Analytically and Critically Learn from Foreign Cultures

It is the valuable experience of the CPC, as an attitude and policy towards foreign culture.

In January 1940, Mao Zedong pointed out: “To nourish her own culture”, China needs to assimilate a good deal of foreign progressive culture, not enough of which was done in the past.” “However, we should not gulp any of this foreign material down uncritically, but must treat it as we do our food—first chewing it.” In May 1942, Mao Zedong also pointed out that, "We must inherit all outstanding literary and artistic legacy and critically assimilate from it what is useful to us and learn from its example when we try to work over the literary and artistic raw material found in the life of the people in our times and in our country.” But “the most sterile and harmful doctrinairism in art and literature consists in uncritically borrowing and copying from our predecessors and foreigners.”

In April 1956, Mao Zedong further pointed out in “On the Ten Major Relationships” that: "Our policy is to learn from the strong points of all nations and all countries, but we must learn with an analytical and critical eye, not blindly, and we mustn't copy everything indiscriminately and transplant mechanically.” “We must firmly reject and criticize all the decadent bourgeois systems, ideologies and ways of life of foreign countries. But this should in no way prevent us from learning the advanced sciences and technologies of capitalist countries and whatever is scientific in the management of their enterprises.” In dealing with foreign cultures, we must adhere to the correct principles as follows.

Firstly, we must learn from and assimilate the "beneficial things" and "all that is genuinely good” available in foreign cultures, therefore never reject never refuse to learn from the ancients and foreigners. Secondly, the assimilation of foreign culture must be analytical and critical, we should "divide it into two parts: essence and dross, we should discard its dross and retaining its essence", so that we can truly have a benign nutrition. Thirdly, it is necessary to combine Chinese culture with foreign cultures to make them have Chinese characteristics. It would be a wrong policy to shut it out, rather we should as far as possible draw on what is progressive in it for use in the development of China's new culture; it would also be wrong to copy it blindly, rather we should draw on it critically to meet the actual needs of the Chinese people.

“All useful things in foreign countries should be learned and used to improve and develop Chinese things and create new things unique to China.” On this issue, we must prevent the two biases of blind rejection and "total westernization." Guided by Marxism and based on China's actual needs, it is the basic policy of the CPC to study and treat foreign progressive culture critically and analytically. This policy has important guiding significance for correctly handling the relationship between Chinese culture and foreign culture and promoting the construction of culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics.