The political culture within the Party is a spiritual hallmark deeply embedded in the blood and marrow of Party members and cadres, reflecting their spiritual aspirations. This political culture within the Party operates subtly yet pervasively, imperceptibly influencing the healthy development of political life and the political ecosystem within the Party, and profoundly guiding the building of Party conduct, governmental style, and social ethos. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must always maintain a sense of urgency and risk awareness, adhere steadfastly to the mindset of staying on guard against the worst-case scenario, continuously strengthen our resolve to examine ourselves critically, replenish our ‘calcium’ to fortify our bones, detoxify and sterilize our bodies, eliminate illness and heal wounds, remove decay and foster new growth—thus nurturing a positive and healthy political culture within the Party, continually purifying the Party’s political ecosystem, and gathering powerful positive energy to sweep away the impurities and promote clarity and integrity. Only in this way can the Party remain unchanged in its nature, unaltered in its character, and true to its original flavor.” To thoroughly implement the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations and advance comprehensive and strict governance over the Party, we must attach great importance to the construction of the Party’s political culture, fully harness the value-guiding role of this culture, and use a sound political culture to nurture a clean and upright political ecosystem.

One

“Where the source is deep, the radiance will surely shine brightly.” Our Party’s political culture is one that is guided by Marxism, rooted in China’s outstanding traditional culture, originating from revolutionary culture, and centered on advanced socialist culture— a culture that fully embodies the distinctive character of the Communist Party of China. China’s outstanding traditional culture serves as the foundation and origin of a positive and healthy intra-Party political culture. On this solid basis, drawing abundantly from the rich nourishment of China’s outstanding traditional culture, our intra-Party political culture can creatively transform and innovatively develop the fine elements of Chinese traditional culture in directions such as reforming the old and embracing the new, keeping pace with the times, and being open and inclusive. Revolutionary culture is the living source of a positive and healthy intra-Party political culture, endowing it with a distinct “red” genetic imprint. As a result, the fine cultural traditions and revolutionary spirit consistently upheld by Chinese communists are deeply embedded within our intra-Party political culture, becoming its spiritual core. Advanced socialist culture is the essence of a positive and healthy intra-Party political culture, ensuring that it always maintains the quality of keeping pace with the times and continuously infusing it with the spirit of the era as advanced socialist culture evolves.

To foster a positive and healthy intra-party political culture, we must take Marxism as our guiding principle and, in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, develop advanced socialist culture, promote revolutionary culture, and carry forward China’s outstanding traditional culture, thereby ensuring the continuous inheritance and revitalization of the roots of a positive and healthy intra-party political culture. First, we must get to the root of the issue and thoroughly excavate and activate the excellent elements within China’s traditional culture, integrating them into our intra-party political culture. In doing so, we can continually enrich and expand the内涵 of our intra-party political culture through the unbroken传承 of China’s cultural heritage. We must firmly distinguish between the essence and the dross, consciously discarding the coarse and retaining the refined, rejecting the false and preserving the true, and always striving to strengthen and nurture the foundations of our positive and healthy intra-party political culture. Second, we must uphold orthodoxy while fostering innovation, accurately recognizing and properly handling the relationship between upholding orthodoxy and promoting innovation. On the one hand, we must firmly safeguard the fundamental principles of our positive and healthy intra-party political culture, consolidating its foundation and strengthening its roots through the integration of China’s outstanding traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture—thus enabling our intra-party political culture to “embody the aspirations of ages past and converge the reflections of millennia.” On the other hand, we must dare to explore, pioneer, and innovate, adapting dynamically to changing times and circumstances while staying true to our core values. In this way, our positive and healthy intra-party political culture can reach new heights of development through the interplay of upholding orthodoxy and fostering innovation. Third, we must keep pace with the times, grounding ourselves in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics and embracing our cultural mission for the new era. By deepening our understanding of the regularities underlying the processes of getting to the root of our positive and healthy intra-party political culture, upholding orthodoxy, and fostering innovation, we can consolidate our cultural subjectivity, bolster our cultural confidence, enhance the cohesion and appeal of our positive and healthy intra-party political culture, and, while maintaining an open and inclusive stance, highlight the power and influence of our positive and healthy intra-party political culture.

