Xi Jinping delivered a report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on behalf of the 19th Central Committee
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is a very important conference held at a critical moment when the whole party and the people of all ethnic groups are embarking on a new journey of building a socialist modernized country in an all-round way and marching towards the second centenary goal.
The theme of the conference is: hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully implement the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics in the new era, carry forward the spirit of building the great party, be confident and self-improvement, keep upright and innovate, work hard and forge ahead bravely, in order to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way, We will work together to fully advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The Communist Party of China has gone through a century of struggle. Our party is committed to the great cause of the Chinese nation in the future, and is committed to the noble cause of human peace and development. It has an extremely heavy responsibility and an extremely glorious mission. All comrades in the party must not forget their original aspirations, keep their mission in mind, be humble and cautious, work hard, dare to struggle, be good at struggle, strengthen historical self-confidence, strengthen historical initiative, and write a more brilliant chapter of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.
1. The work of the past five years and the great changes of the decade in the new era
The five years since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have been extremely unusual and extraordinary. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China coordinates the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the great changes in the world unseen in a century, makes major strategic plans for the development of the party and the country, and unites and leads the entire party, the army and the people of all ethnic groups in the country to effectively respond to the severe and complex international situation and the ensuing We will continue to push forward socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era with the spirit of hard work and progress.
Over the past five years, we have insisted on strengthening the overall leadership of the Party and the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, and made every effort to advance the process of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. Promote reform, solidly promote people's democracy in the whole process, comprehensively promote the rule of law, actively develop advanced socialist culture, focus on safeguarding and improving people's livelihood, focus on the fight against poverty, vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization, resolutely safeguard national security, and prevent and defuse major risks. We will maintain the overall social stability, vigorously promote the modernization of national defense and the military, carry out major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in an all-round way, and comprehensively advance the great new project of party building. We solemnly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. We have formulated the third historical resolution to carry out party history study and education in the whole party, and call on the whole party to study and practice the great spirit of party building. Especially in the face of the sudden new crown pneumonia epidemic, we adhere to the people first, life first, insist on dynamic clearing and unswerving, carry out people's war against the epidemic, overall war, and blocking war, protect people's lives and health to the greatest extent, and coordinate the epidemic situation. Significant positive results have been achieved in prevention and control and economic and social development. In the face of the turbulent and changing situation in Hong Kong, we have effectively exercised the power of comprehensive governance over the Special Administrative Region in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law, and implemented the principle of "patriots ruling Hong Kong". The situation in Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to governance. In the face of the secessionist activities of the "Taiwan independence" forces and the serious provocations by external forces interfering in Taiwan affairs, we resolutely carried out a major struggle against separatism and interference, demonstrating our strong determination and strong ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose "Taiwan independence". In the face of drastic changes in the international situation, we have maintained our strategic focus, carried forward the spirit of struggle, safeguarded national dignity and core interests in the struggle, and firmly grasped the initiative in my country's development and security. Over the past five years, our party has united and led the people, overcame many long-term unresolved problems, accomplished many long-term important events, and promoted the cause of the party and the country to achieve major achievements that have attracted worldwide attention.
Comrades! It has been ten years since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held. In the past ten years, we have experienced three major events of great practical significance and far-reaching historical significance to the cause of the party and the people: first, ushering in the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China; second, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era; third, we have completed poverty alleviation. , the historical task of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and realizing the first centenary goal. This is a historic victory won by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people through the united struggle, a historic victory that shines through the history of the development of the Chinese nation, and a historic victory that has far-reaching influence on the world.
Ten years ago, the situation we faced was that the reform and opening up and the socialist modernization drive had made great achievements, and the new great project of party building had achieved remarkable results, which laid a solid foundation, created favorable conditions, and provided important opportunities for us to move forward. At the same time, a series of long-term accumulation and emerging prominent contradictions and problems need to be solved urgently. In the face of these prominent contradictions and problems that affect the long-term governance of the party, the long-term stability of the country, and the happiness and well-being of the people, the Central Committee of the Party reviewed the situation, made a bold decision, forged ahead, overcame difficulties, and united and led the entire party, the entire army, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country to roll up their sleeves and work hard. We will move forward regardless of the weather, and we will carry out the great struggle with many new historical characteristics without hesitation.
Over the past ten years, we have adhered to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of "Three Represents", and the Scientific Outlook on Development, fully implemented the socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, fully implemented the Party's basic line and strategy, and adopted a series of Strategic measures, promoting a series of transformative practices, achieving a series of breakthrough progress, achieving a series of landmark results, withstood the test of risks and challenges from politics, economy, ideology, nature, etc., and the cause of the party and the country has made history The achievements and historic changes have propelled our country to embark on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.
——We created the thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, made clear the basic strategy of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and proposed a series of new concepts, new ideas and new strategies for state governance and administration, realizing a new leap in the modernization of Marxism in China.
——We have comprehensively strengthened the leadership of the Party, ensured the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, and ensured that the Party plays the core role of leading the overall situation and coordinating all parties. Our Marxist political party with more than 96 million Party members is more united and unified. .
——Through continuous efforts, we have realized the millennium dream of the Chinese nation of a well-off society, won the largest poverty alleviation battle in human history, solved the problem of absolute poverty historically, and made significant contributions to the global poverty reduction cause.
——We have made a scientific and complete strategic plan for the development of the party and the country in the new era, put forward the Chinese dream of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, mastered the great struggle, the great project, the great cause and the great dream, and defined the overall layout of "five-in-one" and the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout, determine the general tone of the work of seeking progress while maintaining stability, coordinate development and security, and make it clear that the main contradiction in our society is the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and insufficient development. Focusing on the main contradiction in society, we will push forward various tasks, and constantly enrich and develop new forms of human civilization.
——We propose and implement new development concepts, focus on promoting high-quality development, promote the construction of a new development pattern, implement supply-side structural reforms, and formulate a series of major regional strategies with overall significance. The gross domestic product has increased from 54 trillion yuan to 114 trillion yuan. The proportion of my country's total economic output in the world economy has reached 18.5%, an increase of 7.2%, and it ranks first in the world. Second place; GDP per capita increased from 39,800 yuan to 81,000 yuan. The total output of cereals ranks first in the world, and the scale of manufacturing and foreign exchange reserves ranks first in the world. Breakthroughs have been made in some key core technologies, strategic emerging industries have grown and developed, and major achievements have been made in manned spaceflight, lunar and fire exploration, deep-sea and deep exploration, supercomputers, satellite navigation, quantum information, nuclear power technology, large aircraft manufacturing, and biomedicine. , entered the ranks of innovative countries.
——We have comprehensively deepened reforms with great political courage. Many areas have achieved historic changes, systematic reshaping, and overall reconstruction. The socialist system with Chinese characteristics has become more mature and finalized, and the level of modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity has been significantly improved.
——We implement a more proactive opening-up strategy, and the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” has become a popular international public product and an international cooperation platform. It ranks first in the world, attracts foreign capital and foreign investment, and ranks among the top in the world, forming a pattern of opening up to the outside world in a wider range, wider field and deeper level.
——We adhere to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, comprehensively develop people’s democracy in the whole process, promote the institutionalization, standardization and procedure of socialist democratic politics, make the people’s masters of the country more solid, and basically form an overall pattern of comprehensive law-based governance of the country.
——We have established and adhered to the fundamental system of the guiding position of Marxism in the field of ideology, the socialist core values have been widely spread, the excellent traditional Chinese culture has been creatively transformed and developed in an innovative way, cultural undertakings have become increasingly prosperous, the network ecology has continued to improve, and ideology The situation in the field has undergone an overall and fundamental change.
——We thoroughly implement the people-centered development philosophy, and continue to work hard to provide education for the young, education for learning, income for work, medical care for the sick, care for the elderly, housing for living, and support for the weak. , build the world's largest education system, social security system, medical and health system, people's sense of gain, happiness, and security are more fulfilling, more secure, and more sustainable, and common prosperity has achieved new results.
