Build China into a Cultural Powerhouse

Build China into a Cultural Powerhouse*

October 28, 2024

Today, at the 17th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, we will discuss the topic of building China into a cultural powerhouse. We will explore how to step up efforts to achieve this goal through a review of our achievements to date and an analysis of new developments and the tasks we face.

Our Party has always prioritized cultural development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we have given it greater weight in state governance through a series of major plans. We have developed the thought on the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. By clearing up confusion and misunderstandings and breaking new ground while preserving our traditions, we have made historic progress that has led to increased cultural confidence throughout the entire Party and the whole nation, a lively atmosphere for cultural creation, flourishing cultural programs and industries, and richer cultural activities enjoyed by the people. Our efforts have gained strong traction in developing a thriving socialist culture. Nevertheless, global transformation on a scale unseen in a century is accelerating, the principal challenge facing Chinese society is evolving, and the new revolution in science, technology and industry is gaining momentum. We must therefore pay greater attention to our areas of weakness and shortcomings and seek effective solutions.

The 20th CPC National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee outlined plans for building China into a cultural powerhouse, and I gave further instructions at the meeting on cultural inheritance and development held last year. This endeavor bears on the Chinese drive for modernization, national rejuvenation, and our international competitiveness. Focusing on the strategic goal of building China into a cultural powerhouse by 2035, we will uphold the fundamental guiding ideology of Marxism, draw inspiration from China’s profound cultural traditions, and follow the evolving trends of information technology. We should continue to develop our socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the new era, as it boasts tremendous power to better guide, unite and inspire the people while enjoying broad international influence. We will bolster the people’s inner strength and consolidate the cultural foundations for building a great country and rejuvenating the nation. To achieve this, we must do the following:

First, remain committed to developing a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. As a Marxist political party with strong cultural consciousness that has long stood at the forefront of the times, the CPC spearheads China’s cultural development and has led the people in pioneering a Chinese path of socialist cultural development. The essential feature of this path is the Party’s leadership. As I have said on many occasions, if we fail to adapt to the information age, we will struggle to exercise long-term governance. This is why we must guarantee Party leadership over public communication, ideological work, the media, and cyberspace administration. We must improve our governance capacity in the cultural sector in the information age, consolidate the Party’s governance foundations in terms of thinking, ideology and culture, and ensure broad popular support.

In developing a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, we should keep to our path with confidence and determination, and embrace the evolving times by proactively identifying, responding to, and seeking change. We must uphold the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, fully apply the thought on the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and develop a sound and people-oriented socialist culture that embraces modernization, the world, and the future. We will focus on developing a socialist ideology that has the power to unite and inspire the people by following the guidance of the core socialist values, making sustained efforts to foster China’s spirit, values and strengths, and developing and strengthening mainstream values, public opinion, and culture.

Second, boost the cultural creativity of the whole nation. The vitality of culture lies in innovation. In implementing the plans made at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, we will continue to take a people-centered approach to cultural creation, putting social benefits first while also pursuing economic returns. We will focus on spurring innovation and creativity in the institutional reform of the cultural sector, and move faster to improve the management system and production and operation mechanisms for cultural undertakings. To inspire cultural creativity, we will refine the mechanisms for serving, guiding and organizing literary and artistic creation and production. This will help to nurture celebrated works that appeal to the people, reflect the spirit of our times, and bring Chinese culture to new heights. We will pay equal attention to cultivating talent and literary and artistic production, thereby ensuring the creation of outstanding works in an enabling environment as we actively build a sound cultural ecosystem. We will promote democracy in academic research and artistic pursuits, encourage writers, artists and scholars to ground themselves in reality in their research and creation, and fuel sustained innovation and creativity in culture.

Culture promotes science and technology and vice versa. We should explore effective integration mechanisms, use the internet and information technology to improve cultural creation and production, and drive the comprehensive upgrading of both “hardware” and “software” for the cultural industry. We will promote cultural development through digital empowerment and informatization, turning cultural resource strengths into cultural development momentum. As new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence emerge, we will coordinate their development and security.

Third, remain committed to serving the people. The influence of a thriving culture will ultimately be reflected in the level of the people’s moral, mental and cultural cultivation. We will adopt a people-centered approach, and increase our capacity for supplying cultural services and products to meet the people’s diverse, multilevel and multifaceted needs, so that they will develop a stronger sense of gain and fulfillment. We should leverage the role of culture in self-cultivation, and foster an enterprising national spirit.

Talent is the key element that drives cultural creation. We will therefore give priority to the development of a broad talent base as an urgent task of strategic importance. To this end, we will coordinate the training of talented individuals of all types, and build a massive and well-structured team of high-caliber talent passionate about innovation. We should respect best practices in cultivating talent, put in place a sound, authoritative, open and transparent system for evaluating literary, art and academic works, improve the mechanisms specific to the cultural sector for selecting, training, employing and incentivizing talent, and foster an enabling policy environment for identifying, respecting and nurturing talent.

Fourth, promote cultural sustainability through creative transformation and innovative development of the best of traditional Chinese culture. China’s fine traditional culture carries the genes of the nation and is the secret to its sustained development. Reinforcing our cultural identity and preserving, promoting and developing the cultural treasures passed on to us over centuries of vicissitude is a historic responsibility and a sacred mission of Chinese Communists today. We should make the past serve the present, develop the new from the old, and encourage the creative transformation and innovative development of cultural heritage. We will delve into the roots of our traditional culture and encapsulate its essence, energizing its best elements and imbuing them with new life by applying Marxism, and developing a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Cultural heritage is a compelling witness to the splendid Chinese civilization and also a precious treasure bequeathed to us by our ancestors. We should have a profound respect for history and love for our culture. We will undertake the systematic protection of cultural heritage under unified supervision and prioritize protection, sound utilization, and minimal interference. We will take a holistic approach to the preservation of cities, urban districts, towns, and villages renowned for their rich history and cultural heritage, and ensure that they continue to develop as living monuments to history. We will improve the systems and mechanisms for protecting and preserving cultural heritage, move faster to refine the related legal regulatory framework, strengthen staffing and integration of managerial resources, and increase the authority, synergy, and binding effect of our efforts.

Fifth, improve our cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. These are an integral part of the overall national strength. Currently, global transformation on a scale unseen in a century is accelerating, and competition for cultural influence among countries is becoming ever fiercer. As a major country that shoulders its responsibilities, China must communicate its ideas, introduce its culture, and present its image more proactively. We will continue to restructure our international communication in creative ways, and develop a multichannel and multidimensional landscape of international communication.

Openness and inclusiveness drive a civilization forward. In recent years, some of our literary works, online games, and web-based films and series have achieved international success, and traveling to China has become popular among foreigners. This showcases the appeal of Chinese culture and the strength of opening up. We will continue to highlight the role of culture in communication, carry out extensive and varied international cultural exchanges and cooperation, and encourage the globalization of more works that have rich elements of Chinese culture and history, mirror the life in contemporary China, and appeal to a diverse international audience. We will proactively learn and draw on the strengths of all civilizations and create cultural works that carry the essence of both past and present, and connect China with the rest of the world.

Building China into a cultural powerhouse is a responsibility shared by the whole Party and all of society. We should strengthen the Central Committee’s centralized, unified leadership over public communication and cultural work, and improve the institutions and mechanisms for leading and managing the cultural sector. Specifically, we should formulate proper plans, coordinate our efforts, assign responsibilities, and follow up on the implementation of corresponding measures. Party committees and governments at all levels should prioritize cultural development by strengthening organization and leadership, assigning competent officials, cultivating talent, and allocating resources. Through these efforts, we will ignite the initiative, enthusiasm and creativity of all sectors to create a powerful synergy for building China into a cultural powerhouse.

* Speech at the 17th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)