Outlook·First Learning｜The premise of "two combinations" is to fit each other

◇The "mutual fit" emphasized by General Secretary Xi Jinping is a high-level summary of the evolution of the relationship between Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture, based on the Chinese Communist Party's more than a hundred years of struggle and practice, and the encounter, interweaving, stimulation, integration and communication.

◇To correctly understand how Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture fit together, we must delve into the content of the fit between the two, that is, find the basic points of fit.

◇Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, our Party has focused on the "chemical reaction" between the basic principles of Marxism and China's specific reality and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, linking the inheritance and development of Chinese culture with the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and integrating the essence of excellent traditional Chinese culture into the great practice of Chinese-style modernization. Under the new era conditions, a new cultural life form has been formed, and the new culture formed through the "two combinations" has become the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization.

The Guangzhou branch of China National Library of Publications is located at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. Photo by our magazine

At the symposium on cultural heritage and development, General Secretary Xi Jinping elaborated on the significance of the "two combinations", emphasizing that "the premise of 'combination' is mutual fit. Marxism and China's fine traditional culture have different sources, but they are highly compatible with each other." This profoundly reveals the logical starting point of the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with China's fine traditional culture, which should be paid close attention to and deeply understood.

The "mutual fit" emphasized by General Secretary Xi Jinping is a high-level summary of the evolution of the relationship between Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture, based on the Chinese Communist Party's more than a hundred years of struggle and practice, and the encounter, interweaving, stimulation, integration and communication.

Since modern times, the academic and ideological circles have criticized my country's traditional culture to varying degrees from the perspective of saving the nation from extinction. However, some scholars have keenly realized the consistency between the basic principles of Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture.

As the Party's cause continues to develop, our Party has gradually matured in its approach to traditional culture.

Entering the new era, our party's understanding of the relationship between Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture has reached a new height. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core attaches great importance to inheriting and developing China's excellent traditional culture, constantly deepens the understanding of the laws of the "two combinations", especially the "second combination", and emphasizes the inherent fit between Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture.

At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that after Marxism was introduced into China, the propositions of scientific socialism were warmly welcomed by the Chinese people, and eventually took root and bore fruit in China. This was by no means accidental, but was the result of the integration of the excellent historical culture inherited by our country for thousands of years and the values ​​​​that the vast majority of the people use every day without realizing it.

The report of the 20th CPC National Congress pointed out that the excellent traditional Chinese culture "contains the values ​​of the world for all, the people as the foundation of the state, governing with virtue, reforming the old and establishing the new, appointing people on the basis of merit, the unity of man and nature, unremitting self-improvement, embracing virtue, keeping faith and building friendship, and being friendly to neighbors. These are important manifestations of the Chinese people's outlook on the universe, the world, society, and morality accumulated in their long-term production and life, and are highly consistent with the values ​​advocated by scientific socialism." This is a great deepening of our party's understanding of the relationship between Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture based on more than a hundred years of experience. It explains clearly the integration and consistency between the two, and fundamentally solves the problem of whether the two can be combined.

General Secretary Xi Jinping's vivid description of Marxism as the "soul" and China's excellent traditional culture as the "root" emphasized the important position of the "second combination" and provided theoretical guidance and action guidelines for promoting the development of the Party and the country on the new journey.

Tourists visit the Wuyi Jingshe in Zhu Xi Garden in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian Province. Photo by Jiang Kehong/Our magazine

To correctly understand how Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture fit together, we must delve into the content of the fit between the two, that is, find the basic points of fit. This can be grasped from five aspects.

First, the Marxist communist ideal is consistent with the social pursuit of "all under heaven for all" and "universal peace" in China's excellent traditional culture.

As the eternal value pursuit of Marxism, the essence of the communist ideal is to strive to realize the free and all-round development of everyone, and ultimately realize the liberation and happiness of all mankind. The excellent traditional Chinese culture advocates the social ideal of the world for all and the great harmony of the world. From the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius advocated that "the way of the great way is that the world is for all", "the old have a place to live, the strong have a place to work, the young have a place to grow, and the poor, the widowed, the lonely, the disabled and the sick are all taken care of", to the modern Kang Youwei's proposal that "in the world of great harmony, the world is for all, there are no classes, and everyone is equal", all contain a deep pursuit of realizing a "great harmony society".

