1. The historical origins and creation and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics
Marx once said: "People create their own history, but they do not create as they wish, not under the conditions they choose, but under the conditions they directly encountered, established, inherited from the past." In the seminar on studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In his important speech, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out: "Socialism with Chinese characteristics did not fall from the sky, but was obtained from the great practice of 40 years of reform and opening up, from the continuous exploration of the founding of the People's Republic of China for nearly 70 years, from the practice of our party leading the people in the great social revolution for 97 years, from the historical process of the Chinese nation from decline to prosperity in modern times, from the past 170 years of inheritance and development of Chinese civilization, and from the valuable achievements made by the Party and the people through untold hardships and various costs."
Socialism with Chinese characteristics came from the more than 5,000 years of civilization. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics that China is taking today is inseparable from the more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. Chinese civilization has a long history and is the only civilization in the world that has not been interrupted and has developed to this day. The profound Chinese culture accumulates the deepest spiritual pursuit of the Chinese nation and is a rich nourishment for the endless development and growth of the Chinese nation. The unique historical traditions and cultural accumulation of the Chinese nation determine that China's development path will inevitably have its own characteristics. In October 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his eighteenth collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: "We have opened up the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, but it is determined by our historical heritage and cultural traditions." In March 2021, General Secretary further emphasized during his inspection in Fujian: "If there was no Chinese civilization, where would there be any Chinese characteristics? If it were not for Chinese characteristics, how could there be such a successful path of socialism with Chinese characteristics that we have today?" China has firm confidence in the path, theory, and system, and its essence is cultural confidence based on more than 5,000 years of civilization inheritance. The excellent traditional Chinese culture provides powerful spiritual power for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and also contains important inspirations to solve the problems facing contemporary mankind. Only by paying attention to exploring the essence of China's more than 5,000 years of civilization, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, and combining the essence with the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint and method can we provide rich nourishment for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics is an inevitable choice for the development of Chinese society since modern times. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Socialism with Chinese characteristics carries the ideals and explorations of generations of Chinese Communists, carries the wishes and expectations of countless people with lofty ideals, embodies the struggle and sacrifices of thousands of revolutionary martyrs, embodies the struggle and practice of people of all ethnic groups in the country. It is an inevitable choice for the development of Chinese society in modern times, and the choice of history and the people." After the Opium War, China gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the country was humiliated, the people were distressed, and civilization was covered with dust.In order to save the nation from danger and realize national rejuvenation, the Chinese people have launched a heroic struggle. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, , Westernization Movement, , , 1, 1898 Reform Movement, , 1911 Revolution, and various plans for saving the country were introduced one after another, but they all ended in failure. History has proved that the self-improvement movement that did not touch the old social foundation, various names of reformist , old-style peasant wars, democratic revolution led by bourgeois revolutionaries, copying various plans of the Western political system model, none of them can complete the historical tasks of the Chinese nation's national salvation and anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, none of them can stabilize China's political situation and society, and none of them can provide institutional guarantees for China to achieve national prosperity and people's happiness. History and reality tell us that only socialism can save China, only socialism can develop China, and only by upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics can we achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This is the conclusion of history and the choice of the people.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics was obtained through the continuous exploration of the establishment of the People's Republic of China for more than 70 years. For more than a hundred years, all struggles, sacrifices and creations that the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people to carry out, sum up to one theme: realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Walking your own path is the entire theoretical and practical foothold of the Party, and it is also the historical conclusion drawn by the Party’s 100 years of struggle. After the founding of New China, the Party united and led the people to carry out socialist revolution, promoted the construction of socialism, and laid the fundamental political premise and institutional foundation for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. During this period, Comrade Mao Zedong proposed to "combinate the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the specific reality of China. The Chinese Communists, represented by Comrade Mao Zedong as the main representative, enriched and developed Mao Zedong Thought in combination with the new reality, put forward a series of important ideas on socialist construction, including the socialist socialist socialist socialist is a long historical stage, strictly distinguished and correctly handled the contradictions between us and the people, correctly handled the ten major relationships of socialist construction in our country, embarked on a path of industrialization that suits our national conditions, respected the laws of value, etc., which provided valuable experience, theoretical preparation, and material foundation for creating socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new historical period.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics was pioneered, defended, adhered to and developed in the reform and opening up. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Deng Xiaoping as the main representative, profoundly summarized the positive and negative experiences since the founding of New China, focused on the fundamental question of what socialism is and how to build socialism, learned from the historical experience of world socialism, and established Deng Xiaoping Theory, deeply revealed the essence of socialism, established the basic line of the primary stage of socialism, clearly proposed to go our own way and build socialism with Chinese characteristics, scientifically answered a series of basic questions about building socialism with Chinese characteristics, formulated a development strategy of three steps by the middle of the 21st century and basically realizing socialist modernization, and successfully created socialism with Chinese characteristics. After the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Jiang Zemin as the main representative, deepened their understanding of what socialism is, how to build socialism, what kind of party to build, and how to build the party, formed the important thought of "Three Represents", defended socialism with Chinese characteristics in the face of severe tests of the domestic and international situation and serious twists and turns of world socialism, established the reform goals and basic framework of the socialist market economic system, established the basic economic system with public ownership as the main body and the common development of multiple ownership economies in the primary stage of socialism, and the distribution system with distribution according to work as the main body, and multiple distribution methods coexisted, created a new situation of comprehensive reform and opening up, promoted the new great project of party building, and successfully pushed socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century.After the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Hu Jintao as the main representative, deeply understood and answered major questions such as what kind of development to achieve and how to achieve under the new situation, formed a scientific outlook on development, emphasized the adherence to people-oriented, comprehensive and coordinated sustainable development, focused on ensuring and improving people's livelihood, promoting social fairness and justice, promoting the Party's governing capacity and advanced construction, and successfully upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics under the new situation.
Direction determines the road, and the road determines destiny. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the theme of all the Party’s theory and practice since the reform and opening up, it is the dialectical unity of the theoretical logic of scientific socialism and the historical logic of Chinese social development. It is a scientific socialism rooted in the land of China, reflects the wishes of the Chinese people, and adapts to the development and progress requirements of China and the times. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism, not any other ideology. Socialism with Chinese characteristics adheres to the basic principles of scientific socialism and constantly gives it distinct practical, theoretical, national and contemporary characteristics. In the great practice of reform and opening up, the Party united and led the people to forge ahead on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, achieved a historic transformation from a highly concentrated planned economic system to a vibrant socialist market economic system, from closed and semi-closed to all-round opening up, achieved a historic breakthrough from a relatively backward productivity to a world-class economic volume, and achieved a historic leap from insufficient food and clothing to an overall well-off society, and enabled our country to catch up with the times with great strides.
2. The new era has opened up a new realm of socialism with Chinese characteristics
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has taken a series of strategic measures to promote a series of transformative practices, achieve a series of breakthrough progress, achieve a series of landmark achievements, overcome many problems that have not been solved for a long time, accomplish many major and important things that are related to the long term, withstand the challenges and tests of risks and challenges from politics, economy, ideology, nature, etc., promote the cause of the Party and the country to achieve historic achievements and undergo historic changes, and open up a new realm of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The great changes in the new era in the past 10 years have demonstrated the strong vitality of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The hearts of the Party, the army, and the hearts of the people have been unprecedentedly united and inspired, providing a more perfect institutional guarantee, a more solid material foundation, and a more proactive spiritual strength for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Over the past 10 years, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has proposed with great political courage and wisdom that the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities, focus on further emancipating the mind, liberating and developing social productivity, liberating and enhancing social vitality, strengthening top-level design and overall planning, and promoting comprehensive efforts in reform, breakthroughs at multiple points, steady progress, and in-depth advancement, and realizing historic changes, systematic reshaping, and overall reconstruction in many areas, providing a more perfect institutional guarantee for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Over the past 10 years, we have achieved the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects as scheduled, and solved the absolute poverty problem that has plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years; the balance, coordination and sustainability of my country's economic development have been significantly enhanced, the GDP of has exceeded one trillion yuan, and the per capita GDP of exceeds 10,000 US dollars. The country's economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have leaped to a new level. my country's economy has embarked on a path of higher quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable and safer development, providing a more solid material foundation for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Over the past 10 years, we have established and upheld the fundamental system of Marxism's guiding role in the ideological field. The situation in my country's ideological field has undergone a global and fundamental change. The cultural confidence of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country has been significantly enhanced, and the cohesion and centripetal force of the whole society have been greatly improved, providing more proactive spiritual strength for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his important speech at the special seminar of provincial and ministerial-level leading cadres "Studying the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech and welcome the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China": "Practice tells us that why the Communist Party of China can and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, in the final analysis, Marxism is the practice of action. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, new changes in the domestic and international situation and new developments in practice are urgently needed. We are urgently needed. We have answered a series of major theoretical and practical questions in depth. We insist on combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture, forming the thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and achieving a new leap in the sinicization of Marxism. "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is contemporary Chinese Marxism, Marxism in the 21st century, and is the essence of the times of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit, and has made many major original contributions to scientific socialism. For example, it put forward the major judgment that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, enriched and developed the theory of socialist development stage; it put forward the main contradiction of our society in the new era has been transformed into the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development, enriched and developed the theory of socialist contradiction; it revealed the essence and characteristics of the Chinese-style modernization path, proposed the strategic deployment of building a socialist modern power in an all-round way, enriched and developed the theory of socialist modernization; it emphasized that the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities, reveal the significant advantages of our country's national system and governance system, and enriched and developed the Marxist national governance theory; it proposed the people's people throughout the process The main major concepts enriched and developed the Marxist democratic theory; emphasized the adhering to the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological field, enriched and developed the Marxist ideological theory; proposed cultural confidence, emphasized the combination of the basic principles of Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, promoted the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and enriched and developed the Marxist cultural construction idea; proposed to promote the common values of all mankind, promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and enriched and developed the Marxist world history theory; proposed to uphold and strengthen the party's overall leadership, adhere to the comprehensive and strict governance of the party, promote the self-revolution of , enrich and develop the Marxist theory of party building; and so on. All of these demonstrate our party’s innovation and creation in , the scientific socialist theory, and reflect our party’s distinctive character of unswervingly advancing theoretical innovation. The great achievements in the development of the Party and the country in the new era fully prove the scientific nature, truth and practical power of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
3. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only correct way to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation
Engels once said: "The so-called 'socialist society' is not a static thing, but should be regarded as a society that changes and reforms like any other social system." In the great practice of reform and opening up over the past 40 years, the Party has united and led the people to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, promoted the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization, successfully embarked on the path of Chinese modernization, and created a new form of human civilization. From 1978 to 2021, my country's GDP jumped from 364.5 billion yuan to 114.4 trillion yuan, and its proportion of the world economy jumped from 1.73% to more than 18%. From 1978 to 2021, the per capita GDP continued to increase, jumping from US$156 (equivalent to RMB 381) to US$12,551, successfully entering the ranks of upper-middle-income countries from low-income countries. In recent years, my country's contribution rate to world economic growth has reached about 30%, and has become the source of driving force and anchor of stability for world economic growth. Facts eloquently prove that China has not let down socialism, and socialism has not let down China.
New era and new journey, facing the overall strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the great changes in the world that have not been seen in a century, and facing the great struggle with many new historical characteristics, the Party must realize the historical mission of the Party in the new era in a new historical position, and the most fundamental thing is to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The path is the most fundamental issue to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only correct path to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This path is in line with China's reality, reflects the wishes of the Chinese people, and adapts to the development requirements of the times. It will not only be right and through, but also be able to walk steadily and well." As long as you unswervingly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, neither the old path of closure and rigidity, nor the evil path of changing flags and changing banners, you will definitely be able to achieve the goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects.
The great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics proves that there is neither a modernization model set in one place nor a universal modernization standard. The modernization we are promoting is the socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China, and we must adhere to the Chinese-style modernization to promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The success of socialism with Chinese characteristics has not only profoundly changed China, but also profoundly changed the trend and pattern of world development, expanded the ways for developing countries to move towards modernization, and provided new choices for countries and nations in the world that want to accelerate development and maintain their own independence. The new form of human civilization created by the Communist Party of China on the basis of the Chinese-style modernization has expanded the path of human civilization development, changed the pattern of human civilization development, and led the direction of human civilization development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The success of scientific socialism in China is of great significance to Marxism and scientific socialism, and to world socialism." The success of socialism with Chinese characteristics declared the outdated "Marxist theory of obsoleteness", the end of the "end of socialism", and the collapse of the "China collapse theory" advocated by Western scholars after the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, which made Marxism appear in the world in a new image, and made the historical evolution and competition of the two ideologies and two social systems of socialism and capitalism take a major transformation that is conducive to socialism.
Through hard exploration and practice, the Chinese people have found, adhered to and expanded the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Now we must consistently uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and promote the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics to become wider and wider. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that "upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics is a big article" and "the task of our generation of Communists is to continue writing this big article." On the basis of deeply grasping the scientificity and truth of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must firmly believe in the path, theory, system, and culture, dare to overcome all difficulties and challenges on the road, and constantly create a new situation in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
