The Ideals and Beliefs of

Contemporary Chinese
96 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

In 1978, under the leadership of the CPC, a great revolution was

carried out in a new historical condition, leading to the tremendous
changes in China. With the advancement of reform and opening up, the
social and economic compositions, organization forms, employment,
interest relations and distribution methods tend to be diversified and great
changes have taken place in people’s way of thinking and ideas. As an
essential part of people’s way of thinking and ideas, the ideals and beliefs
of contemporary Chinese closely relate to the further development of
reform and opening up, which is worth studying and paying attention to.

1  ew Trend and Characteristics of the

N
Ideals and Beliefs of Chinese People

Ideals and beliefs are the inner driving power of human development,
inspiring people to move forward toward the set goals and pursue better
life.
China has a history of more than five thousand years, and the time-
honored civilization has shaped the unique belief system and ideals for
Chinese people. However, as social consciousness, they are not rigid and
immutable. With the development of people’s practical activities and social
reform, new trend and characteristics of the ideals and beliefs of Chinese
people emerged gradually.

1.1　 Diversification and Complication of the Ideals and Beliefs

Applying to the ideals and beliefs, diversification refers to the
various ideological foundations, and complication refers to the difficulties
for people to grasp it. Engels said: “the theoretical thinking of each
era, including that of the present era, is a product of history, which has
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 97

completely different forms and contents in each era.” [1] Ideals and beliefs
are the products of times, and each age has its specific dominant ones.
Undoubtedly, Marxism is the most important ideal and belief for the CPC
and even for Chinese people nowadays. However, compared with ideals
and beliefs of traditional societies, the ideals and beliefs of contemporary
Chinese tend to be more diversified and complicated. Since the reform
and opening up, ideological trends of Western societies have flowed into
China. Traditional Chinese culture has revived and theories of Marxism
have been spread widely, which provides space for the diversification
and complication of beliefs, leading to the various and complex beliefs in
contemporary China.
The influx of ideological trends of Western societies. As the
gathering of mainstream mass consciousness, social ideological trends
objectively present the thoughts of people in certain periods of social
development and historical process. Contemporary Western social
ideological trends mainly refer to all kinds of thoughts and ideas with
profound influence emerging in the 20th Century, including liberalism,
conservatism, humanism, communalism, behaviorism, humanism,
pragmatism, positivism, criticism, and so on. The influx of contemporary
Western social ideological trends leads to the intersection of Chinese and
Western culture, the unprecedented liberation of ideological circle, and
the giant shock to people’s thoughts and ideas, especially the beliefs. For
example, humanism is a kind of social ideological trend advances at an
equal pace with scientism and restricts it at the same time. Humanism
mainly focuses on themes like the existence, value, free choices and
subjectivity of humankind, has greatly influences the humanity and science
development of Western societies. In China, humanism has caused great
sensation due to its unique humanistic care. When people are establishing
their own beliefs, they pay more attention to the human dignity, the
98 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

promotion of self-generation as well as the organic combination of

personal belief and social belief, which undoubtedly embodies the
continuous social progress in China.
However, along with the awakening of subject consciousness and
the liberation of human nature, humanistic individualism also brings the
surge of desire and solipsism, which leads to the prevalence of egoism,
and certainly not conducive to the healthy development of the cause of
socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The rejuvenation of the traditional Chinese culture. To spread
traditional Chinese culture and construct advanced culture of socialism
with Chinese characteristics have become social consensus. However,
it cannot be forgotten that in quite a long period of the 20th Century,
traditional Chinese culture had been treated cruelly. From “Fighting
Against Confucianism” in the May Fourth Movement to “eliminating the
old thoughts, old culture, old customs and old habits” in the “Cultural
Revolution”, then to the opposition to traditional Chinese culture in the
early years of the reform and opening up, traditional Chinese culture was
destroyed dramatically. However, it is the repeated criticizing of traditional
culture that has sparked the rational reflection on the cultural problems.
People have realized not only the dangers of saying no to traditional
Chinese culture, but also the reasonable factors and essential values of
it. Thus, “fever of traditional Chinese culture” has been emerging, which
means that spreading traditional culture is becoming the spiritual pursuit
of Chinese people again. Worship of the ancestors is still popular. The
practical belief system blending Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism
once again comes into the view of the public. All these embody the
renaissance of traditional Chinese culture. The ancestors worship is one
of the original forms of beliefs. The Chinese nation has been following
fine traditions like “carefully attending to the funeral rites of parents and
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 99

following them when gone with due sacrifices” and “never forgetting to
pay a debt of gratitude,” which has a deep inner relation with ancestors
worship. In modern times. Due to the Opium War in 1840 and the fast
spread of “Western learning” in China, traditional Chinese culture was
faded in some way. With the development of the socialist modernization,
reviving and promoting traditional Chinese culture have increasingly
become the internal requirement of Chinese nation. As the basic structure
of traditional culture, the ancestors worship has once again drawn people’s
attention in contemporary China because of its great national cohesion,
and become an important component of beliefs of Chinese people.
The wide spread of the theories of Marxism. In February 1848,
Marx and Engels primarily founded Marxism with the publication
of Communist Manifesto as its symbol. In the past 170 years, since
the publication of Communist Manifesto till now, it has been through
numerous shocks and tests and gained the worldwide approval among
more and more countries and nationalities due to its wide spread. Its
spread in China can date back to the victory of the October Revolution of
Russia in 1917. During the period, Chinese progressives were looking for
the way out for the Chinese nation hardly and the victory of the October
Revolution brought China Marxism—the light leading China to a bright
future. In the integration of Marxism and the reality of China, members of
the CPC attached great importance to the spread of Marxism and tried to
help the public truly understand and accept Marxism by various means. In
the period of New Democratic Revolution, Popular Philosophy written by
Ai Siqi played an essential role in popularizing Marxism. In the 1930s, Ai
Siqi wrote Popular Philosophy, clearly explaining the basic viewpoints of
Marxist philosophy. The contents could be easily understood and accepted
by public, so that the book had an extensive and long lasting impact on the
public. Chiang Kai-shek had lamented that Popular Philosophy washed out
100 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

the concept of the “Three People’s Principles”—principle of Nationalism,

principle of Democracy, principle of People’s Livelihood and people
lost faith due to it. After the founding of New China, especially since the
reform and opening up, Marxism, as the guiding ideology of the Party and
the country, has been widely spread, and formal and informal education
publicity of all kinds have played an important part in promoting the
Marxism. In 2007, a large political TV program The Road to Revival was
broadcast in CCTV to welcome the 17th CPC National Congress. By using
modern digital technology, it vividly reviewed the development of modern
society, promoted the popularization of the Marxism in contemporary
China, and caused a tremendous response in the society. Marxism, as a
new form of ideal and belief in China, has been constantly hitting the inner
world of modern Chinese and become an essential part among Chinese
people’s ideals and beliefs.

