China Wednesday revealed its cultural development guideline for the next decade, which is aimed at boosting the construction of a "socialist core value system" and developing the country's soft power.
The guideline, passed on October 18 at the sixth plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC)， came amid a debate on morality building in the country after 18 passers-by in Foshan, Guangdong Province ignored a girl who lay dying on the ground after being run over by two vans.
"China's revival must be accompanied by the prosperity of Chinese culture. The entire Party must unite and lead Chinese people of all ethnic groups to strive for cultural achievements with full confidence," the guideline said.
"Cultural development must be prioritized in China's overall work, as the country has come to a critical period for deepening economic reform and transforming economic development patterns," it added.
According to the guidance, by 2020, the cultural industry will have become a pillar industry for the national economy, with increased overall power and international competitiveness, and people's morality will be greatly enhanced by that time.
"The socialist core value system is the soul of the national rejuvenation and the essence of the advanced socialist culture… We must strengthen China's soft power," it added.
A day before the release of the guideline, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China's media watchdog, issued a new directive to limit entertainment programs on provincial level satellite TV channels that could promote materialism and other negative qualities.
Qiao Mu, a journalism professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times that compared to China's fast developing economy and rising global status, its soft power has been weak.
Earlier this year, the DreamWorks film Kung Fu Panda prompted Chinese movie-goers to ask why China has kung fu and pandas but no cultural product that combines the two.
Perceived threats from Hollywood prompted Chinese artist Zhao Bandi to call for a boycott of the movie, in vain.
Chen Wentong, a professor at the economics department at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times that China now lacks a clear recognition of its cultural traditions.
"The debate on Confucianism still exists, and some corrupt officials have betrayed the Party's ideology and set bad examples for the public. Furthermore, the cultural industry is badly hit by a profit-driven mentality, with some studios neglecting their social responsibility and promoting vulgarity," Chen said.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, when Chinese sought to defend their national independence and modernity amid foreign invasions nearly a century ago, Confucianism was almost entirely repudiated. Chinese characters were almost abandoned, as they were denounced as a "carrier of feudal dross" that must be replaced by a new Chinese language based on the Latin alphabet.
During the 10-year Cultural Revolution, which ended in 1976, Marxism was hailed as the peak of human civilization, incompatible with any other cultures, Xinhua added.
Zhang Jiangang, director of the center of culture studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, denied that the new guidance may bring about another cultural revolution.
"The Cultural Revolution killed culture, whereas the cultural reform is aimed at rebuilding it and leading it to prosper," Zhang said.
Professor Zhou Ximing from the Party School of the CPC Central Committee told Xinhua that China has remained spiritually immature, although it has become wealthier and shaken off the mocking title of "Asia's weakling" after pursuing modernity for more than 100 years.
"The morals and values of an individual are based on social soil. If individuals believe that society values the pursuit of wealth and power through wrongdoings such as corruption, profiteering and deceit, individuals will fail to maintain high morals, while the hearts of others will be hardened," Zhou said.
"To rejuvenate the world's only uninterrupted civilization, the CPC must face its obligations, foster values that warm people's hearts and internalize them in people's minds," Zhou added.
The guideline also proposed helping fix the cultural weakness by extending government support for State-owned cultural institutions.
China has a plan to transform some of its State-owned performers and publishers into corporations, a process similar to its economic policy of the 1990s, which is expected to be completed next year.
These organizations will continue to receive support from the government for five years, according to the guideline, which did not specify what forms of support would be offered.
Huang Jingjing and Xinhua contributed to this story
