Original title: New Horizons | The wisdom and methods to understand Chinese roads
In recent years, Zhuxi Town, Kaizhou District, Chongqing City has vigorously promoted the construction of rural revitalization, starting from the aspects of industrial upgrading, living environment, infrastructure, etc., to deeply explore the multiple values of rural ecological conservation, leisure and sightseeing, cultural experience, and healthy and elderly care. Promote the integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism. The picture shows tourists visiting the Rural Revitalization Demonstration Park in Zhuxi Town.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Yun
The modernization of contemporary China, especially the great success of reform and opening up, can no longer be explained by a dogmatic theoretical framework. From standing up, getting rich, and becoming strong in the new era, China urgently needs to become stronger in ideology, theory, discourse, value, culture, and civilization. It has never been so close to the new era of national rejuvenation as it is today. China is urgent You need to use your own mind to think about China and the world, use your own voice to describe China and the world, and use your own handwriting to write about China and the world.
Yan Yilong’s “Chinese Road and Chinese Principles” is such an endeavor and attempt. The book embodies the methodology of studying and interpreting Chinese roads from three perspectives. First, the road is to come out, research and interpretation of Chinese roads must be based on practice; second, to follow the “right path in the world“, research and interpretation of Chinese roads should be centered on the people; third, the road is long and long, research Explain that Chinese roads should be based on socialism.
Tao is underfoot: practice-based
The main structure of “Chinese Road and Chinese Principles” is divided into five chapters, the first is “Chinese Discourse Methodology”, and then it interprets Chinese roads and elucidates Chinese principles from four aspects: economic model, political model, governance model, China and the world. Therefore, clarifying the “methodology of Chinese discourse” is a prerequisite for interpreting Chinese roads and elucidating Chinese principles.
The book proposes “practice as the body” and “one body with three functions”, that is, taking modern Chinese practice as the body, using Marxism, traditional culture, and Western theories as the use. It is not that the theoretical toolbox for understanding the Chinese road cannot include Western theories, but it should be seen that it is only one of which can be used, and it is only “use”. To interpret the Chinese road, one must return to Chinese practice, based on Chinese practice, starting from the real Chinese reality, rather than from any existing external theoretical framework, otherwise it will still be difficult to escape the trap of metaphysics. When Chinese academic circles are studying China issues, there are more and more people of insight who agree with “China as the center”. This is gratifying, but the most fundamental meaning of “China” can only be the new and new “Chinese practice”. , Which is the “Chinese social reality” that “Chinese philosophy” needs to face.
The methodological shift based on practice means “from integrated research to independent research”, from the rigid “theoretical hypothesis-empirical test” research path to “‘fact soaking”-theoretical dialogue-theoretical hypothesis-empirical test “Research path. What is “fact immersion”? It is “immersing in the practical process, not just collecting data and then summarizing, including participating in policy research, on-site investigation, in-depth interviews, anatomy of sparrows, etc.”. Throughout the book, it can be seen that the author’s long-term “immersion” in “national conditions”, especially the long-term experience of five-year planning research, and a large number of field investigations, have provided him with an empirical basis and important conditions for building new theories from Chinese practice. For example, based on the research of the five-year plan, concepts such as the “integrated knowledge application mechanism”, “national target governance system”, and “brain-based decision-making system” are proposed, which are both explanatory and iconic, so as to provide readers with a deep understanding of the socialist market economy. China’s new political and economic system provides a vivid and powerful argument.
The famous sociologist Huang Zongzhi advocated “practical social science”. The key to the problem is how to connect theory and practice. In his view, the right path between theoretical reason and practical logic has long been proved by “Mao Zedong Thought.” Huang Zongzhi believes: “The insight of Mao Zedong Thought lies in a very clear understanding of the key issue that academia and theorists generally ignore, that is, how to make a media connection between practice and theory.” The book discusses the epistemology from Marx to Mao Zedong, It is believed that the “reflective evolution process” in the interaction between theory and practice “will appear as Mao Zedong said that the two leaps in which matter becomes spirit and spirit becomes matter.”
The Chinese road was pioneered by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The methodology for studying and interpreting the Chinese road has long existed in the guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China. It should be noted that, whether it is Marxism or Mao Zedong Thought, once it is treated dogmatically and doctrinally, instead of being used as a weapon, tool, and method for understanding and transforming the world, its vitality and creativity will not fade away. NS. Therefore, on the one hand, we must adhere to “the way is under our feet”, build Chinese theories and elucidate Chinese principles based on Chinese practice and proceed from China’s reality; on the other hand, we must adhere to the correct ideological guidance and turn theories into methods.
The Right Way in the World: People-centered
“Chinese Road and Chinese Principles” pointed out: “The Chinese Road is the new road of mankind, the right way in the world, and a new order of mankind; the Chinese principle is the principle of the Chinese road, the reasonable principle, the middle principle, and it belongs to human beings. A new knowledge system.” The reason why Chinese roads are “new roads” and “right roads” and has a “human” meaning is fundamentally because it is guided by advanced ideology and theories and has lofty ideals as goals. “Chinese society is a people-centered order. The main body of the people, the leadership of the party, and socialism constitute the “iron triangle” of the Chinese system. It is also a meta-concept for the construction of China’s academic discourse system.”