——We adhere to the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, adhere to the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses and sands, improve the ecological civilization system, and make historical, turning and overall changes in ecological and environmental protection. The sky of the motherland is bluer, the mountains are greener, and the water is clearer.
——We have implemented the overall national security concept, safeguarded national sovereignty, security, and development interests with firm will and quality. National security has been comprehensively strengthened, the special campaign against gangsters and evil has achieved phased results, and we have effectively responded to a series of major natural disasters. Safe China Building to a higher level.
——We have established the Party's goal of strengthening the army in the new era, implemented the Party's thinking on strengthening the army in the new era, implemented the military strategic policy for the new era, adhered to the Party's absolute leadership over the people's army, coordinated and strengthened military struggles in all directions and in all fields, and drastically deepened national defense. And the reform of the army, the people's army has a new system, a new structure, a new pattern, and a new appearance.
——We comprehensively and accurately promote the practice of "one country, two systems", adhere to the principles of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong", "Macau people administering Macao", and a high degree of autonomy, and promote Hong Kong to enter a new stage from chaos to governance to governance and prosperity. , Macao maintains a good momentum of long-term stable development. We put forward an overall strategy for resolving the Taiwan issue in the new era, promote cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, resolutely oppose "Taiwan independence" separatist acts, resolutely oppose interference by external forces, and firmly grasp the dominance and initiative of cross-strait relations.
——We comprehensively promote major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, firmly uphold international fairness and justice, advocate and practice true multilateralism, take a clear stand against all hegemonism and power politics, and unswervingly oppose any unilateralism or protectionism , bullying. We promote the building of a new type of international relations, actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system, and comprehensively carry out international cooperation in the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, which has won wide international acclaim, and my country's international influence, charisma, and shaping power have been significantly improved.
——We have further promoted the comprehensive and strict governance of the party, insisted that we must be hard-working in ironing, put forward and implemented the general requirements of party building in the new era, and guided all the work of party building with the party's political building. We rectified the "four winds" with the spirit of nailing the nails, opposed the idea of privilege and the phenomenon of privilege, stopped some crooked winds that had not been stopped for a long time, and rectified some stubborn diseases that had not been eliminated for many years. We have launched an unprecedented fight against corruption, and with the mission of "offending thousands of people and living up to 1.4 billion", we have taken on the task of eradicating corruption and curbing chaos. The fight against corruption has won an overwhelming victory and has been consolidated in an all-round way, eliminating serious hidden dangers within the party, the state, and the military. Through unremitting efforts, the party has found self-revolution, the second answer that jumps out of the historical cyclical rate of the rise and fall of chaos, ensuring that the party will never deteriorate, change color, or taste.
While fully affirming the achievements of the Party and the country that have attracted worldwide attention, we must be soberly aware that our work still has some shortcomings and faces many difficulties and problems. We have taken a series of measures to solve these problems, and we must intensify our efforts in the future.
Comrades! The great achievements of the new era are made by the party and the people by working together, doing it, and striving for it! Here, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the members of the Communist Party of China, the people of all ethnic groups in the country, the democratic parties, people's organizations and patriots from all walks of life, the compatriots in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan, and the vast number of overseas Chinese, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to friends from all over the world who care about and support China's modernization drive!
The great transformation of the new era in ten years is of milestone significance in the history of the party, the history of new China, the history of reform and opening up, the history of socialist development, and the history of the development of the Chinese nation. The Communist Party of China, which has gone through a century of struggle, has become stronger and stronger in its revolutionary forging, and has always become a strong leadership core in the historical process of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Chinese people's driving force is stronger, their fighting spirit is stronger, and their belief in victory is stronger. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people are confidently advancing the great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up, becoming rich, and becoming strong. The reform and opening up and the socialist modernization drive have been further advanced, and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process. Scientific socialism has radiated new vitality in China in the 21st century. Chinese-style modernization has provided new options for mankind to realize modernization. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people have provided more and better Chinese wisdom to solve common problems faced by mankind. , China's plan, China's strength, to make new and greater contributions to the noble cause of human peace and development!
2. Open up a new realm of modernization of Marxism in China
Marxism is the fundamental guiding ideology for building the Party and the country and the Party and the country. Practice tells us why the Communist Party of China can do it and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good. In the final analysis, it is a Marxist practice, and it is a Marxist practice that is sinicized and modernized. Having the guidance of Marxist scientific theory is the foundation of our party's firm belief and grasp of historical initiative.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, our party has been brave enough to carry out theoretical exploration and innovation, deepening our understanding of the rules of governance of the Communist Party, the rules of socialist construction, and the rules of human society development from a new perspective, and has achieved major theoretical innovations, which are embodied in the new era of society with Chinese characteristics. ideology. The 19th National Congress and the 6th Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee put forward the "Ten Clarifications", "Fourteen Persistences" and "Thirteen Aspects Achievements" which summarize the main contents of this thought, which must be adhered to for a long time and constantly enriched and developed.
The Chinese Communists deeply realize that only by combining the basic principles of Marxism with the concrete reality of China and with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and insisting on the application of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, can they correctly answer the major questions raised by the times and practice, and can Always maintain the vigor and vitality of Marxism.
There is no limit to practice, and no limit to theoretical innovation. It is the solemn historical responsibility of contemporary Chinese Communists to continuously write a new chapter of the modernization of Marxism in China. To continue to promote theoretical innovation based on practice, we must first grasp the world outlook and methodology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and adhere to and make good use of the standpoints and methods that run through it. We must adhere to the supremacy of the people, adhere to self-confidence and self-reliance, adhere to integrity and innovation, adhere to problem orientation, adhere to the system concept, adhere to the world, stand firm in the people's position, grasp the people's aspirations, respect the people's creation, concentrate the people's wisdom, and adhere to the firm belief in Marxism, Firm belief in socialism with Chinese characteristics, firm confidence in the road, theory, system, and culture, and constantly put forward new ideas, new ideas and methods to truly solve problems, and promote the party and the country for forward thinking, overall planning, and overall promotion. Various undertakings provide scientific thinking methods.
3. The Mission and Task of the Communist Party of China in the New Era and New Journey
From now on, the central task of the Communist Party of China is to unite and lead the people of all ethnic groups in the country to build a powerful modern socialist country in an all-round way, achieve the goal of the second century of struggle, and comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization.
Chinese-style modernization is a socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It has both the common characteristics of modernization of all countries and Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. Chinese-style modernization is a modernization with a huge population size, a modernization in which all the people are prosperous, a modernization in which material civilization and spiritual civilization are coordinated, a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony, and a modernization that takes the path of peaceful development.
The essential requirements of Chinese-style modernization are: adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhere to socialism with Chinese characteristics, achieve high-quality development, develop people's democracy in the whole process, enrich the spiritual world of the people, achieve common prosperity for all people, promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and promote the construction of A community with a shared future for mankind, creating a new form of human civilization.
To build a powerful modern socialist country in an all-round way, the overall strategic arrangement is to take two steps: from 2020 to 2035 to basically realize socialist modernization; from 2035 to the middle of this century to build our country into a prosperous, strong and democratic country A powerful modern socialist country with civilization, harmony and beauty. The next five years will be a critical period for the start of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.
Building a modern socialist country in an all-round way is a great and arduous undertaking with a bright future and a long way to go. We must enhance our sense of urgency, adhere to bottom-line thinking, be prepared for danger in times of peace, prepare for the storm, and be prepared to endure the major test of high winds, turbulent waves, and even turbulent waves. On the way forward, we must firmly grasp the following major principles: uphold and strengthen the overall leadership of the party, adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, adhere to deepening reform and opening up, and adhere to the spirit of struggle. It is necessary to strengthen the ambition, backbone, and confidence of the entire party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country, not to believe in evil, not afraid of ghosts, not afraid of pressure, to advance despite difficulties, to face them, to coordinate development and security, and to make every effort to overcome all difficulties and challenges on the road ahead. Rely on tenacious struggle to open up a new world of career development.
4. Accelerate the construction of a new development pattern and focus on promoting high-quality development
High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. Development is the party's top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country. Without a solid material and technological foundation, it is impossible to build a powerful modern socialist country in an all-round way. It is necessary to completely, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, adhere to the direction of socialist market economic reform, adhere to high-level opening to the outside world, and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles mutually reinforcing.
We must adhere to the theme of promoting high-quality development, organically combine the implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand with the deepening of supply-side structural reforms, enhance the endogenous power and reliability of the domestic cycle, improve the quality and level of the international cycle, and accelerate the construction of a modern economic system , focus on improving total factor productivity, focus on improving the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains, focus on promoting urban-rural integration and regional coordinated development, and promote the effective improvement of the economy in quality and reasonable growth in quantity.
We must build a high-level socialist market economic system, adhere to and improve the basic socialist economic system, unswervingly consolidate and develop the public economy, unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public economy, and give full play to the role of the market in resource allocation. Decisive role, better play the role of the government. Build a modern industrial system, insist on focusing on the real economy, promote new-type industrialization, and accelerate the construction of a manufacturing power, a quality power, a space power, a transportation power, a network power, and a digital China. Comprehensively promote rural revitalization, adhere to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas, consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation, accelerate the construction of a strong agricultural country, solidly promote the revitalization of rural industries, talents, culture, ecology, and organizations, consolidate the foundation of food security in all aspects, and firmly hold 1.8 billion mu The red line of arable land ensures that the Chinese people's rice bowl is firmly in their own hands. Promote coordinated regional development, thoroughly implement regional coordinated development strategies, major regional strategies, main functional zone strategies, and new urbanization strategies, optimize the layout of major productive forces, and build a regional economic layout and a territorial space system with complementary advantages and high-quality development. Promote high-level opening to the outside world, steadily expand institutional openings such as rules, regulations, management, and standards, accelerate the building of a trade powerhouse, promote the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and maintain a diversified and stable international economic pattern and economic and trade relations.
5. Implement the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, and strengthen the support of talents for modernization
Education, science and technology, and talents are the basic and strategic support for building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. We must insist that technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary driving force, deeply implement the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country through talent, and the strategy of innovation-driven development, open up new fields and new tracks for development, and constantly shape new growth drivers and new advantages .
We must adhere to the priority development of education, the self-reliance and self-improvement of science and technology, and the leadership and drive of talents, accelerate the construction of a strong country in education, science and technology, and talents, insist on educating people for the party and the country, comprehensively improve the quality of independent training of talents, and strive to cultivate top-notch innovative talents. The world's talents use it.
We must do a good job of education that the people are satisfied with, fully implement the party's educational policy, implement the fundamental task of building morality and cultivating people, cultivate socialist builders and successors who develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor in an all-round way, accelerate the construction of a high-quality education system, and develop quality education, and promote educational equity. Improve the scientific and technological innovation system, adhere to the core position of innovation in the overall situation of my country's modernization drive, improve the new national system, strengthen the national strategic scientific and technological strength, improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system, and form an open innovation ecosystem with global competitiveness. Accelerate the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, focus on the national strategic needs, gather strength to carry out original and leading scientific and technological research, resolutely win the battle of key core technologies, and accelerate the implementation of a number of strategic and overall forward-looking National major scientific and technological projects, and enhance independent innovation capabilities. In-depth implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, insist on respecting labor, knowledge, talents, and creativity, improve the strategic layout of talents, speed up the construction of the world's important talent centers and innovation highlands, focus on forming a comparative advantage in international competition for talents, and gather outstanding talents in all fields. in the cause of the party and the people.
6. Develop people's democracy in the whole process and ensure that the people are the masters of the country
Our country is a socialist country under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. All power in the country belongs to the people. People's democracy is the life of socialism, and it is the proper meaning of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. The whole process of people's democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics, and it is the most extensive, true and effective democracy. We must unswervingly follow the path of political development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the organic unity of the leadership of the party, the people as masters of the country, and the rule of law, adhere to the dominant position of the people, fully reflect the will of the people, protect the rights and interests of the people, and stimulate the creativity of the people.
We must improve the system of the people being the masters of the country, expand the people's orderly political participation, ensure that the people practice democratic elections, democratic consultations, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision in accordance with the law, give full play to the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the people, consolidate and develop dynamic Lively, stable and united political situation.
We must strengthen the guarantee of the people's mastery of the country, uphold and improve our country's fundamental political system, basic political system, and important political system, expand democratic channels, enrich democratic forms, and support and guarantee the people's exercise of state power through the people's congress. Deepen the reform and construction of trade unions, the Communist Youth League, the Women's Federation and other mass organizations, and effectively play the role of bridges and links. Adhere to the path of human rights development in China and promote the all-round development of human rights. We will comprehensively develop consultative democracy, advance its extensive and multi-level institutionalized development, adhere to and improve the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and improve the system of democratic supervision of the CPPCC and members of members of the public in contact with the masses. Actively develop grass-roots democracy, improve the grass-roots mass self-governance mechanism led by grass-roots party organizations, and improve the system and work system of grass-roots direct democracy. Wholeheartedly rely on the working class to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of employees. Consolidate and develop the broadest patriotic united front, improve the work pattern of the great united front, adhere to great unity and unity, and mobilize all Chinese sons and daughters to think and work together around the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Strengthen solidarity and cooperation with democratic parties and people without party affiliation. To strengthen and improve the party's ethnic work with the main line of consolidating the consciousness of the Chinese nation's community. Adhere to the direction of sinicization of religion in China, and actively guide religion to adapt to socialist society. Strengthen and improve the work of overseas Chinese affairs, and form a strong force jointly committed to national rejuvenation.
7. Adhere to the rule of law in an all-round way, and promote the construction of China under the rule of law
The comprehensive rule of law is a profound revolution in national governance. It is related to the Party's governance and rejuvenation, the people's happiness and well-being, and the long-term stability of the Party and the country. We must better play the role of the rule of law in consolidating fundamentals, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long-term, and comprehensively build a modern socialist country on the track of the rule of law.
We must adhere to the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, build a socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics, and build a socialist country under the rule of law. Focusing on ensuring and promoting social fairness and justice, we must adhere to the joint promotion of the rule of law, the rule of law, and the law-based administration. The government and the society under the rule of law will be integrated, and scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial judiciary, and law-abiding by the whole people will be comprehensively promoted, and the rule of law in all aspects of the country will be comprehensively promoted.
We must improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution as the core, strengthen the implementation and supervision of the Constitution, strengthen legislation in key areas, emerging areas, and foreign-related areas, and promote scientific, democratic, and law-based legislation. Steadily promote administration according to law, transform government functions, optimize government responsibility system and organizational structure, improve administrative efficiency and credibility, and comprehensively promote strict, standardized, impartial, and civilized law enforcement. Strictly and impartially administer justice, deepen the comprehensive and supporting reform of the judicial system, fully and accurately implement the judicial responsibility system, accelerate the construction of a fair, efficient and authoritative socialist judicial system, and strive to make the people feel fair and just in every judicial case. Accelerate the construction of a society under the rule of law, carry forward the spirit of the socialist rule of law, inherit the excellent traditional Chinese legal culture, guide all the people to be loyal adherents, conscious adherents, and staunch defenders of the socialist rule of law, and strive to make respecting the law, studying the law, abiding by the law and using it become common practice in the whole society.
