Tongfang Academy
Micro Party Class · Issue 352
Deeply grasp the distinctive characteristics of the Party’s cultural leadership.
“Theoretical cultivation is the core of the comprehensive quality of Party members and cadres. Theoretical maturity is the foundation for political maturity, and political steadfastness stems from theoretical clarity.” For Party members and cadres, fostering a fine academic ethos and strengthening theoretical training are both fundamental requirements for cultivating Party spirit and an inescapable political responsibility.
Tongfang Law Firm provides all its lawyers with learning opportunities in the form of micro-party classes, thereby enhancing their ideological and political awareness as well as their spirit of learning and inquiry. By establishing a long-term educational mechanism, the firm has created a new platform for self-education and self-improvement.
At the symposium on the inheritance and development of culture, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the significant proposition of “the Communist Party of China’s cultural leadership,” clearly underscoring the paramount importance of upholding the Party’s cultural leadership. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee—with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core—has systematically planned and deployed all aspects and the entire process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, continuously consolidating and expanding the Party’s leading role in the cultural sphere. Deeply understanding and grasping the distinctive features of the Party’s cultural leadership, and summarizing the underlying patterns and insights, is both an inevitable requirement for studying and implementing Xi Jinping’s thought on culture, and an essential precondition for providing the fundamental political guarantee for building a culturally strong nation.
The Party’s cultural leadership is first and foremost reflected in its accurate summarization and profound grasp of the laws governing cultural development. Since the advent of the new era, in its long-term practice of leading cultural development, the Party has not only deepened its understanding of the intrinsic logic underlying cultural progress but has also systematically constructed a multi-dimensional and profound theoretical framework for building socialism with Chinese characteristics, thereby demonstrating its distinct advanced nature. By summarizing and applying the laws governing cultural development, the Party has innovated and refined its concepts, paths, and methods for cultural development, ensuring that the cultural prosperity and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics remain on the right track.
First, it comprehensively reveals the fundamental principles governing the development of socialist cultural construction with Chinese characteristics. In leading cultural development, the Party, starting from the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, and grounded in the material foundations and social underpinnings of cultural development, has scientifically formulated cultural development strategies and goals that are tailored to the economic and political conditions of each historical period, thereby avoiding both blind adherence and one-sided approaches.
Second, we have comprehensively revealed the unique laws governing the development of traditional Chinese culture. Our Party has deeply analyzed the historical trajectory, distinctive characteristics, and functional value of traditional Chinese culture, and creatively proposed the important principle of “the two combinations.” We adhere to using Marxism to imbue China’s outstanding traditional culture with new contemporary significance, and with a strong sense of historical responsibility and cultural confidence, we clearly define the proper attitude and scientific approach toward traditional culture. This provides both scientific theoretical guidance and practical pathways for promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s outstanding traditional culture.
Third, we must comprehensively reveal the general laws governing the development of human civilization. Our Party has gained a profound insight into the inevitable trend of cultural exchange and mutual learning, as well as the significant value of cultural diversity and pluralism. In the context of economic globalization, we not only uphold our own cultural identity and draw on outstanding cultural achievements from other civilizations, but also actively promote shared values for all humanity. This enables us to foster dialogue and cooperation among different civilizations and ensures that the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics continues to thrive and brim with vitality within a broad global perspective.
The Party’s cultural leadership is, in essence, the leadership of ideological work. The collapse of a political regime often begins in the realm of ideas; while political turmoil and regime changes may occur overnight, the evolution of ideas is a long-term process. Once the ideological defense line is breached, it becomes exceedingly difficult to hold other lines of defense. Since the advent of the new era, the Party has consistently emphasized that “mastering ideological leadership is the foundation for mastering all forms of leadership.” It has engaged in creative practical explorations in building the mainstream ideology, regarding the upholding of Marxism’s guiding role in the ideological sphere and the construction of a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and guiding power as the central task in building the Party’s cultural leadership in the new era—thus demonstrating a distinct political character. On the one hand, the Party has made clear the utmost importance of ideological work. Economic development remains the Party’s central task, yet ideological work is an equally critical mission for the Party. Ideology concerns the banner we hold, the path we take, and the nation’s political security. Building a socialist ideology with robust cohesion and guiding power is a vital strategic task that the entire Party—and especially the propaganda and ideological front—must shoulder. On the other hand, the Party has taken concrete measures to safeguard and consolidate the mainstream ideology. It has established and upheld the fundamental institutional framework ensuring Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological sphere, fully implemented the responsibility system for ideological work, strengthened the building and management of ideological fronts, improved systems such as the theoretical study groups of Party committees (Party leading groups) and cadre education and training programs, and insisted on using the Party’s innovative theories to arm the entire Party, educate the people, and guide practice. By doing so, the Party continues to consolidate the positive momentum in the ideological sphere and, guided by the socialist ideology, clearly defines the political direction for the development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “The work of publicity, ideology, and culture is facing new situations and new tasks, and we must demonstrate a fresh outlook and achieve new accomplishments.” Since the advent of the new era, our Party has scientifically grasped the trends in cultural development, proactively responded to diverse and ever-changing cultural demands and environments, squarely confronted and addressed challenges and problems on all fronts, and continuously infused cultural development with vigorous vitality and strong dynamism, thereby demonstrating a distinct sense of the times. With profound insights into the times and innovative practical capabilities, our Party rationally analyzes new issues, new circumstances, and new challenges in the cultural sphere, and adopts targeted policy measures and concrete actions. At the international level, in the face of the challenges posed by cultural hegemonism to value identification, we have taken proactive steps—such as actively building a discourse system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, strengthening the international dissemination of Chinese culture, and promoting the thriving development of cultural undertakings—to significantly enhance our country’s cultural soft power and consolidate the cultural subjectivity and spiritual independence of the Chinese nation. At the domestic level, we firmly oppose various erroneous ideological trends—including cultural nihilism and universal values—that seek to undermine social consensus by distorting history and perverting values. We adhere to using the core socialist values to integrate and guide diverse ideologies and public opinion, vigorously promote the construction of online civilization, foster the healthy development of social thought and culture, and continually lay a solid ideological foundation for cultural identity and national cohesion. Within the Party itself, we are deeply advancing the Party’s self-revolution, taking excellent conduct as our guiding principle, enforcing strict discipline as our safeguard, and combating corruption and evil forces as our means of removing obstacles, thus ensuring that the Party always maintains ideological unity, political solidarity, and concerted action.
Since the advent of a new era, our Party has clearly defined the fundamental direction of cultural development as serving the people and serving socialism. We adhere to the principle that cultural development is for the people and relies on the people, and that the fruits of cultural development should be shared by the people, thereby maximizing unity and cohesion in the ideological and cultural sphere and demonstrating a distinct people-centered character. Our Party consistently upholds a value orientation centered on the people, and on the basis of genuinely meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of the masses, we continuously enhance the people’s political, ideological, and emotional identification with the Party’s leadership in cultural development.
First, we must focus on the diverse, multi-level, and multifaceted spiritual and cultural needs of the people, taking the enrichment of their spiritual world, the enhancement of their spiritual strength, and the promotion of their spiritual well-being as both the starting point and the ultimate goal of cultural development. We are committed to enabling the people to enjoy a higher-quality and more refined spiritual and cultural life.
Second, we must uphold the unity of respecting the laws governing cultural development and respecting the people’s central role. We should draw ideological wisdom from the practical lives of the masses, continuously enhance their sense of participation and belonging in cultural development, and rely on the people’s proactive spirit to write a new chapter of prosperous development for socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Third, we will continue to promote the standardization and equalization of basic public cultural services, establish a mechanism for high-quality cultural resources to directly reach the grassroots level, ensure that the fruits of cultural development benefit all people, and help elevate the spiritual and cultural lives of the general public to a new level.
The Party’s cultural leadership is not confined to a particular corner or single aspect of the cultural sphere; rather, it is grounded in the macro framework of cultural development and provides comprehensive, in-depth guidance and regulation over the overall trajectory of cultural advancement. Since the advent of the new era, the Communist Party of China has, from the strategic perspective of building a culturally strong nation, undertaken unified planning and coordination of culture’s diverse facets and complex components, thereby transforming cultural development into a holistic endeavor characterized by interconnectedness and all-round progress, thus highlighting its distinct systemic nature.
On the level of ideological and public opinion, we must provide comprehensive leadership over propaganda, ideological, and cultural work. Grounded in the fundamental task of “consolidating two things,” our Party firmly upholds the principle that the Party exercises leadership over propaganda, ideology, media, and the internet. We insist on political professionals running newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and news websites, strengthen the building of mainstream ideological and public-opinion platforms, and promote close unity across society around the Communist Party of China in terms of ideals, beliefs, values, and moral principles.
In terms of cultural development, we must provide comprehensive leadership in cultural innovation and creation. Our Party steadfastly follows the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics, deeply embedding cultural innovation with the distinctive mark of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We firmly uphold the originality of cultural content production and the advanced nature of theoretical innovation, ensuring that cultural innovation and creation can steadily and sustainably advance while resisting erroneous ideological trends and guiding social ethos.
On the level of cultural work, we provide comprehensive leadership over the management of cultural organizations. Our Party has strengthened its overall leadership over various cultural institutions, organizations, and units, systematically guiding the practical activities of cultural teams and cultural workers. We have established and improved the leadership system, management structures, and policy and legal frameworks for cultural work, thereby effectively promoting the standardization, rule-of-law-based approach, and efficiency in cultural development and management.
Source | People's Daily Online, Official Website for Party History Study and Education
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