VI. Increasing Effective Input in Ethical and Cultural Construction

(22) Ethical and cultural construction requires material support. Without necessary material support, many tasks of ethical and cultural construction will be hard to fulfill. Ethical and cultural building should be taken into account in the overall blueprint of economic and social development, with a view to the overall situation of socialist modernization and with the guarantee of necessary funds. A regular and effective fund-raising mechanism needs to be set up, in line with demands of the socialist market economy, to gradually form a multi-channel input system for ethical and cultural construction.

(23) The problem of the total input in publicity and cultural undertakings being on the low side, and in smaller proportions compared with other investment items, should be dealt with effectively. The Decisions on Further Improving Cultural and Economic Policies, issued by the State Council, should be earnestly enforced. The input of central and local budgets in publicity and cultural undertakings is to increase annually, along with economic development, with a growth no less than that of revenue. The special budget system for publicity and cultural undertakings should be improved, along with the various economic means of taxation, credit and prices used as a support. Preferential financial and taxation policies should be perfected, and different social sectors are encouraged to support publicity and cultural undertakings. Effective measures should be taken to increase the input in cultural undertakings in under-developed areas and places populated mainly by ethnic minorities in the central and western regions. Funds should be guaranteed for government-run public institutions, such as libraries, museums, science and technology halls, cultural centers and memorial halls of revolutionary history. Support will be intensified for cultural products that represent the academic and artistic levels of the country and nation, for art schools and performing troupes that represent the level of the country, for cultural sites under state protection, and for representative art groups with local and ethnic characteristics.

(24) Capital construction of publicity and cultural undertakings will be strengthened according to the principle of a rational distribution, an optimized structure and a priority order. The limited amount of funds should be used more for the development of important media and cultural units, and for the construction of cultural facilities directly serving the general public. Urban construction should be completed with public cultural facilities. Large- and medium-sized cities should focus on the building of libraries and museums, and even science and technology halls, where conditions permit, while counties and townships should take the building of comprehensive cultural centers as their main concern. The network of radio and television broadcasting should be extended, with emphasis placed on increasing the coverage provided by national and provincial radio and television broadcasters. Major cultural projects at state level, including a national museum and a national theatre, will be built according to plan. However, we should persist in developing cultural undertakings through diligence and thrift, and work hard to raise the utility effectiveness of funds. The role of existing cultural facilities should be brought into full play. Construction of luxury recreational projects is to be tightly controlled, while the building of places used to preach feudal superstition in the name of developing culture and tourism is to be prohibited.

VII. Consolidating and Improving Party's Leadership Over Ethical and Cultural Construction

(25) The Communist Party of China is the core of leadership for China's socialist modernization drive. The key to promoting material advancement lies in the Party, and so does the key to ethical and cultural progress. Party committees at all levels must always put equal emphasis on material development and ethical and cultural progress, taking the two aspects as a unified objective in our endeavor, which are planned, implemented and examined together. In the assessment and evaluation of Party and government leading bodies and members, their achievements and capabilities should be taken into account not only in terms of promoting economic development, but also in terms of expediting ethical and cultural progress. This is taken as a basis for appointments, rewards and punishment of cadres.

Departments and organizations involved in publicity, ideological and cultural work bear important responsibilities in ethical and cultural construction, and Party committees at all levels should effectively strengthen leadership over them. The front of publicity and public opinion must be firmly controlled in the hands of the Party, and those comrades who are loyal to Marxism, firmly following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, have a strong sense of responsibility and devotion to work, abide by political discipline and excel professionally, should be elected to the leading bodies.

Ideological and political work, our Party's fine tradition and political advantage, represents the basic work of ethical and cultural construction, and provides a basic guarantee for promoting both material development and ethical and cultural progress. Under the new situation, ideological and political work can only be strengthened, and cannot be weakened by any means. Party committees at all levels should attach great importance to this work, frequently study the ideological and political situations in their respective localities, departments and organizations, and push for the fulfillment of various tasks by doing effective ideological and political work.

Party organizations of government departments, enterprises and institutions, villages, schools, and urban neighborhoods, should conscientiously do a good job of ideological and political work, and strive to implement the tasks of ethical and cultural construction at the grass-roots level. It is necessary to apply the principles of democracy and positive guidance, and adopt different methods for different objects to enhance the effectiveness of ideological and political work.

Ethical and cultural construction pervades every aspect of economic and social life, and deserves a high degree of attention from the whole Party and society. Under the unified leadership of Party committees, all Party and government departments, trade unions, organizations of the Communist Youth League, women's federations, and other people's organizations, should take a hand in the work by forming a joint force. In the process of promoting ethical and cultural progress, great importance should be attached to the role of democratic parties. In making policies, all departments should proceed from the overall arrangement for building socialism with Chinese characteristics, with the policies thus made conducive not only to the development of the economy and various other undertakings, but also to socialist ethical and cultural progress. At no time should ethical and cultural progress be sacrificed in return for the temporary economic development.