8. Promote cultural self-confidence and self-improvement, and create new brilliance of socialist culture
To build a modern socialist country in an all-round way, we must adhere to the development path of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, enhance cultural self-confidence, build a strong socialist cultural country around raising the flag, gathering the hearts of the people, cultivating new people, revitalizing culture, and developing an image, and development is oriented toward modernization, the world, and the world. In the future, the scientific and popular socialist culture of the nation will stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the whole nation, and enhance the spiritual strength to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
We must adhere to the fundamental system of Marxism's guiding position in the ideological field, adhere to serving the people and socialism, adhere to letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, adhere to creative transformation and innovative development, and develop advanced socialism under the guidance of socialist core values. Culture, carry forward the revolutionary culture, inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people, consolidate the common ideological foundation for the unity and struggle of the whole party and the people of all ethnic groups, and continuously enhance the national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture.
We must build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leadership, firmly grasp the party's leadership over ideological work, fully implement the responsibility system for ideological work, consolidate and strengthen mainstream ideology and public opinion in the new era, and strengthen the construction of an all-media communication system , to promote the formation of a good network ecology. Extensively practice the core socialist values, carry forward the spiritual pedigree of the Chinese Communists with the great spirit of building the party as the source, carry out in-depth publicity and education on the core socialist values, deepen the education of patriotism, collectivism and socialism, and focus on cultivating an era of national rejuvenation newcomer. Improve the civilization of the whole society, implement the project of civic moral construction, carry forward the traditional Chinese virtues, strengthen the construction of family education and family style, promote the morality of the whole society, abide by the public morality, and be strict with the private morality, improve the people's moral standard and civilization quality, and promote the spirit of labor in the whole society. , The spirit of struggle, dedication, creativity, diligence and thrift. To prosper and develop cultural undertakings and cultural industries, adhere to the people-centered creative orientation, launch more excellent works that enhance the spiritual power of the people, improve the modern public cultural service system, and implement the strategy of driving major cultural industry projects. Promote the all-round development of mass sports and competitive sports, and speed up the construction of a sports power. Strengthen the dissemination and influence of Chinese civilization, stick to the position of Chinese culture, tell Chinese stories well, spread Chinese voices well, show a credible, lovely, and respectable image of China, and promote Chinese culture to better go to the world.
9. Improve people's well-being and improve people's quality of life
The country is the people, and the people are the country. The Communist Party of China leads the people to fight and defend the country and guard the hearts of the people. Governing the country is constant, benefiting the people. To benefit the people is the essential requirement of establishing a party for the public and governing for the people. We must insist on ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the process of development, encourage joint efforts to create a better life, and continuously realize the people's yearning for a better life.
We must realize, maintain, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, firmly grasp the most immediate and practical interests of the people, insist on doing our best, do what we can, go deep into the masses and the grassroots, and take more benefits. Measures to improve people's livelihood and warm people's hearts will focus on solving the urgent problems of the people, improve the basic public service system, improve the level of public services, enhance balance and accessibility, and solidly promote common prosperity.
We must improve the distribution system, adhere to the principle of distribution according to work, and coexist with multiple distribution methods, adhere to the principle of more pay for more work, encourage hard work to become rich, promote fair opportunities, increase the income of low-income people, expand the middle-income group, standardize the order of income distribution, and standardize Wealth accumulation mechanism. Implement the strategy of giving priority to employment, strengthen the policy of giving priority to employment, improve the employment public service system, strengthen employment assistance for groups in difficulty, and eliminate unreasonable restrictions and employment discrimination that affect equal employment, so that everyone has the opportunity to realize their own development through hard work. Improve the social security system, improve the multi-level social security system that covers the whole people, integrates urban and rural areas, is fair, unified, safe and standardized, and is sustainable, and expands the coverage of social insurance. Adhere to the basic state policy of equality between men and women, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of women and children. Promote the all-round development of the cause of the disabled. Accelerate the establishment of a housing system featuring multi-subject supply, multi-channel security, and simultaneous rent and purchase. Promoting the construction of a healthy China, giving priority to the protection of people's health, establishing a policy system for childbirth support, implementing a national strategy to actively respond to population aging, promoting the inheritance, innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine, improving the public health system, and strengthening the prevention and treatment of major epidemics System and emergency response capacity building to effectively curb the spread of major infectious diseases.
10. Promote green development and promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature
Nature is the basic condition for human survival and development. Respecting nature, conforming to nature, and protecting nature are the inherent requirements of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. We must firmly establish and practice the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and plan development from the height of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
We must promote the construction of a beautiful China, adhere to the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, coordinate industrial restructuring, pollution control, ecological protection, and respond to climate change, and coordinate to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth, and promote ecological Priority, economical and intensive, green and low-carbon development.
We must speed up the green transformation of the development mode, implement the comprehensive conservation strategy, develop green and low-carbon industries, advocate green consumption, and promote the formation of green and low-carbon production methods and lifestyles. We will further advance the prevention and control of environmental pollution, continue to fight for the defense of blue sky, clear water and pure land, basically eliminate heavily polluted weather, basically eliminate urban black and odorous water bodies, strengthen the prevention and control of soil pollution sources, improve the level of environmental infrastructure construction, and promote the urban and rural living environment. remediation. Improve the diversity, stability, and sustainability of ecosystems, accelerate the implementation of major projects for the protection and restoration of important ecosystems, implement major projects for biodiversity conservation, promote grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands for recuperation, implement a ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, and improve farmland fallow Crop rotation system to prevent the invasion of alien species. Actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, based on my country's energy and resource endowments, adhere to the principle of establishing first and then breaking, plan and step by step to implement the carbon peaking action, further promote the energy revolution, strengthen the clean and efficient use of coal, and speed up the planning and construction of a new energy system, Actively participate in the global governance of climate change.
11. Promote the modernization of national security systems and capabilities, and resolutely safeguard national security and social stability
National security is the foundation of national rejuvenation, and social stability is the premise of national prosperity. We must unswervingly implement the overall national security concept, put the maintenance of national security throughout the entire process of Party and state work, and ensure national security and social stability.
We must adhere to the purpose of people's security, political security as the foundation, economic security as the foundation, military, scientific, cultural and social security as the guarantee, and the promotion of international security as the basis to coordinate external security and internal security, homeland security and national security, Traditional security and non-traditional security, self security and common security, coordinate the maintenance and shaping of national security, consolidate the grassroots foundation of national security and social stability, improve the mechanism of participation in global security governance, build a higher level of safe China, and ensure new security with a new security pattern. development pattern.
We must improve the national security system, improve the efficient and authoritative national security leadership system, improve the national security legal system, strategic system, policy system, risk monitoring and early warning system, and national emergency management system, and build a comprehensive, three-dimensional and efficient national security protection system. Strengthen the ability to maintain national security, firmly safeguard the security of the national regime, system, and ideology, ensure the security of food, energy resources, and important industrial and supply chains, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and legal persons overseas, and build a national security line of defense. Improve the level of public security governance, adhere to the principle of safety first and focus on prevention, improve the public security system, improve the ability to prevent disasters, reduce disasters, relieve disasters and handle emergencies, and strengthen the protection of personal information. Improve the social governance system, improve the social governance system of co-construction, co-governance and sharing, improve the efficiency of social governance, smooth and standardize the channels for the expression of public demands, coordination of interests, and protection of rights and interests, and build a society in which everyone is responsible, responsible, and enjoyed by everyone governance community.
12. Realize the goal of the army's centenary struggle and create a new situation for the modernization of national defense and the army
Achieving the goal of the army's centenary struggle as scheduled and accelerating the building of the people's army into a world-class army is a strategic requirement for building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. We must implement the Party's idea of strengthening the army in the new era, implement the military strategic policy for the new era, uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the people's army, and insist on building the army politically, reforming the army, strengthening the army with science and technology, strengthening the army with talents, and governing the army according to law, and speed up military theory. Modernization, the modernization of the military organization, the modernization of military personnel, and the modernization of weapons and equipment, improve the strategic ability to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and effectively perform the mission and tasks of the people's army in the new era.
