个传统直到于今，还将赖这一个传统复兴于后。”

Therefore, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is also a cultural rejuvenation and a civilizational rejuvenation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Without the flourishing and prosperity of Chinese culture, there will be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The rejuvenation of a nation requires both a powerful material force and a powerful spiritual force. Without the active guidance of advanced culture, without the great enrichment of the people's spiritual world, and without the continuous strengthening of the national spiritual force, a country or a nation cannot stand tall among the nations of the world." [6] It must be noted that the rejuvenation of Chinese civilization is not a return to antiquity, but an old nation taking on a new mission. It means achieving the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture under the guidance of Marxism; it means relying on the Two Integrations to develop contemporary Chinese Marxism and Marxism for the 21st century; it means achieving the deep integration and integrated innovation of the fine traditional Chinese culture nurtured over more than 5,000 years of civilization development, the revolutionary culture nurtured in the great century-long struggle of the Party and the people, and the advanced socialist culture developed since the founding of New China.

因此，中华民族的伟大复兴，也是文化的复兴、文明的复兴。习近平总书记指出：“没有中华文化繁荣兴盛，就没有中华民族伟大复兴。一个民族的复兴需要强大的物质力量，也需要强大的精神力量。没有先进文化的积极引领，没有人民精神世界的极大丰富，没有民族精神力量的不断增强，一个国家、一个民族不可能屹立于世界民族之林。”必须说明的是，中华文明的复兴不是复古，而是旧邦新命，是要以马克思主义为指导实现中华优秀传统文化的创造性转化、创新性发展；是要依靠“两个结合”发展当代中国马克思主义、21世纪马克思主义；是要实现在5000多年文明发展中孕育的中华优秀传统文化、在党和人民百余年伟大斗争中孕育的革命文化和新中国成立以来发展起来的社会主义先进文化的深度融合、集成创新。

3. The Political Party Dimension

3.政党维度

The Communist Party of China is a Marxist political party with a high degree of cultural consciousness, always committed to building a socialist China with cultural prosperity and civilizational flourishing. As early as 1940, Comrade Mao Zedong discussed this issue at length in "On New Democracy." He proposed: "We must not only transform a China that is politically oppressed and economically exploited into a China

中国共产党是具有高度文化自觉的马克思主义政党，始终致力于建设一个文化繁荣、文明兴盛的社会主义中国。早在1940年，毛泽东同志就在《新民主主义论》中以很大篇幅论述过这一问题。他提出：“我们不但要把一个政治上受压迫、经济上受剥削的中国，变为一个政治上自由和经济上繁荣的中国，而且要把一个被旧文化统治因而愚昧落后的中国，变为一个被新文化统治因而文明先进的中国。”

After the founding of New China, we faced the predicament of being "poor and blank" — "poor" refers to the economy, while "blank" refers to culture. This meant that after a century of decline since modern times, China's material civilization and cultural-ethical progress had simultaneously been severed, and China had transformed from an ancient civilization into a poor and weak country. It was precisely for this reason that Comrade Mao Zedong issued the exclamation, "Ten thousand years are too long; seize the day, seize the hour!"[1]1 A line from Mao Zedong's 1963 poem "Reply to Comrade Guo Moruo," expressing urgency in the face of historical tasks. He led the people in launching large-scale socialist construction and put forward the strategic vision of realizing China's modernization. At the beginning of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping proposed that while building a high level of material civilization, we must also raise the scientific and cultural level of the entire nation, develop noble and richly varied cultural life, and build a high level of socialist cultural-ethical progress. From the founding of New China to reform and opening up, our Party has always kept pace with the times by combining changes in the era with the development of practice, putting forward cultural programs, cultural goals, and cultural policies, and continuously guiding cultural construction to achieve new accomplishments.

新中国成立后，我们面临着“一穷二白”的困境，“穷”指的是经济，“白”说的是文化，这意味着经过近代以来百年的衰败，中国的物质文明和精神文明建设同时断裂，中国由一个文明古国变成了一个积贫积弱的穷国。正因如此，毛泽东同志发出了“一万年太久，只争朝夕”的感叹，带领人民开展了大规模的社会主义建设，提出了实现中国现代化的战略构想。改革开放之初，邓小平同志提出，我们要在建设高度物质文明的同时，提高全民族的科学文化水平，发展高尚的丰富多彩的文化生活，建设高度的社会主义精神文明。从新中国成立到改革开放，我们党总是结合时代变化和实践发展，与时俱进地提出文化纲领、文化目标、文化政策，引领文化建设不断取得新成就。

Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has elevated cultural construction to a new historical height. In 2012, the 18th National Congress of the CPC clearly put forward the goal and task of "solidly advancing the building of a socialist cultural power." In 2017, the 19th National Congress of the CPC proposed that "we must adhere to the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics, stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation, and build a socialist cultural power." In 2020, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee put forward the long-term goal of building a cultural power by 2035, and made strategic deployments for advancing the building of a socialist cultural power during the period of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Subsequently, the 20th National Congress of the CPC and the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee both made top-level designs and clear deployments on how to build a cultural power. It can thus be seen that building a cultural power has always been the Party's goal in struggle, an important historical task that the CPC in the New Era must accomplish, and an important mission that the CPC, as a long-term ruling Marxist party, must undertake.