1.2　 Conflict and Contradiction of the Ideals and Beliefs

This feature associates with the diversification and complication of
the ideals and beliefs of contemporary Chinese. Conflict and contradiction
refer to the imbalance inside individuals and the imbalance between
different ideals and beliefs. The diversification and complication of ideals
and beliefs will weaken the power of beliefs and bring people no sense of
belongings both mentally and physically, leading to a strong conflict and
contradiction in beliefs. So far, from the historical point of view, beliefs of
the Chinese nation consist of the original belief before pre-Qin period, the
practical belief blending Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism from pre-
Qin period to the May Fourth Movement period, and the Marxism from
the May Fourth Movement period till now. The different beliefs in these
three periods have racially shown that the diversification and complication
come along with the conflict and contradiction of ideals and beliefs.
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 101

Especially nowadays when individualism is encouraged, the conflict and

contradiction of the ideals and beliefs is becoming increasingly prominent.
The conflict and contradiction of the ideals and beliefs are caused
by personal reasons.The transition from tradition to modernization,
especially the establishment of the market economy, has continually
enhanced the self-consciousness of Chinese people. People have gradually
formed the idea that they are free and independent existence, which has
been greatly shocking the solid and single belief generated in the feudal
society of thousands of years. Then various beliefs with individualistic
features come into being. Even though individualism is reasonable to
some extent, it leads to the alienation between individuals and groups and
the continuous weakening of the sense of belonging. People suffer from
mental homelessness and then start to look for social dominant ideals
and beliefs. However, due to the limitations of history and individuals
themselves, the self-consciousness of the public is not fully developed,
so that when facing conflicts among different ideals and beliefs, people
cannot surpass them and unify them from a higher level. The ideals and
beliefs crisis on cognitive level and action level come after that, along
with the blind behavior of “following the heart in all circumstances.” The
conflict and contradiction of the beliefs generated due to personal reasons
harm not only the sound and harmonious development of the society, but
also the free and all-round development of human beings.
The conflict and contradiction of different ideals and beliefs.
Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times; it was the
worst of times. It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness. It
was the epoch of belief; it was the epoch of incredulity.”[2] The quote used
to describe the situation of Britain and France in the 18th Century can
still be applicable in the 21st Century. In terms of the ideals and beliefs of
contemporary Chinese people, some are sublime and scientific while some
102 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

vulgar and unscientific; some are rational and unambiguous while some
irrational and ambiguous. As social competitions become more and more
intensified due to the Reform and Opening up, some people are short of
abilities to deal with social competitions. That is to say, they do not look
for proper ways to handle the obstacles and failures, but turn to Gods for
the help. Thus, the once disappeared superstition is to revive. Superstition
is an unscientific belief, the blind worship of the alien force, and also the
deviation from the right beliefs.

1.3　 Actualization and Secularization of the Ideals and Beliefs

The actualization of the ideals and beliefs means that people
gradually give up and do not put much emphasis on lofty ideals and
beliefs. The secularization of the ideals and beliefs means that the
contents of the ideals and beliefs can be measured by secular standards.
Actualization has a close relation with secularization. Actualization is
the premise of secularization, while secularization is the inevitable result
of actualization. The actualization and secularization of beliefs have
both historical tradition and realistic foundation. Historically, China has
been a diligent and pragmatic country with practical spirit and Chinese
people are practical and always tend to seek truth from fact. In terms of
the mainstream habits of social life, caring about politics and bureaucrat
orientation have been long occupying the significant position of social
consciousness. In China, with the establishment of the socialist market
economy, the idea of equivalent exchange profoundly affects people’s
thoughts and behaviors. Many people pursue maxim material interests,
which becomes increasingly popular nowadays.
The production of the ideals and beliefs mainly relates to the
powerlessness of people when facing the reality and embodies the
endogenous uncertainty and doubts about their abilities. Due to
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 103

uncertainty, people will go beyond their own limitations with the help of
beliefs and make up the defects and the insufficiencies when facing the
reality. Even though the ideals and beliefs can only become feasible and
reliable with realistic foundations, they are not effective and even run
counter to the original intentions without paying attention to surpassing
the reality. When discussing the actualization of the ideals and beliefs,
the practical belief system formed in the long feudal society has to
be mentioned. In Culture and Life, philosopher He Lin explained the
definitions of practical beliefs. He pointed out, “the establishment of
practical beliefs is for the sake of the convenience of life, the necessity of
behavior and the success of career. This kind of belief is not as great and
meaningful as those religious and moral beliefs, without the historical
background and social strength of traditional beliefs. But without such
practical belief, that is, the realistic belief, people will be caught in a
predicament afraid of everything. Life cannot continue, behaviors cannot
be conducted and achievement cannot be made. Most beliefs of daily life,
industries, politics, and military belong to this kind. For example, when
you deposit your money in a bank, you believe the bank is reliable. When
you have your meals, you believe the food is non-toxic. When you take a
car or plane, you believe you will have a safe trip. Each time, you believe
you will not suffer from bad consequences. Such beliefs, on the one hand,
come from rational calculation, and on the other hand, from the experience
accumulated. However, no one can predict the future. People can only
stick to such beliefs and embrace the future. Also, people can make extra
preparations in case of emergencies.”[3] The views of He Lin reflects the
pragmatism orientation embodied in the beliefs of Chinese people and
indicates the performance of practical beliefs. It is worth mentioning that
the actualization of the ideals and beliefs differs from practical beliefs. In
our point of view, the actualization of the ideals and beliefs stresses on the
104 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

material and spiritual satisfaction of low level when establishing the ideals
and beliefs, while practical belief, one kind of beliefs, focuses on the
coordination between the reality and the transcendence.

2 Realistic Presentation of the Ideals and

Beliefs of Chinese People

Compared with old and traditional ideals and beliefs, the ideals and
beliefs of contemporary Chinese have changed greatly. The ideals and
beliefs are a very complex system, existing in the minds of Chinese people
and reflecting their consciousness and grasp of the future. Closely relating
to people themselves and their thoughts, the ideals and beliefs embodied in
the languages, ideas, behaviors and activities of people, show their outlook
on world, life and values. Since the ideals and beliefs permeate every
aspects, it is hard to list every presentation of them. Therefore, different
presentations of the ideals and beliefs of Chinese people are analyzed
respectively to study the realistic presentation of the ideals and beliefs of
Chinese people.

2.1　 Realistic Presentation of Chinese People’s Ideals

Social and political ideals. Social and political ideals refer to the
design and pursuit of ultimate direction and goal of society and politics,
intensively embodying the advanced construction and initiate creation of
political system and political behavior. Various social and political ideals
were formed in history. Confucian advocated to construct “a society
of great unity,” chasing for the equality and fraternity between people
and the orderliness in society. Lao-Tzu proposed the concept of “Small
Country with Less People,” advocating the self-governance of people.
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 105

Tao Yuanming dreamed of building a heaven of peace and happiness far

away from the turmoil of the world. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
put forward the slogan of equality with widely spreading the idea of
egalitarianism. Kang Youwei came up with the idea of “a world of great
unity”, trying to save the decayed China. In the period of New Democratic
Revolution, Mao Zedong and other proletarian revolutionaries adhered to
the guidance of the Marxism, put forward the social and political pattern
of “freedom, prosperity and civilization,” and established the New China.
However, when constructing the New China, the communism described
by Marx and Engels was mechanically understood and impractically
treated, and movements including “organization of people’s communes
throughout the country” and the “Great Leap Forward” were launched to
“run into the communist,” leading to serious social crises. After the reform
and opening up, the ideological guideline of emancipating the mind and
seeking truth from facts was established, and the far-left misunderstanding
of communism was corrected. On the basis of historical experience, the
16th CPC National Congress first regarded “building a more harmonious
society” as an important goal for building a Well-Off Society in an all-
round way. The 6th Plenary Session of the 16th CPC National Congress
profoundly clarified the nature and meaning of socialist harmonious
society as well as the guidance and tasks of building a socialist harmonious
society. Besides repeatedly emphasizing the importance of establishing a
socialist harmonious society, the 17th and 18th CPC National Congress
involved social construction into the overall layout of constructing
socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the process of studying and
implementing the spirits put forward in the 18th CPC National Congress,
General Secretary Xi Jinping advocated the whole nation to fight for
the Chinese Dream. The Chinese Dream is a dream of the whole nation,
to realize the great revival of the Chinese nation; the Chinese Dream is
106 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

a dream of the country, to pursue the prosperity of China; the Chinese

Dream is a dream of the people, closely relating to each Chinese, with
the happiness of the people as its goal. The Chinese Dream intensively
embodies the social and political ideals of contemporary Chinese and
expresses their strong desire for a better society, which grants it great
cohesion and a centripetal force.
Moral ideals. Moral ideals refer to the ethical yearning and pursuit of
people intensively embodying their morality and effectively safeguarding
the ethical relationship and social orders. In feudal society with a history
of more than 2 000 years, Confucianism put forward a basic rule, that is,
“the monarch should be like a monarch, the minister a minister, the father
a father and the son a son,” so as to establish an ideal kingdom where a
strict social hierarchy was followed and the stable moral order was set
up. The traditional Chinese society paid special attention to the moral
ideals of people and the feudal rule was consolidated due to it. In the
New Democratic Revolution and Socialist Revolution, the lofty ideal of
communism was established on the basis of the traditional Chinese feudal
moral ideals to standardize and guide the social behavior of the public so
that favorable social morality was shaped. However, with the prevalence
of the far-left ideological trend, moral ideals of the public were twisted to
some extent. Since the reform and opening up, along with the transition
from the planned economy to market economy, moral ideals like “devoting
to others utterly without any thought of oneself,” “going to anywhere
in need of help,” “being ready to sacrifice oneself” were challenged
due to the pursuit of the greatest interests under such circumstances. In
this increasingly diversified era, free selection and different values have
been the most obvious feature of Chinese moral ideal system. People are
free to choose their way of behavior, making it hard to standardize and
construct an orderly country with morality. On November 26th 2014, Wei
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 107

Sihao, a 76 years old scavenger became famous because of a report titled

“Hangzhou Library Is Open to Scavengers, and the Scavenger Wash His
Hands Consciously Before Going in.” People were touched by his love for
reading and knew more about his story after his death by accident in 2015.
It was astonishing that he stuck to picking up garbage even with a salary
of 5 000 yuan and then donated the money to poor students consistently.
This old man perfectly interpreted the meaning of lofty moral ideal by
his own behavior, earning the respect of people and touching the whole
China. In contrast, some people rack their brains to obtain extravagant
profits. Food safety problems like the milk powder with melamine,
meat with clenbuterol, and illegal cooking oil are not eliminated and so
are the projects with poor quality. Therefore, people should be treated
differently when establishing noble moral ideals so as to realize the unity
of the progressiveness of moral ideals and the extensiveness of moral
requirements.
Professional ideals. Professional ideals refer to the basic imagination
about future professions, guiding people to strive for a better future.
Working is the most common and basic activity of social life. Noble
profession ideals can help people understand the meaning of life deeply so
as to make contributions to their society. When talking about professional
ideals, young Marx once said, “If we choose the career which can best
serve people, burdens cannot beat us down, since we sacrifice for the
people. At that time, what we are enjoying is not poor, limited, and selfish
pleasure, but the happiness belonging to tens of millions of people. Our
career will last forever and always play a role. Facing our ashes, noble
people will shed tears.” [4] In socialist China, such lofty professional
ideals described by Marx have inspired generation after generation to
devote themselves into the national liberation and establish a better
home for all people. Guided by the noble career ideal, countless people
108 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

are willing to meet the needs of national and social development, and
dedicate themselves to the cause of socialist construction as well. In the
1950s, in order to defend national security and safeguard world peace,
the first generation of the CPC central committee with comrade Mao
Zedong as the core put forward the strategic decision to develop “atomic
and hydrogen bombs and man-made satellite” independently. With weak
economic and technical foundations and poor working conditions, a large
number of outstanding scientific and technical workers overcame the
shortage of investment and time, developed cutting-edge technologies
related to atomic bombs, missiles and artificial earth satellite and made
great achievements in those fields. Those excellent scientific and technical
workers were granted “atomic and hydrogen bombs and man-made
satellite” medal years later. Their noble professional ideals were realized
in the value creation process for their country and the people, which was
worth remembering forever. Since the reform and opening up, professions
tend to be diversified and the types and connotations of professional ideals
are expanded along with the detailed division of labor in society. For
example, output value of e-sports industry was more than 50 billion yuan
in 2015 due to the professionalization of e-sports game. Years ago, full-
time e-sports players were considered triflers by most people, but now,
a great many of teenagers hope to be champions of e-sports. In this era
with increasingly diversified professions, the needs of the country and the
people should play a dominant role in establishing professional ideals on
the whole and features with color of the age and personal characteristics
should also be taken into consideration so that professional ideals can be
enriched in the diversification of professions.
Life ideals. Life ideals refer to people’s consumptive pursuits
of materials, spirits and culture, closely relating to the daily life. In
traditional daily life, Chinese attached great importance to the quality of
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 109

life, yearning for the art of life. For example, A Dream of Red Mansions
is one of the Chinese four great classics, including a large number of
paragraphs describing the daily life, embodying the life ideals of Chinese
people in a vivid and typical way. Since the reform and opening up, great
changes have taken place in Chinese life ideals along with the continuous
development of the socialist market economy. Material demands have
been expanded and profits-orientation has become more and more obvious.
In terms of material aspect, traditional Chinese could be easily satisfied,
while nowadays they are proud of high consumption, the phenomenon
of squandering happening every now and then. Traditional Chinese
pursued frugality. Even though China has the highest saving rate in the
world, premature consumption is quite common without considering their
economic capacity. On the one hand, this phenomenon represents the great
achievements made in the Chinese material civilization construction, and
on the other hand, it reflects the variation of material life ideals. Generally
speaking, the spiritual life of contemporary Chinese is positive, healthy and
harmonious just like traditional Chinese people who paid special attention
to their spiritual life. However, problems like the shortage of emotional
life, the reduction of spirit exchanges and the common social anxiety have
existed all the time. In the traditional society of acquaintances, basing on
kinship and geographical relation, the communication was more closely,
and the emotion was stronger from one to each other. But in the transition
period of China, people’s strong attachment to their hometown has been
diminishing. Some people sighed, “Hometown is where we cannot get
back” due to the urban and rural gap. Life in urban cities weakens the
emotions between people. In terms of culture, compared with the rich
and colorful cultural life of traditional Chinese, cultural activities are
in shortage in the early period of the reform and opening up. With the
in-depth development of reform and opening up, the government has
110 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

gradually increased the investment in public cultural undertakings and

cultural industries, carrying out lively cultural activities of various forms
to greatly enrich the life of people. In this case, the cultural life ideals of
people have been more rational and standardized gradually, showing a
tendency of sound development.