Comprehensively strengthen the party building of the people's army, and ensure that the barrel of the gun always obeys the party's command. Improve and implement the system and mechanism of the chairman responsibility system of the Military Commission. Build and strengthen the organizational system of the People's Army Party, promote the normalization and institutionalization of political training, and persevere in uprightness and discipline and anti-corruption.
We must comprehensively strengthen military training and preparation, improve the people's army's ability to win, innovate military strategic guidance, develop strategies and tactics for people's war, build a strong strategic deterrent force system, increase the proportion of new combat forces in new areas, and further promote actual combat military training. Strengthen military governance in an all-round way, consolidate and expand the achievements of national defense and military reforms, improve the composition of military forces, optimize military policy systems, implement major projects in national defense technology and weaponry, build a strong new military personnel training system, and strengthen law-based military governance. Strategic Planning. Consolidate and improve the integrated national strategic system and capabilities, strengthen the construction of national defense science, technology and industry capabilities, strengthen national defense mobilization and reserve force building, do a good job in providing service support for retired military personnel, and consolidate and develop military-government-military-civilian unity.
13. Adhere to and improve "one country, two systems" and advance the reunification of the motherland
"One country, two systems" is a great initiative of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is the best institutional arrangement for Hong Kong and Macau to maintain long-term prosperity and stability after the handover, and must be adhered to for a long time.
Fully, accurately and unswervingly implement the principles of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong", "Macau people administering Macau", and a high degree of autonomy, adhere to the rule of law for Hong Kong and Macau, implement the overall governance power of the central government, and implement "patriots governing Hong Kong", The principle of "patriots governing Macao", supports Hong Kong and Macao in developing their economy, improving people's livelihood, solving deep-seated contradictions and problems in economic and social development, promoting the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, and supporting Hong Kong and Macao in better integrating into the overall development of the country. It will play a better role in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Adhere to the party's overall strategy for solving the Taiwan issue in the new era, and unswervingly advance the great cause of national reunification. We have always respected, cared for, and benefited Taiwan compatriots, and continued to work on promoting cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation, promoting cross-strait joint promotion of Chinese culture, and promoting cross-strait compatriots' heart-to-heart. Solving the Taiwan issue is the Chinese people's own business, and it is up to the Chinese to decide. We insist on the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and our best efforts, but we will never promise to give up the use of force and reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is aimed at the interference of external forces and the very few "Taiwan independence" separatists and their separatist activities. , is by no means aimed at the majority of Taiwan compatriots. The historical wheels of national reunification and national rejuvenation are rolling forward, and the complete reunification of the motherland must be realized and can be realized!
14. Promote world peace and development and build a community with a shared future for mankind
At present, the changes in the world, the times, and the history are unfolding in an unprecedented way, and human society is facing unprecedented challenges. The world is once again standing at the crossroads of history, and where to go depends on the choices of people of all countries.
China always adheres to the foreign policy purpose of maintaining world peace and promoting common development, and is committed to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
China firmly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, always decides its own position and policy according to the merits of the matter itself, upholds the basic norms of international relations, upholds international fairness and justice, firmly opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, opposes the Cold War mentality, and opposes Interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and oppose double standards. China will never seek hegemony and never engage in expansion.
China insists on developing friendly cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, promotes the building of a new type of international relations, deepens and expands the global partnership of equality, openness and cooperation, and is committed to expanding the convergence of interests with other countries. Uphold the concept of sincerity, amity, sincerity and the correct concept of justice and interests to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with developing countries and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.
China adheres to the basic state policy of opening up to the outside world, firmly pursues an opening-up strategy of mutual benefit and win-win results, constantly provides new opportunities for the world with China's new development, promotes the building of an open world economy, and better benefits the people of all countries. China adheres to the correct direction of economic globalization, jointly creates an international environment conducive to development, and jointly cultivates new momentum for global development. China actively participates in the reform and construction of the global governance system, adheres to genuine multilateralism, promotes the democratization of international relations, and promotes the development of global governance in a more just and reasonable direction.
China has proposed global development initiatives and global security initiatives, and is willing to work with the international community to implement them. We sincerely call on all countries in the world to promote the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, promote mutual understanding among people of all countries, and jointly address various global challenges. The Chinese people are willing to join hands with the people of the world to create a better future for mankind!
15. Unswervingly and comprehensively govern the party strictly, and further advance the new great project of party building in the new era
The key to building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in an all-round way lies in the Party. As the largest Marxist ruling party in the world, our party must always maintain the sobriety and firmness of solving the unique problems of major parties in order to win the support of the people and consolidate its long-term ruling position. The whole party must keep in mind that comprehensive and strict governance of the party is always on the way, the party's self-revolution is always on the way, and there must be no resting, fatigued and war-weary emotions. The great project of leading the social revolution with the party's self-revolution.
We must implement the general requirements of party building in the new era, improve the system of comprehensive and strict governance of the party, and comprehensively promote the party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-innovation, and self-improvement, so that our party will stick to its original mission and always become the core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Strong leadership core.
We must uphold and strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, improve the Party's leadership system that oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties, and improves the implementation mechanism for major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, so as to ensure that the entire Party maintains its political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path. Maintain a high degree of unity with the Party Central Committee to ensure the unity and unity of the Party. Unremittingly use the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics to build the soul, comprehensively strengthen the party's ideological construction, strengthen the education of ideals and beliefs, guide the whole party to keep the party's purpose in mind, and consciously be firm in the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics believers and faithful practitioners. Improve the party's system of self-revolutionary system and norms, adhere to the system to govern the party and the party according to regulations, improve the party's unified leadership, comprehensive coverage, authoritative and efficient supervision system, play the role of the sword of political inspection, and implement the comprehensive and strict political responsibility of governing the party. Good accountability tool. Build a team of high-quality cadres worthy of the important task of national rejuvenation, adhere to the principle of having both ability and political integrity, put morality first, all corners of the world, and appoint people on their merits, establish a correct orientation for selecting and employing people, select high-quality professional cadres who are loyal, clean and responsible, and select the best and strengthen all levels The leadership team, strengthen the fighting spirit and fighting ability of cadres, and encourage cadres to dare to take responsibility and act actively. Strengthen the political and organizational functions of party organizations, adhere to the clear orientation of focusing on the grassroots, build grassroots party organizations into strong fighting fortresses that effectively realize the party's leadership, encourage party members to play a vanguard and exemplary role, and maintain the advanced nature and purity of party members. Adhere to a strict tone to strengthen upright conduct and discipline, persevere in implementing the spirit of the eight central regulations, continue to deepen the rectification of "four styles", focus on rectifying formalism and bureaucracy, and resolutely eliminate privileged thinking and privileged behavior. Resolutely win the protracted battle against corruption. Corruption is the biggest cancer that endangers the party's vitality and combat effectiveness. Anti-corruption is the most thorough self-revolution. As long as the soil and conditions for corruption exist, the fight against corruption cannot stop for a moment, and we must always blow the charge, insist that we dare not, cannot, and do not want to be corrupt. We will fight corruption and punish evil with zero tolerance and never tolerate it.
Comrades! The times are calling for us, and the people are looking forward to us. Only with unswerving determination and perseverance can we live up to the times and the people. The whole party must keep in mind that adhering to the overall leadership of the party is the only way to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only way to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and unity and struggle is the only way for the Chinese people to create great historical achievements. In the new era, the only way for our country to grow and develop, comprehensively and strictly governing the party is the only way for the party to maintain its vitality and take a new road to take the test. This is the most important regular understanding we have obtained in our long-term practice. We must cherish it and insist on it. We must not let go of the green hills, and guide and ensure that the great ship of socialism with Chinese characteristics rides the wind and waves, and travels steadily and far.