进入新时代，以习近平同志为核心的党中央把文化建设提升到一个新的历史高度。2012年，党的十八大明确提出“扎实推进社会主义文化强国建设”的目标任务。2017年，党的十九大提出，“要坚持中国特色社会主义文化发展道路，激发全民族文化创新创造活力，建设社会主义文化强国”。2020年，党的十九届五中全会提出到2035年建成文化强国的远景目标，并对“十四五”时期推进社会主义文化强国建设进行了战略部署。此后，党的二十大、二十届三中全会对如何建设文化强国都作出了顶层设计和明确部署。由此可见，建设文化强国一直是我们党的奋斗目标，也是新时代中国共产党要完成的重要历史任务，更是中国共产党建设长期执政的马克思主义政党必须担负的重要使命。

4. Individual dimension

4.个体维度

A person cannot stand without spirit, a nation cannot be strong without culture. Liang Qichao once said: “For any nation to stand in the world, it must have unique qualities peculiar to its people. From morality and law above, to customs, habits, literature, and fine arts below, there is an independent spirit. Ancestors pass it down, descendants carry it forward, and only then is the group consolidated and the nation formed.” The people’s happiness comes not only from the satisfaction of material needs, but also from the satisfaction of spiritual needs at a higher level than material needs. Compared with material satisfaction, culture is a spiritual force, a vision and sentiment that appeals to the long term, to a thousand generations. The more materially abundant people become, the stronger their spiritual and cultural needs. Moreover, as people’s cultural quality and standards rise, their demands for the quality of cultural works also increase.

人无精神不立，国无精神不强。梁启超曾说：“凡一国之能立于世界，必有其国民独具之特质。上自道德、法律，下至风俗、习惯、文学、美术，皆有一种独立之精神。祖父传之，子孙继之，然后群乃结，国乃成。”人民的幸福不仅来自物质需要的满足，更来自比物质需要更高层次的精神需要的满足。相对于物质满足，文化是一种精神力量，是一种诉诸长远、诉诸千秋万代的视野与情怀。越是物质富足，人们的精神文化需求越是强烈。而且，随着人们文化素质、文化水准提高，人们对文化作品质量的要求也更高了。

In the past, we resolved the problem of backward social production by liberating and developing the productive forces, precisely in order to simultaneously meet the people’s growing material and cultural needs. Entering the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. The masses’ needs for diversified, multi-dimensional, and personalized spiritual and cultural life are increasing, and their demands for the quality, taste, and style of cultural products are also rising.

过去，我们通过解放和发展生产力解决落后的社会生产问题，就是为了同时满足人民日益增长的物质和文化需要。进入新时代，我国社会主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，人民群众对多样化、立体化、个性化精神文化生活的需要越来越多，对文化产品质量、品位和风格的需求也越来越高。

The 19th National Congress of the CPC [2]2 The 19th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2017, where Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was enshrined in the Party Constitution. clearly stated that by 2035, China’s “level of social civility will reach a new height, the country’s cultural soft power will be significantly enhanced, and the influence of Chinese culture will become more extensive and profound.” The 20th National Congress of the CPC, when proposing the main targets and tasks for the next five years, made “enriching the people’s spiritual and cultural life, and continuously strengthening the cohesion of the Chinese nation and the influence of Chinese culture” an important task. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Civilization is a notable hallmark of a modernized country. We must take raising the level of social civility as a major task in building a socialist cultural power, adhere to focusing on construction and establishing foundations, persist in making unremitting and sustained efforts, and strive to promote the formation of ideological concepts, spiritual outlooks, civilized customs, and codes of conduct that meet the requirements of the New Era.” Only by continuously advancing the building of a cultural power, flourishing and developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and providing the people with rich spiritual nourishment, can we enable the people’s spiritual and cultural life to reach a new level.