2.2　 Realistic Representation of Chinese People’s Beliefs

Political beliefs. Political beliefs refer to the rule of words and deeds
and the spirit system followed which are based on the identify, conviction
and admiration of a certain social political system and its theories in
the specific society and country[5]. Political belief, one of the dominant
components of ideology, belongs to political culture, and is at the center
of the belief system. In traditional Chinese society, political beliefs were
equipped with contradictory duality. On the one hand, group relationship
had to be formed due to the low productivity so that people admired and
respected social groups, and political beliefs embodied people’s worship of
their country. On the other hand, because of the highly centralized control
and the ruthless exploitation, people tended to establish political beliefs
for eliminating the exploitation and oppression when facing the social and
political unfairness, which was shown in the slogans of peasant uprising in all
generations. Political beliefs, aiming at coordinating the relationship between
people and society, have been guiding and dominating people’s behavior,
and working as the spiritual pillar from the ancient times to the future.
The scientificalness and firmness of political beliefs can determine
the future of a country and the destiny of nations. In the late 1980s and
early 1990s, the disintegration of the Soviet Union was a significant
event in the history of socialist movements. The political belief crisis is
the fundamental cause leading to the event. In contemporary China, in
general, most people have established correct political beliefs. Not only
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 111

Party members and leading cadres, but also a large number of citizens
agree with the political belief of the CPC. They regard Marxism, Mao
Zedong Thought and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese
characteristics as their political beliefs. However, political belief crises
have been existing inside the Party. For example, the communist ideal has
faded and people lack confidence about the outlook for the construction of
socialism with Chinese characteristics. Some have weak political subject
consciousness, lack political enthusiasm and do not participate in political
activities actively. Some cannot evaluate the pluralistic political belief
system of Western counties and worship their political ideology absolutely.
External factors, for example, the international communist movement was
at a low ebb, and the capitalist countries had implemented the strategy of
“peaceful evolution”; and internal factors, for example, throughout the
history, people did not participate in political activities actively and the
market economy led to the different treatment to material and spiritual
pursuit. Working together, those elements led to the political belief crisis.
Therefore, facing the political belief crisis at present, helping people
establish scientific political beliefs on the new civilization level will be
the top priority of the construction of socialist political civilization with
Chinese characteristics.
Religious beliefs. As a systematic, mature and common formation in
the beliefs system, political beliefs regard “God” as the core. And basing
on the identity of the God worship, people establish unalterable beliefs
and convert to religions with whole heart. Strictly speaking, religions vary
from religious beliefs and the rational knowledge of religion is the premise
of understanding religious beliefs. In Anti-Dühring, Engels made a very
clear explanation about the religion. He said, “All religions are only the
reflection of illusions generated from the external forces dominating the
daily life of people. In such reflection, the nature power is presented in
112 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

the form of super power.”[6] Religion is a unique historical phenomenon

of human society, and also a common phenomenon nowadays, which has
huge influence on both social and spiritual life. In China, religions with
different sources and various levels, like Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity,
Islam and folk dogma have existed for thousands of years, but none
of them becomes the common religious belief of Chinese people, so
that many people regard China as a country without religious beliefs.
However, Chinese scholar Feng Liangfang holds the opposite opinion.
He thinks China is a country with a common religious belief:a
traditional religion with characteristics of patriarchal clan. He said,
“the traditional Chinese religion with characteristics of patriarchal clan,
a typical polytheism with worship of more than one god the supplement,
looks ancestor worship and gods worship as the core, and the worship of
the country, sun and moon, mountains and other natural objects the wings.
With stable sacrificial system worshiping Heaven, Earth and ancestors,
the traditional Chinese religion is a kind of cohesion consolidating the
society and clan, as well as the spiritual resource conforming Chinese
people.”[7] The idea of traditional Chinese religion with characteristics
of patriarchal clan provides a new perspective to understand traditional
Chinese religions. After the founding of New China, policies relating to
the freedom of religious beliefs have been formulated in the Constitution
by the CPC, and a complete set of policy system to manage regions has
been established in practice. Generally speaking, the religious beliefs of
contemporary Chinese show a tendency of sound development. The five
regions acknowledged officially, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism
and Christianity, have their own believers of a certain scale. Equality and
compassion advocated by Buddhism, peace and harmony by Taoism,
universal love by Islam, universal fraternity and charity by Catholicism
and kindness orientation by Islam reflect people’s noble spiritual pursuits.
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 113

However, in recent years, negative and harmful phenomena appeared,

such as the breeding of heresies and the reviving of feudal superstition,
which should not be ignored. On the premise of respecting and protecting
people’s freedom of religious beliefs, promoting the synchronous and
healthy development of religions believing and the cause of socialism with
Chinese characteristics effectively accelerates social harmony and stability.
Philosophical beliefs. Philosophical beliefs regard human being as
the core, the adherence to and practice of thoughts, truth and doctrines as the
characteristic, and ideal planning and implementation of nature, society and
life following human nature and science as the main contents[8]. Philosophy is
not only a kind of world outlook, but also a methodology. In the development
of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, traditional Chinese philosophy
with unique features, profound meanings and rich contents has been
formed. Traditional Chinese philosophy can be divided into various
schools, the three famous representatives of which are Confucianism,
Taoism and Buddhism. Since India Buddhism spread to China in Han
Dynasties, India Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism started to conflict
and integrate with each other. Since the Ming dynasty, with the gradual
integration of these three religions, the doctrine with Confucianism as the
main part and Buddhism as the auxiliary became the core of traditional
Chinese philosophy. The beliefs of traditional Chinese people with
Confucianism as the core combined the ideas of Confucianism, Taoism
and Buddhism. The Confucian belief played a leading role in traditional
Chinese philosophy beliefs, because “it regarded the objective ‘doctrine’
rather than ghosts and gods as the fundamental power promoting the
generation and development of the world, focused on the realistic
problems, attached great importance to the ethical and moral life,
looked ‘benevolence’ the core of the concept, advocated benevolent
governance and rule of virtue, admired the golden mean of the
114 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

Confucian school, looked up to the characters of the sages, and pursued

the freedom of people, which embodied the unification of getting rid of
the mundane life and participating the social affairs.”[9] The Confucian
belief originated in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring
States period, and later became the common philosophical belief
due to the popularization of the idea “eliminating the doctrines of all
other religions, with only that of Confucianism left and respected” put
forward by the Emperor Wu of the Xi Han dynasty. Since the Opium
War in 1840 along with the great shock to the agricultural civilization
brought by the industrial civilization, Chinese people had deeply realized
the limitations of Confucianism after failures of a series of movements to
save China so that crises appeared to subvert the Confucian belief. The
victory of the October Revolution of Russia brought China Marxism.
Due to the active and effective spread by Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and
others, Marxism, as a scientific world outlook and methodology, has
been gradually accepted by Chinese people and become the leading
philosophical belief of the Chinese nation. Since the reform and
opening up, with the continuous development of the cause of socialism
with Chinese characteristics, the frequent cultural communications
have profoundly affected the spiritual world of the Chinese people. The
revival of the Confucian belief and the spread of Western rational belief
have complicated and diversified the philosophical beliefs of Chinese
people unprecedentedly. Undoubtedly, Marxism and the traditional
beliefs system of Chinese people have lots in common, greatly unifying
in the world outlook, methodology and sense of value so that they have
long been the mainstream of philosophical beliefs of Chinese people.
Under the new historical conditions, we have to stick to the leading
role of the Marxism unalterably, actively propagate the essence of
Confucian belief, and absorb the reasonable factors of Western rational
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 115

beliefs so as to promote the sound and prosperous development of the

spiritual world of Chinese people.
Folk beliefs. In Ci Hai, fork beliefs are explained as the popular
psychology and behavior of believing in a certain kind of spiritual idea
or a tangible object, including the custom belief and the superstition.
Unlike religious beliefs with concrete introduction, strict doctrines
and rigorous organization, “basing on the animism, folk beliefs have
complicated worship objects and mainly embody the ideas of idealism
partly involving ideas of materialism and science which can be seen
in the popular natural beliefs worshiping heaven, earth, sun and moon
among folks.” [10] The worship of nature, totem and gods generating
on the foundation of animism is the main form of folk beliefs. For
example, when ancient people fought against the nature for survival,
sunlight warmed people and helped them survive, so that the sun was
personified as a god and then worshiped by people. The sun worship
was quite common in ancient times which was embodied not only in
many documents like Huai Nan Zi, The Classic of Mountains and Seas,
The Songs of Chu, Guo Yu where myths of the sun were recorded, but
also in archaeological excavations and the cultural relics unearthed
in the Yellow river basin and the Yangtze river basin. Today, the
productive capacity has been greatly improved, but the sun worship,
as a relic, still exists. For example, in some region of Hebei province,
people worship the sun and eat “the sun cake” on February 1st on lunar
calendar. People of Ningjin in Shandong province believe that June
19th on lunar calendar is the birthday of the sun. On the evening of
June 18th, temples of village are bustling with noise and excitement.
Women chant sutras all over the night [11]. In feudal society with a
history of more than 2 000 years, folk belief, as a kind of unofficial
belief, had been wandering on the edge of the belief system. Besides
116 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

making full of the folk beliefs to better legitimize their governance, the
feudal rulers paid more attention to suppress and attack folk beliefs.
Since modern times, with the introduction of Western science and
knowledge, traditional Chinese folk beliefs had been under great attack.
After the founding of New China, the traditional folk beliefs were
once simplified as feudal superstition and denied. During the “Cultural
Revolution”, the traditional folk beliefs were almost destroyed. Since
the reform and opening up, folk beliefs providing mental and spiritual
support to citizens have been recovered and developed along with the
free development of the systematized religious beliefs. In addition to
owning a large number of believers, complex structure and scattered
forces just like the traditional folk beliefs did, the present folk beliefs
are equipped with features with strong spirit of the time, including
breaking the feudal superstition, having standard organization form
and respecting the value of people. Folk beliefs, with long history
and substantial public support, become an essential part of traditional
Chinese culture, which enhances the national cohesion, promotes moral
education and constricts people’s behaviors. The current folk beliefs
construction should include inheriting the advantages and abandoning
the disadvantages of folk beliefs, as well as promoting their benign
interaction with the socialist harmonious society.

3 Importance of Having a Clear Under-

standing of the Ideals and Beliefs of
Chinese People

With the deepening of the reform and opening up, China has entered
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 117

a period of social transformation. The mainstream culture has begun to

manifest itself and draw attention of the public, various foreign ideological
trends have flooded into China and the local non-mainstream culture has
been activated, so that unprecedented flourishing and development appear
in cultural field. The cultural flourishing and development have broadened
the range of selections and brought people confusion due to the diverse
choices. The diversification, complication, contradiction and secularization
of the ideals and beliefs perfectly embody the cultural development.
Recognizing the current situation of the ideals and beliefs of Chinese
people can help us get a clear understanding of ourselves, our society and
our country, encouraging us to keep fighting for personal fulfillment, social
development and national rejuvenation.

3.1 Facilitating the Formation of Lofty Ideals and Beliefs and the
Enhancement of Life State
It has been mentioned previously that in May 1980, Chinese Youth
Magazine published “A Letter from Pan Xiao”. The letter mainly talked
about the confusion and thinking about the meaning of life, putting
forward the uneasiness, depression, perplexity and suspicion of life,
which aroused sensation among hundreds of millions of youth who were
just through the “Cultural Revolution” and led to nationwide discussions
about the meaning of life. “A Letter from Pan Xiao” and the following
discussions reflected the strong mental impact brought by the sharp social
changes. Since then, dreams, beliefs and life have been the hot topics of
Chinese people. Ideals and beliefs tend to be diversified nowadays, and a
clear understanding of the ideals and beliefs can help us form noble ideals
and beliefs, avoiding mistakes, confusion and perplexity on the basis of
distinguishing various ideals and beliefs, better guide our life practice and
enhance life state in the pursuit of lofty ideals and beliefs.
118 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

To establish noble ideals and beliefs. First, people have to establish

ideals and beliefs since they are the pillar of life. Lev Tolstoy, the famous
Russian writer once said, “Ideal is the beacon. Without ideal, there is
no secure direction; without direction , there is no life.”[12] In terms of
the necessity of beliefs, Swiss psychologist Jung said, “Even though
most of us do not know why the body needs salt, all of us just ingest salt
instinctively. Beliefs have long been necessities for most people since
ancient time. Beliefs are the continuity of life.”[13] The Ideals and beliefs
grant life its meaning and play a guiding role in the life journey. Once the
ideals and beliefs are established, they can arouse the subjective initiative
of people maximally. Inspired by the ideals and beliefs, people can move
towards the goals consistently regardless the difficulties and complicated
situations on the way. Some say that people can live without ideals and
beliefs which seem to be unimportant to them. How to understand this
phenomenon? A sentence with realistic significance can explain the
phenomenon. People without ideals and beliefs are walking dead, living
in a state of ignorance. “The distinction between people and animals is
that people should and need to have spiritual life and spiritual pursuit.
Life without ideals, beliefs, goals and pursuits for long will turn to penal
servitude.”[14] Ideals and beliefs are heroic dreams in our ordinary life,
encouraging us to fight for our goals.
Second, lofty ideals and beliefs should be established. Both ideals
and beliefs are of different levels, and lofty ones enable individuals to
transcend their limitations and realize their life value as much as possible.
Noble ideals and beliefs are like the sun, with endless power due to
its vastness; like the lighthouse, lighting the forward voyage due to its
broadness. Through the ages, a large number of facts have manifested
that the achievements made in career have a close relationship with the
level of ideals and beliefs. Those outstanding people who have made
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 119