Both the people’s main body and the party’s leadership have a better understanding. The difficulty is how to understand socialism. The book mentions: in this “iron triangle”, “socialism is the economic, political, social and cultural community of all people….Socialism is a new way of human society with a symbiotic economy, shared distribution, common prosperity, and common ideals.” It is precisely because China is taking the road of socialism that the Chinese road can be called “the right way in the world” and the “new order of mankind”. The Chinese principles derived from the Chinese road are the “justified principles” and “medium principles”. .
The book discusses the four chapters of China’s economic model, political model, governance model, China and the world, which is to explain what is the socialist model with Chinese characteristics. The interpretation of the socialist model with Chinese characteristics in this book shows that Chinese social sciences, constructed from Chinese practical experience, are methodologically different from Western social sciences. Under the Western capitalist order, society is divided into highly atomized individuals. Therefore, mainstream Western social sciences pursue individualist methodology, which is basically in line with its social structural principles and inner spirit. China is following the path of socialism, so the methodology of Chinese social sciences based on China’s practical experience can be called socialist or communitarian methodology. In fact, this is exactly the methodology of the Chinese road, which embodies the central idea of all development for the people.
Road obstacles are long: using socialism as a method
The socialist methodology emphasizes the combination of decentralized knowledge and holistic knowledge. National planning under the conditions of the socialist market economy mainly plays a role in the field of overall knowledge and public affairs governance, while the market mainly plays a role in the field of decentralized knowledge and private product provision, so it can form a compound advantage. The target governance system is a national governance method that uses holistic knowledge to formulate national plans, mobilizes the enthusiasm of all parties, guides the allocation of resources, and jointly promotes the realization of goals through a combination of bottom-up and top-down.
The socialist methodology focuses on the balance between people’s livelihood and economic development. The core concept of the people’s livelihood country is the concept of a socialist community. It is centered on promoting people’s ability to develop. The system of improving people’s well-being shared by individuals, communities, and the state emphasizes common rights and common responsibilities, and its function lies in production. , Both primary distribution and redistribution play a role. Compared with the capitalist system, socialism clearly has obvious institutional advantages in solving people’s livelihood issues.
The socialist methodology focuses on the combination of demand-side management and supply-side management. The insufficiency of effective demand is determined by the mode of production in which capital pursues profit maximization under market economy conditions and the corresponding unbalanced distribution mode. This is a greater challenge facing China’s economic development. Under the conditions of the socialist market economy, in addition to the market economy, there are also public mechanisms to realize potential demand, which can create more effective demand space. New demand management is mainly to give play to the advantages of the socialist system, expand effective demand space by promoting public consumption, public investment and tapping global potential demand, and promote the sustained and coordinated development of the economy.
The socialist methodology focuses on more effective integration of resources through division of labor and coordination, and jointly promotes the realization of national goals. Based on Chinese practice, this book summarizes China’s political system as the “seven power division”, that is, through the integration and crossover of powers to realize the mutual division and cooperation of powers, so as to realize public functions more efficiently.
The socialist methodology focuses on a brainstorming decision-making system that combines democracy and centralism. The author divides the brainstorming decision-making into five stages, namely, arrogant teamwork, pooling thoughts, extensive consultation, co-determination, and reporting to the four parties. The formulation of China’s five-year plan or plan is a continuous process from democracy to centralization to democracy to centralization. It condenses the will and wisdom of the entire party, the country and the society, and finally rises to the law and becomes the program and goal of the people throughout the country. . It embodies the distinctive characteristics of China’s decision-making process, that is, emphasis on research, public participation, deliberative democracy, democratic centralism, and scientific democracy. The political logic behind it is democratic centralism, and the core feature is the organic combination of science and democracy.
The socialist methodology focuses on ensuring Chinese-style good governance through the four elements of vanguard party, effective government, common market and organic society. The foundation of good governance lies in realizing the people’s subjectivity to the greatest extent, fully ensuring that the people are the masters of the country, and giving full play to the people’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity. The leadership of the vanguard party is the key and fundamental advantage of good governance in China. It determines that China is a functioning government rather than a limited government, a common market rather than a free market, and an organic society rather than a civil society. The fundamental reason why China’s political system is a division of labor rather than a three-dimensional system lies in the integration of the leadership of the Party Central Committee. What determines the fundamental direction of China’s future is the game between the party’s leadership and capital power.
The socialist methodology focuses on communityism as a new paradigm for international relations in the 21st century. China has put forward the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, providing a new paradigm of communityism for international relations in the 21st century. The security concept of communityism is a general security concept, the development concept of communityism is the concept of common development, the civilization concept of communityism is the concept of civilization blending, and communityism emphasizes partnership rather than alliance. Communitarianism conforms to the international political reality of the 21st century, responds to the challenges of the 21st century international politics, and at the same time reflects Chinese tradition, Chinese solutions and Chinese wisdom.
Marxism pointed out the fundamental direction of the development of human society to a new type of social community called “community of free men.” Taking socialism as the method is to more consciously push China and the world to develop and progress in the direction of socialism under the realistic constraints of a clear understanding of the “impediment and long-term”. (Liu Chenguang)
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