(26) We should persist in linking theory with practice, and taking practice as the sole standard for testing truth, and understand and gain a good command of the law of socialist ethical and cultural construction, sum up fresh experiences, explore new methods, work in a creative way, and constantly improve the leadership of the Party over ethical and cultural construction. In a complicated, changing international environment, and under the conditions of developing a socialist market economic system in our country, every leading official should study hard to raise their level of leadership and, in particular, their ideological, political and theoretical levels. It is necessary to distinguish right from wrong on such major issues as Marxism versus anti-Marxism, dialectical materialism and historical materialism versus idealism and metaphysics, common development of various economic sectors with socialist public ownership as the mainstay versus privatization, socialist democracy versus parliamentary democracy practiced in Western countries, socialist ideology and culture versus feudalistic and corrupt capitalist ideology and culture. On those matters, it is imperative to adhere to correct political orientation and stand, get rid of disturbances of erroneous ideological tendencies promptly, and ensure a healthy development of ethical and cultural construction.

(27) Building a contingent of people working in publicity, ideology, culture and education units, in line with the requirements of being qualified politically, professionally competent and having a fine style of work, is an urgent need in promoting socialist ethical and cultural progress. In all aspects of promoting ethical and cultural progress, it is necessary to make endeavors to train a large number of professionals who love the motherland and people, and have real ability and learning. Outstanding personnel should be aided in scaling new heights. Efforts should also be made to select and train promising young people, assign them tasks and heavy responsibilities, set rigid requirements on them, provide positive guidance and help them to grow healthily.

All localities and departments should adapt to the needs of development in the next 15 years, work out development programs and enhance the building of reserve forces. Those engaging in the work of publicity, ideology, culture and education at grass-roots units shoulder the responsibility of carrying out the task of promoting socialist ethical and cultural progress to every family. They should be given more care and support.

Rules and regulations should be formulated and further improved, and education and management of personnel of various ranks should be enhanced. The practice of paid news, buying and selling of registered book numbers in publishing, and unreasonable extortion of high payments should be strictly banned. Those who violate professional ethics should be criticized and educated. Severe punishment should be given to those who refuse to mend their ways despite repeated education.

(28) Promoting socialist ethical and cultural progress requires primarily running the Party strictly and improving the Party's work style. The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the working class in China. Communist Party members should play an exemplary role in the whole of society, and leading Party officials should play an exemplary role in the whole Party. Party members, especially leading officials, should be subject to stricter requirements, management and supervision. Leading officials should be self-respected, self-reflected, self-cautioned and self-encouraged, set an example for others, and match their words with deeds. They should be the first to do what they ask others to do, resolutely refrain from doing what is prohibited for others, consciously subject themselves to the supervision of the Party and the people, and withstand the tests of power, money and sexual temptations. In accordance with the plans of the Party Central Committee, unremitting efforts should be made to improve the Party's work style, and help build a clean and honest government, and continue the anticorruption campaign in an in-depth and enduring manner. Anyone who violates discipline and the law will be investigated and punished severely. Resistance to this effort should be resolutely removed.

A fine style of work is vital to the very existence of the party in power. The more they implement economic reform in various fields and the policy of opening to the outside world, the more should Communist Party members, especially leading Party officials, fortify belief in communism, earnestly put into practice Communist ethics, be selfless, and clean and honest in performing their duties, submit to the overall interest, engage in hard work, and serve the people wholeheartedly. Currently the whole Party is launching a campaign to study theories and the Party Constitution. During the campaign, education in Party spirit and work style, with the emphasis placed on study, politics and healthy tendencies, will be conducted among leading officials at and above the county level. The education should link actual thinking and work, emphasize the solving of outstanding problems related to ideals, beliefs, ideology and work style, further enhance people's awareness, unify people's thinking, enhance their conscientiousness and resoluteness in implementing the Party's basic theories, basic line and basic principles, and prevent a number of leading officials, especially middle-aged and young officials, from going astray in the increasingly complicated struggle.

(29) To enhance coordination, the Party Central Committee has established a commission to guide the promotion of ethical and cultural progress. All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may set up relevant organizations.

(30) The Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the Chinese People's Armed Police, are an important force in promoting socialist ethical and cultural progress in the country. They should carry forward the fine tradition and work style of the army, further raise the ideological and political quality of all officers and men, and strive to start in the forefront of the whole society in promoting socialist ethical and cultural progress. The Central Military Commission will work out arrangements in this respect, in accordance with the Resolutions of the CPC Central Committee on Certain Important Questions on Promotion of Socialist Ethical and Cultural Progress.

Building socialism with Chinese characteristics is a great cause and a new great revolution. In this revolution, Chinese Communists and people are confident in, and capable of, transforming their subjective world, while transforming the objective world and promoting a high degree of socialist ethical and cultural progress and while building a high degree of material progress. The plenum called on the whole Party and people of all nationalities in China to rally closely around the Party Central Committee with Jiang Zemin at its core, hold high the great banner of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, work with one heart and one mind, with pioneering endeavors, in a down-to-earth manner, and strive to turn China into a prosperous, democratic and civilized, modern socialist country.

(NO. 45 NOVEMBER 4, 1996)