Improve the level of publishing work in the new era

Author 丨 Yang Zhuang

Words are at the top of the realm. The same is true for publishing: the Fang family produces good books, and everyone produces big books. In the 1980s and 1990s, the "Towards the World Series" and "Zeng Guofan" were the first to open up the atmosphere, which was the result of the intensive study and broadening of the realm of the older generation of publishers in the Xiang Army. They all have the sincerity of reading and learning first, and then they have great wisdom and courage, and finally reach Dacheng. If the affairs of the world are not difficult to gain, they will be easy to lose; if they accumulate soon, they will not be grand. General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a message to the vast number of literary and art workers to "work hard, practice real skills, and seek truth and reputation." For publishers, this "real skill" is to see the general trend accurately, shoulder heavy responsibilities, open up the market, make more fine works of the times and works passed down from generation to generation, and contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

First, see the general trend accurately

Contemporary China is experiencing the most grand and unique practice innovation in human history, the heavy tasks of reform, development, and stability, the number of contradictions, risks, and challenges, the unprecedented tests of governing the country, and the unprecedented profound changes in the world's unprecedented major changes in a century, and has put forward a large number of theoretical and practical topics that need to be answered urgently. As an important aspect of ideological work, the publishing front must not only see the overall and fundamental change in the situation in the ideological field since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, but also soberly see that we are facing new situations and new challenges.

(1) Correctly understand and grasp the new challenges facing ideological work

One is challenges from within. The rectification of the "rice circle culture", "niang cannon culture", "game culture", and "big v chaos" is essentially the state's agitation in the ideological field to promote clarity and rectify the chaos. These internal challenges are mainly caused by three aspects: first, after years of reform and opening up, the social structure and interest pattern have changed, and different interest groups have issued different voices; second, the Internet, the biggest variable, has provided a microphone for different interest groups; third, due to capital promotion and political factors, some so-called popular culture "dresses and hats" in an attempt to erode and occupy the ideological and cultural position.

The second is challenges from the outside. In 2019, China's economic growth rate was 6.1%, the United States 2.3%, the European Union 1.4%, Japan 0.7%, Russia 1.3%, and some developed countries encountered development difficulties. In 2020, the US economy is down 3.5%, the European Union is down 6.4%, Japan is down 4.8%, and China is growing by 2.3%, the only country in the world with positive growth. In 2021, China's economic development will continue to maintain its global leading position. Since 2006, China has contributed more to world economic growth than the United States, ranking first in the world for 15 consecutive years. Under the change, the contest between different ideologies has become a war without smoke. Western countries led by the United States have frequently intervened to try to use cyberspace to exaggerate our social problems, dissolve our cultural self-confidence, and nihilize the history of our party and country.

(2) Correctly understand and grasp the long-term complexity of the ideological struggle

Various ideological and cultural exchanges around the world collide and stir each other, ideological open and secret struggles occur frequently, and domestic ideological concepts and social trends also show the characteristics of pluralism, diversity and change. The report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that a great struggle with many new historical characteristics must be waged. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the various struggles we face are not short-term but long-term, at least to accompany us in the whole process of achieving the second centenary goal.

The West fears that the rise of the Chinese style will directly or indirectly shake their traditional academic theories, values, and institutional models, and will not adapt to social psychology and accept economic interests. No matter how much goodwill China shows in its quest for communication and understanding, it will be difficult to dispel their wariness and exclusion.

Struggles have long existed, and this is not subject to the will of man. The ideological struggle between China and the West will inevitably become normalized, and sometimes it may become open and white-hot. On issues concerning political principles and major issues of right and wrong, we must persist in strengthening the mainstream ideology and properly defend the ideological position. It is necessary to be upright and innovative, persist in unity, stability, and encouragement, and do a good job in positive propaganda. It is necessary to build a "firewall" to prevent hostile forces from infiltrating ideology and culture, and to take a clear-cut stand against erroneous ideologies and remarks.

(3) Correctly understand and grasp the new historical characteristics of publishing work

Publishing work keeps pace with the times and has new historical characteristics, which are mainly reflected in three aspects: First, the political nature is getting stronger and stronger. We must adhere to the publication of the surname party, adhere to the guidance of the gold without change, take the publication and propaganda of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era as the primary political task, highlight the decisive significance of the "two establishments", and promote the party's innovative theory to be more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and better go to the world. Second, the nature of struggle is getting stronger and stronger. After systematic summarization, rational refinement and rigorous process, publication has a stronger ideological, scientific and persuasive force, and can play a unique role in ideological struggle. Third, the quality requirements are getting higher and higher. It is necessary to move from the plateau of publishing to the peak of publishing, and from a big publishing country to a publishing power.

Second, shoulder the heavy responsibility

Under the change, the core position of theme publishing in the publishing work in the new era has become more prominent. Scientifically answering China's questions, the world's questions, the people's questions, and the times' questions is the major mission of theme publishing. Shouldering heavy responsibilities and answering questionnaires well, we must focus on enhancing the academic nature, originality, and timeliness of theme publishing.

The first is to enhance the academic nature of theme publishing. Theme publishing cannot be a shallow reflection of the appropriate situation, but must be studied in depth academically. It is necessary to base ourselves on China's national conditions and historical laws, and seek resources for selecting topics from national development, changes in the times, and the evolution of civilization. Respond to new topics in the new era with rigorous academic research, excavate ideological, academic and cultural values from them, and establish a unique disciplinary framework and a complete knowledge system. It is necessary to apply research to practice, making it an important part of human knowledge, withstanding the test of history and the precipitation of time.

The second is to enhance the originality of theme publishing. Theme publishing is about originality, originality and debut. Explore more topics from 0 to 1 to reduce low-level repetition. Throughout the ages, there have been countless selected editions, and "Ancient Literature and Guanzhi" breaks the traditional way of classification according to style, "collecting all the families and participating in their own selfishness; taking their strengths to make up for their deficiencies, they will become complete", becoming a classic in the classics. Hunan Satellite TV news blockbusters "County Party Committee Compound" and "Absolute Loyalty" are original and original phenomenon-level works. Rednet exclusively launched a series of reports on the discipline of meetings during the 12th Party Congress in Hunan Province, and exclusively launched a series of reports on "Enhancing Work Skills" during the "Two Sessions" in Hunan Province. These two series are very topical because of their "independence", and some reports have reached 100,000+ views in 30 minutes on the line. The good cases are all similar, and they all have a kind of artistic beauty of "looking back, but the person is in the middle of the lights". And this kind of beauty comes from the painstaking pursuit and gradual realization.

The third is to enhance the timeliness of theme publishing. Theme publishing should be to the outlet, to the pain points, and to the hot spots. It is necessary to set up a vision group in the team, deploy the pre-foreseen topic selection in advance, and continuously optimize the topic selection, author and process to win the timeliness. Among the many theme books celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Party in 2021, Hunan People's Publishing House's "Essence: The Communist Party of China and China" has achieved an important speech by General Secretary Xi Jinping in the morning, and the book includes the relevant content of the speech when it is freshly baked in the evening. In September 2021, the spirit of the women's volleyball team was first included in the spiritual genealogy of the Chinese communists, and the Hunan People's Publishing House launched the "Spirit of the Women's Volleyball Team" at the end of December.

To do a good job in theme publishing, we must also pay attention to making efforts in two aspects.

The first is to strengthen the promotion of excellent traditional culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that it is necessary to "not forget the original, absorb the outside, and face the future." The excellent traditional Chinese culture nurtured in the development of civilization for more than 5,000 years, the revolutionary culture and the advanced socialist culture nurtured in the great struggle of the party and the people have accumulated the deepest spiritual pursuit of the Chinese nation and represent the unique spiritual identity of the Chinese nation. It is necessary to conscientiously study the relationship between excellent traditional culture and the spirit of the times, combine cultural traditions, historical experience, and current economic and social development, and do a good job in developing and refining the selected topics for publication. It is necessary to promote the project of publishing ancient books from a higher perspective. Make good use of media means to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, and fully release the due energy.

The second is to strengthen the reverence for publishing. Thematic publishing cannot be done simply and crudely. We must respect history, culture, and ecology, and vigorously carry forward the spirit of publishers. Persist in reciting the true scriptures, doing real things, and doing real things, so that we will not slacken off, will not settle down, and will not lie flat. "Whoever seeks the elders of the wood will strengthen its roots, and he who desires to flow far will dredge his springs." The depth of thought, theoretical height, and pattern of the publisher determine the content and character of the publication. Publishers should continuously improve their knowledge and cultivation, study diligently and think well, and "benefit from what they can't do." It is necessary to innovate training mechanisms, strengthen team combat, enhance the ability to quickly respond, vigorously cultivate publishing talents in the new era, and build a publishing "iron army" armed with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

Third, open the market

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that only when cultural products become the conscious consumption of the masses can they maximize the publicity and education function of culture. The theme of the publication of the article is loaded with strong political attributes, but we must also attach great importance to its market attributes, especially to target the mass market and overseas markets.

The first is to open up the mass market. Thematic publications are becoming more and more popular with market attention and readers. According to the "2020 News and Publishing Industry Analysis Report", in 2020, there are 52 kinds of books in the country with an annual cumulative printing volume of more than one million copies, of which 16 kinds of theme books, accounting for 30.8%, "Red Rock" and "Red Star Shine on China (Youth Edition)" rank among the best. Theme publishing preempts the mass market and must find readers and stimulate their desire to consume. This requires theme publications to take social needs, consumers and readers as the goal, integrate popular discourse, aesthetic fashion and technical trends, integrate into the diversified marketing channels of best-selling books, integrate new media technology to expand publishing carriers and communication methods, and create popular and well-known new books and good books.

The second is to open up overseas markets. On May 9, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in a reply letter to the editorial board of Wenshizhe magazine, "To let the world better understand China and understand China, it is necessary to deeply understand Chinese civilization and explain in depth how to better adhere to the Chinese road, carry forward the Chinese spirit and unite China's strength from the perspective of combining history and reality, theory and practice." "Publishing should strengthen the awareness of going out and spread the "Chinese road", "Chinese spirit" and "Chinese strength" well. It is necessary to build a Chinese discourse system, transform China's development advantages into discourse advantages that are compatible with China's international status, and continuously enhance the appeal of China's discourse system. It is necessary to explore more meaningful forms of expression, especially to tell good stories, to show the world a credible, lovely and respectable image of China, to continuously improve the appeal of Chinese culture and the affinity of Chinese image, and to reverse the discourse deficit and weak position in the field of international public opinion.

(The author is deputy secretary of the party committee, vice chairman, editor-in-chief and general manager of Hunan Publishing Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd.)