Two

“Nurture the fertile soil, and extract the essence.” The creation and development of culture are inseparable from the nourishment of a specific environment. As a subjective reflection shaped by organizational elements—including the Communist Party of China’s standardized and efficient institutional framework, its lofty and noble spiritual beliefs, and its exemplary conduct embodying responsibility and commitment—party political culture takes root and flourishes in the rich, fertile soil formed jointly by party institutional culture, party spiritual culture, and party behavioral culture. Party institutional culture lays the “institutional foundation” for party political culture; it not only establishes a cognitive framework for the entire Party regarding the system of internal party regulations and rules but also cultivates in all Party members a conscious awareness of respecting, studying, abiding by, and applying these regulations, thereby enhancing the authority and enforceability of the party’s regulatory system. Party spiritual culture serves as the “spiritual source” of party political culture; originating from the great spirit of founding the Party, it forms a spiritual genealogy of Chinese Communists, vividly embodying their spiritual character and cultural ethos. It guides and builds a spiritual home for contemporary Chinese Communists, enabling the entire Party to continuously gather powerful spiritual strength. Party behavioral culture acts as the “behavioral rudder” of party political culture, solidifying the behavioral orientations and approaches adopted by Party organizations at all levels and by all Party members and cadres in their participation in political life. Internally, it regulates the Party’s conscious political behavior; externally, it projects an excellent image of the Party, ensuring that the entire Party consistently upholds strict self-cultivation, rigorous exercise of power, and strict self-discipline. Party institutional culture, party spiritual culture, and party behavioral culture are both relatively independent and mutually complementary, unified within party political culture. Leveraging their respective strengths—institutional power, spiritual strength, and practical action—they continuously foster a vibrant cultural entity characterized by positive and healthy political life within the Party. This enables the Party to act with precision and flexibility, like limbs responding to the will of the body, readily identifying and directly confronting its own contradictions and problems, and effectively addressing them. In doing so, it not only enhances the resilience of a positive and healthy party political culture but also continually injects new vitality into the Party’s cultural landscape, thus strengthening and revitalizing the Party through a positive and healthy political culture.

To foster a positive and healthy intra-party political culture, we must take sound laws and good governance, soul-building and ideological consolidation, and integrity and responsibility as the core values, thereby developing the party’s institutional culture, spiritual culture, and behavioral culture. Through the synergistic resonance among these three components, we can cultivate fertile ground for nurturing a positive and healthy intra-party political culture. “We must simultaneously focus on both formulating and perfecting rules and regulations, and on ensuring their thorough implementation.” In developing the party’s institutional culture, we should adhere to a dual-drive approach of “establishing sound laws” and “promoting good governance,” comprehensively enhancing the systematic completeness, scientific rigor, and operational effectiveness of the party’s regulatory framework, and improving the practical platforms for implementing the party’s institutional culture. At the same time, we must strictly enforce the requirements of governing the Party according to rules—ensuring that every regulation is followed, every rule is strictly enforced, and any violation is duly investigated—thus fostering in the entire Party a strong awareness of rules and discipline, and using sound laws and good governance as value guidelines to fully strengthen identification with the party’s institutional culture. “We must ensure that the ideals, beliefs, values, and fine traditions advocated by the Party deeply permeate the thoughts and hearts of Party members and cadres.” In developing the party’s spiritual culture, we should pay particular attention to properly balancing the dialectical unity of “destruction” and “construction,” building an intra-party spiritual culture imbued with upright ethos, guiding Party members and cadres to firmly establish correct ideals, beliefs, values, and political convictions. At the same time, we must unequivocally oppose all erroneous value orientations that erode the party’s political culture, taking soul-building and ideological consolidation as our guiding coordinates to help the entire Party solidify its foundation of faith, replenish its spiritual calcium, and keep its ideological compass steady. All Party members and cadres should bear in mind that “only by maintaining integrity in governance can we win the trust of the people; only by exercising power impartially can we win the hearts of the people,” and “we must strive to become pillars of strength capable of shouldering great responsibilities.” In developing the party’s behavioral culture, we should implement specific measures tailored to different actors, encouraging Party members and cadres to hone their political character of integrity, honesty, and responsibility, firmly rooting themselves in the value concept of putting the people first, and thus creating a rich cultural environment within the Party characterized by integrity and responsibility. While leveraging the unique strengths of the party’s institutional culture, spiritual culture, and behavioral culture, we must also keep in mind the overarching goal of cultivating a “positive and healthy” intra-party political culture, organically integrating and mutually reinforcing these three components to continuously inject new momentum into the cultivation of such a culture and sustain its vibrant vitality.

Three

“Moss grows amid hemp—though left unattended, it stands straight.” The political culture within the Party stems from the Communist Party of China’s great practice over more than a century of leading revolution, construction, and reform, while also being shaped by the political, economic, and social environment. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Political life within the Party, the political ecosystem, and political culture are mutually reinforcing. Political culture is the soul of political life and exerts a subtle yet profound influence on the political ecosystem.” “To govern the Party effectively, we must first start with regulating political life within the Party; to enforce strict governance over the Party, we must first enforce strictness in its political life.” “To do well in all aspects of work, we must have a sound political ecosystem.” The Party’s style of conduct, government conduct, social ethos, and public customs are closely interconnected, profoundly influencing and shaping one another. Social ethos, once established over time, reflects the overall spiritual outlook of society. A positive social ethos embodies the noble values that the Chinese nation has long cherished, subtly promoting goodness and upholding what is right, transforming individuals and nurturing a healthy Party and government ethos. At the same time, we must be mindful that certain unhealthy social trends can seep into Party members and cadres, eroding the Party’s and government’s conduct and thereby undermining the positive and healthy development of the Party’s political culture. We must therefore pay close attention to the “double-edged sword” nature of social ethos.

To foster a positive and healthy political culture within the Party, we must promote and uphold values such as loyalty and honesty, openness and integrity, fairness and impartiality, seeking truth from facts, hard work and perseverance, and incorruptibility and integrity. We should strive to cultivate a sound ethos throughout the Party and society, and persistently create and nurture an excellent environment for fostering the Party’s political culture. Purifying and safeguarding the political ecosystem is not an overnight achievement; rather, it requires comprehensive strategies and coordinated efforts. We must remain firmly problem-oriented, focus our efforts precisely, directly confront and eliminate the “sources of pollution” in the political ecosystem, and in the process of cleansing the murky and promoting the clear, address both symptoms and root causes simultaneously. This will help us build a political ecosystem that is cleaner and more upright. At the same time, we must adopt a preventive approach, remain vigilant and persistent, treating the purification of the political ecosystem as a fundamental and ongoing task. Through sustained and painstaking efforts, we can achieve continuous improvement and long-term protection, thus continuously purifying the political ecosystem. We must uphold the fundamental institutional principle of Marxism’s guiding role in the ideological sphere, build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership, resolutely resist and combat all kinds of erroneous social trends, and always maintain the Party’s firm leadership over ideological work, ensuring that the Party’s political culture follows the correct path of development. We must cultivate a new atmosphere of integrity and vigor, and firmly resist unhealthy tendencies and evil influences. We must resolutely prevent and oppose individualism, fragmentation, liberalism, parochialism, and the “good-person” mentality. We must also firmly oppose sectarianism, clique culture, and “dockside” culture. With a high degree of historical awareness, profound sense of crisis, tenacious determination to apply strong medicine to cure deep-seated ills, and tremendous courage to scrape away the rot and heal the wounds, we must wage an unrelenting struggle against all kinds of decadent, vulgar, and negative cultural factors. We must treat the cultivation of a sound social ethos as a systematic and strategic undertaking, comprehensively planning and deploying it. Guided by a clean and upright political ecosystem, we will foster a social ecosystem brimming with integrity and positive energy, thereby gathering powerful positive forces to advance Chinese-style modernization.