Gao Zhanxiang first talked to reporters about the purpose of this visit. He said: on the one hand, this visit is to communicate with the inviters such as the Library of Congress, the American Institute of Asian Culture, and the International Chinese Culture Publishing House. On the other hand, he also took this opportunity to explain his latest views on cultural theory and learn from American ideas on cultural management and related academics.
Gao Zhanxiang went on to say: President Hu Jintao has proposed great cultural development and prosperity. Under the background of current economic globalization, how to develop and prosper China culture is a hot topic in China society. In this context, he completed his new work "The Power of Culture". This book shows in detail the relevant achievements of the author's research on "the power of culture" in the past 30 years. Starting from the great role of culture in human beings, society and country, it deeply analyzes the great power of culture and holds that "the power of culture is the core of soft power". Wen, a master of Chinese studies, commented on this book as follows: Marx put forward productive forces and Gao Zhanxiang developed cultural power, which is a big problem. Some experts believe that Gao Zhanxiang's proposition about cultural leadership is the first in China and even the world, and it is the sublimation of cultural theory, and this proposition will be written into the history of cultural development.
Gao Zhanxiang's book "Cultural Power" expounds the problem of cultural power from a global perspective and a future perspective, and analyzes the leading experience of China history and world history from a vertical perspective. This book covers 96 countries and regions, 260 celebrities, more than 400 data and more than 200 examples. Gao Zhanxiang raised the issue of cultural leadership ten years ago, but in view of the situation at that time, he dared not publicize it, and now it is accepted by the society, which also shows the openness and progress of China society.
Gao Zhanxiang said that both the United States and western countries attach great importance to the issue of cultural leadership and bring it into the scope of strategic research. The development history of all countries in the world has proved that culture promotes the development of science, technology and economy. The Renaissance in the West is a typical example. Japan's success is also a strong evidence. In the past, China thought that the development of culture depended on the development of economy, and the climax of economic development would naturally lead to the climax of cultural development. This is a saying that we ignore the leading role of culture and don't understand the feedback function of culture to the economy.
Gao Zhanxiang's evaluation of his book is "forward-looking". In today's environment where the country advocates theoretical innovation, the author should have his own opinions, "go his own way" and be unique. He can't just play the role of a mouthpiece like a parrot, and he has no language and personality of his own.
When talking about the writing background of his book Cultural Power, Gao Zhanxiang said: The main reasons for writing this book are as follows: First, in view of the imbalance between material and spirit in the world, the current material society is shining with the brilliance of scientific and technological development, but the morality is bleak. This is an era of material giants and spiritual dwarfs. Unfortunately, many people do not clearly see the existence of this imbalance. Second, in the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China's economy has developed at a high speed, with long economic legs and short cultural legs. This phenomenon has aroused people's thinking and worry. China, a growing giant, with one leg long and the other short, is bound to stand unsteadily and walk fast. Even if you run, you will stumble. Because "the poor with culture will not last long, and the rich without culture will not last long", which has been proved by many practices. Third, the development goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way in China is not suitable for reality, material development is not suitable for spiritual life, and China's international status is not suitable for the current backward culture. The great development of China society must rely on cultural strength.
Gao Zhanxiang added: When we talk about national strength, we always mention economy first, then military and politics, and seldom mention cultural strength. Strengthening cultural strength is as important as improving economic strength and military strength. Cultural spirit ranks first in comprehensive national strength. The strength and spiritual strength of a nation is the king and crown of national strength and the first strength. With a strong national spirit, there is hope in other aspects. An economy without culture is an economy without soul, and an economy without cultural support cannot develop stably for a long time. When economic activities are materialized, the greater the power of culture, the higher the gold content. Behind the economy is science and technology, behind science and technology is talent, and behind talent is culture (cultural power). The competition in the future world is mainly cultural competition. A nation without cultural power is naturally difficult to stand among the world's national cultures.
Gao Zhanxiang particularly emphasized that politics without cultural support is politics without clarity. This will either lead to tyranny, cowardice, even indifference, ruthlessness and even inhumanity. Politics without cultural sunshine is bound to be dark and corrupt.
However, the construction and development of cultural power has a process. Just like the establishment and formation of a belief has a process. From ancient times to the present, China people's beliefs have been broken one by one, from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to contemporary leaders. Reconstruction will take a century. A visionary leader must realize that only cultural leadership is the eternal driving force to maintain a nation.
Cultural power is the core of a country's soft power. Soft power is embodied in social and cultural power, people's spirit, political navigation power and diplomatic decision-making power. The power of culture is a powerful internal driving force to promote economic construction and social development and progress. In reality, the cultural power of China society is not what we say, and the power of the people is far from being clearly reflected.
When asked about the real and long-term value of China culture in the world, and how to establish and protect it, Gao Zhanxiang said that the spirit of "a gentleman strives for self-improvement" and the concept of "harmony is precious" in China traditional culture have pointed out a way to solve the problems in China and even the world. China's ancient concept of "harmony between man and nature" has always been a warning, limiting people's unlimited exploitation and destruction of nature today, which will lead to disastrous consequences-global warming and extinction of animals and plants. China's concept of "harmony is the most precious, and the harmony between man and nature" is of great significance for solving contemporary world problems and guiding people to find a way out of the world from oriental culture. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness in traditional culture represent the essence of China culture. As long as today's new contents and genes are injected, there will be new vitality-they are huge stones in the long history of China and will never flow away.
China has a unique history of 5,000 years of civilization, and there has never been a fault, which is a miracle. The constant self-doubt, the May 4th Movement, the break of capitalism, the Cultural Revolution and the impact of the current reform wave have shaken the foundation of China's national culture.
In recent years, in order to promote China's culture, we have tried to set off an upsurge of Chinese studies and build Confucius Institutes. These are only non-fundamental measures. The state should have a protection strategy and specific steps.
These strategic steps include: 1. Training teachers and promoting reading. In the past, we advocated reading Marxist-Leninist works, but now no one advocates reading the Four Books and the Five Classics. Some things can't be completely denied just because they are the dross of history. What happened at that time had its historical value. Second, we should arouse the awareness of leaders at all levels in China to protect and promote China culture. On the issue of promoting China culture, people who know now can't make a decision, and those who can make a decision don't understand. To really select and train a group of people with national cultural background to lead cultural undertakings, the reality is that there are many phenomena in political leadership culture. Third, we should strengthen the cultivation of classical literature from the teaching content. Nowadays, students, even college students, know little about the cultural elements of China, and too many presenters and leaders mispronounce them. If you can't even read Confucius and Mencius, what can you talk about? I remember when I was a child, my parents forced us to contend. We didn't understand it then, but now we have benefited a lot. We should run an ancient book class like a party school. The way of politics in ancient books now seems to be a classic theory. Learning a foreign language takes longer than learning Chinese. Is it necessary? We can't blame young people. We didn't help them read. No one in our country provides conditions for those who help young people learn. Everyone is busy making money.