great achievements in career and numerous contributions to human beings

have noble ideas and beliefs. Mao Zedong once said, “The real ideal is to
grasp the truth and then to realize it. The trend of social development and
subjective laws should be acknowledged so as to promote the progress of
the society in accordance with the laws.” In 1910, Mao Shunsheng, the
father of Mao Zedong, asked his son to do business, while Mao Zedong
aimed to study at school. Before leaving Shaoshan, he wrote a poem to his
father: “I have made up my mind to leave home pursuing my ideals, and
will not come back without any achievements. I can be buried anywhere
after my death rather than the hometown only.” This poem was the
declaration of youth Mao Zedong who determined to leave his hometown
to see the outer world, embodying his great ambition to work for the
people and make prodigious achievements. Having a clear understanding
of the state of ideals and beliefs of Chinese people can provoke our
thinking towards ideals and beliefs. To create the biggest life value should
be taken into consideration when establishing the ideals and beliefs.
Ideals and beliefs guide the specific life practices. Practice and
understanding are complementary to each other. Practice determines
understanding, while understanding guides practice, especially the
understanding correctly reflecting objective things and their laws has
great influence on practice. Knowing the state of ideals and beliefs of
Chinese people can help us understand the ideals and beliefs correctly so
as to ensure the right direction of practice and encourage people to strive
for their ideals and beliefs. Firstly, in terms of the ideals and beliefs of
contemporary Chinese, Western social ideological trend, together with the
traditional Chinese culture and the Marxism have all influenced the ideals
and beliefs of Chinese to a certain extent, making them diversified and
complicated. How to have a clear understanding of the state of the ideals
and beliefs of Chinese people, select the correct ones in accordance with
120 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

the situation of ourselves and laws of social development and consciously

resist the wrong ones of all kinds is a problem we cannot avoid. For
example, pragmatism is known as the “national philosophy” of the United
States since its theoretical practicality and emphasis on practice, action
and life perfectly integrate with the American tradition focusing on reality
and efficiency. Pragmatism has a profound impact on the thoughts of
Americans. Specifically speaking, the ideals and beliefs of Americans
are colored with utilitarianism, even the superstition in many times. Even
though the United States is famous for the most advanced science and
technology, various cults and superstition groups prevail there. Obviously,
we must resolutely resist the utilitarian ideals and beliefs caused by
pragmatism.
Secondly, positive ideals and beliefs play an exemplary role,
encouraging us to turn our noble ideals and beliefs into reality through
diligent study and work. In China, education resources tilt towards
developed areas and big cities due to the dual structure of urban and
rural areas and the long-term city-biased policy. The government and all
walks of life take actions to deal with the imbalance. Countless volunteers
devote themselves to speeding up the pace of education development in
China’s western and rural areas. Xu Benyu was one of those outstanding
volunteers. His story perfectly interpreted the noble ideal and belief
admired by numerous people, encouraging them to live positively
and fight for their goals. Xu Benyu came from a poor rural family in
Liaocheng, Shandong province. He gave up the chance to further his study
after graduation due to his experience of being a teacher in a village in
Guizhou province in his junior summer vacation and then volunteered to
be a teacher in impoverished mountainous area after graduation. There, he
bore the loneliness, and loved and taught the students with all his heart.
He carried out the social responsibilities of a contemporary college student
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 121

and the sacred duties of a communist Party member with his sincerity and
actions. He interpreted both the lofty ideals and beliefs and the practical
dedication. In 2004, he was awarded one of the ten characters “Touching
China” by CCTV. A fine example has boundless power. When Chinese
people were touched by the story of Xu Benyu, many college students
volunteer to teach in rural and remote areas. Influenced by him, more and
more people have taken part in the voluntary services.

3.2 Facilitating the Construction of a Harmonious Socialist

Society and the Promotion of Social Harmony
Harmonious society describes an ideal social status, and is the pursuit
of people as well. Generally speaking, a harmonious society is a society
with coordinated development in which human being and the nature,
human being and the society, and human beings themselves can get well
along with each other. The construction of a harmonious socialist society
is a major strategic task put forward from the perspective of the overall
layout of socialist cause with Chinese characteristics and building a Well-
Off Society in an all-round way, which reflects the intrinsic request of
building a modern socialist country of prosperity, democracy, civilization
and harmony, and embodies the common aspiration of both the Party
and Chinese people of all ethnic groups. Building a harmonious socialist
society is a long-term and arduous project, which calls for the national
unity and the continuous joint efforts of all Chinese people. As the
spiritual strength, the ideals and beliefs work as a kind of cohesion uniting
Chinese people. Deng Xiaoping once said, “according to my rich political
and military experience, I think the solidarity of people is the priority and
the common ideals and unswerving faiths play an essential role to make it
come true. In the arduous struggle of the past few decades, the unswerving
faiths help us unit the people and fight for their interests. Without such
122 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

faiths, there will be no cohesion. Without such faiths, there is nothing at

all.”[15] Having a clear understanding of the current ideals and beliefs of
Chinese people helps us form scientific ideals and beliefs and give full
play to their functions of unity and cohesion on a dialectical view of all
kinds of ideals and beliefs so as to promote the construction of socialist
harmonious society.
In order to treat traditional Chinese ideals and beliefs and Western
ideals and beliefs of modern times rationally, we should work hard to
avoid negative impacts brought by the different ideals and beliefs. In
contemporary Chinese belief system, traditional Chinese ideals and beliefs
and Western ideals and beliefs of modern times are neither the mainstream
nor the unessential part. In the history of China, as a component and the
important embodiment of social consciousness, both traditional Chinese
ideals and beliefs and Western ideals and beliefs of modern times had
played an essential role in social development and historical change.
German poet Goethe made a concise description about beliefs. He said, “All
ages where beliefs play a dominant role are glorious, high-spirited and
fruitful for people in that era and their descendants, no matter what forms
the beliefs are of.”[16] Traditional Chinese ideals and beliefs have strong
patriarchal characters, belong to the practical ideal and belief system
integrating the thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism but with
ancestor worship its important content.
Generally speaking, traditional Chinese ideals and beliefs worked
as the cohesion, promoting the development of the traditional Chinese
society. But at the same time, we should also pay attention to the defects
of traditional Chinese ideals and beliefs, such as the conservatism, the
subjection to political power, over-practical and over-subjective. When
China was forced to open its door due to the Opium War, these defects
aroused the vigilance of Chinese people. They began to be aware of the
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 123