Unity is strength, and unity leads to victory. To build a modern socialist country in an all-round way, we must give full play to the creative power of hundreds of millions of people. The whole party must adhere to the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, uphold the views of the masses, implement the mass line, respect the people's pioneering spirit, insist on doing everything for the people, relying on the people in everything, coming from the masses and going to the masses, and always keeping in line with the people. We have always accepted the criticism and supervision of the people, we have always breathed, shared our destiny, and connected our hearts with the people, constantly consolidated the great unity of the people of all ethnic groups in the country, strengthened the great unity of Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad, and formed a strong synergy to realize the Chinese dream with one heart and one mind. .
The stronger the youth, the stronger the country. At the right time, contemporary Chinese young students have an extremely broad stage to display their talents, and the prospects for realizing their dreams are extremely bright. The whole party should focus on youth work as a strategic work, arm the youth with the party's scientific theory, inspire the youth with the party's original mission, be a confidant of young friends, an enthusiast of youth work, and a guide for the young masses. The vast majority of young people must unswervingly listen to the party's words, follow the party's words, embrace dreams and be down-to-earth, dare to think and do good things, and aspire to be good young people in the new era who have ideals, dare to take responsibility, can endure hardships, and are willing to struggle, so that youth can flourish in an all-round way. In the fiery practice of building a modern socialist country, splendid flowers are blooming.
Comrades! The Party has created a century of great achievements with great struggles, and it will certainly be able to create new great achievements with new great struggles. The whole Party, the whole army, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country must unite closely around the Party Central Committee, keep in mind that empty talk will mislead the country, and hard work will rejuvenate the country, strengthen confidence, work with one heart, work hard, and advance bravely, in order to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way and advance China in an all-round way. Unity and struggle for the great rejuvenation of the nation!
[Unofficial Translation]
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Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction?
Dear readers:
Today we are trying something new. To give you some insight into our process in the Japanese moderator section, we are presenting our response in the form of running commentary to show you how we dissect and answer long asks. We hope this makes clear what points are useful and not useful when sending us a query. As always, this is for learning purposes, not callouts. Be prepared: this is a long one.
To summarize: the asker is looking to create a comic drawn in Japanese manga style, and has provided a long summary of the story and worldbuilding which involves a mix of “reimagined” Japanese yokai mythos and cultural symbols from many other sources. They have questions with respect to cultural appropriation, coding etiquette, and “what is and isn’t ok.”
Opening Comments
I know a common advice when it comes to the thing I am about to ask is to talk to people involved in __, but I struggle with opening up to strangers for reasons I'm uncomfortable explaining.
Marika (M): This is already a red flag. If you want to engage with another culture without talking to people from that culture, then research is going to be very challenging. You won’t have members of that culture to guide you towards sources and perspectives they feel most accurately represents public opinion. If I were in your shoes, I might start with tackling my discomfort when engaging with other people, if only to improve my work. If you aren’t ready to engage with a culture and its people directly, then I think you should wait until you are.
I should note, reaching out to the Japanese mod team at WWC does count as engagement, but WWC should not and cannot be the only point of contact because there is no single, legitimate cultural perspective.
Rina (R): Also, you don’t need to “open up” to strangers or talk to them in person to get perspectives. Asking specific research questions anonymously to a forum or on social media requires very little vulnerability. You managed to do it here on WWC. So give it a try!
Anyway, my question basically amounts to the what is and isn't ok [sic] in terms of depicting fantasy creatures and concepts outside of their respective culture.
R: So, the reason why we turn away rubber stamp questions by that ask “is XYZ okay?” is because “okay” & “not okay” 1) is vague and 2) creates a dichotomy where there isn’t one.
When we say something is “not okay,” do we mean:
It’s offensive to the general majority of XYZ group?
It’s contentious among people who ID in the group?
It has a potential to be interpreted in a certain negative way, but may not be a red flag to everyone?
Insetad try asking:
What are the reasons this subject is offensive?
What makes cultural appropriation bad?
When might it be “okay” to intentionally discuss a difficult or controversial topic?
What is your reason for including something that may be interpreted as offensive and can it be sufficiently justified?
What stereotypes or tropes might it be consistently identified as or associated with, and why?
When might it be justified to bring up these tropes?
With That In Mind...
Let’s get into the rest of the ask below.
…a story I've been working on in recent times is largely inspired off the Japanese yokai, and the setting is basically Earth in the far future, as far as when the next supercontinent may form. These yokai, although portrayed differently here, do retain their main characteristics [...] Included in this world are two goddesses of my own creation, primarily representing the sun and the moon. [...] There will be thirteen nations, named and based after the Chinese Zodiac, and the life force found in the living things in this world, called qi, comes in two forms that are always opposing each other but can never fully overpower the other, this being based off yin and yang. They're even directly named this; yin qi and yang qi.
M: This reads more like using Japanese and Chinese culture for the “aesthetics”, not the cultures themselves, which I personally feel falls under cultural appropriation. From a world-building/ coding standpoint, the actual use of concepts is workable, and, dare I say, typical, given how Chinese cosmology influences Japanese culture. However, naming a concept “yin qi” or “yang qi” is the equivalent of naming something “- charge” or “+ charge”, respectively. That you don’t seem aware of this tells me you are pretty early in your research phase. In that vein, we’ve covered translating terms and names from foreign languages in fantasy before. See the following article linked here for our recommendation against using RL terms outright but instead encouraging people to create their own conlangs.
R: Worldbuilding-wise, I think you would have to figure out the chicken-or-egg of the zodiac nations. Did the nations come first, and the zodiac later as an origin folk story (which you would have to rewrite to serve the nation-building narrative)? Did the zodiac come first, and the nations named (most likely re-named) by a political entity? What is the justification? Otherwise, again, it’s a shoehorning of aesthetics.
There is also a third, lesser known god based off of fox spirits and trickery and I imagined he's the patron deity of a family that honors and worships him, but his influence on them has transformed them into Kitsune-tsuki, which I depict as fox-like anthros.
M: Not related to this ask directly, but I have jokingly ranted about how often non-Japanese people prefer using imagery related to kitsune-tsuki in Japanese coded world-building (link). This makes me feel the same level of petty irritation. See my troll answer below for a similar experience.
R: Same. It’s boring tbh.
M: Troll Answer: I get that kitsune-tsuki are very sexy furries, but Japanese folklore has other sexy furries too! These underrepresented demographics also deserve recognition and appreciation!!
The plot of the story is this; modernization has left the goddesses neglected of their worship and forgotten, something that is necessary in this world to stop them from fighting each other. The Moon Goddess awakens first, punishing the humans by unleashing the yokai. Then the Sun Goddess wakes up to fight in humanity's defense…
M: This could feel rather like Shinto-like coding (Ex. the myth of Amaterasu and the Cave, or Tsukuyomi slaying Ukemochi), but something about this scenario feels a bit too binary in terms of themes of good v. evil, light v. dark to be Shinto. The plot also feels more Gaelic/ Nordic in influence for me as a person raised in a Japanese Buddhist and Hindu household. I imagine this dissonance could have been fixed with better guided research.
…but their fighting has caused a perma-eclipse and this world is in danger of ending. The yokai have run rampant; some are loyal to the Moon Goddess, and some aren't, and it lies to the main characters to bring balance back to Midgard. Yeah... the name of this future Earth is Midgard. I debate changing it since it and some other things I will mention sorta feel out of place.
R: Marika, looks like you were right on the Gaelic/Nordic influence /j
Also, worldbuilding question: if the Earth is in the far geologic future, how long has it been since modernization (19th-20th century)? Centuries? Millennia? How long has this fighting gone on for? What triggered the perma-eclipse, and why now? Why is this time depth necessary?
One of the main characters in question is a humanoid woman with wolf features named Ling, and she is a descendant of the dynasty that had first ruled the one of the nations, particularly the one based off the dragon zodiac. She accidentally summons the other main character to this world as she's praying at a shrine, a humanoid with dragon features--I call them drakon--named Angelynn.
[on the names of characters] is it appropriating by not having the world entirely based on [Chinese, Japanese, and Indian] influence? it's a little weird to me how worldwide the creatures are referred to as yokai, implying a strong Japanese influence not unlike how it is today with Western culture being so dominant, yet there are still names like Keith and Kiara.
M: I will give you credit for recognizing you have unconsciously veered towards white-washing/ race-bending: either presenting European cultural influences (drakons, Angelynn, Keith, Kiara, Midgard) as default or utilizing general E. Asian cultural influences and aesthetics for a Western-style story (Ling, qi, Chinese zodiac, yokai). I agree with you that this creates a sense of cultural dissonance. At this point, I’d say you have a clear choice: write a Western-style high fantasy using a background with which you have more familiarity, or get some better guidance on research with East Asian cultures so you can code the story more effectively.
The focus of this story is centered around meeting all these yokai and showing that there's more nuance to them than Ling believes, all while saving the world. But I worry if I'm appropriating these concepts and creatures by 1, drawing from more than one culture--I initially imagined that there would be a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Indian influence because according to a website I am getting the info on yokai from, the yokai in question already draw inspiration from or have been based on something in Chinese mythology or Hinduism [...]
R: Sure, some yokai have Chinese or Hindu parallels as that tends to happen with folk tales. But not all–some are unique to Japan, and some are more modern. Sometimes it’s very political–some people consider the Ainu Korpokkur as being a “Yokai of Japan” despite it belonging to the indigenous culture. It’s up to you to research, untangle, and understand these influences.
The fact that you bring up that the Asian continent has seen a lot of cultural exchange is not a sufficient reason to randomly combine influences for the sake of visual appeal or “coolness.” That is appropriation. These influences must be understood in their historical context so that you know how/why certain things combined or morphed into another, and what makes sense to combine/morph.
M: This also indicates that the character views the yokai as evil/inherently bad, which I would argue is not a typical stance for much Japanese folklore. Again, this shows a deficit in research.
2, reimagining these yokai in a new context even though I have done the research on them, because one thing I kept seeing in regards to cultural appropriation is that it's bad to do that […]
R: Refer above to my note on “okay” and “not okay.” The thing with folklore and fairy tales is that every–and I mean every–folk tale is reinterpreted with every new iteration of it. Reimagining in a new context is what people do every time they pass on a story or tell a story with the same plot or characters. Do not think of folklore as an “original” that is altered and rebooted, but rather a living document that gets added to. Reimagining is not the inherent issue. HOW you reimagine something matters.
So I suppose my question is...if someone were to do research upon the creature they want to use, given they are allowed to use it, and gained an understanding of what the creature or concept stood for, are they allowed to pick it apart and reimagine it? Alternatively, is it ok if it's explicitly pointed out that it is derivative of the original?
It has actually become my biggest fear that I may have internalized something that could both continue to do harm long after the fact and attract the wrong people to me work. I don't wanna let people down!
M: As Rina has noted several times, I think the problem is in trying to ID a set of specific variables and circumstances that make a thing “okay” or “not okay.” I want to recommend that you read my joking response about writing in secret rooms while wearing a disguise (Linked here). Who can you hurt if no one knows what you are doing? There’s a difference between creating for oneself and creating to share.
You have internalized a message incorrectly, but not the one you cite. The goal of many recommendations against cultural appropriation is to avoid causing direct harm to people who have seen their cultures demeaned, discredited and devalued, especially in shared spaces. Assessing cultural engagement, whether we are talking about appropriation, appreciation or exchange is not a measure of personal virtue or a collection of commandment style do’s and don’t’s. Rather, I believe engaging with other cultures is the state of mind of acknowledging that when using these cultures’ in one’s own work, there is value in consulting members of that culture and giving credit where credit is due. This will be challenging if you are only comfortable engaging with all of these cultures in a distanced, minimal capacity.
FWIW, I’ve written stories that probably will offend people from other cultures and backgrounds, but I don’t show them off. I don’t think writing these makes me a bad person, but I also don’t see the need to give unnecessary offense, so those stories are just for me, to be written and read in my own secret room. However, I’m not ashamed of having written them, and I’m also comfortable to “let people down” provided that my own shared work reflects my personal principles of what I consider to be sufficient research and engagement with other cultures, As a creator, my work wouldn’t be mine if I didn’t first please myself. I think the trick to the creator role is deciding what to keep private, what to share and what constitutes sufficient engagement.
P.S.
We’ve referenced the need for research multiple times in this ask, and in some of the other asks that have gone up this week, so we thought this would be a good place to plug a beginner’s guide to academic research created by the mod team.. Look for it soon under WWC’s pinned posts!
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Ink!Sans Cultural Character Coding
art by @/sakuramochi64 on twitter
Disclaimer!
This post is meant to present and analyse obvious and obscure East Asian (Jpn-Chi) ethnic and cultural influences on Ink!Sans character.
If any of the material in this essay is incorrect and/or considered morally offensive, please contact me!
Ink!Sans by @comyet
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/Despite the fact that Ink is a non-human monster skeleton character, he is often portrayed with human-like traits and characteristics that range between a bunch of topics. One of them that's portrayed as very predominat to his character is his etchnic cultural background/inspiration. Again, this post is meant to analyse and to discuss such inspirations and how it affects his character./
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INSPIRATIONS
According to Ink's creator, Comyet, the concept of Ink!Sans was conceived by a Japanese and Chinese ink calligraphy brush. These are known as Fude brushes (筆) and Xuan brushes (宣笔 Xuān bǐ) respectively. This ultimately inspired his ink abilities and powers, just like his concept of being an 'artist' (In simple words, it inspired Ink as a whole).
'The history of ink brushes and the ink material is a long and complicated journey to cover, but it's important to know that these were invented in ancient China around 300 B.C (traditional Chinese: 毛筆; simplified Chinese: 毛笔; pinyin: máo bǐ) and are used in a vast variety of East and Southeast Asian countries, like Korea; Vietnam and Japan.
example of the brush Ink!Sans was inspired by.
At glance, ink (the material) is an enduring medium that still surrounds society till this day and it's used in multiple cultures across the world.
Writing with ink calligraphy brushes are common in the Europe and the Middle East as well, but the material was crafted of iron salt and oak galls. When written, ink is often a dark color but fades to brown tones of rust'. Such phenomenon was detectable in the Middle Eastern Bible manuscripts and even ancient European literature as an example.
Ink!Sans was based of the ink material created in East Asia, most commonly made with carbon-base black substance, which preserverd the dark coloration even after hundred of years.
↑ Example of an ancient Japanese painting, such arts are called 'Sumi-e' (Japanese, 墨絵) or ' Shuimohua' (traditional Chinese,水墨畫).
Unlike iron gall ink, carbon based inks are still very common to this day.
'Throughout the long history of East Asia, writing with ink was a very important ability to have. The Materials were made with precision, long traditions of training in calligraphic skills were developed, and writing and literacy were often wrapped up in questions of social status and class.
Although the development of major Chinese calligraphic scripts was completed by the fourth century, the art of calligraphy continued to evolve over the millennia. Master calligraphers with years of training and dedicated practice were recognized for their personal styles, and later generations of artists often adapted brushstrokes and designs to their own style. This stylistic evolution of scripts continues to enliven Chinese calligraphy to the present day.
Calligraphy was an important mark of personal learning and aesthetic sensibility in Japan. Portable, lacquered wood boxes were designed to hold an inkstone and water dropper in the base, with trays to hold writing brushes and solid ink sticks. Inkstone boxes (硯箱,suzuribako 'ink stone box' ) could be easily carried to a pleasant location, even outdoors in fine weather, to write correspondence, diary entries, or poetry.'