The Marxist ideal of communism emphasizes the absence of exploitation and oppression, and the free and all-round development of each person; the ideal of a harmonious world in China's excellent traditional culture emphasizes the friendship and mutual assistance of all people, the peace and prosperity of every family, and ultimately world peace and harmony. Both are essentially designs and depictions of an ideal future society, and they are highly compatible in terms of value goals and individual pursuits.

Second, the Marxist view of the masses is consistent with the people-oriented thought in China's excellent traditional culture that people are the foundation of the country and governing with virtue.

In Marxist theory, the people have always been the subjects of history and the creators of history.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the reason why Marxism has influence that transcends countries and times is because it is rooted in the people and points out the right way to advance history by relying on the people.

The Chinese nation has always had a profound people-oriented ideology. It has both political concepts that emphasize "people-oriented", such as "People are the foundation of the country, and the country will be peaceful if the foundation is solid", "People are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least important", etc., and political wisdom to strengthen moral cultivation and improve social governance, such as "Governing with virtue is like the North Star, which stays in its place and is surrounded by other stars", "If people from afar are not convinced, then cultivate culture and virtue to win them over", etc., fully demonstrating the value orientation of putting people first.

Both the Marxist mass view and ancient China's people-oriented thought emphasize the people's dominant position, and are highly consistent in attaching importance to the decisive role of the masses and analyzing and solving problems based on the people's interests.

Third, the Marxist view of revolution is consistent with the revolutionary spirit of reforming the old and establishing the new, and striving for self-improvement in China's excellent traditional culture.

Marxism believes that revolution is an inevitable choice of history in response to inevitable social contradictions. Looking back at the history of the Chinese nation, the revolutionary spirit of reforming the old and establishing the new and constantly striving for self-improvement has always been the core concept of Chinese civilization. "Reform the old and establishing the new" pursues the spirit of getting rid of the old and establishing the new, and keeping pace with the times, represented by "If you are new every day, you will be new every day, and you will be new every day" and "If you are in trouble, you must change, and if you change, you will be able to get through, and if you get through, you will last long"; "constantly striving for self-improvement" emphasizes that the way of heaven is constantly moving, and gentlemen should follow the way of heaven, be self-reliant and self-reliant, and always strive forward.

Comparing the Marxist view of revolution with the revolutionary spirit of China's excellent traditional culture, it is not difficult to find that the dialectical and developmental thinking of the two, that in order to pursue "new" things or systems, the "old" things or systems must be eliminated, is interconnected, and the spirit of struggle and high-spirited progress shown in the process of "seeking new things" and "revolution" is also highly consistent. The integration and interconnection of Marxism and China's excellent traditional culture in revolutionary concepts provides another internal possibility for their organic combination.

Fourth, Marxist ideas on world history are consistent with the excellent traditional Chinese culture of trustworthiness, friendship, and good neighborliness.

In the view of Marxism, the rapid growth of productivity brought about by large-scale capitalist production has eliminated the naturally closed-door state of each country in the past. Individual and national history has gradually transformed into universal world history. The world has gradually formed a whole, showing an open and globalized development trend.

In foreign relations, the Chinese nation emphasizes the way of communication of keeping faith and cultivating friendship, being friendly and good to neighbors. "Being faithful and cultivating friendship" comes from the discussion in the Book of Rites about "the way of the great way is that the world is for the public, the virtuous and capable are selected, and being faithful and cultivating friendship" is a prerequisite for cultivating friendship, and cultivating friendship is the result of keeping faith. Being faithful and cultivating friendship is an important prerequisite for achieving social stability and harmony and world peace and development. "Being friendly and good to neighbors" comes from the record in Zuo Zhuan that "being friendly and good to neighbors is the treasure of the country", which means that the country should be close to benevolence and righteousness and live in friendship with neighboring countries. The attitude of the Chinese nation towards neighborly relations is "distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors", and there is a beautiful expectation that "relatives wish each other well, neighbors wish each other well" and "all people in the world are brothers".