beliefs crisis and advocated to launch the beliefs revolution to rebuild

beliefs. It had been proved that through the May Fourth Movement, a
revolution of ideals and beliefs expanding from the political and economic
level to the ideological and cultural level, the traditional Chinese ideals
and beliefs had declined day by day.
After the founding of New China, under the leadership of the CPC,
brand-new contents and vivid forms have been absorbed by the traditional
Chinese ideals and beliefs so that these new ideals and beliefs have
affected both spiritual life and spiritual world of Chinese people along
with the Marxism. It should be pointed out that whether it was after the
May Fourth Movement or the founding of New China, the defects were
not completely eliminated regardless of the great changes in traditional
Chinese ideals and beliefs. These defects are harmful to the construction
of a harmonious socialist society. Some people are over-obsessed by
these defects and some believe in these defects blindly. Traditional
Chinese ideals and beliefs can be easily influenced by political rights. For
example, the thirst for power is presented in traditional Chinese ideals
and beliefs which are limited by political life at the same time, with
the value orientation of “power worship” regarding being an official as
the fundamental, glorious and respected pursuit. Few cadres today still
believe in “power worship” which is opposite to the nature and purpose
of contemporary Chinese socialist, and damages the image of the Party
and the government, and barricades the healthy development of building
a harmonious socialist society. Therefore, we must treat traditional
Chinese ideals and beliefs and Western ideals and beliefs of modern times
rationally to avoid negative impacts on the construction of a harmonious
socialist society brought by the different ideals and beliefs.
Scientific ideals and beliefs should be established so as to give full
play to their unity and cohesion function. “Whether a belief is scientific
124 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

or not depends on whether its proposition is scientific, whether it adopts

scientific concepts, can be measured by the true and false standard and
is based on the proven conclusions.”[17] Marxism is established on the
basis of the universal laws and a correct understanding of human nature,
discloses the development laws of human society and the path of human
liberation scientifically, and provides the scientific standpoint, viewpoint
and method to know the world and then change it. Meanwhile, the
irrational factors such as emotion and will involved in Marxism strengthen
people’s conviction to pursuit truth, provide them spiritual motive for
social activities, help them get rid of the isolated and regional restrictions,
and enhance the social cohesion. In China, since the Marxism Theory
was introduced in the early 20th Century, progressives represented by
Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao became the earliest representatives believing
in Marxism in the process of publicizing Marxism actively. In 1921, the
CPC was established. Since then, the Party had firmly regarded Marxism
as the spiritual pillar, paid special attention to the publicity and education
of Marxist Theory, and trained a large number of unswerving Marxists
so that people believing in Marxism had gradually extended from a few
progressives to the revolutionary classes with broad mass base. With
extremely dangerous political environment and hard working and living
conditions, Marxism was extremely important to the victory of the New
Democratic Revolution. Thus, Deng Xiaoping had stressed repeatedly,
“Why can we overcome numerous difficulties and dangers and win the
revolutionary victory? Because we have ideals, and we believe in Marxism
and Communism.”[18] After the founding of New China, Marxism has got a
leap-forward development. Not only members of the CPC, but also many
ordinary people volunteered to believe in Marxism. However, during the
“Cultural Revolution”, the fever of Marxism had gradually turned into
the extreme individual worship, leading to the serious setback for the
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 125

socialist construction. The hardship caused by the “Cultural Revolution”,

the transition from an old China to the modern one caused by the reform
and opening up, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the upheaval of
Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s shook people’s faith in
Marxism. Some began to reflect and doubt Marxism and put forward the
belief crisis of Marxism constantly. We should neither deny nor avoid the
crisis. But it should be mentioned that on the one hand, the belief crisis of
Marxism was not the mainstream thought of all Chinese people but some;
on the other hand, we believed that with the awakening of rational self-
consciousness, more and more people would believe in Marxism due to its
scientific and advanced nature so that social cohesion would be enhanced
unremittingly.

3.3 Facilitating the Realization of the Chinese Dream and

Revitalization of the Chinese Nation
On November 29th 2012, General Secretary, Xi Jinping elaborated
the Chinese Dream fondly when the new central collective leadership
visited the exhibition of The Road to Revival at the national museum.
He pointed out that “everyone has his own ideals, pursuits and dreams.
Now, people are talking about the Chinese Dream. I think revitalizing the
Chinese nation has been the greatest dream of Chinese people since the
beginning of modern times. This dream represents the long-cherished wish
of generations, embodies the overall interests of the Chinese nation and its
people, is the common hope of every Chinese.”[19] On March 17th 2013,
on the first session of the 12th National People’s Congress, Xi Jinping put
forward, “The Chinese Dream to revitalize the Chinese nation is a dream
of prosperity, of national rejuvenation and of happiness, embodying the
dreams of contemporary Chinese and reflecting the glorious tradition of
our ancestors pursuing progress unremittingly.”[20] The national prosperity,
126 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

national rejuvenation and people’s happiness are components of the

Chinese Dream. The Chinese Dream is a dream demonstrating people’s
hope for a better future, is an ideal encouraging people to fight for it, is a
belief embodying people’s strong psychological demand for a prosperous
China. Having a clear understanding of the current ideals and beliefs of
Chinese people helps us engrave the Chinese Dream on our mind and
make up our mind to fight for it to the furthest on the basis of diversity
respect so as to bring the dream to fruition.
Understanding the current situation of the ideals and beliefs
helps Chinese people to enhance the confidence of the Chinese path.
General Secretary Xi Jinping elaborated profoundly, “the Chinese path
has to be followed to realize the Chinese Dream, that is, the path of
socialism with Chinese characteristics.” [21] The path was summarized
scientifically in the 18th CPC National Congress. The path of socialism
with Chinese characteristics is under the leadership of the CPC, basing on
the present actual context of China, taking economic construction as the
core, adhering to the four cardinal principles, insisting on the reform and
opening up, liberating and developing social productivity, constructing
socialist market economy, socialist democracy, advanced socialist culture
and a harmonious socialist society, promoting the all-round development
of people, gradually achieving common prosperity for all and establishing
a prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious modern
socialist country. Having understood the current situation of the Chinese
ideals and beliefs, we find out that Marxism, the traditional Chinese
ideals and beliefs and modern Western ideals and beliefs in fact affect
the spiritual world of contemporary Chinese jointly, so that the ideals
and beliefs of contemporary Chinese tend to be diversified. Only after
distinguishing the three types of ideals and beliefs can we be confident
about our Chinese path. Specifically, traditional Chinese ideals and beliefs
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 127

