Xinhua News Agency:

The 13th Five-Year Plan period has seen major achievements in cultural development, which featured prominently in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. What is the position and role of cultural development in our new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country? What plans did the fifth plenary session put forward for cultural development? Thank you.

Xu Lin:

Mr. Wang Xiaohui will answer this question.

Wang Xiaohui:

Thank you for your question. In recent years, China has made rapid and remarkable progress in many cultural undertakings. Many of our cultural undertakings and industries are numbered among the world's best. For example, the scale of press and publication, as well as film and television industries, tops the world, and the quality of cultural products and their influence have also increased. 

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has attached more importance to cultural development and has lifted it to a higher position than ever before. In particular, confidence in culture has been put forward as one of the "four confidences" of socialism with Chinese characteristics alongside confidence in China's path, theory and system. Entering the new stage of development, we have set higher standards for cultural development, and the role of culture will be further highlighted.

China's socialist modernization is a great cause of all-round development and progress. An important feature is balanced development of material and cultural advancement. Regarding the position and role of culture in fully building a modern socialist country, General Secretary Xi Jinping made an incisive summary at a recent symposium attended by experts or representatives from China's education, culture, health and sports sectors. He expanded it into "four important" aspects: to ensure coordinated implementation of the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy, culture is important content; to promote high-quality development, culture is an important fulcrum; to meet the people's increasing needs for a better life, culture is an important factor; to overcome all kinds of risks and challenges in the way forward, culture is an important source of strength. So, we could say that without the prosperity and development of socialist culture, there would be no socialist modernization.

The fifth plenary session attached great importance to cultural development and formulated plans for it from a strategic, overarching level. The most important one is that we clearly propose to develop a strong socialist culture in China by 2035. The objective of developing a strong socialist culture was put forward at the sixth plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee; however, this is the first time the Central Committee has established a specific timetable. The Proposals dedicated one part to making plans for cultural development, laying down the basic principles for the next five years. Three priorities were outlined: enhancing the social etiquette and civility; advancing the quality of public cultural services; and improving the modern cultural industry system. We believe that as China's modernization process continues to advance, we will develop a strong socialist culture through more solid steps and further strengthen China's soft power and cultural influence.

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