党的十九大明确提出，到2035年，我国“社会文明程度达到新的高度，国家文化软实力显著增强，中华文化影响更加广泛深入”。党的二十大在提出未来五年主要目标任务时，把“人民精神文化生活更加丰富，中华民族凝聚力和中华文化影响力不断增强”作为重要任务。习近平总书记指出：“文明是现代化国家的显著标志。要把提高社会文明程度作为建设社会主义文化强国的重大任务，坚持重在建设、以立为本，坚持久久为功、持之以恒，努力推动形成适应新时代要求的思想观念、精神面貌、文明风尚、行为规范。”只有不断推进文化强国建设，繁荣发展中国特色社会主义文化，为人民提供丰富的精神食粮，才能让人民精神文化生活迈上新台阶。

5. The Human Dimension

5.人类维度

Culture is the accumulation of history and the crystallization of wisdom. It guides the direction of historical progress and the trend of the times, and reveals where humanity comes from and where it is going.

文化是历史的积淀、智慧的结晶，引领着历史前进方向和时代发展潮流，昭示着人类从哪里来、到哪里去。

The world today is undergoing changes unseen in a century. Along with the advancement of economic globalization and world multipolarity, more and more countries are taking the enhancement of national cultural soft power as an important development strategy. Exchanges, interactions, and confrontations among various ideologies and cultures worldwide are becoming more frequent. The “clash of civilizations” theory and the “superiority of civilizations” theory are resurging. The competition between the two ideologies of socialism and capitalism will persist for a long time, sometimes becoming quite complex and acute. These factors pose severe challenges to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

当今世界面临百年未有之大变局，伴随经济全球化和世界多极化的推进，越来越多国家把提高国家文化软实力作为重要发展战略，世界范围内各种思想文化交流交融交锋更加频繁，“文明冲突论”“文明优越论”沉渣泛起，社会主义和资本主义两种意识形态的竞争仍将长期存在，有时会相当复杂、尖锐。这些因素对推动构建人类命运共同体提出严峻挑战。

Facing the new situation of the accelerated evolution of changes in the world, of the times, and of history, the progress of human civilization confronts a directional choice. In the 1970s, British historian Arnold Toynbee and Japanese scholar Daisaku Ikeda discussed Eastern and Western cultures and the future of humanity for nearly two years, ultimately concluding that humanity’s future lies in the East, in China, and that Chinese culture will lead the world. After more than 70 years since the founding of New China and more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China has achieved a historic leap from lagging behind the times to catching up with and leading the times. Through the Two Integrations, it has created a new, organically unified cultural life entity. Chinese culture not only contains rich ideas of “harmonizing all nations” and “a common world for all,” but also possesses a profound tradition of openness, inclusiveness, and eclecticism. In particular, the unique worldview, values, historical outlook, view of civilization, view of democracy, and view of ecology embodied in Chinese-path modernization herald a more reasonable, more humane, and brighter path of civilizational development, providing Eastern wisdom and a Chinese solution for promoting the progress of human civilization.

面对世界之变、时代之变、历史之变加速演进的新态势，人类文明进步面临方向性选择。20世纪70年代，英国史学家汤因比和日本学者池田大作针对东西方文化以及人类未来讨论了近两年，最终得出的结论是人类的未来在于东方的中国，中华文化会引领全球。经过新中国成立70多年、改革开放40多年的飞速发展，中国实现了从落后于时代到大踏步赶上时代、引领时代发展的历史性跨越，经由“两个结合”造就了一个有机统一的新的文化生命体。中华文化既蕴含着协和万邦、天下大同的丰富思想，又具有开放包容、兼收并蓄的深厚传统。特别是中国式现代化蕴含的独特世界观、价值观、历史观、文明观、民主观、生态观，昭示着一条更为合理、更为人文、更为光明的文明发展道路，为促进人类文明进步提供了东方智慧和中国方案。

Promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind is a Chinese solution proposed by the Communist Party of China to address increasingly complex global problems, improve global governance, seek progress for humanity, and pursue common good for the world. Only by continuously advancing the building of a cultural power, enhancing China’s cultural soft power, and shaping more Chinese cultural images recognized by the world, can we give full play to the leading role of Chinese culture, thereby promoting inter-civilization exchanges and mutual learning, cultural connectivity and integration, and strengthening the spiritual bond of mutual respect and understanding among peoples of all countries. Only then can we better advance the process of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

推动构建人类命运共同体是中国共产党为应对日益复杂的全球性问题、完善全球治理，为人类谋进步、为世界谋大同提出的中国方案。只有不断推进文化强国建设，提升中国的文化软实力，塑造更多为世界所认知的中华文化形象，才能充分发挥中国文化的引领作用，从而推动文明交流互鉴、文化相通相融，拉紧各国人民相互尊重、相互理解的精神纽带，才能更好推进人类命运共同体建设进程。

(Author: Qin Xuan, Dean of the Academy of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Renmin University of China)

（作者：秦宣，系中国人民大学习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究院院长）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