Originally published in the first issue of China Youth magazine in 2024
Create a new cultural life
Text-Yang Geng. 
** Cultural thought is broad and profound, and there is a basic clue that runs through the whole process, that is, the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, so as to combine the basic principles of Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and "create an organic and unified new cultural life".
The integration of Marxism with the fine traditional Chinese culture is not based on an abstract "must," but the possibility of such a combination does exist, that is, it is not only necessary to integrate it, but also to be able to do so. On the whole, traditional Chinese culture focuses on moral principles and ethical order, and focuses on adjusting the relationship between people. Since human relations are universal relations in human society, certain rules in traditional Chinese culture have a universal aspect, and to a certain extent, they are in line with some modern problems, and the farther away Chinese traditional culture is from the feudal system it maintains, the weaker its ideological nature is, and the more prominent the practical significance of the universal viewpoint it contains. Therefore, with the decline of the feudal system and the establishment of the socialist system, it is more likely that traditional Chinese culture will be transformed into a research object, and it will be more likely to be scientifically studied and criticized to achieve an objective understanding.
The concept system is analytic and reconfigurable, and the concept factors are separable and compatible. Some of the conceptual factors contained in a cultural form cannot exist apart from the original system, and some can be transformed and accommodated into other conceptual systems. Moreover, Marxism itself is an open and constantly developing doctrine, while traditional Chinese culture is not a religious culture and does not possess the exclusive characteristics of religious culture. Spiritual production is different from physical material production, and the continuation of species with genes as genetic material is the same species, while spiritual production and cultural creation can create new cultural forms through the absorption, digestion and recreation of the achievements of different cultural forms. Just as kinship is not conducive to the development of species, a vibrant cultural form must be a cultural form that breaks through a single cultural system and learns from others' strengths and innovates.
Marx pointed out: "Socialism in China has in common with socialism in Europe as much as Chinese philosophy has with Hegel's philosophy. (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 7, p. 265) The same is true of the relationship between the excellent traditional Chinese culture and Marxism, and there are also common points and coincidences between the two. This common point and convergence point is the theoretical premise and theoretical basis for integrating Marxism with China's excellent traditional culture, and is the inherent stipulations for integrating China's excellent traditional culture with Marxism.
Combining Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture is not a simple addition of the basic tenets of Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, or looking for "subtle words and great meanings" from cultural classics, which is an external splicing, not an internal integration; It is not a simple transformation of terminology and a simple docking of viewpoints, turning "contradictions" into "yin and yang", "laws" into "Tao", and communism as a ...... of "Datong society".It's a play on words, simple analogies, not creative transformations; Still, it is not to use traditional Chinese culture to "transform" Marxism and construct the so-called "Confucian Marxism", and the result of this "transformation" can only make Marxism "hollow out". History has proved that it was not traditional culture that saved China, but the victory of the Chinese revolution that prevented traditional Chinese culture from declining together with modern Chinese society. It is not the traditional culture that pushes a poor and backward China to the world, but the tremendous achievements of reform, opening up, and Chinese-style modernization that have pushed the traditional Chinese culture to the world, enabled Confucius to truly "travel around the world" and become famous all over the world, and made it possible for the revival of China's excellent traditional culture.
The vitality of a culture is not to abandon traditions, but to what extent and how to inherit them and recreate them. The problem lies in the fact that what to inherit, criticize, and discard traditional culture, and how to transform and develop excellent traditional culture does not depend on the traditional culture itself, but on the practice of contemporary China. The construction of ecological civilization has made the ancient concept of "the unity of nature and man" send out a "charming smile", the practice of market economy has made the ancient doctrine of "taking justice and benefit into account" "shine", and the deepening of the whole process of people's democracy has made the doctrine of "people for the state" ......shine againCulture is not a solidified sculpture, but a flowing living water, but the direction in which the water flows is closely related to the practical needs of reality and the social system. Traditional culture is not equal to cultural classics, and the extent and scope to which the ideological resources in cultural classics can be transformed into traditional culture depends on the actual practice and social system. Therefore, we should take the practice of contemporary China, that is, the practice of Chinese-style modernization, as the thinking coordinates, use Marxism as the method to analyze the traditional Chinese culture, distinguish the excellent aspects, the essence and the obsolete aspects and dross, and then carry out creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and organically integrate and integrate Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, so as to construct a Chinese-style Marxism.
Marxism comes from the West, and compared with traditional Chinese culture, Marxism belongs to foreign culture. However, in the process of integrating Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional cultureThat is, the Sinicized Marxism formed in the process of Sinicization of Marxism belongs not only to Marxism, but also to Chinese culture; Marxism has not only changed China, but also changed Chinese culture, and more importantly, Marxism has not only activated the excellent traditional Chinese culture, which is the cultural gene of the Chinese nation, but also Marxism itself has entered and integrated into Chinese culture, and Sinicized Marxism has become the core content of contemporary Chinese culture. Therefore, integrating Marxism with China's fine traditional culture is bound to create a new cultural life.
Yang Geng. The author is a national social science ** review expert).
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