Xinhua news agency published the 17th CCP central committee’s 6th plenary session’s resolution (or decision) earlier this week – republished by China Radio International’s (CRI) Chinese service on Tuesday (GMT). The following are excerpts and summaries from the document.
1) Fully understanding and advancing the importance and urgency of cultural reform and development, raising awareness, increasing self-initiative in promoting the great development and prosperity of socialist culture.
一、充分认识推进文化改革发展的重要性和紧迫性，更加自觉、更加主动地推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣
Culture is the pulse of the nation, and the spiritual home of the people. During the process of our country’s more than five-thousand year-old civilization’s development, people of all nationalities have united inseparably, have restlessly strengthened themselves, have unitedly a well-established, broad and profound Chinese culture, and provided the Chinese nation’s development and growth with strong spiritual power, thus making a significant and indelible contribution to humankind’s civilizational progress.
文化是民族的血脉，是人民的精神家园。在我国五千多年文明发展历程中，各族人民紧密团结、自强不息，共同创造出源远流长、博大精深的中华文化，为中华民族发展壮大提供了强大精神力量，为人类文明进步作出了不可磨灭的重大贡献。
Ever since the day of its establishment, the Chinese Communist Party has been the faithful inheritor and advocate of the outstanding traditional Chinese culture, and the active initiator and developer of China’s advanced culture. Our party has always attached great importance to the use of culture to lead into the direction of progress, uniting the hard-working forces, uniting and guiding the nationalities of the whole country, and, by constant new awakening to ideological culture, by theory creating new fruits, by culture establishing new successes, promoted the progressive development of the party and the people. Cultural work has played an irreplaceably important role in reform, construction, and every historical period of reform.
中国共产党从成立之日起，就既是中华优秀传统文化的忠实传承者和弘扬者，又是中国先进文化的积极倡导者和发展者。我们党历来高度重视运用文化引领前进方向、凝聚奋斗力量，团结带领全国各族人民不断以思想文化新觉醒、理论创造新成果、文化建设新成就推动党和人民事业向前发展，文化工作在革命、建设、改革各个历史时期都发挥了不可替代的重大作用。
The following, very long paragraph contains the usual buzzwords, from seeking the truth in the facts (实事求是), the sinicization of marxism (马克思主义中国化), the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics (中国特色社会主义理论体系), the use of sinicized marxism’s newest fruits to arm the party and to educate the people (用马克思主义中国化最新成果武装全党、教育人民), and to use the national spirit with patriotism as its core and the spirit of the times with reform as its core to the end of inspiring the will to fight (or morale – 用以爱国主义为核心的民族精神和以改革创新为核心的时代精神鼓舞斗志). Generally, this is a review of maoist and post-maoist concepts. Much of these buzzwords – minus Leninism [Correction – for clarity: Wu Bangguo mentioned Leninism; this document didn’t do so in its first paragraphs. For the document’s referral to Leninism, see part 2 of this translation – JR] – had been referred to by Wu Bangguo, in his work report to the 11th “national people’s congress’ fourth session in March. I’m not trying to assess the prominence of either of these buzzwords, in either text.
Given globalization and other major global trends, the document continues, the role of culture in building cohesion within the country, was only the more obvious. The task of making national culture had become harder, and strengthening China’s soft power and its culture’s international influence had become just the more important (当今世界正处在大发展大变革大调整时期，世界多极化、经济全球化深入发展，科学技术日新月异，各种思想文化交流交融交锋更加频繁，文化在综合国力竞争中的地位和作用更加凸显，维护国家文化安全任务更加艰巨，增强国家文化软实力、中华文化国际影响力要求更加紧迫。).
The documents lists “the main contradictions and problems:
- a lack of awareness in certain locations and (work) units when it comes to the importance of the building of culture
- the loss or distortion of virtue, sincerity, values and core socialist values
- a need to increase the ability to guide public opinion, the building and management of the internet, and public cultural services
- a need to strengthen the international influence of Chinese culture
- the development (or promotion) of the ranks of cultural talents
(一些地方和单位对文化建设重要性、必要性、紧迫性认识不够，文化在推动全民族文明素质提高中的作用亟待加强；一些领域道德失范、诚信缺失，一些社会成员人生观、价值观扭曲，用社会主义核心价值体系引领社会思潮更为紧迫，巩固全党全国各族人民团结奋斗的共同思想道德基础任务繁重；舆论引导能力需要提高，网络建设和管理亟待加强和改进；有影响的精品力作还不够多，文化产品创作生产引导力度需要加大；公共文化服务体系不健全，城乡、区域文化发展不平衡；文化产业规模不大、结构不合理，束缚文化生产力发展的体制机制问题尚未根本解决；文化走出去较为薄弱，中华文化国际影响力需要进一步增强；文化人才队伍建设急需加强。推进文化改革发展，必须抓紧解决这些矛盾和问题。)
[…]
These are the lines that caught my eye while reading the document’s fully-understanding chapter (see above blockquote’s headline). I might continue translation this or next week, if it can’t be found in English elsewhere. Once in a while, the CCP’s website publishes English translations of documents like this one. So far, there is only a sparse summary plus some academic reactions available, plus an article on China’s non-Communist parties endorsing the CPC’s decision on boosting cultural development.
continued (Oct 28) –
part 2 »
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Related
» All in Favor of Culture, CMP, Oct 26, 2011
» Dangwai, January 31, 2011
» Global Local Sticks TV, Oct 22, 2009
» Three Eight Hundreds, April 19, 2009
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