【Learn, Think, Practice and Enlightenment】

Author: Tang Ruopei (Researcher at the Tianjin University of Science and Technology Base of Tianjin University of Science and Technology Research Center for the Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics)

Culture is the soul of a country and a nation. As the cultural chapter of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi Jinping's cultural thought not only answers a series of major issues facing the development of contemporary Chinese culture and provides fundamental guidance for the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics; it also answers a series of major issues facing the development and development of world culture today, points out the correct direction for the development and progress of human civilization and contributes Chinese wisdom. Deeply understanding the world significance of Xi Jinping's cultural thoughts and deeply understanding its unique contribution and role in the international cultural pattern and its evolution process is of great value for scientific grasp of the historical status of this idea.

Revealing the inner unity of cultural essence and human nature

Since the Industrial Revolution, while human beings have created material wealth far beyond the previous era, they have also created modern culture that is much colorful than the previous era. However, this modern culture contains a profound contradiction between material richness and spiritual poverty. In the "Communist Manifesto", Marx and Engels described the bourgeoisie as "drunk the sacred attacks of religious piety, knight enthusiasm, and petty citizens' sadness in the ice water of egoism" - capitalism swallowed up the emotional expressions, faith bonds and cultural connotations of various social relations, and replaced them with materialist values. In the 1844 Economic Philosophical Manuscript, Marx criticized that "dirty, this depravity, corruption of man, and the gutter of civilization (as far as the original meaning of this word) have become the element of the worker's life." The expansion of materialism makes people become so-called "one-dimensional" people. "The market and market values invade those areas of life that they do not belong to." On the one hand, it is the accumulation of wealth, the lack of faith, the flow of material desires, and the proliferation of extreme selfishness. The human spirit is becoming increasingly embarrassing in the numerous "encirclements" of material things, which has become a major chronic disease in modern Western culture. Some Western theories have also conducted cultural modern reflections, but most of these reflections remain at the cognitive level and have not proposed practical solutions.

Xi Jinping's cultural thought not only emphasizes the "real process of functioning and reaction between the economic foundation and the superstructure, not a single-line simple decision and the logic of being decided", but also clearly states that "culture is an important force for the survival and development of the nation", "we must pay more attention to educating people with culture and culture, constantly enriching the people's spiritual world, and promoting the all-round development of people." The article "Cultural Harmony" written by Comrade Xi Jinping during his work in Zhejiang profoundly pointed out: "Man is essentially a cultural person, not a 'materialized' person; he is an active and comprehensive person, not a rigid and 'one-dimensional' person." These important statements organically integrate the basic principles of Marxism into the theoretical logic of Chinese modernization. They not only reveal the internal unity of cultural essence and human nature in theory, but also propose a specific path to achieve the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization in practice, transcending Western modernization theory and Western cultural critical theory, providing scientific guidance for human society to abandon the old path of expanding Western materialism and develop in a more independent and free direction.

Solved the relationship between cultural inheritance and innovative development

Every major development of productivity in human society, while creating a series of new things, always leads to debates and reflections on how to treat old things. Radical views advocate breaking the old order and rebuilding the new world, while conservative views advocate conservative retro. Overall, the former conforms to the objective needs of society's development, but often comes at the expense of tradition; the latter sees the importance of tradition in maintaining society, but it is difficult to control the endogenous potential energy of social development. This contradiction is the "controversy between ancient and modern times" of culture, which is widely present in the history of the East and the West. China, with a long history of civilization, has suffered from foreign cultures since modern times and has encountered unprecedented difficult choices of new life and old life, self and others, radical and conservative. The dispute between China and the West faced by ancient and modern times has become a cultural problem that has been delayed for a century.

History and reality have repeatedly told us that a nation that abandons or betrays its own history and culture is not only impossible to develop, but also likely to stage historical tragedies. Xi Jinping's cultural thought made a comprehensive and systematic explanation of a series of major theoretical and practical issues of "two combinations" and especially the "second combination". Based on the theoretical logic of mutual compatibility and mutual achievement, Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture are integrated into one, using the light of Marxism's truth to activate the genes of Chinese civilization, and enrich the cultural life of Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture. "Fused the past and present, and connect the Chinese and Western culture", "uphold the right but not conservative, respect the ancients but not retro", transcend the opposition between cultural radicalism and cultural conservatism, and solve the problem of the dispute between ancient and modern China and the West, establishing a milestone in the history of human culture.

Inheritance is the prerequisite for development, and development is an inevitable requirement for inheritance. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Every civilization continues the spiritual bloodline of a country and nation. It needs to be passed down from generation to generation and protected from generation to generation, and also needs to keep pace with the times and be brave to innovate." The "two combinations" are China and the world. It provides a brilliant example for countries around the world to solve the problems of their own cultural inheritance and development, and provides a new choice for countries and nations that want to integrate into the trend of modern cultural development and maintain their own cultural independence.

A Chinese solution to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations has been proposed

"The inconsistency of things is the feelings of things." Different civilizations show the characteristics of diversity and difference due to differences in regions, traditions, etc. Historically, there was a side of exchange and integration between different civilizations such as the "Silk Road" and a side of confrontation and conflict like the "Crusade". Since modern times, with the more thorough the primitive closed state of various ethnic groups being eliminated due to the increasingly perfect production mode, communication and division of labor between different ethnic groups naturally formed by communication, the more history becomes world history", the more frequent exchanges between different civilizations. In this context, how civilizations get along with each other is related to the future and destiny of human society.

The key factor that determines whether different civilizations can tolerate coexistence is what kind of civilization concept to treat different civilizations. Some strong cultures have proposed the "civilization superiority theory" and "civilization conflict theory" with a condescending attitude, believing that their civilization is superior to others. When seeing that other people's civilizations are different from their own civilization, they must do everything possible to transform and de-assimilate, and even try to replace them with their own civilization and use coercive means to solve the problem of civilization differences, which seriously hinders the progress of human civilization.

History shows that without diversity, there will be no human civilization; the prosperity of civilization and the progress of mankind are inseparable from the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations. With a perspective and perspective of the world in mind, Xi Jinping's cultural thought clearly stated that there is no distinction between high and low, good and bad in civilization, and different civilizations should communicate equally and learn from each other. The promotion of the concept of civilization of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness, and the emphasis on the use of civilized exchanges to transcend civilization barriers, mutual learning and conflicts of civilizations, and inclusiveness and superiority of civilizations, has clarified the correct attitude and principles of civilized exchanges and mutual learning. The Global Civilization Initiative is a Chinese solution provided by China to solve the problem of symbiosis and coexistence of diverse civilizations of mankind. It is also a unique concept and value narrative born from the inclusiveness and peace of Chinese civilization. It demonstrates the profound wisdom of "great harmony in the world" and "harmony and symbiosis" of Chinese civilization, and reflects China's responsibility as a major country to uphold justice and morality and always stand on the right side of history, and injects strong civilization power into promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and building a better world.

"Guangming Daily" (Page 06, July 21, 2025)