Xi Jinping’s Thought on Culture

Ahead of the Lunar New Year, China, led by Xi Jinping, is organizing various promotional activities in the cultural field. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s cultural thinking has been praised across the country. Xi emphasizes that cultural thought is crucial for making China a stronger country, dynamizing the nation and creating powerful inspiration.[i] Under Xi’s leadership, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively promoting culture as a policy to support the country’s modernization.

In 2012, Xi included the concept of “cultural trust” in his report to the 18th CCP National Congress. Later, Xi integrated this concept into Chinese socialism, defining national trust in Chinese culture as an enduring strength.^[ii] In the post-Cold War world, where different civilizations and value systems compete and struggle to coexist, China believes that a cultural renaissance is needed to rebuild national identity.

Since assuming leadership of the CCP, Xi has issued more than 170 important reports and instructions on cultural heritage, archaeology and intangible cultural values. He has also conducted on-site inspections at more than 100 historical and cultural sites.^[iii]

Today, China’s mission of “cultural nationalism” in the global and national arena has been widely studied in the West. However, its manifestations in Asian (especially Chinese) contexts have not been sufficiently explored. Research in the literature has shown that cultural nationalism in Asian countries such as Taiwan, Japan, China and Malaysia should be understood from the perspective of reinventing and modernizing traditional culture in order to keep up with and surpass the West.^[iv]

Chinese traditional cultural thinking differs from the approaches of other nations. Since it focuses on political relations between modern states compared to the Westphalian System, it does not directly engage with issues such as cultural superiority. China is precisely questioning the modern system of states at the existing Western level. Therefore, it emphasizes that one culture cannot be superior to another culture and that the norms of the Western dominant system cannot be accepted without question.

Throughout history, culture has been combined with power and influence in inter-state relations. China’s influence and cultural perspective in its region may be incompatible with the Westphalian system and may lead to conflicts in cross-cultural relations. This sense of cultural superiority in China’s history may have shaped the dynamics of international relations. From this perspective, it is possible to say that the concept of ‘culture’ in China’s roots is very important in foreign policy.

In traditional imperial times, most Chinese emperors saw the world in a hierarchical perspective, dividing it into “civilized” or “barbarian” nations. They claimed that China was the center of the world, not only in terms of geography but also in terms of civilization, and that neighboring barbarian nations should welcome adaptation to Chinese culture in order to progress. Because of the adversities that China had been subjected to by the 19th century, it approached its history from an objective point of view. Confucian nationalists, for example, believed that history was created by rulers who broke Confucian rules and that it was therefore necessary to return to the authentic Chinese way of life and build a nation based on Confucian classics. In the 1910s and 1920s, liberal thinkers in the New Culture Movement questioned and blamed traditional Chinese culture for causing these unfortunate events. Based on the understanding that culture is a political battlefield, it was argued that only socialist culture, rather than traditional or Western culture, could be the solution.^[v]

Table 1. China’s Grand Strategies (1949-Present)

Source: Goldstein, 2020

In contrast to the approaches in the table above, Xi’s version of cultural nationalism differs from other versions of Chinese cultural nationalism in a number of ways. For Xi, what is important is the existence of an overarching, abstract Chinese culture that can be called a unified whole in order for China to maintain and strengthen its sovereignty. Xi’s cultural nationalism seems to be consistent with his other nationalist initiatives, such as tightening regulations on foreign capital, strengthening the use of Mandarin nationwide, improving the status of the Chinese language vis-à-vis English, academic development, etc.^[vi]

As a result, China organizes various promotional events to emphasize the cultural trend adopted by Xi. By promoting culture as an active policy tool, Xi aims to modernize China and improve its governance. While China’s cultural nationalism mission has been widely studied in the West, its manifestations in Asia have been less explored. Xi’s cultural nationalism can be read from the perspective of embracing traditional culture, modernizing culture, and challenging the West.

[i]  “How Does Xi Use Mix Of Marxism And Traditional Culture To Pursue Chinese Dream?”, Xinhua News, https://english.news.cn/20240204/d6ac2a6638c84b31a87a4dda05712cd0/c.html, (Date of Access: 05.12.2024).

^[ii] Ibid.

^[iii] “Xi Focus-Profile: Xi Jinping, man of culture”, Xinhua News, https://english.news.cn/20240201/8e74c32a0c5748ed9c0f9e53846b5224/c.html, (Date of Access: 05.12.2024).

^[iv] Jason Cong Lin, “The rising China is not a ‘sick man’anymore: Cultural nationalism in the Xi Jinping era.” Journal of Contemporary China 33, no. 145 (2024): 83-100.

^[v] Avery Goldstein, “China’s grand strategy under Xi Jinping: Reassurance, reform, and resistance.” International Security 45, no. 1 (2020): 164-201.

^[vi] John Garrick, ve Yan Chang Bennett. “Xi Jinping Thought”. Realisation of the Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation?”, China Perspectives 2018, no. 2018/1-2 (2018): 99-105.