regarded pursuing social harmony as the mainstream thought of social

ideals and political beliefs for long, which granted profound historical
tradition to the Chinese path. The supremacy of individualism in modern
Western ideals and beliefs led to the crisis of ideals and beliefs so that
the Chinese path should learn from the setback. Relying on its own
scientific and advanced nature, Marxism led to the great victory of China’s
revolution and construction, changing the fate and future of Chinese
people and the Chinese nation fundamentally and laying strong practical
foundation for the Chinese path. Following the path of socialism with
Chinese characteristics works as both the summary of lessons learned from
history and the solemn declaration to the future. Understanding the current
situation of the Chinese ideals and beliefs helps us adhere to the dominant
role of Marxism and firm our confidence of the Chinese path.
Understanding the current situation of the ideals and beliefs
helps people carry forward and practice the Chinese spirit. General
Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, “To realize the Chinese Dream,we
must carry forward the Chinese spirit, embody patriotism and the courage
to reform and blaze new trails. The spirit gathers power to revitalize and
strengthen China.”[22] The long glorious history and culture of the Chinese
nation give birth to the Chinese spirit, and formulate the indispensable
spiritual support and spiritual power to revitalize the Chinese nation.
The national spirit is formed in the long-term collective living and social
practice of a nation, consisting of the value orientation, way of thinking,
moral norms and spiritual temperament acknowledged by the vast
majority of the nation. In the development of the Chinese nation of more
than five thousand years, the great national spirit with patriotism as the
core has been formed. Specifically speaking, it embodies in solidarity
and unity, peace-loving, diligence and braveness as well as continuous
self-renewal. Spirit of the time is the expression of national spirit in a
128 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

certain era, embodying the ideology, ethics, value orientation and social
fashion closely relating to the latest creative practice during a certain
historical period. Since the reform and opening up, the spirit of time with
reform and innovation as the core has been formed, including the spirit
of fighting against the flood, the spirit of fighting against the earthquake,
the Olympic spirit, the manned space spirit, the labor model spirit and
so on. Recognizing the current situation of Chinese ideals and beliefs
facilitates the putting forward of effective measures and enhances the
approval to the Chinese spirit so as to carry forward the Chinese spirit
unremittingly. Taking political beliefs as an example, the political beliefs
of Chinese people have its positive side. Many patriotic Chinese believe in
Marxism and agree with the current political polities in China. However,
the political belief crisis exists among some people to a certain degree,
including the gradual disappearance of communist ideal, the weak
political subject consciousness, passive political participation and so on.
Besides paying more attention to the education of encouraging people
to believe in Marxism, the political participation mechanism should be
optimized to arouse people’s consciousness of political participation and
help people agree with Marxism and then volunteer to accept it. Through
belief restoration, we can know more about socialist construction, be more
attached to our motherland, and consciously carry forward and practice the
Chinese spirit.
Understanding the current situation of the ideals and beliefs
helps to consolidate the masses base. General Secretary Xi Jinping has
pointed out, “The Chinese strength is the guarantee for the realization of
the Chinese Dream, since the strength unites people of all nations. The
Chinese Dream is the national dream and the dream of every Chinese
as well. As long as we unite closely with one heart and mind and fight
for the common dream, the strength will be immeasurably strong and
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 129

each of us can have broad space to fulfill our own dreams. All Chinese
people have to keep our mission in mind and unite as one to strive for
it. The strength containing the wisdom and power of 1.3 billion people
is invincible.”[23] Marxist historical materialism believes that the masses
are creators of history, social material wealth and spiritual wealth, and
decisive power promoting social progress and development. The dominant
role of people has to be guaranteed in order to assemble the Chinese power
and realize the Chinese Dream. In the long-term practice of revolution
and construction, the mass line of “doing everything for the people,
depending on the people, coming from the people, and going back to the
people” has been established to ensure the close relationship with people.
Having a clear understanding of the current situation of Chinese ideals
and beliefs is conducive to the formation of common ideals and beliefs on
the basis of respecting the diversification, and strengthens the emotional
connection and cooperative relation between social members, so that the
masses base is consolidated. In terms of the current situation, the common
ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics perfectly matches the
Chinese Dream, conducive to both the formation of common ideal and
the realization of the Chinese Dream. The common ideal of socialism
with Chinese characteristics is to adhere to the socialism with Chinese
characteristics and develop it, as well as revitalize the Chinese nation
under the leadership of the CPC. The common ideal closely ties the nation,
all nationalities, and the people together. It represents the fundamental
interests of the masses, conforms to the common wishes of the masses,
formulates a broad social consensus and helps to exploit the great hidden
wisdom and creativity. Establishing the common ideal of socialism with
Chinese characteristics is an essential means to assemble the Chinese
power and unite all kinds of powers to the utmost extent. Now, we are
closer to the revitalization of the Chinese nation compared to any period
130 The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

in history. We have every reason to believe that if all Chinese people work
together with one heart and mind under the leadership of the CPC, the
great Chinese Dream of revitalizing the Chinese nation will come into
reality undoubtedly.

Annotation:
[1] M ARX, ENGELS. Marx and Engels Anthology: Vol. 9. Beijing: People’s

Publishing House, 2009: 436.

[2] DICKENS. A Tale of Two Cities. Beijing: Foreign Languages Publishing House,

2000: 3.

[3] HE L. Culture and Life. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2011:

98.

[4] MARX, ENGELS. The Complete Works of Marx and Engels: Vol. 1.2 Edition.

Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1995: 459-460.

[5] JIN X M. Social Beliefs Theory of Contemporary Chinese. Beijing: People’s

Publishing House, 2008: 183.

[6] M ARX, ENGELS. Marx and Engels Anthology: Vol. 9. Beijing: People’s

Publishing House, 2009: 333.

[7] FENG L F. Super Beliefs: Chinese Ancient Religions. Beijing: People’s Daily

Press, 1995: 3.

[8] FENG T C. Research on the Emotional Change of Contemporary Mainstream

Chinese Beliefs and Its Value. Hefei: Anhui University Press, 2010: 43.

[9] GU S R. Theory of Marxist Belief: Research on Social Beliefs in the Harmonious

Society. Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2015: 310.

[10] Ci Hai: Vol. 2, sixth edition (colored pictures). Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionaries

Publishing House, 2009: 1581.

[11] CHEN X X. Chinese Folk Beliefs. Shijiazhuang: Hebei People’s Publishing

House, 2013: 7.

[12] XIANG H C. Ideals of Chinese and Foreign Celebrities. Beijing: Red Flag
 Chapter 3 The Ideals and Beliefs of Contemporary Chinese 131

Publishing House, 1986: 6.

[13] JUNG. Modern Man in Seek of a Soul. Guiyang: Guizhou People’s Press, 1987:

127.

[14] LIU J J. Beliefs Inquiry. Beijing: China Youth Publishing House, 2014: 252.

[15] DENG X P. The Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping: Vol.3. Beijing: People’s

Publishing House, 1993: 190.

[16] GOETHE. Collection of Lyrics · Notes//Paulsen. Ethics System. Beijing: China

Social Sciences Press, 1988: 363.

[17] LIU J J. Beliefs Inquiry. Beijing: China Youth Publishing House, 2014: 130.

[18] DENG X P. The Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping: Vol. 3. Beijing: People’s

Publishing House, 1993: 110.

[19] XI J P. Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. Beijing: Foreign Languages

Publishing House, 2014: 36.

[20]0[21] Ibid., 39.

[22]0[23] Ibid., 40.

The Ideal and Belief of the Chinese

Chapter 4

Adhering to the Ideal and Faith of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics