Editor's note: The modernization process of a country and a nation is inseparable from the ideological resources and spiritual motivation contained in its traditional culture. The formation and choice of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is influenced by China's unique historical inheritance and cultural genes, and is the result of rational choices and institutional changes rooted in China's long history and profound cultural soil. The essential characteristics, development purposes, development goals, development momentum, and development methods of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics can all be found in the chinese excellent traditional culture of benevolent government, people-oriented thinking, well-off Datong social thought, revolutionary new thinking, and the idea of unity of knowledge and action. To comprehensively and dialectically study the historical and cultural origins of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is necessary to adhere to a scientific attitude and oppose erroneous trends of thought such as historical nihilism, cultural retrospectiveism, and historical and cultural determinism.
Since the founding of New China, what road china should take, how it should go, what socialism it should be, and how to build socialism have always been major questions that have haunted the hearts of the Chinese Communists. The modernization process of a country and a nation is often inseparable from the ideological resources and spiritual motivation contained in its traditional culture. Due to the different historical traditions and cultural backgrounds of various countries, their development paths and development models are also full of flowers and characteristics. In line with the original intention and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, the Communist Party of China has finally created and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics through countless hardships and various costs, and fundamentally changed the future and destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. For the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics was not easy to come by, and it has profound historical roots and a broad practical foundation. Xi Jinping pointed out: "To understand today's China and predict tomorrow's China, we must understand China's past and understand China's culture. Contemporary Chinese thinking and the Chinese government's governing strategy are soaked in the genes of traditional Chinese culture. This important exposition profoundly reveals the close internal connection between China's excellent traditional culture and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and is one of the important ways to recognize and understand the past, present and future of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
First, the internal relationship between China's excellent traditional culture and the Chinese road
What kind of political system and development model a country chooses is not falling from the sky or simply imitating it, but originates from the internal and external environment, actual needs and historical and cultural factors of each country. The formation and choice of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is not accidental and sudden, but is influenced by China's unique historical inheritance and cultural genes, and is the result of rational choices and institutional changes rooted in China's long history and profound cultural soil. Looking back at the formation and development of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it can be seen that China's unique historical background and cultural genes have profoundly influenced the way of thinking and behavior of contemporary Chinese. Under the guidance of Marxist scientific theory, the continuity, stability and innovation shown by China's excellent traditional culture have pushed the Chinese Communists to choose the socialist road and establish and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics.
1. Choose the development path in grasping the continuity of China's excellent traditional culture
After the defeat of the Opium War in 1840, the advanced Chinese, after countless hardships, constantly searched for the truth from Western countries and explored a path suitable for China's national conditions. Various road disputes, such as the Taiping Rebellion, the Foreign Affairs Movement, the Penghu Reform Law, the Constitutional Monarchy, the Restoration of the Imperial System, the Parliamentary System, the Multi-Party System, and the Presidential System, have successively appeared on the Chinese political stage, but after experimentation, the results have not worked. Fortunately, "the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism with the sound of a cannon." After the tests of blood and fire, life and death, and after repeated reflection and comparison, the advanced elements in China have finally come to the conclusion that "they will follow the path of the Russians," integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, carry out armed revolution, combine "the democratic aspect within the people with the dictatorship of the reactionaries," and establish a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship. This is the choice of history and the choice of the people.
Between the "lofty public" ideology of "the world is public" and "the public practice of the world" in traditional Chinese culture, and the Marxist concept of public ownership and the proposition of public ownership, between the concept of "cosmopolitan world" constructed by traditional culture and the communist ideal advocated by Marxism, the political concept of "serving the government with virtue" and the political concept of "the people as the foundation" and Marxism clearly stand on the side of the proletariat and the broad masses of the people, and have inherent ideological consistency and spiritual consistency. It is precisely this consistency and consistency that enables China's advanced elements to quickly accept and identify with Marxism, so that Marxism can take root and spread widely in China; the Communist Party of China has also been able to establish itself in China and take Marxism as its guiding ideology and guide to action.
At the same time, although the Chinese revolution led by the Communist Party of China is very different from the old-style peasant war, reformism in various guises, and the democratic revolution led by bourgeois revolutionaries, the Communist Party of China has always based itself on the land of China in search of the strategic tactics of the Chinese revolution, rather than completely copying the experience of the revolutions of other countries, still less blindly and mechanically acting according to originalism, and only then has it truly realized the first leap in the sinification of Marxism and opened up the revolutionary road of encircling the cities with the countryside and finally winning victory in the whole country. He successfully founded Mao Zedong Thought and guided the Ship of the Chinese Revolution forward. Mao Zedong once pointed out: "Today's China is a development of historical China; we are Marxist historicists, and we should not cut off history." From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we should sum up and inherit this precious legacy. It was precisely because Mao Zedong concretized Marxism in China in accordance with The characteristics of China and creatively resolved a series of major problems such as how to build a Marxist political party and a new type of people's army under the special social and historical conditions of China that he overthrew the rule of the old Kuomintang regime, won the victory of the new-democratic revolution, and realized the national independence and people's liberation that generations of Chinese had dreamed of.
2. Deepen the identification of the road in grasping the stability of China's excellent traditional culture
Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a cause that has never been done before, there is no established experience to learn from and learn from, and in the process of exploration and development, it is not smooth sailing, but has gone through detours and experienced serious twists and turns. In particular, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the international public opinion of the decline of China has been endless, all kinds of "China collapse theory" has never been interrupted, and there is also a certain confusion and debate in China on how to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. "What flag to raise and what road to take" is a major issue that determines the future and destiny of a country and a nation. How to view the guiding position of Marxism and how to view the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is not only a major academic and theoretical issue for the CPC and the Chinese people, but also a major political and practical issue. Direction determines the road, and the road determines destiny. Reform and opening up is a profound revolution, and if the road is wrong, the direction is lost, and no matter how much effort is made, it will not reach the ideal end.
Traditional Chinese culture has lasted for a long time, its core ideas and central values such as emphasizing benevolence, valuing the people, keeping good faith, advocating justice, still harmony, and seeking greatness and equality, although the generalization and connotation are different in different historical periods, but the basic spirit shows a high degree of stability beyond time, space and region, which has been passed down and carried forward from generation to generation, and finally precipitated into the thick background and unchanging genes of the spiritual world of the Chinese nation. From a social perspective, the human relations and social structure of traditional Chinese society were laid more than 2,000 years ago, and have always maintained their basic appearance throughout the vicissitudes of dynastic changes, which Mr. Fei Xiaotong summarized as "the pattern of difference order". Although China's traditional local society has been directly impacted by the market economy, its basic appearance and form still stubbornly survive and still potentially play an important role. At the national level, since the Qin and Han dynasties, China's state form and organizational structure have always adopted a centralized political governance model, which internally manifests itself as a unified multi-ethnic state based on the county system. It is precisely this very stable state structure that makes the Chinese nation, although divided and integrated, ultimately ensure that the reunification of the country is normal and long-term, while the division is short-lived, and it is ultimately toward reunification. As an important aspect of the uniqueness of Chinese culture, the stability and inclusiveness of China's excellent traditional culture is actually an invisible and tenacious spiritual bond and cultural connection, which plays an important role in maintaining and condensing the sense of cultural identity and national identity in the course of China's thousands of years of history. Proceeding from the historical mission and overall development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the CPC stressed that "our modernization drive must proceed from China's reality." Looking at the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics from the perspective of historical process, it has come out of the great practice of reform and opening up for more than 40 years, has come out of the continuous exploration of the 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, has come out of a profound summary of the development process of the Chinese nation over the past 170 years since modern times, and has come out of the inheritance of the Chinese nation's 5,000-year-old civilization.
The uniqueness of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics lies precisely in the close integration of the basic principles of Marxism with the unique historical destiny, cultural traditions, basic national conditions and characteristics of the times of the Chinese nation, casting and containing the spiritual genes of China's excellent traditional culture, and creatively writing the epochal form of Chinese civilization.
3. Promote road self-confidence in grasping the innovation of China's excellent traditional culture
There is no end to practice, and there is no end to theoretical and institutional innovation. China's reform and opening up is carried out in a complex and changeable environment, and the whole process of reform and opening up is full of risks and challenges, and every step is not easy. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the Communist Party of China has always adhered to emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, and advancing with the times; while adhering to the guiding position of Marxism and the basic principles of scientific socialism, it has bravely promoted innovation in theory, practice, system, culture, and other aspects, and has continuously endowed socialism with Chinese characteristics with distinctive practical characteristics, theoretical characteristics, national characteristics, and characteristics of the times, thus forming a socialist road, theory, system, and culture with Chinese characteristics. The reason why the CPC has been able to conform to the historical trend, actively respond to changes, and take the initiative to seek changes is inseparable from the historical tradition of the Chinese nation full of the spirit of change and openness. Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Chinese nation adhered to the spirit of "although the old state of Zhou, its life is to maintain the new", "revolutionize the old and the new", "go with the times", opened the great practice of creating Chinese civilization, and created a brilliant ancient Chinese culture. In the process of long-term historical development, many movements have taken place in successive dynasties of China to change the law and strive for a long time, leaving behind such reasonable sayings as "if the rule of the world is not the same, the country is lawless and ancient" and "the poor will change, the change will be general, and the general rule will be long". It is precisely this spirit of reform and openness of "Tianxingjian, gentleman with self-improvement" and "terrain kun, gentleman with thick virtue" that makes Chinese civilization the only splendid civilization in human history that has not been interrupted for more than 5,000 years. As the inheritors and promoters of China's outstanding traditional culture, the Chinese Communists, in line with the original intention and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese and the people, and seeking rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, bravely and courageously move forward without fear of hardships and hardships, constantly create a new situation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and constantly open up a new realm for the development of Marxism.
The successful practice of China's reform and opening up has not only fundamentally changed China's future and destiny, but also provided successful experience for the vast number of developing countries to move toward modernization, provided a new choice for those countries and nations in the world that want to accelerate development and maintain their independence, and contributed Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to solving human problems. Reviewing the historical process of China's construction and development, Xi Jinping stressed: "To adhere to Marxism and socialism, we must have a development point of view, we must take the actual problems of China's reform, opening up and modernization construction, what we are doing as the center, focus on the application of Marxist theory, focus on theoretical thinking on practical issues, and focus on new practice and new development." In short, the lessons and lessons have repeatedly told us that we cannot engage in dogmatism with regard to scientific socialism and cannot take the old road of closure and rigidity, but we must also never deviate from the basic principles of scientific socialism and take the evil road of changing banners and changing banners.
Second, China's excellent traditional culture enriches the connotation of China's road
The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a comprehensive system that integrates essential characteristics, development purposes, development goals, development momentum, and development methods. Its essential characteristics (party leadership), development purpose (people's dominant position), development goals (rich, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful), development momentum (reform and innovation), development mode (comprehensive coordination and sustainability at home, peaceful development at home) and so on can all be found in the Chinese excellent traditional culture of benevolent government, people-oriented thinking, well-off Datong social thinking, revolutionary new thinking, and the idea of unity of knowledge and action.
1. Grasp the essential characteristics of the Chinese road from the promotion of the idea of benevolent government
In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels profoundly expounded the political stand of Marxist parties and solemnly declared: "The movement of the proletariat is the movement of the overwhelming majority of the people, an independent movement for the benefit of the overwhelming majority of the people. "The Communist Party of China is a political party armed with Marxism and a loyal inheritor of the spirit of the Communist Manifesto, and has always regarded seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original intention and mission. In China's excellent traditional culture, it emphasizes that kings should practice "benevolent government", emphasize "benevolence", and apply "benevolence", teach people to be wise and virtuous, emphasize private morality, advocate "taking the world as their own responsibility", "worrying about the world before the world, and enjoying the world after the world", emphasizing that "the world rises and falls, and the husband has the responsibility", and advocates that "a soldier must not fail to carry out his duties, and the task is heavy and the road is long". For thousands of years, these ideas have been continuously inherited and carried forward, and have long become important creeds that generations of heroes and benevolent people have consciously studied and observed. After modern times, China has degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and striving for national independence, the liberation of the people, and the realization of national prosperity and strength, and the happiness of the people have become the historical tasks of the Chinese people. In the great tide of history, Marxism spread to China, pointing out the way forward for the Chinese people who were struggling to find a way out of salvation. The organic integration of China's excellent traditional culture with the lofty ideals put forward in the Communist Manifesto has produced a powerful force, "becoming the unswerving, strong and indomitable firm faith of generations of communists and the spiritual pillar of not fearing any risk and overcoming all difficulties." Summing up history and facing the future, the COMMUNIST Party of China stressed that the comrades of the whole party must always adhere to the original intention and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese the people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and advance toward this goal without hesitation. Only in this way can the CPC always maintain its advanced nature and purity, always maintain its youthful vitality, always win the support of the people, and realize its long-term ruling power.
2. Adhere to the value orientation of the Chinese road from the inheritance of people-oriented thought
Chinese culture has a rich people-oriented ideology. The Song of the Five Sons of Shangshu mentions that "The People's Only Bang Ben, Ben Gu Bang Ning". Guan Zi, an ancient Chinese politician, advocated that "people-oriented, the country is solidified by the rule of the original, and the country is in danger if it is chaotic." Confucius advocated "enriching the people and educating the people". Xun Zi believes, "The king, the boat also, the one who is a gentleman, the water also." The water carries the boat, and the water overturns the boat." Mencius proposed that "the people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light", emphasizing that "those who enjoy the happiness of the people are also happy; those who worry about the people, the people are also worried about their worries". Wang Fu of the Eastern Han Dynasty mentioned in the "Theory of Hidden Husbands and Wu Ben" that "those who serve the country are based on enriching the people and based on orthodox learning.". Like the sages of ancient China, Marx fully affirmed the people's status as the main body of history, regarded the proletariat as the representative of the advanced productive forces and the creator of the new social system, and the people's nature is the most distinctive character of Marxism. The Chinese Communists study and practice the Marxist thinking on adhering to the people's stand, study and practice the idea that the people are the foundation of the people in China's history and culture, emphasize that the people are the creators of history and are real heroes, regard seeking happiness for the Chinese the people, and seeking rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as their original intention and mission, regard serving the people wholeheartedly as their fundamental purpose, and regard the mass line as the party's lifeline and fundamental work line. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping has taken the realization of the "Chinese Dream" of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as the goal of the whole party, emphasizing that "the Chinese Dream is, in the final analysis, the people's dream, which must be closely relied upon to realize and must continue to benefit the people."
3. Clarify the goals of the times of China's road from the vision of the cosmopolitan world
The Chinese nation has always emphasized the unity of the world and the world, advocated the unity of the people and things, the harmony of all nations, and the common good of the world, advocated seeking common ground while reserving differences, harmony while being different, and loving and not attacking, recognizing that "things are not aligned, and the feelings of things are also", and advocating "all things are breeding together without harming each other, and the Tao is parallel and not contradictory". These ideas are illustrated in modern language and contain rich connotations. The first is to recognize and maintain the diversity of civilizations. The diversity of civilizations is a fundamental feature of human society. We should support the strengthening of mutual exchanges, mutual learning and mutual reference between all nationalities and civilizations, rather than separating, mutually exclusive and replacing each other, and oppose attempts and practices to use coercive means to resolve differences in civilizations. The second is to respect the civilization of all countries and nationalities. Different countries and nationalities, whether they are social systems, values and development paths, or historical traditions, religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds, there are differences, which is the inevitable result of historical development. But all kinds of human civilizations are equal, and there is no distinction between high and low, superior and inferior civilizations. All countries and nationalities cherish and safeguard their own ideology and culture, and they must also recognize and respect the ideology and culture of other countries and nationalities, and achieve harmonious coexistence in accordance with the principle of mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving differences. The third is to support exchanges and dialogues among civilizations. Different countries and civilizations have their own shortcomings and strengths. Only by strengthening exchanges and mutual learning, learning from each other's strong points, and paying attention to absorbing the outstanding achievements of civilization created by different countries and different nationalities can we maintain and enhance the vitality of our own people. The fourth is to jointly contribute to human society. All countries, all ethnic groups, and regions are all parts of human society, and no matter how big or small they are strong or weak, they all bear the responsibility and obligation of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. On the stone tablet in front of the UNESCO Headquarters building, it is engraved in many languages: "War originates in the minds of men, so it is necessary to build in the minds of men the barriers to defend peace." On 27 March 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping quoted this sentence in a speech at UNESCO Headquarters and stressed that as long as the people of the world firmly believe in the concept of peace in their hearts and raise the sails of peace, they can form a powerful force to prevent and oppose war. If all countries and peoples can adhere to the concept of peace, eliminate estrangement, prejudice and hatred, and strengthen exchanges and dialogues across borders, time and space and civilization, they will help form a key force to prevent and oppose war, and will be able to promote the formation of a powerful driving force for development and prosperity.
The Communist Party of China is a political party that seeks happiness for the Chinese and the people, and it is also a political party that strives for the cause of human progress. Since the founding of New China, Chinese leaders have successively put forward major policy proposals such as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the establishment of a new world political and economic order, and the building of a harmonious world, which have won widespread approval from all countries in the world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping has faced the deep-seated contradictions and global challenges of global development with the grand vision and strategic thinking of politicians and strategists, actively advocated that all countries in the world carry out global cooperation, jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, and build a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness and beauty. This major initiative has not only become a distinctive symbol of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, but also has been highly praised and warmly responded to by the international community, and has been cited many times in UNITED Nations documents, producing a wide and far-reaching international impact. The Chinese government adheres to "combining China's development with the common development of the world, persisting in combining the Chinese dream with the world dream, and striving to realize the aspirations of the Chinese people and the people of the world for a better life", providing correct guidance for solving the current security and development problems and promoting the healthy development of international relations, and demonstrating the great vitality and extensive influence of China's plan and China's responsibility.
4. Draw the impetus for the development of China's road from the spirit of revolution and newness
In the history of the development of world civilization, various civilizations have emerged successively, but the Chinese civilization is the only great civilization that has developed without interruption. The reason why Chinese civilization has been able to survive through various situations and challenges is closely related to the spiritual temperament of self-improvement and revolution in Chinese civilization. The ideological viewpoints of self-improvement and reform are derived from the ancient Chinese classic "Zhou Yi", the purpose of which is to require people to be like nature, work hard, never slacken, break the old things, and establish new things. More than 3,500 years ago, chengtang, the founding monarch of the Shang Dynasty, carved the nine-character proverb of "Gou Ri Xin, Every Day New, And Every Day New" on the vessel to always alert himself. These ideas of revolutionizing the past and advancing with the times have been refined and sublimated, gradually rising to the philosophy of life that people believe in, precipitating into the unique spiritual wealth of the Chinese nation, and promoting countless movements of change and strengthening on the land of China. After modern times, due to China's long-term backwardness and repeatedly being ravaged and oppressed by Western powers, many Chinese have collapsed spiritually, calling themselves Greece and the United States, and some openly advocating the implementation of total Westernization. In the early stage of reform and opening up, in the face of the strong culture of the West, many Chinese were still very inferior, preaching that China's yellow civilization was closed and backward, and the Western blue civilization was open and advanced, and we should completely abandon China's traditional culture and comprehensively introduce Western culture. At present, in order to contain and obstruct China's development, the United States and other countries are constantly intensifying their cultural cold war against China, using all opportunities and occasions to wage public opinion warfare and psychological warfare against China, and exchanges and confrontations in the international cultural and ideological fields are fiercely unfolding. "Culture is the soul of a country and a nation." "Cultural self-confidence is a more basic, deeper and more lasting force in the development of a country and a nation."
Traditional Chinese culture has a long history, is broad and profound, and various schools of thought are harmonious and different. "Chinese culture is a culture with great vitality and creativity, a history of Chinese culture, and at the same time a history of the creation of Chinese culture and thought." Because of this creativity, Chinese civilization has developed for 5,000 years without interruption. The great achievements made by China since the reform and opening up have fully demonstrated and confirmed the strong vitality of traditional Chinese culture. It is precisely because of the splendor of tradition and the splendor of reality that China's cultural self-confidence appears so confident and so rooted. At present, in the face of fierce competition in the international ideological field, the CPC fully realizes the extreme importance of cultural self-confidence, and while emphasizing the spiritual value of cultural self-confidence, it also gives more prominence to the strategic meaning of cultural self-confidence, stressing that this is a major issue related to the rise and fall of national fortunes, cultural security, and national spiritual independence.
5. Explore the development method of the Chinese road from the dialectic of the unity of knowledge and action
The Communist Party of China has taken Marxism as its guiding ideology and guide to action in a clear-cut manner, and while conscientiously studying the basic principles of Marxism, it has also been excavating cultural factors that are compatible with Marxism from China's excellent traditional culture and continuously promoting the process of sinicizing Marxism. Mao Zedong emphasized the use of the past for the present, fully absorbed and borrowed the contents of China's excellent traditional culture, and developed the theory of "the unity of knowledge and action" put forward by wang Yangming, a master of psychology in the Ming Dynasty, to a new theoretical height. In the "Book of Han and the Biography of Liu De, the King of Hejian", it is mentioned that "it is good to study the ancient and seek truth from facts". In "Transforming Our Study," Mao Zedong made a classic interpretation of seeking truth from facts of great significance to the times, and defined seeking truth from facts as the party's ideological line and ideological method. He pointed out: "'Facts' are all things that exist objectively, 'is' is the internal relationship of objective things, that is, regularity, and 'seeking' is what we study. In 1978, in response to the rigid thinking of "two whatevers" existing in Chinese society, Deng Xiaoping delivered an important speech entitled "Emancipating the Mind, Seeking Truth from Facts, and Looking Forward in Unity" at the Central Work Conference in preparation for the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He particularly emphasized: "Seeking truth from facts is the basis of the proletarian world outlook and the ideological foundation of Marxism. In the past, all the victories we won in the revolution relied on seeking truth from facts; now we must also rely on seeking truth from facts if we want to realize the four modernizations. It is under the guidance of this ideology that China has embarked on the process of reform and opening up and embarked on a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics that is different from other countries and nationalities in the world. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has placed greater emphasis on the status and role of seeking truth from facts, and has run truth from facts into all aspects and links of governing the country, and pushed the sinification of Marxism to a new realm. Xi Jinping stressed: "Seeking truth from facts is the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism, the fundamental requirement for Chinese communists to understand and transform the world, and the basic ideological methods, working methods and leadership methods of our party. This fully shows that the Communist Party of China will adhere to and apply the living soul of seeking truth from facts for a long time, and continuously promote the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics based on China's reality.
Third, a scientific attitude to deal with the relationship between China's history, culture and development path
To study the historical and cultural origins of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to grasp the relationship between China's history and culture and development path, it is necessary to adhere to a scientific attitude, comprehensively and dialectically view the actual influence and positive role of China's traditional history and culture, and oppose erroneous ideological trends such as historical nihilism, cultural retrospectivism, and historical and cultural determinism.
1. Oppose historical nihilism and clarify the true face of historical facts in exposing and criticizing them
Because China has been repeatedly invaded in modern times, and even faces the danger of subjugating the country and exterminating the species, Chinese intellectuals, in the process of finding a way out, were once extremely disappointed in Traditional Chinese culture, believing that the general root of China's poverty and backwardness is the backwardness of Chinese culture, and they want to completely negate Traditional Chinese culture, and some even put forward the slogan of "Down with Confucius Family Shop." At present, the phenomenon of directly negating China's history and culture is rare, but there has also been a trend of historical nihilism that negates the new-democratic revolution led by the Communist Party of China, negates the achievements of socialist construction, damages the image of party and state leaders, and slanders revolutionary heroes. Xi Jinping is highly vigilant against this kind of historical nihilism, believing that "the crux of historical nihilism is to fundamentally negate the guiding position of Marxism and the historical inevitability of China's march toward socialism, and to negate the leadership of the Communist Party of China." Although historical nihilism has been criticized a lot by the academic circles, this phenomenon has not been eradicated, and it will still appear in different guises in the future, and continue to make articles about the history of the Chinese revolution and the history of new China. To truly eliminate the influence of historical nihilism, we must proceed from the reality of China's history and culture, use the facts and achievements of the construction and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, pierce through all kinds of lies and fogs created by historical nihilism, and clarify the pragmatism and subjective idealism of historical nihilism. With a correct outlook on history, nationality, country, and culture, we should guide the masses of the people, especially the broad masses of young people, to take a clear-cut stand against the erroneous trend of historical nihilism, and unswervingly take the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics on the basis of clarifying the historical and cultural origins of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
2. Oppose the theory of cultural retrospection and face up to the historical role of traditional culture in inheritance and development
Since the beginning of the new century, respecting, disseminating, and learning from excellent traditional cultures has become a common practice in Chinese society. However, in the midst of this trend, some people have taken the opportunity to vigorously advocate the "theory of cultural retrospection" and put forward that everything in traditional Chinese culture is good, and if China wants to develop, it must return to history and tradition in an all-round way. This view is mechanical, lacking a deep understanding of traditional Chinese culture, and one-sidedly exaggerating the role of history and culture, without seeing that socialism with Chinese characteristics is jointly determined by China's unique cultural traditions, historical destiny, and basic national conditions. To study and carry forward traditional Chinese culture, we must act in accordance with the principle of using the past for the present and innovating the old, treat it with discrimination, and inherit it with abandonment, and we must not grasp the crap and the essence at once, otherwise it is very likely that the good things will not be learned, but will study and inherit those bad and backward things. As an important part of strengthening cultural self-confidence and cultivating and practicing the core values of socialism, how to inherit and innovate China's excellent traditional culture in combination with the requirements of the times is a challenging practical topic for China. We must neither forget history nor be ignorant of history; we must not forget the original, nor can we ignore the outside and the future. Only by actively promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture while learning to inherit China's excellent traditional culture can we truly discover the ideological concepts, humanistic spirit and moral norms contained in China's excellent traditional culture, so that Chinese culture can show its charming charm and style of the times, and provide spiritual guidance for the people.
3. Oppose historical and cultural determinism, and highlight the shaping role of the environment of the times in history and reality
Philosophers such as Max Weber, Spengler, and Toynbee attach great importance to the influence and shaping of historical and cultural factors on a country's political and social system, believing that the reason why a country and a nation choose a certain system and embark on a certain path is determined by its specific history and culture. There are also many responders to this view in Chinese academia. Although it is important to study the historical and cultural background of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is not possible to simply and directly equate the history and culture of this country with a certain political system it adheres to, and the role of highlighting history and culture is mainly to say that it is the "gene, soil, foundation, and bloodline" of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, but it is not possible to simply confuse genes with fruits. A specific history and culture will undoubtedly have an important impact on the establishment and operation of a certain political system and social system. However, if we one-sidedly emphasize the role of history and culture, it is easy to ignore the subjective role of advanced figures and fail to see the role of shaping the background of the times and the real environment. The reason why socialism with Chinese characteristics can emerge, evolve and develop in China is not only because Chinese history and culture have inherent coherence and consistency with socialism with Chinese characteristics, but also because the Chinese communists have focused on realizing common ideals and lofty ideals, persisted in using the past for the present, and innovated the old and culture, and carried out creative transformation and innovative development of traditional history and culture, so that China's history and culture conformed to the urgent requirements of China's historical progress and social development, thus radiating strong vitality and combat effectiveness under the new historical conditions. Therefore, it is important and correct to attach importance to the influence of history and culture on socialism with Chinese characteristics, but if we fall into "cultural determinism", we will ignore the arduous exploration and innovative development of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, and we will not see the strong vitality and world influence of socialism with Chinese characteristics. "China's modernization is neither a complete negation of traditional culture nor a simple restoration of traditional culture, but a renunciation and innovation on the basis of full identification."
In summary, socialism with Chinese characteristics is a great practice on the land of China, and in the process of the formation and development of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, China's excellent traditional culture, as the most basic cultural gene of the Chinese nation, has played an important role in cultivating and shaping. Culture is the soul of a country and a nation, and to strengthen self-confidence in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, theoretical self-confidence, and institutional self-confidence, in the final analysis, it is necessary to strengthen cultural self-confidence. Based on the new era of the construction and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must deeply excavate the ideological concepts, humanistic spirit and moral norms contained in China's excellent traditional culture, and inherit and innovate in combination with the requirements of the times, so that the fertile cultural soil rooted in socialism with Chinese characteristics can show its permanent charm and the style of the times.
bibliography:
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(Author: Wang Yi, Professor, School of Marxism, Chinese Min University, Researcher of Xi Jinping Institute of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Chinese Min University, Executive Director of the Chinese Historical Materialism Society; Source: Marxist Studies, No. 7, 2020)