The way of interacting with others based on trust, friendship, benevolence and good neighbors embodies the inclusiveness and peaceful nature of Chinese civilization. It fundamentally determines that China will always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. It is inherently consistent with Marxist ideas on world history.

Fifth, the Marxist view of ecology is consistent with the ecological concept of harmony between man and nature and the coexistence of all things in China's excellent traditional culture.

Marxism believes that humans are directly natural beings, and humans must respect, adapt to and protect nature. The consistent ecological concept of the Chinese nation is the unity of man and nature, and the coexistence of all things. "The unity of man and nature" comes from Zhuangzi's "Heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me", which means that heaven, earth and humans form an organic whole through the exchange of matter and energy. Humans cannot exist alone and must follow the overall laws of the universe and nature to achieve harmonious coexistence with nature. "All things coexist" comes from "All things coexist without harming each other" in "The Book of Rites", which means that humans and all things coexist and are harmoniously unified in nature.

In terms of the understanding of the relationship between man and nature, the ecological concept of harmony between man and nature and the coexistence of all things is essentially consistent with the Marxist ecological view. Both emphasize that nature is the foundation of human survival, and both pursue a state of harmony and unity between man and nature, showing a high degree of compatibility.

Only when they fit in with each other can they be organically combined. It is precisely because the basic principles of Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture are highly compatible that the two can produce a strong "chemical reaction".

History has proven that the basic principles of Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture can achieve an organic combination, making Marxism Chinese and the excellent traditional Chinese culture modern, truly realizing that you are in me and I am in you.

In the great practice of leading the Chinese people in revolution, construction, and reform, our Party has not only drawn nourishment from the excellent traditional Chinese culture and constantly endowed Marxism with distinct Chinese characteristics, but also used Marxism as a guide to comprehensively explore the treasure house of the Chinese nation's 5,000-year civilization, promote the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and produced fruitful results.

At the macro level, our Party founded Mao Zedong Thought and achieved the first historic leap in the sinicization of Marxism; formed the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and achieved a new leap in the sinicization of Marxism; and founded Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and achieved a new leap in the sinicization of Marxism.

At the specific level, Mao Zedong creatively absorbed and transformed the idea of ​​"studying the ancients well and seeking truth from facts", made a new interpretation of "seeking truth from facts", and promoted the formation of the ideological line of seeking truth from facts. Deng Xiaoping creatively quoted the concept of "moderate prosperity" to describe the phased goals of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has further deepened its understanding of the laws of development of human civilization. Facing the century-old question of "what's wrong with the world and what should we do", it has inherited and developed the excellent traditional Chinese culture of "keeping faith and building friendship" and "being friendly to neighbors", combined with Marxist ideas on world history, and put forward the important concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind and the "three major global initiatives", etc.

It is worth noting that this "chemical reaction" is by no means divorced from reality, but is achieved by our party's deep roots in practice. Without practice, Marxism cannot become Chinese, and China's excellent traditional culture cannot become modern. At the same time, the theoretical results produced by the "chemical reaction" in turn guide practice and have a practical cultural nourishment for today's practice.

Therefore, we must insist on proceeding from reality in everything, focus on solving the practical problems of China's modernization drive, constantly answer questions asked by China, the world, the people, and the times, make correct answers that conform to China's reality and the requirements of the times, reach scientific understanding that conforms to objective laws, form theoretical results that keep pace with the times, and better guide China's practice.

Looking at a deeper level, the highest level of "chemical reaction" is to create a new organically unified cultural organism.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, our Party has focused on the "chemical reaction" between the basic principles of Marxism and China's specific reality and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, linking the inheritance and development of Chinese culture with the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and integrating the essence of the excellent traditional Chinese culture into the great practice of Chinese-style modernization. Under the new era conditions, a new cultural life form has been formed, and the new culture formed through the "two combinations" has become the cultural form of Chinese-style modernization.

This cultural form not only conforms to the new requirements for the development of the Party and the country, meets the new expectations of the people for a better life, but also plays a key role in comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization. At the same time, it also creates a new form of human civilization, sets an example for the vast number of developing countries to independently move towards modernization, and provides a new choice.