Understanding the "Cultural Form of Chinese Modernization"

On June 2, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping first put forward the important concept of "cultural form of Chinese-style modernization" in his speech at the symposium on cultural inheritance and development, and linked it with "two combinations". He pointed out: "The result of 'integration' is mutual achievement, creating an organic and unified new cultural life, making Marxism Chinese, China's excellent traditional culture modern, and making the new culture formed through 'integration' a cultural form of Chinese-style modernization." "The cultural form of Chinese-style modernization is the manifestation of Chinese-style modernization and the concrete embodiment of Chinese-style modernization to create a new form of human civilization, and the proposal of this important concept has very important theoretical and practical significance.

Highlight the Chinese characteristics of Chinese-style modernization

The realization of modernization is an inevitable trend in the development of human society, and Marx called it "iron inevitability" in the preface to Capital. However, each country has different historical traditions, social systems, external environment and other factors, so the path to modernization is different and thus presents different cultural representations, that is, different cultural forms of modernization. The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized that Chinese-style modernization "has the common characteristics of the modernization of all countries, but also has Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions", and summarized the Chinese characteristics as five aspects: huge population, common prosperity for all people, harmony between material and spiritual civilizations, harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and peaceful development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Why is our socialism different? Why is it so vibrant and energetic? The key lies in Chinese characteristics. The key to Chinese characteristics lies in the 'combination of the two'. The important thesis that "the new culture formed through 'integration' has become the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization" not only shows that Chinese-style modernization is a modernization guided by Marxism, but also highlights the distinctive Chinese characteristics of Chinese-style modernization, which is the "specific reality of China" and "the excellent traditional culture of China" emphasized by the "two combinations". The cultural form is not only universal and integral, but also intuitive and concrete, and the important concept of Chinese-style modernization cultural form makes "Chinese-style modernization clearer, more scientific, and more feasible".

Enhance confidence in Chinese-style modernization

In modern times, China has passively entered the world historical system and also passively entered the process of modernization. Since learning Marxism, the exploration of the Chinese-style path to modernization has been guided by scientific ideology. It is precisely under the guidance of Marxism that the path of Chinese-style modernization has been continuously expanded. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) focused on "upholding and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity" to provide institutional guarantees for promoting Chinese-style modernization. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) preliminarily constructed a theoretical system of Chinese-style modernization, and further deepened the understanding of the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements and major principles of Chinese-style modernization. It can be said that the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization is the overall reflection of the road, theoretical system and institutional system that provides guarantee for the realization of Chinese-style modernization, and is embodied in "the unique world view, values, historical view, civilization view, democracy concept and ecological view contained in Chinese-style modernization", which is the inevitable result of the promotion and expansion of the theory and practice of Chinese-style modernization, and has historical and logical inevitability. The proposition of the important concept of "cultural form of Chinese-style modernization" not only reflects that our understanding of "what kind of modern socialist power to build and how to build a modern socialist power" has reached a new height, but also shows that our confidence in promoting and expanding Chinese-style modernization has reached a new height, and we will further strengthen our confidence in promoting and expanding Chinese-style modernization.

Revealing the global significance of Chinese modernization

The important assertion that "the new culture formed through 'combination' has become the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization" not only reveals why Chinese-style modernization has distinctive Chinese characteristics, but also shows that countries with profound historical and cultural traditions can not only achieve modernization, but also transform profound historical and cultural traditions into advantages for realizing modernization, which obviously helps to deepen and expand the understanding of the way for mankind to achieve modernization. In particular, it has provided Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to countries in the world that want to modernize while maintaining their independence. "What about the history of the country? How do you treat your country's traditional culture? This is a problem that must be solved well in the process of modernization of any country. The important assertion that "the new culture formed through 'combination' has become the cultural form of Chinese modernization" concretely illustrates how China has achieved modernization, which further dispels the myth of "modernization = Westernization". General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "What kind of modernization path a country chooses is determined by many factors such as its historical tradition, social system, development conditions, and external environment. Different national conditions will lead to different ways of modernization. It is true that Chinese modernization is triggered by the "external causes" of Western modernization, but China's inherent traditions, especially traditional Chinese culture, also play an important role as "internal factors". In a letter to Johann Bloch dated 21-22 September 1890, Engels stated: "We have made our own history, but first, we have created it under very certain preconditions and conditions. In the final analysis, the preconditions and conditions of the economy are decisive. But the preconditions and conditions of politics and so on, and even the traditions that linger in people's minds, also play a role, though not a decisive one. ”

Expand the importance of the "two combinations".

The "two combinations" are a theory, a practice, and a method. When General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Yinxu site in Henan, he clearly stated: "The excellent traditional Chinese culture is the 'root' of our party's innovative theory, and the fundamental way for us to promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism is the 'two combinations'." According to this, the "two combinations" are not only the fundamental way to promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, but also the fundamental way to build a cultural form of Chinese-style modernization. The major thesis that "the new culture formed through the 'combination' has become the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization" undoubtedly points out that the "two combinations" are the fundamental way to build a Chinese-style modern cultural form, which is prominently reflected in the fact that the "two combinations" have solved the "dispute between ancient and modern China and the West" and consolidated the subjectivity of Chinese culture, which is the holistic, fundamental and directional issue of China's cultural construction since modern times. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "After long-term efforts, we are more qualified than ever before to solve the 'ancient and modern Chinese and Western disputes'", and "'combination' has consolidated cultural subjectivity".

"The prosperity of a country and a nation is always supported by the prosperity of culture, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation needs to be conditioned by the development and prosperity of Chinese culture." Modernization originated in the West, and when China was forced to learn from the West, some people once attributed the fundamental reason for China's failure to achieve modernization to cultural problems, and thus made an excessively critical criticism of traditional culture, and even believed that modernization could only be achieved by "completely breaking with it". The "two combinations" have solved the cultural contradictions that need to be resolved in order to realize the cultural form of modernization, and organically integrated the Sinicization of Marxism with the modernization of China's excellent traditional culture. With the continuous advancement and expansion of modernization in China, the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization will be continuously enriched and developed through the "two combinations", and will provide a more basic, deeper and more lasting force for national rejuvenation.

Text: Chen Fangliu (Distinguished Researcher of Shanghai Xi Jinping Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Director and Professor of the Scientific Socialism Teaching and Research Department of the Party School of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. This paper is the phased achievement of the special project of "Building the Best Practice Place of Xi Jinping Cultural Thought" of Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Planning)

Editor: Yu Ying