Fun fact: Ink's font 'Note This' is inspired by such ancient writing.
Example of Ink's canon speaking font and Japanese calligraphy (書道, calligraphy)
'However, when it comes to the subject of painting with the material, different schools of painting existed in China, the scholar-painters of Song-dynasty China generally preferred ink-based paintings over the more colorful, pigment-filled paintings produced historically and at the painting academy. Chinese painting manuals and commentaries from the Song (Sung) and Yuan dynasties (rarely mention pigments, possibly because it was assumed a painter’s skill shouldn’t depend on the use of colors.
Japanese artists are known for using media appropriate for the subject matter. Images depicting traditional Japanese narrative tales were typically rendered in opaque colors with outlines created in ink and later obscured by color overlay. Ink monochrome was closely associated with Chinese styles, particularly those transported to Japan via Zen Buddhism. Ink-based forms created with modulated strokes and layered washes suggested introspection and spiritual exploration.'
Ancient Japanese paintings that uses dull colors and ink outlines.
Exhaustive examples of ancient Ink paintings. Dragons and Clouds 雲龍図屏風 (左隻)and Seitei kachō gafu 省亭花鳥画譜
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DESIGN
Also clarified in an ask on her main blog, Comyet describes that traditional Japanese clothing inspired Ink's 2020 outift redesing, such inspirations are very obvious in first and second analysis.
Ink!sans reference sheets for the 2020 design, which can be found in Ink's official F.A.Q
Starting off, the pants.
Ink's pants were inspired by Hakama pants (袴), a traditional Japanese garment designed as a skirt-like pants often worn over any type of kimono. His pants seems to be inspired by umanori (馬乗り)Hakamas, whose had a division in the middle and often used in horse-riding activities.
Example of a Hakama.
The Hakama is a wide pleated pants (seven pleats, five in front and two behind), with a rigid backrest (腰 板,koshi ita) placed at the level of the lumbar region. It is tightened with four straps, on the left and on the right, as well in front as behind.
Historically, the origins of the Hakama dates back to the Sui and Tan dynasty were this garment was worn by the Chinese imperial court. Later, the Hakama exported itself to Japan during the Kamakura period (1185 to 1332) and became a traditional garment for the upper classes of Japanese society as well as for samurai warriors who wore it over a kimono (Hakama-shita).
During the history of Japan, the Hakama took on different styles and was mainly made for men, although in the beginning it was a unisex garment. During the Asuka and Nara era (6th to 8th century), the Hakama came in two versions. The first one was open on the front and was tied on each side of the waist with two straps. The second one was open on the left side and closed on one side only.
During the Edo period, the Hakama was worn by the nobles as a complement to the outfits of the time such as the noshi and the kariginu (狩衣; a sleeveless jacket with very pronounced shoulders). Very functional, these pants were also adopted by samurai warriors who usually wore them as Kamishimo (上下/裃). It is a combination of kimono, Hakama and kataginu. When the warrior visited the shōgun, he wore a Hakama called naga-bakama which greatly restricted his movements.
Edit:Currently, hakamas are both worn by men and women.
However, under the scarft, Ink also seems to use a jacket that features a collar that has striking similarities to a Mandarin collar (or Mao collar)
Ink!sans reference sheets for the 2020 design, which can be found in Ink's official F.A.Q
Mandarin collars originated in ancient China and were worn by Qing-era bureaucrats.
Picture of a Chinese man in a traditional Mandarin collar (early 1900's)
These are short, stand-up collars and sometimes fasten in the center with a small hook. Such collars are still used today for both fashionable and practical reasons. One example of modern usaged of the clothing is seen in the U.S Amry combat uniform, that features a stand-up collar of Chinese origin.
Picture of the U.S Army combat clothing
Regarding of color palette, Ink!Sans redesign uses soft but dull colors and a sinple silhouette and fabric for the outift, such design choises are similar to male kimono's dressing codes which uses dull colors (like dark blue, grey, green and occasionaly brown). Male kimonos are always more simple in design compared to female kimonos.
Photo that shows the difference of kimonos used by men and women
Although not specified, Ink seems to wear brown thigh-high socks, also known as 'tights' under the outfit. Japan has a long-standing cultural tradition of wearing such piece of clothing, this trend is particularly popular among young people and is often associated with the "gyaru" subculture, which emphasizes fashion, beauty, and individuality. Additionally, thigh-high socks are often worn with school uniforms, and are considered a symbol of youth and innocence. Additionally, it is also considered fashionable and trendy in Japan, and you can see many young people wearing them.
In regards of physical appearance, Ink also seems to follow ancient Japanese and Chinese beauty standarts, specially one's targeted towards women.
In ancient japan, specially towards the Nara (奈良時代, Nara jidai), Heian (平安時代, Heian jidai) and Edo period (江戸時代, Edo jidai) the beauty standarts for Japanese women were of those with slim eyebrowns, flat oval face shape and narrowed eyes.
Such attributes can be observed on Ink!Sans apperance.
Visual representation of old Japanese beauty standarts
/Keep in mind that some of such standarts presented are now out of fashion due to the westernization of asian countries. Specially regarding eye shape/
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MUSICAL THEMES
Ink!Sans has a long history of being associated with East Asian music, specially those of Japanese origin.
Themes that comyet associated with him includes, 'Code Wu- Asia River Album 江水/Asia River' ( post can be found here), 'Dullahan under the willows' and 'Futatsuiwa from Sado (二ツ岩で佐渡) both from the japanese game 'Touhou'. (post can also be found here.
He's also associated with East Asian musical instruments, something quite noticeable in Ink!Sans theme for the the web-series 'Underverse'. Such theme is called 'Brushwork'.
The theme starts with an instrument similar to a Shamisen (Japanese-三味線) and a Guzhen (Chinese-古筝) and also uses a traditional flute.
Photo of a Guzhen and a Shamisen, respectively
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TRIVIA
On Underverse's opening for season 2, Ink!Sans can be seem between a field of Sakura trees or Cherry Blossoms (桜).
Cherry blossom trees are an icon of Japan. Some people even call the cherry blossom Japan’s informal national flower. The Japanese school year starts in April, during cherry blossom season. The flowers symbolize good luck, love, and springtime. Since they bloom for such a short time, cherry blossom trees also represent human mortality. They remind us how short and precious life is.
In the same series, Ink is also drawn in a Sumi-e inspired style for the 'Soulless Heart Instrumental' video. Such artwork features Japanese writing in black ink.
Ink's canon instrument is the flute. Although invented in ancient germany, the flute is highly associated with East Asian cultures and it's music, chinese and japanese culture are the main ones . Other than that, Comyet already made a connection to Ink's asian influence and the instrument itself.
According to research made by the University Microfilms International (UMI) affirms that the moderny performance and melody of the instruments has clear East Asian roots, mainly from Chinese and Japanese style of music.
'The flute is a particularly appropriate instrument for such a
study because of its versatility of pitch and timbre, the latter being
one of the most important elements in Eastern music; it is capable of
'pitch-bending' and infinite changes in tone quality which are impossible
to achieve on instruments of set pitch.
The flute music selected for stud/ shows varying degrees of Eastern
influence. Depending on the nature of the composition, the Eastern
elements may be extremely subtle and difficult for the untrained to
decipher; in other instances the composer makes clear those sounds or
concepts with Eastern roots, either through accompanying explanation or
within the context of the music.'
Sources
1.National Museum of asian art (materials & techniques. Ink section)
2. Asian Brushpaper (an-overview-of-chinese-ink-history)
3. Wikipedia (wiki Hakama-pants)
4. Aikido Journal (Hakama-101)
5. Wikipedia (Mandarin-collar)
6. Kirrin finch (What-is-a-mandarin-collar)
7. University Microfilms International (UMI) (east-asian-presence-in-modern-flute-music)
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