On June 1, a symposium on historical politics from the perspective of integrating Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture was held in Beijing. Participating scholars offered insights into key concepts in traditional Chinese culture that hold potential to facilitate contemporary state governance and contribute to the construction of China’s independent political theory, methodology, and knowledge system.

Underpinning Chinese modernization

“Fine traditional Chinese culture is an important underpinning of Chinese modernization,” remarked Huang Zhenhua, a professor from the Institute of China Rural Studies at Central China Normal University (CCNU). He pointed out that “jiahe” (harmony in the family) represents an ideal state for the development of traditional Chinese households and constitutes a significant part of fine traditional Chinese culture. Huang added that this concept holds great referential value to Chinese modernization, particularly to the modernization of primary-level governance.

Since it was put forward, the concept of “gongtongti” (community) has gained widespread use in modern social sciences including political science, reflecting the evolving relationship between individuals and the collective. Xu Yong, director of the Faculty of Political Science at CCNU, noted that the report to the 20th CPC National Congress emphasizes fostering a community of social governance in which everyone fulfills their responsibilities and shares in the benefits. Associating state governance with community represents a key development of the CPC’s innovative theory and creates a broad space for political studies, Xu said.

From the perspective of political philosophy, Yao Zhongqiu, director of the Center for Historical Political Studies under the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China (RUC), said that traditional Chinese thoughts and Marxism align with the concept of “housheng” (people-centrism). The time-honored tradition of prioritizing people and striving to improve their prosperity has been predominant in Chinese civilization, profoundly influencing the development of modern China.

Innovating political research paradigm

At a seminar on cultural inheritance and development on June 2, 2023, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping stressed the importance of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and fine traditional culture, known as the “Two Integrations.” The “second integration,” or integrating Marxism with fine traditional

Chinese culture, represents another emancipation of the mind, providing impetus for theoretical exploration and institutional innovation in an expanded cultural space.

Attendees at the symposium concurred that the second integration can better elucidate the historical logic behind contemporary Chinese political practices and help establish a value basis for practical models. They believe this integration allows scholars to draw from the rich heritage of Chinese civilization, overcome the limitations of Western theories, and develop research paradigms and methodologies more suited to the Chinese context. This approach is expected to foster innovation in research paradigms for political studies.

According to Chen Junya, director of the Center for China Rural Studies at CCNU, field politics and historical politics have emerged as two new paradigms in political studies in recent years. They share a common trait that both delve deeply into history and utilize historical perspectives to illustrate the subjectivity of Chinese political studies.

Historical politics and field politics share many consensuses, said Yang Guangbin, dean of the School of International Studies at RUC. While field politics discovers past histories through the present, historical politics examines the present through past histories.

The second integration represents a remarkable achievement in the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context, offering significant opportunities for the development of political science, Yang continued. Historical politics restores political traditions under their respective historical attributes, distinguishing between dependent variable politics in social history and independent variable politics in political history.

Yang said that historical politics is therefore a key tool for realizing the second integration. It can generate answers for such major realistic and theoretical issues as the relationships between democratic centralism and great unity, and between China’s vision of building a global community of shared future and its view of “tianxia” (all under Heaven).

The symposium was cohosted by the School of International Studies at RUC and the Center for China Rural Studies at CCNU, and organized by the Center for Historical Political Studies at RUC.