On the afternoon of October 28, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its 17th collective study session on building a strong socialist culture. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the study session and emphasized the importance of setting the strategic goal of building a strong socialist culture by 2035, adhering to Marxism as the fundamental guiding ideology, rooting in the profound and extensive Chinese civilization, following the trend of information technology development, and continuously developing a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics that possesses strong ideological leadership, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence. This will continuously enhance the spiritual strength of the people and lay a solid cultural foundation for national rejuvenation and the building of a strong nation.

Wang Bo, vice president and professor of Peking University, gave a lecture on this issue and offered suggestions. Comrades of the Political Bureau listened attentively and engaged in discussions.

Xi Jinping delivered an important speech after listening to the lecture and discussion. He pointed out that since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, we have consistently placed cultural construction in a prominent position in governance, made a series of major deployments, formed a new era of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and promoted historical achievements in cultural construction through rectification and innovation. The construction of a strong socialist culture has made solid progress.

Xi Jinping stressed the unwavering commitment to the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics. This includes upholding Party leadership, improving the governance capacity in the cultural field under the conditions of informatization, and consolidating the Party's governing foundation and mass base ideologically, spiritually, and culturally. It also involves upholding the fundamental system of Marxism's guiding role in the ideological field, comprehensively implementing the new era of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and developing a socialist culture that is oriented towards modernization, the world, and the future; a national, scientific, and popular culture. It emphasizes adhering to the core socialist values as a guide, continuously building Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese strength, and developing and strengthening mainstream values, mainstream public opinion, and mainstream culture.

Xi Jinping pointed out the need to stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation. This involves adhering to a people-centered creative orientation, prioritizing social benefits while unifying social and economic benefits, and making the stimulation of innovation and creativity a central link in deepening cultural system and mechanism reform. It also includes accelerating the improvement of the cultural management system and production and operation mechanisms. Focusing on improving cultural originality, improving the mechanisms for artistic creation, production services, guidance, and organization, nurturing and giving rise to a batch of deeply moving contemporary classics, and constructing new peaks of Chinese culture. It also involves actively creating a good cultural environment, fully promoting academic and artistic democracy, supporting writers, artists, and experts and scholars in taking root in life and devoting themselves to creation, and promoting the continuous eruption of cultural innovation and creativity. It also includes exploring effective mechanisms for the integration of culture and technology, achieving digital empowerment and information transformation of cultural construction, and transforming cultural resource advantages into cultural development advantages.

Xi Jinping stressed that cultural construction should always focus on and benefit the people. This involves focusing on meeting the diverse, multi-layered, and multifaceted spiritual and cultural needs of the people, improving the capacity of cultural services and cultural product supply, and enhancing the people's sense of cultural gain and happiness. It also involves emphasizing the role of culture in cultivating morality and character, fostering a spirited and vigorous national spirit. Respecting the laws of talent growth, improving talent selection, training, use, and incentive mechanisms that are in line with the characteristics of the cultural field, creating a good policy environment that recognizes, values, and cherishes talent, and building a large-scale, rationally structured, and innovative high-level cultural talent team.

Xi Jinping pointed out the need to continue the Chinese cultural lineage through creative transformation and innovative development. This involves upholding the cultural subjectivity of the Chinese nation, cherishing, promoting, and developing the treasures of Chinese civilization left behind after many years of vicissitudes. It also involves deeply excavating and expounding the spiritual connotations of excellent traditional Chinese culture, using Marxism to activate the excellent factors in traditional Chinese culture and give them new contemporary connotations, and developing a new era of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. It emphasizes upholding a spirit of reverence for history and love for culture, adhering to the principles of protection first, reasonable utilization, and minimal intervention, and promoting systematic protection and unified supervision of cultural heritage. It also involves improving the system and mechanism for the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage and accelerating the improvement of the legal and regulatory system.

Xi Jinping stressed the need to continuously enhance the national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. This involves promoting the restructuring of the international communication pattern, innovatively carrying out online external publicity, and building a multi-channel, three-dimensional external communication pattern. It also involves more proactively promoting China's propositions, disseminating Chinese culture, and showcasing China's image. It includes widely carrying out diverse international cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. It also involves more actively and proactively learning from and drawing on all the excellent achievements of human civilization and creating a batch of cultural achievements that blend the past and the present and integrate Chinese and foreign cultures.

Finally, Xi Jinping emphasized that building a strong socialist culture is a common task for the entire Party and society. It requires strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over publicity, ideological, and cultural work, and improving the leadership and management system and mechanisms for cultural construction. All levels of Party committees and governments should strengthen organizational leadership, do a good job in cadre allocation, talent cultivation, and resource input, mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of all parties, and gather the strong synergy of building a strong socialist culture.